A Perfect Dinner

Viki Lyn is stirring up a mix of good things in the kitchen today. Pull up a chair and make yourself comfortable.

Perfect Salmon Filet
1 salmon filet per person
olive oil
lemon juice
salt
freshly ground pepper
herbs and/or spices of your preference

Set oven to 350°F.

Place salmon filet in pan and rub with olive oil. Squeeze on lemon juice. Spice to your liking. I use dill, salt and pepper.

Place in oven for 20 minutes.

All oven temperatures are different so give and take a few minutes, and experiment. The trick is not to overcook the fish. The salmon is done when it flakes easily when tested with a fork.

Here’s a lovely adult beverage to enjoy while your salmon bakes.

Angel Face

(drink recipe from Diffords Guide)

1 shot of dry gin
1 host of calvados
1 shot of apricot brandy liqueur

Add ingredients to a shaker filled with ice. Shake well. Pour Angel Face into a martini glass and garnish with a very thin apple slice.





Here's a little from my latest book to enjoy with your Angel Face Cocktail.

Kenneth believes everything—even love—can be solved logically, until he meets a flower child who challenges him at every turn.

Kenneth Hailey, an uptight conservative mathematician, believes he's in control. After all, every problem can be solved in a deliberate and logical manner. Even love. When his fiancée dumps him for his best friend, he leaves Manhattan for the West Coast. What better place to forget his past. It's 1967, and San Francisco is the place to turn on, tune in, and drop out.

But is he ready for Rose Red?

Rose Red, a free-spirited flower child, challenges Kenneth, thrusting him into her world of love-ins, protest rallies, and rock concerts. Kenneth finds himself falling down a rabbit hole, hanging on for dear life.

Old habits die hard, and he retreats, but Rose Red has other plans for him.

Formula For Love is available at:
Musa Publishing
Amazon

What inspires Viki Lyn is the reality that romance between lovers is a hope more than a guarantee. Her stories are an eclectic mix of contemporary and paranormal, but it is always romance that drives the story to its final happily-ever-after.

Learn more about Viki Lyn on her website and blog. Stay connected on Facebook and Twitter. Check out her bookshelf and be sure to Join Viki’s Street Team!

Viki is also an award winning author of male/male paranormal and contemporary romances. You can find all of her books at the following sites: Amazon, All Romance Ebooks and GLBT Bookshelf.

HOT DAMN!

I am excited to announce Musa Publishing has just release my four Magnificent Men of Munich books in a box set and priced at $2.99.

Icy German reserve melts with hot-blooded American passion.

Heated Negotiations Book 1
Mergers and negotiations are not just for the boardroom, especially when things heat up high over the Atlantic.

Travel agency owner Teddi Howard is Hell in high heels when she jumps a plane to Munich. Her goal—strangle the German tour operator who reneged on their exclusive contract.

Winter Games Book 2
As the games heat up, the stakes grow higher, and Lonnie must decide whether to play along or leave her heart out in the cold.

Lonnie Copley may be a genius, but not when it comes to her personal life. A series of wrong turns puts her far from reality and the German autobahn. The last thing she wants on the eve of a snowstorm is to be dangling at the edge of an Austrian mountain in need of rescue—especially by a leather-clad giant with Johnny Depp eyes.

Perfect Lie Book 3
A seedling of doubt will unravel even a perfect lie.

After two ex-husbands and a con artist, Francine Daniels has had it with men. Her life is finally the way she wants it — successful and complete. At least she thinks so until a working vacation in Munich brings her face to face with a sexy German hotelier who sees right through her brash exterior and makes her sizzle with his every touch.

Yesterday’s Lovers Book 4
Isabella Carrington has never wanted for anything her entire pampered life -- except for love.

No matter how many designer items she buys or men she conquers, Isabella Carrington never seems to find what she's looking for. When she meets the one man in the world completely unaffected by her charms, she is determined to have him, even if it means a dunk in the Grand Canal.

Warning: This eBook contains language, content, images, and scenes that depict profanity, violence, sexuality/sexual relations or other content that is intended for mature adult readers. This eBook is meant only for adults as defined by the laws of the country or region where you made your purchase. If you are under the age of maturity, if adult material offends you, or if it is illegal to read, view, purchase, or own such material in your community please be warned that this eBook may contain objectionable content. Store your eBook carefully so that it cannot be accessed by younger readers.

To read more on this book or purchase, please click a vendor's name Musa Publishing - Amazon.

To read excerpts from my other erotic romances, please click a vendor's name Musa Publishing or Amazon.

I'll be back Wednesday with a new recipe. Until then...

