From December's Vol 44 No 12 Forum magazine review:

Thanks to Twilight and True Blood, vampires are hot and sexy again, but while
Blood and Coffee taps into that trend it is definitely more of a horror fantasy
than a straightforward erotic novel. Many of the characters here come to grisly
ends, so it's not for the squeamish, but Lisa Lane manages to keep the action
moving at a relentless pace while detailing Karen's conversion from human to
vampire and all the dilemmas she faces along the way. This is the first part in
a trilogy, and there are enough clues as to how the action will progress to
ensure those who like a bit of gore with their sexual tension will hunt down the
second and third volumes.
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For more information on The Darkness and the Night series, visit Ravenous Romance or stop by my Erotica Page.

To read the full review, you'll have to find the back-order for Forum's December issue.

Happy reading!

Lisa
 
 
Thanks to your votes, Lust in Space made the top 10 erotica novels for 2009 and The Darkness and the Night III: Twins of Darkness finished in the top 20 horror novels.  My thanks to all who showed their support!

The final standings:

Erotica
1. Murder by Design, Jade Falconer, Phaze, [link]
2. Kilted Lover, Nicole North, Red Sage Publishing, [link]
3. Breaking The Covenants, Celina Summers and Rob Graham, Aspen Mountain Press, [link]
4. Scent of a Vampire, Jude Stephens, Hearts on Fire Books, [link]
4. Dommemoir, I.G. Frederick, Fanny Press, [link]
4. Only Pleasure, Lora Leigh, St. Martin's Griffin, [link]
5. Strangers, Barabara Elsborg - , Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication, [link]
6. Spell of Appalachia, Molly Wens, eXcessica, [link]
6. Eden's Hell, Dawné Dominique, Purple Sword Publications, [link]
7. Xylon Warriors IV: Ecstasy Bound, Ruth D. Kerce, Ellora's Cave, [link]
7. Internet Bonds #8: After Glow, Christy Poff, Whiskey Creek Press Torrid, [link]
8. Curfew, Samantha Stone, L&L Dreamspell, [link]
9. Lust in Space, Lisa Lane, Ravenous Romance, [link]
9. Sex Camp, Natalie Acres, Siren Publishing, [link]
9. The Janitor, Jan Irving, Loose ID, [link]
10. Location, Location, Location, Emma Hillman, eXcessica Publishing, [link]
10. Triad, Cat Grant, Lyrical Press, [link]

Horror
1. Rise Of The Darkness, C.A.Milson, Lulu, [link]
2. Armageddon Bound, Tim Marquitz, Damnation Books, [link]
3. The Great Right Hope, Mark Jackman, LL-Publications, [link]
4. Cursed, Jeremy C. Shipp, Raw Dog Screaming Press, [link]
5. Angels of the Mourning Light, Frank E. Bittinger, iUniverse, [link]
6. The Hollows, Ben Larken, LL-Publications, [link]
7. The Last Church, Lee Pletzers, Black Bed Sheet Press, [link]
8. War of the Worlds plus Blood, Guts and Zombies, Eric S. Brown, Coscom Entertainment, [link]
9. The Dark Path, Luke Romyn, Wild Child Publishing, [link]
10. Demon Hunter: The Chosen One, Cynthia Vespia, Aspen Mountain Press, [link]
11. Kelland, Paul G. Bens, Jr., Casperian Books, [link]
12. Cemetery Gates, Maryann Paige, Club Lighthouse Publishing, [link]
13. Escape: A Zombie Chronicles Novel, James Melzer, Permuted Press/Pocket Books, [link]
14. The Further Accounts of the Imaginary Friend, P.S. Gifford, Virtual Tales, [link]
15. Gentle Art of Making Enemies, Kevin Mellor, Black Bed Sheet Books, [link]
16. Blood of the Dark Moon, Adrianne Brennan, Freya's Bower, [link]
16. The Darkness and the Night III: Twins of Darkness, Lisa Lane, Ravenous Romance, [link]
16. The Kult, Shaun Jeffrey, Leucrota Press, [link]
17. White Witch, Black Curse, Kim Harrison, Eos, [link]
18. Dismember, Daniel Pyle, Wild Child Publishing, [link]
18. Shadows of Souls, Allan W. Azouz, L&L Dreamspell, [link]
19. Under the Dome, Stephen King, Scribner, [link]
19. Angels of the Deep, Kirby Crow, MLR Press, [link]
20. Shadows, Joan De La Haye, Rebel e Publishers, [link]

