Anya Bast

Doh! That’s a lot of books!

Witch Heart – January 6 (Berkley Sensation)

Taken – February 3 (Samhain)

Taking Hold, featured in the anthology Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance – April, 13 (Running Press) You know, I used to read these massive anthologies of short stories as a teenager. I never imagined I’d ever be in one.

The Promise, featured in the anthology What Happens in Vegas…After Dark – May, 1 (Harlequin Spice) This is the paranormal follow-up to the first What Happens in Vegas… anthology with the same authors. The Promise is a prequel to The Deal and occurs one year prior. If you’re familiar with The Deal, it tells Damian’s story and how/why he jilted Cassidy at the altar.

Witch Fury – June 2 (Berkley Sensation)

Tempted by Two, featured in the anthology Good Things Come in Threes – July 14 (Pocket Books) This anthology features my novella Tempted by Two with two other ménage stories by Jan Springer and Shiloh Walker.

Sweet Enchantment, featured in an as-of-yet unnamed holiday anthology – October, 2009 (Berkley Sensation) This anthology also features holiday themed novellas by Angela Knight, Lora Leigh & Allyson James.

Kiss of the Morrigan, featured in the anthology The Phantom Queen Awakes – Sometime late in 2009 (Morrigan Books) This anthology features the likes of C.E. Murphy and Katherine Kerr.

And… a late entry for 2008. It was kind of a surprise. It’s available now.

Crown and Blade

Sword and Crown by Lauren Dane

For most of Rhea’s life, she used her Talent as a Practitioner of sex magic to keep her world safe from a powerful dark menace. But tragedy struck and she found herself exiled to Earth.

Fifteen years later, out of the blue, a face from her past appears on her doorstep. The Nameless is back and stronger than before. Her people need her and they’ve sent her first love, Jax, to petition for her help.

As the stakes get higher, with the balance of the very existence of her universe in her hands, she’s also fighting the loss of her heart to a man who walked away from her once before. She knows her past has changed her in elemental ways but while she knows she can trust Jax at her back, she has to figure out if she can trust him with her heart.

Whisper of the Blade by Anya Bast

Emmia feels the emotion of all who surround her. Her Talent is empathy and it’s more curse than blessing. She employs her skill as a justice mercenary, discovering criminals and meting out punishment.

Magnus didn’t kill his lover, Caith, the way everyone suspects. Now he is lord to a keep filled with suspicious, angry people.

Quinn, part three of the ménage à trois that ended in Caith’s death, wants only to set things right and resume the loving relationship he once had with Magnus. He seeks out Emmia and employs her.

In a sexual tangle…

But both Magnus and Quinn are drawn to Emmia, just as they are drawn to each other. All three of them become lost in a weave of scorching and erotic desire coupled with emotional need.

Hi all! I hope you’re all enjoying the holidays. Seems like the whole world goes silent between Christmas and New Year’s.

Not totally silent, though! I have an interview up over at Drops of Crimson. Go check it out!

The winners of my holiday contest, chosen by random drawing, are as follows. Oh, there are FOUR, it turns out, just because. I like the number four better than three, much more stable and balanced. *g*

Lulu, who asked for Witch Fire
Martha Lawson, who asked for The Chosen Sin
Lori T, who asked for What Happens in Vegas
Rhyan Birch, who asked for Witch Fire

Winners, please contact me via the contact form on my site with your mailing address.

And…a special gift to you. Fury and Tranquility are now available for free download on my site! Crocodesigns did the covers and I think they’re amazing.

Happy Holidays to you all!!

And my good cover karma rocks on….

Meet Sarafina. Witch Fury is the final book of the Elemental Witches series and it will be out in June, 2009.

Scroll down for the holiday contest. This is the last day to enter. Check back tomorrow morning to find out who won. Also, I’ll have a surprise for all who visit my site tomorrow! A little gift from me to you.

You guys didn’t think I would go the entire month of December and not hold a contest, did you?