Happy Reading!

Sloane

Eggs Not Quite Benedict

I'm delighted to have author James Hartley in the kitchen preparing a new twist on an old recipe. The stove is all yours, Jim.

Hi Sloane. Thanks for having me out and giving me full rein. Now tie on your apron and let's get cooking!

Everyone has heard of Eggs Benedict, that pearl of the Breakfast Brunch, but has anyone ever tried to make them? No way! First, they call for poached eggs, and who knows how to do that? Fried eggs, fine, but poached? And Hollandaise Sauce, well, real chefs know how to make that, but I don't think you can go down to the local grocery store and buy a jar of it, nope. So let's think of something else.

Suppose we settle for the eggs fried, then scrounge around in the fridge for some other kind of sauce. Like, maybe, spaghetti sauce. That's Italian, so we're going to call this one:


Eggs Benedito
1 English Muffin
Butter or margarine for muffin
2 slices Canadian Bacon (optional)
2 eggs
2-4 tbsp. spaghetti sauce (leftover is OK)
2-4 tbsp. ground or shredded Parmesan (or other Italian) cheese

Split and toast English muffin, spread with butter or margarine.

Lightly fry Canadian Bacon (if using it), place one slice on each half of muffin.

Fry eggs, over medium, then place one on each half of muffin. Top eggs with spaghetti sauce and cheese.

Serves one.

But then one day we were out of spaghetti sauce. A little more scrounging yielded a jar of Salsa, well, that sounded good. Being on the Mexican side, this one gets the name:

Eggs Bandito
1 English Muffin
Butter or margarine for muffin
2 slices Canadian Bacon (optional)
2 eggs
2-4 tbsp. Salsa (Mild, medium, or hot, your choice)

Split and toast English muffin, spread with butter or margarine.

Lightly fry Canadian Bacon (if using it), place one slice on each half of muffin.

Fry eggs, over medium, then place one on each half of muffin. Top eggs with Salsa.

Serves one.

A good book is perfect with a good breakfast. Here's a little from Jim's speculative fiction book for your reading pleasure.

Stories from one end of the universe to the other, and off into the realm of Faerie, too.

A collection of Fantasy and SF short stories. Space travel, time travel, aliens. Witches, wizards, ghosts, vampires. Oh, yes, and a bit of a look at what happens when the paranormal impinges on high school romance.

To read an excerpt from Worlds Away and Worlds Aweird please click here.

James Hartley is a former computer programmer. Originally from northern New Jersey, he now lives in sunny central Florida. He has published a fantasy novel, "Teen Angel," and stories in Illusion's Transmitter, Written Word Online, Clonepod, Every Day Fiction, Lorelei Signal, Beyond Centauri, Raygun Revival, and the "Desolate Places", "Strange Mysteries", "Book of Exodi" and "Christmas in Outer Space" anthologies.

He is currently working on a new novel. He is a member of IWOFA and the Dark Fiction Guild.

Learn more about James Hartley on his website and blog.

NEW RELEASE for DANIEL AUSEMA

Please allow me to introduce you to phenomenal steampunk author Daniel Ausema. Dan has created Spire City and a world of entertaining characters that bring the serial to life. The latest addition is Mint's Arrival, Episode 13.

What can you do when a steampunk mad genius targets you with a deadly serum? Fight back.

Spire City is home to mighty machines of steam power and clockwork, and giant beetles pull picturesque carriages over cobbled streets, but there is a darker secret behind these wonders. A deadly infection, created by a mad scientist, is spreading through the city, targeting the poor and powerless, turning them slowly into animals. A group of those infected by the serum join together to survive, to trick the wealthy out of their money, and to fight back.

Despite all their caution, Mint has tracked down the residents of the Weave to their neighborhood. Mingling threats with subtle promises to anyone who will betray the infecteds, he is coming closer and closer to discovering where they live. And now he may have kidnapped an innocent, uninfected child. The time has come for a real confrontation, but who will prevail? Find out in the climactic finale of Season One: Infected.

EXCERPT
With the shovel over one shoulder, she approached the coal.

The lantern light played over a figure seated on the pile, pointing a gun at her. Chels froze.

“Hello.”

Chels’s muscles twitched as she stared at the cold eyes. No, not possible. Not here. His gun didn’t waver.

“My name is Mint.”