Romance
1. Babies in the Bargain, Mona Risk, The Wild Rose Press, [link]
2. The Benefactor, Margaret Reyes Dempsey, The Wild Rose Press, [link]
3. The Trouble With Playboys, Margaret Tanner, The Wild Rose Press, [link]
4. Clippings, A.J. Mirag, Lulu, [link]
5. Hostage Heart, Chelle Cordero, Vanilla Heart Publishing, [link]
6. Innocence Lost, Tiffany Green, The Wild Rose Press, [link]
7. The Third Wish, K. F. Zuzulo, Sapphire Blue Publishing, [link]
8. Fortune's Pride, Michele Stegman, Asylett Press, [link]
9. Creighton Manor, Karen Michelle Nutt, Tease Publishing LLC, [link]
10. Midnight Secrets, Lisa Rose Olick, Black Bed Sheet Books, [link]
11. Recipe For Love, Fiona McGier, Wings e-press, [link]
12. Spell of Appalachia, Molly Wens, eXcessica, [link]
12. Love Means No Shame, Andrew Grey, Dreamspinner Press, [link]
13. Another Time, Another Place, T. Sue VerSteeg, The Wild Rose Press, [link]
14. Beyond the Quiet, Brenda Hill, Vanilla Heart, [link]
15. Champagne, Inara LeVay, Ravenous Romance, [link]
16. A Chaunce of Riches, Chelle Cordero, Vanilla Heart, [link]
16. Honor Thy Neighbor, Valerie J. Patterson, BookStrand, [link]
17. Darkness Into Light, Christy Poff, Whiskey Creek Press Torrid, [link]
17. Unfolding the Shadows, Katie O'Sullivan, Cerridwen Press, [link]
17. Binding Vows, Catherine Bybee, The Wild Rose Press, [link]
18. All For A Fist Full Of Ashes, R. Ann Siracusa, Sapphire Blue Publishing, [link]
18. Timeless Mist, Terisa Wilcox, L&L Dreamspell, [link]
19. Branded By Fire, Nalini Singh, Berkeley Books, [link]
20. Vicus Luna, Jessica Coulter Smith, Wild Horse Press, [link]
20. Mistletoe and Holly, Marilyn Gardiner, Wings e-press, [link]
20. Lonely Soul, Mary Quast, Vanilla Heart Publishing, [link]
20. Circle of Eternity, Sandy Nicks, Vanilla Heart Publishing, [link]
21. Time For Love, Melissa Miller, IE Novel, [link]
21. Love in Space, Lisa Lane, Ravenous Romance, [link]
21. Hard Fall, James Buchanan, MLR Press, [link]

Congratulations to the winners!  For a full list of all of the categories, go to http://www.critters.org/predpoll/tally.ht
 
 
Recently, a colleague of mine stated that I should have to choose between being a novelist or being a screenwriter if I wanted to be truly successful.  Having a strong passion for writing both formats, I had to disagree.  Although novels and screenplays are dramatically different, many writers work in multiple formats.  A prolific writer can finish a novel draft in one or two months and a screenplay in just a week or two, so being an avid writer of one does not necessarily have to detract from time spent writing the other.  Moreover, if one knows one’s art, the difference in the two formats merely creates the need to shift gears when switching from one to the other:

·         When writing a novel, prose and dialog are organized by paragraph, while in screenplays they are divided into dialog, character direction, and visible description and action.

·         Novel prose allows for internal dialog and stream of consciousness, while all thoughts and character motivations in a screenplay need to be “shown” through the camera’s audio and visible sensors.  One loophole to this is an intermittent use of “voice-over” in a script, in which an unseen narrator speaks over a scene.

·         Novels are generally written in third person, past tense, while screenplays are always written in present tense.

·         Novels are usually around 300 pages, while the typical “spec” script is around 120 pages.

·         Novels are typically written in Times New Roman, while screenplays are always written in Courier or Courier New.  Both have specific formatting guidelines.