Pretend I’m Santa. Uh, except I’m not as round in the belly so it doesn’t jiggle like a bowlful of jelly, and I’m not male, or bearded, and I can’t fit down the chimney…. Okay, don’t pretend I’m Santa. Pretend I’m a merry, gift-giving Anya because that’s what I am.

List one book of mine that you would like to be gifted with. I’ll pick THREE winners next Wednesday (Christmas Eve Day).

So, go ahead and explore my site and decide on a title. Or you can just go here and look at this nifty printable booklist that Frauke (who is an incredible web site designer) placed on the site. Bet you didn’t even know it was there, did you?

List one book (ebook or print). There will be THREE winners chosen.

Okay…go!

*****THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED*****

Available January 6th, 2009

“WITCH HEART is a grand escape into a paranormal world brimming with sensual delight and everlasting love, even while fraught with unspeakable dangers. With a well-written story and an intriguing plot, readers can practically feel every emotion along with the characters, immersing them into the world completely Bravo to Anya Bast for another great story in this fascinating saga!”
–Jennifer Ray, Wild on Books

“”Smart, sexy and dangerous, the Elemental Witches are a force to be reckoned with…Always an exhilarating read.” –Sue Burke, Fresh Fiction

“This pursuit novel rockets forward as the protagonists fight to stay alive and face their growing attraction to one another. Fascinating secondary characters all cry out for their own books. Here’s hoping the talented Bast will oblige.”
4 Stars from Romantic Times BOOKreviews

“The third Witch Blood urban romantic fantasy is a fabulous tale as Adam risks his life and his heart to keep his beloved Claire safe.” — Harriet Klausner

The book releases on January 6th, but my publisher sent me a little taste yesterday. It’s a very pretty book. Perhaps the prettiest, in my personal opinion, of the first three. I really do love this cover very much.

And look at the spines! There are all my girls together.

Hee!!!

I always hesitate to discuss epirating because:

a.) It sounds like I’m lecturing and I don’t want to sound that way. I want my blog to be fun and have pictures of cats and amusing anecdotes and contests and stuff.

b.) It advertises the fact you can do it and I imagine one or two passers-by are saying, “Hey, cool! I can get books for free!” and then stop reading my blog post and go off to steal from me or others.

c.) I don’t think the regular readers of my blog would ever dream of stealing from me and probably are angry on my behalf that anyone else would (because you guys are awesome!) and therefore I’m probably just preaching to the choir.

But a couple days ago a friend of mine sent me a link with dozens of my books posted for free for anyone to take. I found another this morning. There’s nothing new about this. I fight epirating every single day, but I’ve been noticing more and more of it as the economy worsens. I honestly simply do not have the time to fight all of them. I have deadlines, edits, and a family to take care of.

So it’s an issue for me right now and I feel like I need to clarify where I stand on this issue and what’s wrong with it. First, let me explain the problem with “sharing” ebooks.

Okay, so you buy a paperback copy of a book. You like it, so you give it to your friend, who gives it to their friend, who puts it up on paperback swap or something. That’s okay. That’s okay because it’s ONE copy of the book, purchased originally by someone who then had a right to do with it as she saw fit.

I have no problem with libraries or paperback swap or used bookstores. That book is only one book and can only change hands one pair at a time. Eventually the book is going to become tattered and fall apart. It has a limited lifespan.

The problem lies in someone buying (or stealing) an electronic copy of a book and then putting it up somewhere and saying, “Here, I’m sharing this with you.” Except, it’s not sharing, it’s publishing. Because copies are being made of that one ebook. Now there isn’t just ONE book anymore, there are five hundred books. Then some of those people go out and say, “I’m sharing this book with you,” and now there are four thousand new books from that one original copy. And that one original copy is never going to become tattered and need to be replaced. It’ll be bright and shiny forevermore.

See the difference? Ebooks multiply like indestructible tribble.

• You ARE breaking copyright when you copy an ebook and you end up with two or more copies.
• You ARE NOT breaking copyright by giving away your copy of a paperback book.
• You ARE breaking copyright by copying or scanning a paperback book.
• You ARE NOT breaking copyright by forwarding an ebook to a friend AND THEN DELETING THE ORIGINAL COPY. There’s still only one copy and that’s kosher.

