MOCHA MEMOIRS ESPRESSO SHOTS: Separate but Together

We'd like to share with you a steamy title from our Espresso Shots line.

Espresso Shots are very much like the Steamy Mocha Shots. In fact, these are bold blasts of a genre—science fiction, horror, or fantasy for example. These stories have all the hallmarks of those classic genres but add dashes of bold creativity. The other good news—espresso shots are only 6,000 words or less.We like to think of espresso shots as coffee (classic genres) with shots of espresso (bold eye-opening creativity).

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SEPARATE BUT TOGETHER is a sexy, erotic story that's steeped in fantasy romance. Two people from different cultures meet and the results are not only powerful for them but also their respective people. Raven Starr is a bestselling erotic romance author, and her blast of espresso to a traditonal fantasy story is arousing as it is entertaining.

Blurb: In a Hartslst, a risky world, two people from different tribes fall in love. Kaali, from the East Falls Turtle Clan, falls hard for Sar’tac, a northlander. Only once yearly, or if in dire need, do the two clans ever meet. But from the moment Kaali saw Sar’tac her heart belonged to him. How long would she wait to see him again? Will another love steal her heart?

Get a copy of SEPARATE BUT TOGETHER for less than a $1.00 today.

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31 Days of Steamy Mocha: Jeanie and Jayha's Viva la Revolution!

Here we are, the final day of our month long celebration. We figured we'd go out with BANG! And nothing says Ka-POW like Jeanie Johnson and Jayha Leigh.

To send us on our way, they've given us a great big REVOLUTION. Check. It. OUT! These fireworks are going to explode!!

Blurb: Andoni “M.O.C.H.A.” Serranías was the type of man who begged someone to beat the ever-loving shit out of him…or hump his face off. Since the day she met him, Revolution couldn’t figure out which desire called to her more. Of course, she said that while masturbating to both fantasies equally. It wasn’t until later that she decided to have her cake and eat it too: she was going to hump M.O.C.H.A.’s face off and then kill him.

Revolution Buckland had no idea that she was going to be his wife…and have his babies, which is exactly why Andoni didn’t tell her. The voluptuous woman had a mean right cross and penchant for making off with jets, which meant there was a good chance she could kill him and dump his body someplace where it’d never be found. Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to bait her at every turn, but he couldn’t help it, because an angry Revolution was a beautiful sight indeed.

While ducking her barbs and blows, all he could think was, “Vive la Revolution!”

Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance

Purchase link: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-vivalarevolution-895180-340.html

Thank you to all of our participants, authors, and supports during our anniversary celebration. You truly made it fun and definitely steamy...

Nicole Kurtz

Why I love Steampunk

Valjeanne Jeffers is an editor and author. Below she discusses the definition of steampunk and why you should be reading it. If you want to try a steampunk title, Mocha Memoirs Press recommends, MOSES: THE CHRONICLES OF HARRIET TUBMAN by Balogun.
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(reblogged from The State of Black Science Fiction 2012)
I love fantasy. I know fantasy/SF is pretty popular these days, but I fell in love long before the genre became the “flyest kid at the school.” There’s just something wonderful about escaping into a world (whether through reading or writing) that’s so different from everyday mundane reality― a reality of responsibilities and bills― into a dimension where you still have the same crap to deal with. . . but now you can became a creature with preternatural strength. How cool is that? It gives you a decided edge over everyday reality, or at the very least makes it more interesting.

I wrote my first novel, Immortal, with these thoughts in mind. The beginning of Immortal was the story of a young woman, Karla, living on the planet Tundra. Karla has ordinary, everyday struggles. But she has a little―no a big―edge. Immortal weaves a tale of portals. Time travel. Werewolves. Daemons. By the time Immortal III is thrown into the mix, vampires have joined the plot. Tell me, what’s not to love? Fantasy also lends itself incredibly well to “what if?” scenarios. As in: what if there was no racism? What if there was no poverty? What if folks came together and decided to change the world. . .?

For those of you who haven’t guessed it yet, I also like to mix genres. In fact, that’s the other thing I love so much about fantasy; it blends so easily with other genres, like horror and science fiction. But if fantasy is my first love, I’d have to say steampunk is my second.

From the outrageous clothing. . . bustles, corsets and knickers, to the outrageous machinery. . . airships, steam-trains, muskets. This is a genre I just can’t stay away from. Steampunk is a glorious mixture of other fantasy/SF genres. And the settings and plots reflect this― plots set in the post-civil war. Victorian England. Post-Apocalyptic America. Or a futuristic world, as in my steampunk story: The Switch. Steampunk, like any other fantasy subgenre is also anybody’s game when it comes to “what if?” plots, settings and costumes. Which of course is why I’m so head over heels in love with it.