Upon review of my writing portfolio, one will see that I have written as many screenplays as I have novels—and that more than half of my screenplays are adaptations (most of them being adaptations of my own novels, with one being a hired adaptation of a novelette written by another author).  Writing adaptations is just as much of an art as is writing original novels and screenplays; in converting a story from one format to the other, a writer must take into consideration time constraints, the translation compatibility of certain events, budget, and audience.  For example:

·         When converting a novel into a screenplay, one must decide which scenes to cut and mesh, and also if that cutting and meshing will require some reorganization of the storyline.  When converting a screenplay into a novel or novelette, one must add internal dialog or narration, as well as scenes that may have been missing in the script due to time constraints.

·         What works great as prose does not always translate well on screen, and vice-versa.  Sometimes a writer must find an alternate literary or visual device in order to make the same point work in translation.

·         What might be easy to write might take money to reproduce on-screen.  A screen adaptation must always be written with budget in mind, while the sky is the limit when writing novels and similar prose.

·         When adapting prose to screenplay, especially in previously published works, a writer must be careful to cater to any preexisting audience that might have certain expectations about the work.

I believe that it is a great asset for a writer to be well versed in both formats.  It is my opinion that an author the best-suited candidate to adapt his or her work into screenplay form, given that the person understands how to use the screenplay format.  No one will know the ins and outs of a work better than the person who originally wrote it, and no one will be able to capture the essence and soul of a work any clearer.  While there are many great adaptations that have been written by hired screenwriters, few people will argue that most of these adaptations do not capture that which made their predecessors all that they are.  While that which is lacking in many is due to necessary cuts and changes needed to make the story translate better, what most are lacking, in my opinion, is their original writers.

Would I consider giving up writing novels in order to be a successful screenwriter?  Never.  I love writing both too much to choose one format over the other.  God willing, there is enough room for my writing in both industries.
 
 
Bitten by Books just reviewed The Darkness and the Night II: Cosmic Orgasm and The Darkness and the Night III: Twins of Darkness, giving Cosmic O 4.5 Tombstones and Twins of Darkness a whopping 5 Tombstones!

You can check out the reviews here.  I'm so excited to share these with you--The Darkness and the Night series was so much fun for me to write, and I'm so honored that all three have now been reviewed by Bitten by Books!
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Thanks so much, Bitten by Books, for the awesome reviews, and thanks to my readers, for joining me in the adventure!

Warm regards and happy reading!

Lisa
 
 
On December 1, 2008, New York literary agent Lori Perkins teamed up with longtime publishers Holly Schmidt and Allan Penn, to embark on a literary venture that promised to be innovative, provocative, and unafraid to take chances.  Ravenous Romance has met all of those goals and then some, and I’m so pleased to be among their list of authors. 

I learned about Ravenous Romance just a few months before the launch.  Being an avid follower of Lori Perkins’ blog, “Agent in the Middle,” I responded to an open call for submissions, for an anthology that would feature creative short stories about Sex and Shoes.  I wrote a chancy piece featuring a married couple who appear at first glance to have a shared shoe fetish ... only at the heartfelt end does the twist reveal itself and the real meaning of the story shine through.  Ms. Perkins accepted it, and then invited me to submit more of my stories for other upcoming anthologies.  I ended up having two stories being accepted in the Men in Shorts anthology, at which time Ms. Perkins requested to see some of my longer works.

My erotic horror vampire trilogy, The Darkness and the Night, had been on the back burner for some time, and decided to add a little romance to the story and see if Ravenous Romance might be interested.  They bought the trilogy, and then commissioned me to work on the most delightful project I have ever had the privilege to write: an erotic space trek, inspired by some of my favorite episodic sci-fi shows (Star Trek, Red Dwarf, Farscape, etc.).  It was a closet-geek’s dream come true, and to this day my tribute, Lust in Space, campy and kinky in all the right places, has been a fan favorite.

I contributed a couple more short stories (my personal favorite is “Blood and Money,” which can be found in the Sex and Taxes Anthology), and had a blast with those, as well, but nothing prepared me for the next proposition I would receive:  Ravenous Romance had teamed up with the Home Shopping Network, planning the first ever television release of an exclusive romance collection.  The owners had hand-picked six books each in three different subgenres: paranormal, historical, and contemporary, and they wanted Lust in Space to be among the paranormal group.  However, they wanted me to rewrite the story and create a sister book, of sorts: whereas Lust in Space is an experimentally kinky erotic work (I had fun seeing how far I might push my limits), Love in Space was to be romantic, sweet, and completely vanilla. 

