The Auntie Vamp series has a new release!

Celeste and her naughty historian

I have released the sequel to Vamping It Up: Everyone, please welcome back Celeste and Holly in Keeping It Up!

Back in Vamping It Up, Holly Barros gained confidence, lovers, and her life's work. Her aunt, Celeste Barros, taught the young woman the ways to self-power.

Five years later, Holly is on the edge of being confirmed as the North American representative of the Supernatural Council.
She's has grown in confidence and influence since her ex-fiancé dumped her five years ago. She is ready to take over her great-aunt’s position on the International Paranormal Council. She’s got influence, she’s got the ideas, and her lover/bodyguard, former Marine Lincoln Jones, has the moves to keep her safe.

Is Lincoln capable of keeping up the good work guarding Holly’s body?

Glamorous vampire Celeste Barros has never been afraid of risks, but she has played it safe in love for centuries. Now she is ready to retire from high-stakes international politics. Perhaps a new, more leisurely lifestyle could bring a new, fresh perspective on love. Young historian Grayson Brown is interested in more than a frolic with the much older woman.

Could Grayson be capable of Keeping It Up for Celeste?

Curse of the Spider Woman Cover!

Cover artist, Leah Suttle

Hooray! Today, I reveal not only my cover (and isn't it a beauty?), but also my release date for Curse of the Spider Woman.

You can purchase your James Bond meets Greek Mythology story (with consensual sex) on FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23rd!!

Here's the back cover blurb.

Due to die….

Former anti-terrorist agent Rachel Havelock has two weeks to live. She intends to spend that time reveling in sex, sin, and excess. But the world still needs the giant spider shifter.

But the Gods intervene…

.

Her ex-boyfriend, Jordan Tasos, is in hot pursuit of the terrorists who are exploiting the Greek financial crisis for profit. Only Rachel and her spider powers – silk, venom, and eight legs- can help him stop the Heirs of Socrates from destroying Greece.

Can they beat the clock and save the world’s oldest democracy? Or will Rachel fall victim to the Curse of the Spider Woman?

If you want to contact my genius cover artist, go to www.LeahSuttle.com.

Curse of the Spider Woman!

Of course, Curse of the Spider Woman is a Linda Mercury novel, and no novel of mine is complete without a passionate love story.

My centaur hero and my spider heroine have some serious history behind them, and it has really messed with their attraction.Let's have a peek, shall we?

      She rolled onto her back, away from him.

       “Where the fuck are you going?” he asked. He flipped her over to her belly. This was the position his stallion preferred. His primitive centaur instincts battered his discipline. He had to have her, had to mate with her, fill her, fuck her, tie her to him with the fragile bonds of pleasure until she would never leave him again.

       No more exile in the human world. She would be his mare, his herd. He leaned over and set his teeth in her shoulder, as a breeding mortal horse would.

 

It's a countdown! Part Two.

Calliope, Muse of Epic Poetry

Curse of the Spider Woman is a combination of James Bond meeting Greek Mythology. But with consensual sex.

One of the fun parts of the manuscript was writing the epic poetry that parallels the main story.  My heroine is an aficionado of Homer, and writes her own epics.

Here's some to whet your appetite.

Curse of the Spider Woman

An epic poem

By Rachel Havelock

Rage I sing, and death also,

The tale of curséd women, their deaths

The sacrifice demanded by

Grey-eyed Athena,

Keeper of the ground of Greece.

Arachne, the weaver, the spider,

Doomed by the pricked pride of

The white-armed Goddess, her daughters

To die before the blooming

Of their lives.

All died, all mourned

Until the last flew across the

Wine-dark sea to

Defy the Goddess.

It's a countdown!

I love coffee. I love coffee. I love coffee.

Curse of the Spider woman will be for sale before Halloween!

I am writing fast and trying to complete everything - and I do mean everything, from editing to formatting to pushing the publishing button (and hopefully ordering the print copies in time for my release party!)- before the 17th.

For this, I'm "Butt in Chair, Fingers on Keyboard" like mad. So before I go back into my writing cave, I'm going to leave you with a teaser from my new book.