My responses to all the excuses I’ve heard ebook pirates use:

But I would never have purchased the book in the first place.

Ah, okay. Then why do you want the book anyway?

I can’t afford to buy any books right now, so I have no choice but download them illegally.

Economic times are hard right now for everyone, but if I want a certain type of cosmetic and can’t afford it that doesn’t mean I go down to the drugstore and shoplift it. Why don’t you try a used bookstore or the library? You have options. I’m sorry you’re experiencing financial problems, that sucks, but it’s no excuse.

Authors are rich, they can take the hit!

Bwahahahahahaha. Ahem. No. 99% of authors cannot support themselves on their writing alone. We are NOT rich folk. We are poor folk who love what we do and want to be able to do more of it in the future, but we can only do that if people stop stealing our work.

I don’t believe in copyright. No one can own ideas.

That’s a very romantic notion. It’s true that you can’t copyright an idea, however you can copyright a work that springs from an idea. It takes time, effort and labor to produce a novel from an idea. That’s when the idea becomes a work and the creator of that work deserves compensation. Just like you deserve compensation for sitting eight hours a day in a cubicle doing data entry or whatever it is you do for a living.

Respect the author. Respect the work the author put in to create it. I wouldn’t walk into your employer’s payroll office and steal parts of your paycheck, so don’t steal mine.

But I didn’t know I was doing anything wrong.

Now you know. Please stop.

Why stop?

Stop because you obviously love to read and the more you steal from authors the more you hurt them. The more the authors are hurt, the less sales they make, the more shelf space they lose, and that ultimately means less variety in reading material for you.

Some midlist authors can be very injured by this. All it takes is a small decrease in their sales for their publishing house to cancel their contracts and then they’re out of a job – it’s you, the ebook pirate, who may be ultimately responsible for that. Already, the years 2009 and 2010 are going to see a hella lot of midlist authors knocked from their places in publishing because the economy is so bad. This is NOT helping them.

I do understand that many people are having financial difficulties right now. I know that it’s difficult sometimes to get to the library and when you do there are long waiting lists for books. So here’s what I will do for you.

I have two free stories I wrote for my newsletters subscribers. I will have my web site mistress upload them to my web site. You can download these two stories, forward them, copy them until you’re blind (although I wouldn’t advise that), tap dance on them if you want. They’re yours, gratis. Time willing, I plan to write more free stories.

I love ebooks. I am a huge proponent of them and I am against DRM. (Hey, I’m about to buy an ebook reader and I don’t want any extra hassle either.) I just wish people would be more responsible in their decision making and think about how their choices affect the artists they profess to enjoy.

I don’t think that we can get people to stop breaking copyright and sharing files on the Internet by appealing to their sense of right and wrong. The Lure of the Free is far too powerful. I only hope the publishing industry (already taking some very serious hits) can respond to the problem in a more effective manner than the music industry did.

ZOMG, I’m so stupidly excited that Nana is coming to watch the kidlet tonight, thus allowing my husband and I to go to dinner and a movie!  We’re going to see The Day the Earth Stood Still. Hope it’s good.

I’m a bit bummed (more than a bit), but unsurprised that my fav restaurant in my little podunk town closed. It was a sushi place. I know, I know, sushi in a podunk country town? It was actually really good, though. No sushi tonight. *pout* Mmmm dragon rolls. *cry*

So, you’ve probably heard of Boxhab on Cuteoverload, yes? Well, this cat needs Boxhab really badly, but he also needs Clean Laundryhab too. I snapped this a few minutes ago.

Btw, I’m sharing this next bit because it was disgusting and I need to relieve the burden of it from my mind by inflicting it on others…one of my cats (not the one above) woke me up this morning by drooling down one side of my face…like wow. I mean, crazy ass amounts of cat saliva making rivulets down my cheek and chin. It was a love goober and it was a BIG one. Wiggle (the drooling cat in question) really loves me.

I wish he loved me a little less sometimes.