It turned out to be, in my opinion, my best published work.  Love in Space has it all: action, adventure, space travel, aliens, romance, wit, literary “Easter eggs”—and intergalactic war.  I can’t thank Ravenous Romance enough for challenging me as they did with this story.  Lori Perkins and Holly Schmidt knew how to make a great story even better, and they pushed me to turn a fun and kinky space trek into a heartfelt and fun romantic adventure.  Moreover, they gave me the chance to prove myself as an author—in a market of mass closed doors, stiff competition, and form rejection letters, during a time in the recession when being a no-name writer like me would have been otherwise left sitting cold in the dark.

Writing for Ravenous Romance has been an amazing experience.  I’m delighted to have so many people reading my work, and I’m delighted to be working with such a great group of people.  Happy Birthday, Ravenous Romance—here’s to another great year!
 
 
Join me on October 30th at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/savannahchase/ from 9 pm to midnight EST (6-9 pm Pacific), for her third annual Halloween bash!  There will be dozens of horror authors, lots of prizes and tons of Halloween fun--hope to "see" you there!
 
 
For those of you who have been waiting for The Darkness and the Night III: Twins of Darkness to become available at Amazon's Kindle store, your wait is finally over.  Twins of Darkness, which readers and reviewers alike agree is the best in the trilogy, is slowly earning the respect of erotic horror and romance readers alike.  I have been delighted with the response, so far:

The author’s style makes for effortless reading; Lane’s novel is interesting, variable and complicated without the heaviness often associated with stories of substance, and she balances her many characters and plot lines like a master.
        --Clayton Bye, The Deepening: http://www.claytonbye.com/

Book III is best experienced if you read its prequels. The characters take some time to understand if you do not know their history, but regardless they are very well written and exciting. This is certainly one of the most unique vampire novels I have come across. It is chock full of imagination and feeling; a totally fresh look at the dark side.
       --Loloty, Coffee Tome Romance: http://www.coffeetimeromance.com

Having read the first twenty-nine pages off and on, I continued straight through to the end. As I’ve already said, the plot is superb, and when such a plot comes along, I always marvel at the human imagination and what it can produce.
       --Fanny, Cerebral Reviews: http://cerebralreviews.com
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Make sure to rate and review Twins of Darkness, should you go through Amazon for your copy--which will make it more accessible to other customers who might also enjoy it's unique and provocative flair.

The story does stand alone--and may be better suited that way for those who do not have the patience to read an entire trilogy before reaching that much-desired "Happily-Ever-After" ending.  However, reading the full trilogy does make for a richer, even more provocative experience, as there are a number of plot twists that do intertwine throughout the different individual story lines.

However you approach the trilogy, all three books are now available through Amazon's Kindle store, and Twins of Darkness should join its predecessors' paperback status soon enough.  I will keep you posted.

Happy reading!
 
 
My thanks to Steven Hart and Erotica Revealed, for reviewing Lust in Space.  From the review:

"I found myself reading this book very slowly because it was so much fun at bed time to come back to its lively and imaginative adventures that sometimes remind you of Rocky and Bullwinkle.  It may help that my other reading is the modern history of the Middle East and a biography of J. P. Morgan.  But still, you get to liking these characters a lot.  They are sexy with a naïve sense of right and wrong just like bad boy, Captain Kirk.  The secret is that Ms. Lane has been able to harness all the cliché’s of TV Scifi, and tease them out to an entertaining place between parody and homage.  Lust in Space provides a lot of fun.  It gives good lift off."

Go to http://www.eroticarevealed.com/current_reviews.php?panel_id=1 to read the full review.  For more reviews on Lust in Space, as well as for my erotic horror series The Darkness and the Night and short stories, go to http://www.cerebralwriter.com/reviews.html.
 