What Does Intimacy Mean to You?

Mocha Memoirs Press Author,  Shiree McCarver, is a bestselling author of interracial erotic romance. Surfice to say she knows a thing or two about intimacy. In this blog post, the successful Shiree, wants to her from you.


You can also read Shiree's Beauty & the Geek: Zola's Magic Touch, and see firsthand how her charcters become intimate and more.
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"Be open and honest with your partner and ask them. If you can't talk about any and everything with your lover, then who can you talk to? Why are you allowing this person open access to the most personable part of you?"

Dictionary def: in·ti·macy - the condition of being intimate. An instant of being intimate.

Okay so I go and look up intimate...

Dictionary def: in·ti·mate - marked by close acquaintance, association, or familiarity.

 Relating to or indicative of one's deepest nature: intimate prayers. Essential; innermost: the intimate structure of matter. Marked by informality and privacy: an intimate nightclub. Very personal; private: an intimate letter. Of or involved in a sexual relationship. A close friend or confidant.

Huh? You notice how they used the word to explain the word? Tell me, how is that an explanation? They also say "of or involved in a sexual relationship,” yet they list close acquaintance, association, or familiarity.

Honestly do any of those provoke intimacy in you? I mean, I might desire sex with a close acquaintance, association or familiarity, but it doesn't mean I would tell them my most intimate secrets and desires and if I can't do that, I wouldn't waste time sexing them when I can safely pleasure myself without the risk. In my opinion, if someone is in my bed as my chosen lover, I FEEL that I can trust to tell them how I FEEL without them being hurt, angry or upset. Even if they are a bad lover?

Hey, it's not an insult and I'm not insulted by the fact that being a bad lover means I'm admitting I'm not an expert at making love or maybe I just don't have the experience in "making love" as to having sex. Oh yes, there is a difference and for those that just have "good sex" and never experience the other...you are still an inexperienced virgin...just one with skills. If you find having sex an easy thing to do, then you need to know the differences. Sex without emotions or feelings is EASY to jump into, with even strangers, acquaintances or friends.

However, sex with emotions is very hard to do because now you have this urge for more. More everything……more time together, more laughter, more sharing, more tears, more of a commitment and more stability; most of all, more talking.

If you wondering if a woman loves you, then notice how much she talks to you. She chatters more when her emotions are involved and men intend to be more intent in what you have to say because he wants to know everything about you when his emotions are involved.

No they still aren't that talkative ladies, so stop hounding them to give as much as they get. You will know when he sets aside the cell phone, computer, playing with the X-Box, or watching television to actually spend time with you/listen to you, it’s his way of being a mutual chatterbox.

Now Sex and Intimacy...
For me an orgasm is a gift that keeps on giving. It’s my body's way of reminding me that regardless of what is going on around me, today was intended that I live a life of love, laughter and pleasure without fear of the one I share this moment with. If you fear telling the person in your bed the truth, they shouldn't be in your bed sharing in that gift because it's like being given a present you have no use for nor want. We all know what
happens to those presents don't we?

Pleasure can often be abused, because like anything else it can be used to temporarily fulfill the emptiness that plagues when you lack a loving intimate relationship. I wonder how many people are honest about how lonely they feel after sex with the person they are with or how sad it feels when you have feelings but when the sex is over, your partner all of a sudden has something to do, has somewhere to be, or bluntly reminds
YOU that you have something to do or somewhere else to be. How many of you have been in a situation where all of a sudden someone that couldn't get enough of you just moments ago can't get rid of you fast enough when it's time for everything that should be GOOD and fulfilling is about to begin?

I mean, have we truly forgotten how intimate sex is? I admit I enjoy watching porn but it doesn't mean I want to live my life that way. I understand how people have itches that need to be scratched and for some any scratch from anyone or thing will do so I'm not judging. But don't fool yourself by pretending there is no difference between good sex and sex that is good because you are intimate and in love with that person.

There is a HUGE difference.

When you love a person, you talk to them in those most intimate ways about the most intimate things because that is what love is all about. Take advantage of the pillow talk. A lot can be covered during the times of soft touches and adoring kisses. So many people have a routine to lovemaking. Strip, a little oral, a little tit sucking, crotch rubbing and then stick it in and go and guess what? Not one word is spoken. There
is no intimacy in that; you might as well have picked up Joe Blow or Susie Slow for the night. At least they will talk dirty and pretend like you are rocking the hell out of their world.