Also, I’m this close to stroking out over ebook pirating today, but I’m hiding it well, don’t you think? *forced smile and facial tick*

In an alternate life, one in which I wasn’t a writer, I would have been a psychologist. I was in grad school to become just that when I made my first sale and subsequently left that career path for this one. Crazy, right? Have you compared the salaries of your average author and your average psychologist lately?

Yeah.

Even so, I’ve never regretted my decision because although I think I would’ve been quite happy mucking about in other people’s brains, I’m far happier mucking about in my character’s brains (who actually probably are all my brain, but that’s a topic for another day).

Writing is my first love, above all other career paths, and I have never regretted my choice. Even if I fail at being an author, (so far, so good), I’ll still never regret my choice because I took a risk on my biggest dream, the one I’ve had since I was five. That means when I’m old and gray I’ll be able to look back on my life and say, I did that.

No regrets. No fears.

Even though I didn’t follow the path of a psychologist, the way I think and my personality is still naturally suited to being one. That’s why I’d decided on it in the first place. Combine my naturally occurring inclination toward analyzing other people’s motivations, emotions and behaviors with my interest in Buddhism, especially mediation and Mindfulness, and you have someone who pays attention to her own emotional tides pretty much all the time.

And I am neurotic like WOW when I have a new mass market book release. We’re talking extra neuroses with cherries and whipped cream on top. Mostly, I suffer in silence and only inflict my constant fretting on my closest friends and my husband.

At the same time, so much surrounding the release of a new book is completely and utterly out of my hands. I have no control over so many of the factors that affect the success or failure of a novel. Things like the economic environment (that’s a biggie right now), when the novel releases (some times of the year are worse than others), what my print run is and where in the store my book is displayed.

The only thing I have control over is the advertising I do beforehand and the actual book itself. I always take great care in crafting my novels, but there’s another element of which I have no control – I can’t control how individual readers will perceive the work and the characters. Those opinions, just like people’s personalities, differ greatly and one person’s perception of a novel may be very different than the next person’s. All I can do is write the best possible novel I can, according to my own vision, and hope people enjoy it.

So it was with great interest that I read Steven Axelrod and Julie Anne Long’s article, the Tao of Publishing in the latest Romance Writer’s Report. (I swear, the inclusion of that article in the RWR made my hefty RWA membership worth it this year.) That article that can also be online found here.

In the article, Axelrod points out how humans love to attempt to find order in chaos and authors are no exception. We’re constantly trying to figure out how to control our writing careers in a pretty much uncontrollable environment, and THAT makes us crazy (I know it makes me crazy).

Julie Anne Long delves into how to avoid that craziness by staying in the moment (mindfulness!) and going with the flow. Fighting against the inexorable publishing tides simply wears you out and worrying over things we can’t control just makes us nuts and, if you’re like me, makes you depressed.

Once your book is published, it’s out of your hands. You can do nothing to affect its sales in a major way (booksignings, guest blogging, contests, and readings only do so in a very minor way), so why all the worry? It’s better to just move on to something you CAN control, like, oh, I don’t know…a new novel, perhaps? Better to let the stress of the release go and find a place where you can be okay with it, no matter what the outcome might be. Try not to have any lofty expectations and find the core of why you became a writer in the first place.

For me, that’s a love of the actual writing itself, specifically the worldbuilding and the creation of my characters. It’s that first draft I love so very much, when I’m creating a place for my characters to be and to interact. LOVE it.

If I can focus on what I love, then I can let what I don’t love fall away (the stress of how my current release is doing.) and my life is tons better. With every new release I try for this peaceful place in my psyche, a sort of oasis in the tension. I achieve it with varying levels of success. It tends to go in waves. For a while I’ll have found a zenlike acceptance and let the outcome be whatever it is, and then something will set me off and send me careening back into monkey-brained worry.

But I do think that with every release I’m improving. Apparently I just need more practice. And, since I plan to be in publishing for a long time, I’ll have all the practice I need in the years to come. In the meantime, I have every intention of enjoying this journey I’ve set myself on and appreciating every bump and roadside sightseeing stop I make.

If you read to the end of this, you get a virtual cookie.