The voice made it real. All the terror, the fear she’d felt each time she’d seen him. The sickening twist to her stomach when she recognized him at the coal seller’s. The months of wondering where he’d be, when he might find her next. It all came together, at first keeping her frozen, but then triggering her into motion. Chels threw the shovel at his face and ran the other way. Expecting to be shot down. Expecting him to surge to his feet and run after her. The shovel struck something soft and fell with a clatter. Mint cursed her. If he got a shot off, it made no noise and missed her fleeing form. As she passed through the door, she pulled the wheelbarrow across the entrance and didn’t look back. Mint’s swearing shifted to laughter, laughs that followed her, even with no sound of footsteps to accompany the noise.

BUY LINK

To read excerpts from the other episodes of Spire City or Daniel's other work, please click a vendor's name.
Musa Publishing - Amazon

Daniel Ausema is the creator of the Spire City serial fiction project. His short stories and poems have appeared in Penumbra, Daily Science Fiction, The Journal of Unlikely Stories, and many other places. He has worked as a journalist and educator and is currently a stay-at-home dad. He lives in Colorado, where May blizzards, September floods, and summer wildfires engage in a never-ending war.

Learn more about Dan on his website Twigs and Brambles.

A Delightful New Taste

Acclaimed Regency and contemporary suspense author Vonnie Hughes is in the kitchen with her wonderful dessert that serves 4 people and has only 3 ingredients.

Strawberry Marshmallow Delight

1 punnet (or carton) of strawberries
1 packet of small marshmallows
4 oz of thick whipped cream flavored with a couple of drops of vanilla

Wash and hull the strawberries. Sort into four equal quantities

Place in glass dishes like parfait dishes.

Very carefully melt 16-18 marshmallows and cool slightly.

Fold the whipped cream into the marshmallow mix and pour it all over the strawberries.

Easy, cheap, and quick.

Here's a peek into one of my historical romance books.

War brings together two injured people who are desperate to return home - at any cost.

Both of them are scarred by war; she because of the shattered men she nurses; he because of the loss of friends and the horrors he must endure daily.

Colwyn Hetherington has a chance to put it all behind him and return to England. Juliana Colebrook desperately wants to go to England to seek out her relatives. They take an almighty chance and travel together, setting in train a series of events that neither could have anticipated.

BUY LINKS: Amazon Paperback - Amazon E-Book - Smashwords

Vonnie Hughes is a New Zealander living in Australia. She loves animals and jogging. Vonnie writes Regencies and romantic suspense novels along with short stories.

All of Vonnie’s books are available on Amazon.

Learn more about Vonnie Hughes on her website and blog. Stay connected on Facebook and Goodreads.

INTRODUCING TOM OLBERT

Tom Olbert is an outstanding science fiction author with many books to his credit. Tom's latest release is Long Haul. I hope you enjoy the snippet below as much as I did his short story.

This trucker's haul takes him to the end of time and space, and beyond...

In the near future, physicists have stumbled on a way to open rifts into other universes, making it possible to transport goods and people anywhere in the world in nothing flat. The unscrupulous corporation that owns the new technology uses it to monopolize shipping worldwide

Thrill-seeking, death-defying truckers like veteran army driver Garth Jenkins and his gun-toting trucking partner Sally Drake earn hazardous duty pay by hauling rigs through perilous alien universes often infested with deadly alien monsters and many other dangers besides.

Garth and Sally accept a shady corporate contract to deliver some unknown cargo to an alien universe, no questions asked. It looks like an easy way to score big money. But, things go south fast when their truck is hijacked by the beautiful and mysterious Keira Takahashi, and they find themselves pursued by hideous alien parasites in undead human bodies.

On the run and in danger, Garth and Sally find themselves on a crooked cosmic road leading to bizarre other worlds and exotic time periods. They have one chance to unravel the company's twisted plot and save themselves. Whether they succeed or fail may decide the fate of a universe...

EXCERPT:
Three suns burned brightly in the sky, the Earth was breaking apart, and giant moths were attacking us. For most guys, that would describe a bad dream after a bender, but when you’re trucking a load on the long haul, that’s business as usual.

A big mama moth was comin’ straight at me, and she looked pretty damn pissed. Wing spread of about fifteen feet, jaws bigger than my head. Yeah, that’s how big they grow in the crazy gravity in this parallel ’verse.

I squeezed the trigger of my flamethrower. A long, twisting stream of fire snaked out and nailed that sucker right between its foot-wide sparklin’ silver eyes. The shrieking noise those mothers make when they burst into flames cuts to the marrow and curdles the blood. Kinda like my ex-wife when I’m late with a payment.

It was still coming straight for me. I felt the fire on my face as it swooped in. Those things go up like freakin’ gas balloons, y’know. As it passed over, I held onto the rearview side mirror, crouched down on the running board, and nudged that big flaming bug with the muzzle of the flamethrower. It passed on over, stinking, singed pieces of it falling onto my hair and coveralls.