There is a time for quick loving but it has to balance with the times that you lie down on the pillows naked, turned face to face while holding hands or hands touching while you talk to each other. Use this time to notice the smiles that are sometimes rare during these stressful times. Really listen……not only to their voice, but also what your lover is actually saying. Let them know you are listening, not because you feel you have to, but
because you actually find joy in being able to share the moment and because of the fact that they trust you enough to talk to you at all.

Intimacy to me? It's everything that is before, after and during sex.

Reewww.shireemccarver.com

Ten Lessons That Star Trek Can Teach You About Writing

Michael LaRocca is not only an extremely talented editor at Mocha Memoirs Press. He's also an extremely talented author. Check out his latest release, Lazarus: A Gary Drake Mystery. It's availabe in print and e-book formats. Get a copy today and see how Michael uses these 10 lessons himself.

Michael describes below how Star Trek can teach you a lot about writing.


1) Readers Matter
In the first STAR TREK film, Gene Roddenberry finally had the budget to create all the footage he wanted of ENTERPRISE just sitting there, looking real purty, and by gum he was gonna use it all. I personally don’t mind watching all those minutes, 22 or 187 or whatever it was, but most folks think that’s too much. If most of your readers say something needs to be changed or added or deleted, listen to them.

2) Characters Matter
 When the second pilot was filmed, it was already pre-ordained that William Shatner was the star. Since Spock was the only character from the first pilot to also appear in the second pilot, it was safe to assume Leonard Nimoy was a costar. Who else? Well, McCoy and the chemistry just kinda happened.

When I write, character comes first, and plot etc. unfold from there. Even if you start from some other place, character always matters. In the end, nothing happens unless it happens to somebody, and that somebody is who your reader cares about regardless of species.

When you write, have some sort of plan, and have some control, but be flexible. If your story’s telling you to go in a certain direction, listen to it. That might be your characters talking to you. (And yes, I know you made them all up. Don’t bother me with details.)

3) Turn Weaknesses into Strengths
 I can’t remember if I wrote about this in CONUNDRUM or ENIGMA, so be safe and read both. Why did ENTERPRISE have a transporter? Because it wasn’t in the TV show’s budget to film launch and landing sequences for shuttlecraft on various and sundry new planets every week. This forced the writers to invent the transporter, and that’s some seriously cool shit. STAR TREK wouldn’t be STAR TREK without it.

4) Fuck Grammar
Okay, not really. Speaking as your editor, please don’t fuck grammar. But you can break any rule you want if you have a good reason. Try to never break a rule from ignorance. But if you’ve got a reason, go for it. That’s how we as authors change the language.

Why did Shakespeare invent 10% of the words he used? Because if he’d invented 20% or 50% he’d have confused too many of his viewers.

Meanwhile, the “rule” about splitting infinitives is totally bogus. “To boldly go” is a perfectly good English phrase. In Latin, it isn’t possible to split an infinitive because “to go” (for example) is one word. You can’t write “to boldly go” in Latin because “to go” is only one word. Someone decided English grammar should follow Latin grammar — that sounds like some of Noah Webster’s shit — and was soundly shouted down for being too stupid to live. Feel free to boldly split infinitives like James Brown split tight pants. Then jump back and kiss yourself.

5) Wishful Thinking Is Allowed
In the STAR TREK future, everybody quotes long passages of Shakespeare from memory. If I say it like that, it might sound hard to believe, but in the context of the STAR TREK world, it fits. It’s allowed. Dammit, people should quote Shakespeare from memory, just like that cockatiel I taught when his humans were away. I never could teach him context, though.

6) It’s Not About The Money
Okay, sometimes it was about the money. But in roughly two years of the original show and roughly ten years of Next Generation, it wasn’t about the money. In some of the films, including some of the stinkers, it wasn’t about the money.

I’ve always said that you should write what you’d like to read, then find readers who share your interests. Yep, that’s what Gene Roddenberry did. He believed in world peace, racial and gender integration, trying to shake off old prejudices to the best of our limited abilities, freedom of religion and non-religion, gay rights, cooperation rather than killing, the Prime Directive of non-interference in viable developing cultures, war as a last and not a first resort, and seeing just how much political and religious commentary he could slip past the censors, who weren’t as bright as the average STAR TREK viewer.

Did he really believe in the cashless society? If a “credit” or a “quatloo” walks like a dollar bill and quacks like a dollar bill… oh, wait, that’s not Roddenberry, that’s Terrell Owens. Never mind.

7) YOU Are The WriterRemember when I said to listen to your readers? That doesn’t mean you have to always agree with them. When Gene Roddenberry’s vision put him at odds with the majority, he went with his vision. We should all do that. Such judgment calls are what separate the great writers from the merely ordinary. And to pull all that off within the confines of a 1960s TV show is nothing short of extraordinary. You could do far worse than to follow his example.

