A Short Bite With... Jan Graham

As many of my readers will know, I'm one of the authors from the Edible Delights Anthology Volume Two. As some may not know, I've been there since the beginning. So I'm taking great pleasure in hosting the authors of volume one here!

Today, I'd like to introduce you to Jan Graham.

For some strange reason food and sex seem to be the perfect match. I’m not sure why. Is it because as women we love both, could it be that some food is so divinely decadent, like the chocolate moose cake at my local café, that it makes you moan in delight. In my romance writers mind, I like to think that it’s because food is something that can be shared with people you love. It’s a leveler between men and women. Your man may not be able to say I love you so much, baby, but he can give you a box of chocolates, cook you a barbeque or take you out for a meal. Of course I’d prefer him to lay the chocolates out over my naked body and then eat them off me to express his love, or lather me with chocolate body paint and start licking. J

Where is this crazy woman going with all this nonsense, I hear you ask. Well it’s a lovely intro for the reason I’m blogging at Imogene’s today, Edible Delights Vol 1. A group of Aussie authors recently got together and decided to write stories that involved food. Of course, we all write erotic romance, so that instantly makes the food stories we composed decadent and erotic tales of love, served with a generous dollop of whipped cream, of course.

My novella, All You Can Eat, features in volume one (there are three volumes in total). I couldn’t decide on what food I’d highlight in the book, so decided to let readers have it all. All You Can Eat morphed into a smorgasbord of kinky food play that leads my hero and heroine to love.  To give you a hint at what it’s about here’s the books recipe.

Combine one sexy chef, a dominant food critic, and a generous splash of mistaken identity. Apply heat to create a deliciously erotic banquet for two.

I hope you enjoy the novellas included in the Edible Delights anthologies. Volume 1 is set to release this month, so keep a lookout for more updates on when it's available. The books are not only a great way to introduce yourself to some Australian authors you may not have heard of before, you could even pick up a few sensual food recipes to spice up your life along the way.

All You Can Eat Blurb:

As a Chef, Katrina McGregor knows she can’t please everyone so when a prominent food critic slams her signature dish she’s faced with a choice. Crumble under the weight of one man’s opinion or use it as motivation to change. Katrina’s curiosity peaks when she’s invited to trial her new menu at the critic’s country estate. Why has he taken such an interest in her career and is food the only thing that Conrad Fletcher has on his mind?

Conrad Fletcher refuses to be held responsible for Katrina assuming his elderly father and namesake is the critic who condemned her food. If his plan to seduce the voluptuous little chef who captured his attention weeks earlier succeeds, not only will Katrina have a critically acclaimed menu, she’ll also be in his arms and home forever. The only thing that threatens to prevent successfully achieving that goal—her reaction to a simple case of mistaken identity.

For more information about Jan Graham and her books check out the following sites.

http://www.jangraham.com.au  

http://jangraham.blogspot.com/

http://facebook.com/JanGrahamAuthorpage
http://twitter.com/jan_graham

Author Bio:

Jan Graham describes herself in many ways. She is a full time writer, friend, submissive, orphan, widow, aunt, and sometimes, a wild child. Despite any hiccups the universe may throw at her, she believes in
experiencing everything life has to offer and being the best person she can be. Jan recently moved to Newcastle, NSW, Australia, where she spends her time writing erotic romance. Her writing falls under a variety of genres including BDSM, contemporary romance, romantic suspense and paranormal romance.

Jan has often been quoted as saying: "I am glad to finally give the characters that swirl around my head on a constant basis, the opportunity to put themselves down on paper and I hope they entertain my readers as much as they amuse me." 

News!

Yeah I seem to be missing in action a lot at the moment.  So what have I been up to?

Lots, I tell you.  Lots!

Where to start?  Okay ARRA - what a blast!  Honestly, it was so much fun.  I got to meet up with other Authors I chat to a lot.

Khloe Wren, Imogene Nix and Georgiana Louis - all trying to outgrin each other.  Lovely ladies I am so proud to call my friends.  Yes, we did misbehave just a little bit.

Hazel Gower, Angela Castle and Kate Belle shared a table, so you can imagine the hilarity that went with the main evening.  Kate did mention something about the wine...