“Damn!” I yelled at the top of my lungs as the truck hit the guard rail, sparks flying, metal screeching. My feet slipped off the running board, and the rearview started coming loose in my hand. I looked down. My feet dangled over a damn long drop into a kind of island floating in mid-air, a jungle landscape splitting apart, volcanoes erupting and lava bubbling up.

There was nothing but sky all around, filled with other floating islands, and swarms of those moth things were taking off from them. Behind that, the moon filled half the sky. It looked close enough to touch. I held on for dear life as the rubber screeched over the tar. My trucking partner, Sally Drake, was spinning that wheel blind, trying to keep the damn rig on the highway. A highway that was built in mid-air, stretching out from one floating island to the next. Don’t ask me how. Our road crews just paved over old highways that were already there. Built by aliens from another ’verse, maybe. Or by humans from our future. I just drive. I don’t ask questions.

To read more on Long Haul or Tom's other books please click a vendor.
Musa Publishing - Amazon

Tom Olbert lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts; cradle of the American Revolution, and home of University egg heads and kooky liberals. He loves it there. His work has most recently appeared in Musa Publishing. Previously in Mocha Memoirs Press, Eternal Press, and such anthologies as Ruthless, Fading Light: An Anthology of the Monstrous, Something Wicked Vol II, In the Bloodstream, and Torched.

When he’s not working or writing sci-fi or horror, Tom volunteers for causes he cares about. He comes from a most interesting family; his mother, Norma Olbert is currently self-publishing a biography of the life of Tom’s dad Stan Olbert, a retired MIT physicist and veteran of the Polish underground during WWII. Tom’s sister Elizabeth Olbert is an artist, art teacher, and avid lover of horses.

Learn more about Tom Olbert on his

A Hidden Side of Sandra Cormier

As well as being a talented author, Sandra Cormier is an excellent cook. Today we turn the blog over to Sandra and her latest creation, an amazing dish you and your family will enjoy. Take it away, Sandra!

Hi everyone, I made this recipe up on the fly, but wrote it down right afterward, because it ended up delicious!

Shrimp, Chicken & Salmon Risotto

1 cup chicken stock
1 boneless chicken breast
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. tomato paste
1 tbsp. chopped garlic
1 tsp. smoked paprika
250 g sliced mushrooms (8.8 ozs)
1 tbsp. butter
½ cup Arborio rice
A few threads saffron (optional)
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup raw peeled shrimp, medium to large size
1 boneless salmon filet
1 cup white wine
1 tbsp. cream cheese
salt & pepper to taste

Heat chicken stock in a small saucepan. Keep warm until needed.

Cut chicken into bite size pieces and sauté in olive oil. Stir in tomato paste and garlic while sautéing. Sprinkle with paprika and stir well.

Add mushrooms and butter. Sauté until mushrooms are tender.

Stir in rice, saffron, and chicken stock. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes. Check for sticking and stir if necessary.

Carefully drop in peas, shrimp, and salmon. Cook over medium-low heat until sauce has thickened. Be sure to stir occasionally. Drizzle white wine in every few minutes until you’ve added ¼ cup. The same method as if you were making risotto.

Blend in cream cheese and the rest of wine. Cover and simmer until the shrimp is pink and the salmon is flaky.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serves 4

Hope some of you try this!

For dessert how about a sexy romp with four strong women who know what they want.

Four women negotiate the narrows of friendship, marriage, motherhood, divorce and new love... until one man forces them to reveal their inner Bitch.

Hana, Paige, Connie and Pepper form a bond at Dempster Media, gathering in the break room for tea and toast. Later, they add a new venue - Paige's cabin in the woods.

Hana develops an easy friendship with Michael Preston, the company's dynamic CEO, but she really has her eye on hot editor Adam Wylde.

Connie's tastes run toward spectacular shoes and opera. Her jealous husband prefers NASCAR and hurtin' songs. When he leaves her for another woman, she hesitantly dips her manicured toes into single life, with the help of her fellow Bitches.

Pepper is the firecracker, careening from domestic drudgery to freedom, much to the chagrin of her friends. She seeks adventure and spice, but did she really need it after all?

Paige is the oldest - the mother hen, dispensing snippets of wisdom like herbs on a salad. Her life seems perfect, but not everything is as it seems.

When Adam finally asks Hana to experiment with BDSM, she panics and calls off the relationship, setting off a chain of events that brings the four women closer than ever.