 
Clayton bye of The Deepening on The Darkness and the Night III: Twins of Darkness:

What’s so different about Twins of Darkness? Well… The author’s style makes for effortless reading; Lane’s novel is interesting, variable and complicated without the heaviness often associated with stories of substance, and she balances her many characters and plot lines like a master. Also, this is not your typical vampire story, and although there was enough sex to make my  temperature rise, the story is not just a vehicle for eroticism.

Copyright © Clayton Clifford Bye 2009
Read the full review here.
 
She Wrote WHAT?! 08/16/2009
 
I’ve known since I was eight or nine that I was a writer. When I wrote my first novel in my mid teens, I was positive that was my path was to follow in the footsteps of the great Stephen King. Back then, had someone told me that my first published works would be erotica and erotic romance, I would have scoffed at the thought: Bashful, timid me? Writing sexually explicit scenes? For others to read?

I have a few friends and family who have purchased my books with full intent on reading them, only to find themselves unable to get past the first bedroom scene. “It kind of feels the same as going through your dad’s sock drawer for condoms,” my father-in-law told my husband, after attempting to read The Darkness and the Night: Blood and Coffee. “You know your parents are doing it, but you don’t really want to know….”

When I began to write erotic works, the first thought that flashed through my head was, “other people are going to read this … and what will they think?” The thought of strangers reading my work was strangely exhilarating, but I do have to admit that I blush when I consider specific people reading certain works. I find myself in a strange position: I want to share my stories with those who are close to me, but some of the content is simply stuff people don’t normally share with their friends, parents, and in-laws.

With that said, it has also been liberating to write what I have. With Lust in Space, for example, I decided to push my boundaries as far as I could. I wanted to take every aspect to the subgenre I was writing and see how far I might take it. I felt that an erotic space opera merited a unique angle, and so I challenged myself as a writer, finding ways to create threesomes, foursomes, orgies, a bisexual getting intimate with her time-paradox double … and even a woman falling for an insect-sized vibrating man. I did it to push the limits of my imagination, let go of my inhibitions as a writer, and most of all to see if I could pull all of it off.

With The Darkness and the Night trilogy, I began with a series of horror stories based on that first novel I wrote back in my teens, with my twin sister, and spiced them up for the erotic romance audience. I found that the sexual journeys experienced by the main characters really complimented the other themes that ran through each of the stories, and it has been such a pleasure to hear from readers and reviewers who “got” all that I worked to accomplish in the multi-layered, heavily intertwined trilogy.

I think about books I’ve read or movies I’ve seen that contain disturbing material, and I remind myself: Someone wrote that, not as something representative of his or her as a person, but as an extension of that person’s creative self. As an author now, myself, I know the process that goes into writing something different, risky, or risqué. It’s not easy, but somebody’s got to do it. After all, what would literature, cinema, and the like be without those who have taken such risks with their art?

There are risks to be taken with all genres, but it seems to me that the biggest risks are those taken in erotic venues. I’ve questioned more than one direction my muses have taken me, but more often than not, when all is said and done, every dark turn, exploratory challenge, and disturbing twist proves its literary merit. I feel grateful that I’ve taken the chances I have, as each has allowed me to grow in my art—and in some very surprising ways.

Who would have thought I would have learned anything while writing a “trashy romance”?! Go figure.

Through the years, I’ve found there are few genres I just can’t write. I don’t write Westerns. I have yet to construct a good murder mystery. I don’t think I could pull off an epic poem. I do enjoy writing just about everything else, however, so many genres that I have considered writing under more than one alias. After all, is it a career shot in the foot for a literary fiction novelist to publish erotica, or an erotic romance writer to publish horror? Maybe a couple of authors have been able to pull it off, but not many.

The thought of compartmentalizing my collective works was strangely disturbing; I felt like doing so somehow cheapened their value. It also felt like lying. Was I to create a persona for each genre? No, that just wasn’t me; it just didn’t feel right. I realized that I had no choice but to market all of my writing under my real name. I am a horror writer, a literary sci-fi writer, a screenplay writer, a narrative nonfiction writer, and an erotica/erotic romance writer. I’m all of those; I have many muses, and I’m proud of every last word I’ve written … even if I did happen to make my father-in-law blush.

Readers and writers, what are your experiences in writing or reading erotica, horror, sci-fi, and others that happen to contain the unorthodox, the uncomfortable, and/or the just plain hot?