And of course, the lovely Jan Graham was there too!  Hi Jan!

Did someone say group Author photo?  Haha Yes there was over 60 of us again attending.  So getting a group photo was like herding sheep.  They did, however, get there in the end!

I attended the author book signing (yes I was signing) and giving away Imogene Nix sleep masks, bookmarks and even mentos!  The New Author panel - most people laughed... *phew* and scored a few books to bring home and read.  (Well just one... five... okay twenty eight... including those I won and those I bought!) oh and the Keynote Address by Anne Gracie!  Oh my!!! Wish I could get hold of the video she ran.  Oestrogen ran like a river while that was on.

On a purely personal note, my oldest daughter was inducted as her schools Student Committee Secretary.  I know she'll do a good job.  Doesn't she look pleased with herself?

 Ah and my latest news.  I made my dozen!  Contracts that is :)  Today I received word that my near futuristic romance, Hesparia's Tears has been picked up by Total-E-Bound.  (The home of Blame The Wine, The Blood Bride and so on...)

I don't have any further information yet.  But here's the blurb:

What will happen when the past catches up?

Galan is from Hesparia, where the females are dying out.

Jessa has a past, one she hasn’t earned but cannot escape from.

What will happen when opportunity knocks?

Galan travels to earth, hoping to plead the case for Hesparia. He doesn’t expect Jessa or The Quickening.

Can he make the case for women to migrate to Hesparia? Can they trust one another with their hearts. And can Jessa really escape her past?

 Hesparia’s Tears.

I've also still got one title out on submission - Loving Memories (A romantic suspense)... and one getting closer to submission - A Soldier... My Soldier.  It needs some tweaks and work... but it should be ready soon.  It will be my first "real contemporary" with no paranormal elements or suspense or sci fi... lol, I'm sure you get the idea.

Yes, for all I've been quiet, I have been busy!

Okay, time to sign off for now!  Have fun, be good and if you can't, well... enjoy yourself!

Imogene

Happy Australia Day with Jan Graham

Wow! Happy Australia Day!!

What better way to celebrate than to introduce another Australian author , and as we are getting to know some of the authors from Secret Cravings, well it just made sense. There are a few of us now :)

So without any further interruptions...please welcome...

Jan Graham

Welcome Jan!

Could you give me a brief rundown of your currently available items with Secret Cravings?

Hi Imogene, like you I have a release coming out on 3rd February 2012 from Secret Cravings. It’s not my first book, but is my first one with Secret Cravings. The Cougar Club is a novella from the Hot Flash range of books. It’s the first in a series of novellas called the Sydney Cougar Series. All of the stories in this series are based in Sydney, Australia, which is where I’m from.

1. What is your main genre, and how did you get started in it?

I mostly write contemporary erotic romance, my Wylde Shore Series (which unfortunately isn’t with Secret Cravings) has both suspense ménage, and BDSM themes to it, still in a contemporary setting and The Sydney Cougar series (releasing through Secret Cravings) is straight out contemporary. All of the books are quite erotic, so the heat level for them is pretty high.

2. Okay, what is the most exotic location you have written in? And how did that come about?

The most erotic location? Lol…well I would have to say, my bed, at home in Sydney. Although when you’re alone in a bed covered with a laptop and notes scribbled on bits of paper, it’s not really erotic. I must add I don’t usually write in bed. J

3. Have you got a current WIP and can you give us any hints as to what we will find within the book?

I have two current works. The first is the third story in the Sydney Cougar Series, as yet untitled. It’s about Mark Dean, who readers will have a bit of a idea about from the other two stories in the series, and the older woman he falls in love with. The other work in progress is the third book in the Wylde Shore Series, it focuses on Mercedes, she’s been a minor character in the previous two books, and her struggle to accept the changes she needs to make in order to make it work with the man of her dreams. As always there will be a bit of a crime twist and lots of BDMS action.

4. Coffee, Tea, Hot Chocolate or something stronger? And why?

Usually coffee first thing of a morning, to wake me up and give me a kick start for the day. Then I change to tea which can be green, herbal or regular black tea, depending on my mood and what I feel like at the time. I think I prefer tea because it’s more refreshing and give me less of a buzz than coffee.