The first paragraph:

“Look at that. The great god Hades gathering flowers on the riverbank like a lazy milkmaid.” The lieutenant of the Heirs of Socrates sneered. “Our emasculated gods no longer care about the people of Greece.” Despite the touch of silver in his own hair, the lieutenant still knew himself to be virile and manly. Not the sort who would wander like a barefoot hippie to appease his spoilt wife.

  More to come!

Vamping It Up; Are you ready?

Poor Holly! What is she going to do now that her long term fiance has revealed himself to be a liar and a cheat?

***

The harps sounded again.

I want the ring back. Bring it by tonight.

 Rage welled inside of her, hotter than the blistering road. The sun no longer burned.

“Fuck.”

 Holly rarely let herself use the ultimate profanity. As the expletive burst from her mouth, a valve inside of her soul released.

Fuck him.

Fuck his father, fuck her dependency, and fuck her making him the axis of her universe.

She wasn’t going to be his patsy, his best friend, his lover-but-not-really. Holly was done being his doormat.

She poked out the words to her return message. You want it, you get it yourself.

The harps sang with Blaine’s response. If you want to cop an attitude, that’s your problem, not mine.

Holly dumped the phone back into her bag. With the same hand, she removed the offending Batman comic she had bought for his gift. With deliberate, precise movements, she tore open the slick plastic bag. She gripped the front cover and with a surge of strength, shredded each and every page into tiny, multicolored confetti.

The story had been a steaming pile of misogynistic doo-doo anyway. She dumped the heaping pile of crap into the garbage can by the driver.

Hell.

She should have gotten her money back. The refund could have paid for her first vibrator.

Vamping It Up will be released Friday, October 24th! Meet Holly Barros, a shy, young woman who is about to find out some very unwelcome news.

***

An angelic harp arpeggio emanated from her backpack. “Oh.” That was Blaine’s text message tone. She plunged her hand into her cavernous bag. Probably some last minute instructions for tonight’s party planning dinner. What to wear, perhaps, or who she needed to talk to. Huffing and puffing from the heat, she unlocked the screen.

Theresa  is having my baby. I won’t marry you. 

Holly froze. He couldn’t mean Theresa Harrison, the bane of Holly’s existence? Her arch enemy from kindergarten to sophomore year of high school?

She blinked her eyes, shook her head. The heat must have done a number on her vision. Blaine couldn’t have said that. She must have misread it. Confident again, she opened her eyes.

And there it was, in damning black and white.

Theresa is having my baby. I won’t marry you.

The words twisted in front of her. The bottom of her stomach plummeted, leaving her hollow and brittle. The seat burned her thighs, but it barely registered. Nothing mattered except the message on the screen.

Blaine didn’t want her. Her entire existence for the last five years had been centered on Blaine. When she traveled to see her aunt or to attend out of town school functions, he complained. Holly knew it was because he loved her and wanted her around. She called him every morning to wake him and she called him at night to tuck him in.

The skin on her scalp yanked tight, adding to the headache streaking along her brow line. Unthinking, she unwound her ponytail. The curly black strands stuck to her forehead and neck. She’d not cut her hair since she was seventeen when Blaine told her he liked long hair. Even the cherry-dotted mini-sundress she wore was in response to Blaine’s tastes, even though its beige background clashed with the brown skin and black hair of her Portuguese ancestors.

Small, strong, with a full bottom but small breasts, she secretly wanted to wear pin-up girl clothes to show off her rear. Instead, the little dress was cut straight up and down; a style best suited for a narrow-hipped, fair-skinned waif. Like Theresa.

Who was she if she wasn’t Blaine Harrington’s girlfriend?

Vacation!

World's coolest tree in Lahaina.

Hello from Maui! I'm soaking up sun and relaxation before I start the push to self-publish Vamping It Up.

But to keep your appetite whetted, here's an excerpt from Chapter Two:

“Shit.”

Holly stared at the broken key sticking out of her apartment’s deadbolt. Frustrated beyond belief, she pounded her fist against the metal door.

Damn, that was satisfying.

She pounded again. And once more, with all her strength. The impact jarred her clavicle.

“Double shit.” She shook out her arm. The gathered sweat under her dress cascaded down her back.

Yuck.

The air conditioning in the apartment building hadn’t been turned on yet, either.

She dropped her head on the blessedly cool door. “Triple shit.”