To read an excerpt from The Toast Bitches please click a vendor's name.
Musa Publishing
Amazon

Sandra Cormier and her husband are new empty nesters, living north of Toronto, Canada with a cat that runs their lives.

Learn more about Sandra Cormier on her website and blog. Stay connected on Twitter.

S.S. Hampton Sr. Shines

S.S. Hampton Sr. is a longtime friend and a fun sparing partner. Stan's also a dynamite author. Today I'm excited to share his mainstream military fiction Better Than a Rabbit’s Foot that has earned a slew of 5 Star reviews.

Most soldiers take a lucky charm to war, but what if you don’t know what works for you?

Sergeant Jerry Stanton is a young soldier serving in the War in Iraq. He is a gunner on a gun truck nicknamed “Lucky Bear,” one of those tireless workhorses that escort supply convoys from camps in Kuwait to destinations scattered throughout the war-torn country. In the early morning hours before a scheduled mission, a dust storm howls across his camp and threatens to bring convoy operations to a halt. Worse, the camp receives word that a gunner from his company was killed by an IED while on a convoy mission. Unlike most soldiers, Jerry doesn’t carry a lucky charm, but upon receiving news of the death of the gunner, he begins to mull over/ponder the merit/virtue of a good luck charm—only, what would work for him? Perhaps mail call will provide the answer.

EXCERPT:
“People like a happy ending.”

Sergeant Jerry Stanton, an M4 Carbine slung across his chest, glanced at the dark form that trudged alongside him in the hot, early morning darkness. It was all the darker for the dust storm howling across the small camp, a dusty and sandy convoy support center, CSC, a mile south of the Iraqi border. He placed his hand over the tall Styrofoam coffee cup from the messhall that was open at all hours to serve those about to head out on a mission. He felt the itchy dust filtering down his back, along his arms, and coating his fingers.

In spite of his short time deployed to Kuwait, he had learned that dust storms were worse than sand storms; they were hot and itchy while the sand storms stung exposed skin and chilled the air. Breakfast was good but tasted flat, more due to the question of whether their mission would be a go or no-go because of the storm that roared out of the midnight darkness hours before.

“What?”

“People like a happy ending,” the soldier repeated. He was a gunner from another gun truck as the squat, venerable M1114 HMMWVs, which were never meant to be combat vehicles, were called. He held up a rabbit foot that spun frantically in the wind and added, “I like a happy ending. Especially now.” They rounded the corner of a small building, actually a renovated mobile home trailer with a covered wooden porch lit by a bare electric bulb. The gunner pointed to a small black flag, suspended from a log overhang, flapping furiously in the wind.

“Oh shit.” Jerry sighed as a cold chill raced through him.

“It’s been there for an hour or so,” the soldier said as he enclosed the rabbit’s foot within both hands and brought it up to his lips as if to kiss it. He glanced at Jerry. “I’m not superstitious, but still, I mean, there’s nothing wrong with having a lucky charm. You know?”

“Yeah.” Jerry nodded as he watched the twisting flag. “I know.”

The soldier looked once more at the black flag and then walked toward the shower and restroom trailers beyond which were the air-conditioned sleeping tents they called home…

BUY LINK

S.S. Hampton, Sr. is a full-blood Choctaw of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma with 13 wonderful grandchildren. He is also a published photographer and photojournalist. Stan retired on in 2013 from the Army National Guard with the rank of Sergeant First Class; he previously served in the active duty Army (1974-1985), the Army Individual Ready Reserve (1985-1995) (mobilized for the Persian Gulf War), and enlisted in the Nevada Army National Guard in October 2004, after which he was mobilized for Federal active duty for almost three years. Hampton is a veteran of Operations Noble Eagle (2004-2006) and Iraqi Freedom (2006-2007) with deployment to northern Kuwait and several convoy security missions into Iraq.

His writings have appeared as stand-alone stories and in anthologies from Dark Opus Press, Edge Science Fiction & Fantasy, Melange Books, Musa Publishing, MuseItUp Publishing, Ravenous Romance, and as stand-alone stories in Horror Bound Magazine, The Harrow, and River Walk Journal, among others.

In May 2014 he graduated from the College of Southern Nevada with an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Photography – Commercial Photography Emphasis. A future goal is to study for a degree in archaeology—hopefully to someday work in and photograph underwater archaeology (and also learning to paint).

Hampton can be found at:
Dark Opus Press - Edge Science Fiction & Fantasy Publishing - Melange Books -
Musa Publishing - MuseItUp Publishing - Goodreads Author Page
Amazon Author Page - Amazon UK