5. What was the hardest scene you have ever written, and why do you think it was difficult? (emotionally for you and/or your character)

The most difficult scene I’ve ever written was in my first novel Finding Angel, the main character, Angel, had been through a severe trauma, and the scene where she first let’s her two Doms know how she got certain scars on her body was very emotional for me. I’d done a lot of research into the effect of PTSD on female victims of crime, as well as drawing on my previous life, where I used to work in welfare, so I’d met women that had suffered trauma like Angel. By the time I wrote the scene Angel basically came to life, embodying many of the women I’d worked with, so I cried. In fact I howled. I don’t know how I even saw the screen sometimes. I think the emotion came out so strongly because as a professional working with survivors of crime, you tend to channel your empathy, but don’t show much other emotion in order to help your client. So I had years of unshed tears built up in relation to the people I’d worked with, and it all flowed out as I wrote the scene.

6. If you had the opportunity to try something in your books, what would it be?

I’m going to answer this question from two perspectives. Something I’d like to try writing about and put in one of my books would be M/M or F/F romance story line. I’m not sure that I’d have the knowledge to do a same sex storyline because it’s not something I’m familiar with. Even though I have GLT friends I’m not in the mindset of how the relationship structure works, whether there are intrinsic differences to straight relationships, particularly in relation to a M/M setting.

If you’re meaning is there something I’ve written or read in a book that I’d like to try doing then the answer is yes. I love to read paranormal romance so I’d like to have a relationship with a sexy vampire or werewolf, or maybe both at the same time, we could do a whole ménage thing…lol. J

7. If you could invite 3 of your characters to a dinner party, who would you choose and what do you want to learn from them?

Well I’d prefer to have a party and invite them all, but if I had to stick to three they would be…this is nearly too hard to decide. I think Trudy from The Cougar Club because she’s outspoken and tells you exactly how she feels, despite of the consequences. I’d like to learn that skill from her. Steve from Finding Angel, for no other reason than I adore him and would enjoy his company and his sense of humor. And finally, I think I’d invite Zeke from The Cougar Club because he could tell some great stories about what he’s witnessed at Rubens (the club featured in the story) and I might even get some pointers on how to attract a younger man into my life. J

8. What would you do differently on your road to becoming published?

I think I’d have a larger completed body of work. When I got the contracts for both Finding Angel and The Cougar Club I had lots of work in progress, but no more manuscripts that were completed. So I’m faced with having a longer delay between releases now than I would have like. I’m hoping it won’t frustrate readers who like my writing too much, but I would have preferred to have books in each series released closer together.

9. You are going on a holiday and can only take 5 things with you. What would you pick and why?

I’d take my eBook reader, loaded with lots of great books, because I love to read. My camera, so I’d have lots of visual evidence of where I’ve been and what I’ve done, unless it’s something incriminating, then I wouldn’t take a picture of it. J A sexy lead man from my favorite book or movie, I think people could guess why I’d take him along. Of course there’d be no pictures of those activities…lol. The fourth thing would be a change of sexy underwear, because it’s essential and I’d hate sexy man to see the same thing everyday. Finally, I’d take a toothbrush, again because it’s essential, and I wouldn’t want to kiss sexy man without having nice fresh breath.

10. If you could give a piece of advice to a reader who wants to write a book, what would it be?

I‘d say, writing the book is the easy part. As well as the writing, you need to ensure you understand the publishing and promotion side of what authors do, and be prepared to be disciplined with your time because the non-writing stuff can distract you from actually doing the thing you set out to do…write.

You can catch Jan Graham at Website: http://www.jangraham.com.au/ , Blog http://jangraham.blogspot.com/ , Facebook http://facebook.com/JanGrahamAuthorpage and Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/jan_graham .

Their current releases include…Finding Angel from Siren Publishing, and the soon to be released novella The Cougar Club From Secret Cravings Publishing.

COMPETITION!

Jan has kindly offered a copy of The Cougar Club as a prize to one lucky reader when it’s released on 3rd February. So, in order to win, name their most recent release with Secret Cravings. Prizes will be drawn randomly on the 31st January 2012.