8 ) Choose Your Battles
That’s what Roddenberry had to do every time he butted heads with TV executives. It’s what I do as an author when I disagree with my editor, and what I expect an author to do when I’m his or her editor. “I’ll say Starfleet pays its officers in credits if you let the white guy kiss the black girl.” Or whatever.

9) Too Many Sequels Can Sour Anything
I shouldn’t end on such a downer, should I? Too bad. But at least Paramount waited for Roddenberry to die before they destroyed what he created.

10) Posterity Matters
How long has it been since Captain Kirk first flexed those biceps and paused in funny places during his speechifying? It’s been over 40 or 45 years since Roddenberry started writing STAR TREK, and we’re still talking about it. That’s what we write for. I don’t want you to love my shit now and forget it tomorrow. A novel is not a damn blog or a tweet. Write something timeless. Something to piss off future generations the way it does your immediately family, something teachers can torture students with, something that just will not fucking die.

31 Days of Steamy Mocha: Paula Alexander's Cup of Joe

WEEK FOUR has arrived and we're still excited about our anniversary. Mocha Memoirs Press seeks to continue to offer splendid flavors in a variety of genres. This week is no exception.

We're proud to have new author, Paula Alexander, to our MMP family. Her story, A Cup of Joe, pairs Kate, an independent older woman with an exciting rodeo, MBA degreed, and younger Joe.

There isn't a contest winner today. This is the last day for the contest so be sure to post!!

Blurb: Kate, owner of Kate’s Bar and Grill loves when the rodeo comes to town. When Little Joe McCoy returns to town, Kate realizes she’s missing something in her life, and the lingering ache of loss had kept her prisoner for too long. When Joe, younger, handsome, and delicious, Joe, comes back to help her close up, Kate wonders if he wants more than just a cup of Joe.

Genre: Contemporary erotic romance
Purchase link: http://mochamemoirspress.com/a-cup-of-joe/
Price: $1.00

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Why You Should Read a Mocha Memoirs Press title

by Nicole Givens Kurtz

You know how when you visit an airline, the stewards often remark about how they know you have a choice of airlines and they thank you—sometimes with enthusiasm, sometimes with apathy—for selecting them?

This isn’t that type of blog.

That doesn’t mean we don’t know you have a chose of electronic publishers—you do. We are also extremely grateful to you for purchasing our titles, and reading our great stories.

This blog post is for those who may be on the fence, getting terrible wedgies, because they can’t decide whether or not to try one of our titles.

Of course you should!

You, of course, don’t have to take our word for it. I liken trying a new author, book series, or musician to trying new foods. Sure, the meal may look questionable, and granted you may not understand all the ingredients or the name of it, but all of that is window dressing and labeling. What really counts is how it tastes.

So, I'm asking you on this July 4th, our nation's birthday to embrace your spirit of revolution, rebellion, and freedom to do what this country's forefathers did--take a chance. Try one of our titles today.

Without risk there can be no reward.

And there's no reward like discovering a new series, author, or publisher you absolutely enjoy. Happy Fourth!

A Sneak Peek at Tom Olbert's LONG HAUL

http://mochamemoirspress.com/long-haul/

In the near future, physicists have stumbled on a way to channel dark energy, making it possible to instantaneously travel anywhere in the world by passing through parallel universes as they intersect with our continuum at given points in time and space. Daredevil truck drivers like the protagonist, Garth Jenkins and his trucking partner Sally Drake, earn hazardous duty pay by trucking cargo through perilous alternate universes often infested with deadly alien predators. Garth and Sally are offered a mysterious and possibly illegal contract to deliver some unknown cargo to unknown buyers in another universe. En route to the transdimensional drop-off point, their truck is hijacked by Keira Takahashi, a beautiful and radical young college student who claims they are carrying a nuclear device and are being used by evil alien forces intent on destroying another universe.

At first, Garth and Sally dismiss the young woman’s story as madness, until hostile aliens in undead human bodies make an attempt on her life. Finding themselves on the run and not knowing whom they can trust, Garth and Sally embark on a crooked road through dangerous alien universes and remote time periods. Finally escaping to Cal Tech University and confirming Keira’s story, Garth and Sally must decide whether to get themselves to safety or risk their lives to save a universe. They choose the latter. Arriving in the alien home universe, a barren landscape under a dim purple sun, Garth and Sally turn the tables on the evil company and their murderous alien clients. After a fierce battle, the alien dimension portal is destroyed and Garth and Sally narrowly escape.

Garth and Sally join up with an underground trucking network and devote themselves to fighting the evil corporation.