Welcome to the September 2006 issue of Lady Jaided!   Taking Care of Our Own: From time to time, authors have organized short-term pools to help fellow authors in crisis. Now they’ve created The Save The Quiet Kitty Fund, which is designed to provide longer-term assistance to authors hit by medical problems, fires, floods and various other unforeseen catastrophes. Current focus is EC author Camille Anthony, who got Pulmonary Sarcoidosis after being exposed to asbestos while working for the State of California and who can not get health insurance because of her condition. Please check out this link and help in any way you can: www.savethequietkitty.com   A Warm Fuzzy from the Cover Snark: Okay, hell has not reported snowstorms, and it’s not exactly a warm fuzzy, but—believe it or not—Cover Snark did say something nice about an EC cover. The hysterically acerbic Dionne Galace, a.k.a. Bam, called the cover of Denise Rossetti’s Gift of the Goddess “frickin’ hot.” She dubbed the cover hunk Mr. McTightypants and even approved his man titty, calling it “substantial but not out of control.” Other commentators agreed in equally eloquent terms. Check out the cover, designed by Syneca Featherstone, in this month’s New Authors or on our website. See for yourself what they said at www.dionnegalace.com/covers/2006/06/pour-some-sugar-on-me.html. Bam is really smart, and pee-your-pants funny. Except when it’s your book she’s going after. Then she’s just a vile bitch with a keyboard. But still funny. And, uh, smart. Woman in Red: Rumor has it that shy, petite EC Designer Melissa Waitley really knows how to shake her groove thang and was recently seen doing just that—in front of an audience. When asked if the rumor was true, she replied, “Never. I never shake it. Not when I’m walking around at home, not when I’m at the bar/club, not even in dance class. Noooo, not me.” We’re glad she told us that because the purty little cupcake in these pictures taken by Cindy Jett sure looks like li’l Lissa. Our Very Own Ninja Girl: Lady Jaided designer Lyndse Faba, a.k.a. Marshamallow, has a slightly faster hobby than Lissa: motorcycle racing. That little inset picture is Lyndse doing a wheelie on her KX85 motocross racer. The big one is our very own Ninja chick on Jenna Girl, her 2004 Ninja 250 named for sex diva Jenna Jameson. Lyndse and Jenna Girl have done a 2.2-mile racecourse in 1 minute 40 seconds. Sounds pretty dang fast to me, but she says she’s working to increase her speed so she can get certified and join a team. The photo is for the 2007 women of kawiforums.com calendar, which will be available in October from cafepress.com. It’s Raining Cats and Dogs: You’ve heard of Snakes on a Plane, now come the sequels: Dogs on the Mothership and Cats in Patty’s Car. The titular dogs were stray puppies found by EC staffer Melani Meffert, who brought them to the Mothership digs in Akron. By the end of the day, the pups had been bathed, taken to a vet and adopted by EC staffers Cindy Jett and Kelly Jackson. CEO Patty Marks is forever taking in stray creatures, from snakes to dogs to exotic birds. Last we heard she was peddling homeless kittens. Don’t feel like you have to take one. She would never feed them to her new pet snake Manaconda if she ran out of mice.     Caught in the Act: Kendra Thompson also got caught by a camera while kissing her new boyfriend Nick at a party. “I’m in love,” Kendra confided, clasping his picture to her breast. “Patty approves of him!! That’s NEVER happened before.” Good thing, since the lovebirds have moved in together. Hey, he must be good for her because her office is clean for once. All we can say is, dude, don’t look in the closet.   We Are the World: Coca-Cola may be the universal language, but Ellora’s Cave has pretty much got the English-speaking world sewn up with the recent addition of editors in UK and Australia. Stateside, we have editors in Texas, California, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Georgia, New Mexico, and Tennessee. Though we don’t have any Canadian editors (yet), we do have plenty of authors up there, not to mention pretty much everywhere else on the globe. Who Sez There Are No Free Lunches? Didja know we offer free shipping to anywhere in the continental United States on all print books in our eBay store, www.ellorascave.com/ebay and flat-rate shipping world-wide? With the money you save on shipping, you can take yourself and a friend out to lunch. Author Laurels: EC authors walked away with a lot of awards recently, including quite a few from the highly entertaining Cata Network Reviewers’ Choice Awards. If you missed their take-off on the Academy Awards, it’s worth checking out. All the best Hollywood hunks showed up to give out awards, and the dresses of hostess Stacy Dawn are to die for. Congratulations to all our fabulous winners! Romance Writers of America’s Passionate Plume Contest Awards First Place, Novella: Forever Enslaved by Ann Jacobs Third Place, Novella: White Hot Holidays Quickie “Christmas Lovers” by Jan Springer Honorable Mention, Sci/Fi/Futuristic/Fantasy: A Hero’s Kiss by Jan Springer Romance Writers of America PRISM Awards (from the Futuristic, Fantasy, and Paranormal RWA chapter) Second Place, Erotica/Romantica: Nemesis of the Garden by Cricket Starr Third Place (tie), Erotica/Romantica: A Taste for Control by Patrice Michelle Third Place (tie), Erotica/Romantica: The Angelini: Skye’s Trail by Jory Strong The CataNetwork Reviewers' Choice Awards Ebooks: Talon's Trophy by Dawn Ryder Ebooks: Ride a Cowboy by Delilah Devlin Ebooks: Behind The Enchanted Door by Ariana Hart Ebooks: Deadworld by Lorie O'Clare Sensual Ebooks: Masquerade by Julia Templeton Sensual Ebooks: Wolfsbane by Nathalie Gray Sensual Ebooks: Dangerous Intentions by Denise Agnew Sensual Ebooks: Mirror of My Soul by Joey W. Hill Sensual Ebooks: Blood of the Damned by Anya Bast Sensual Ebooks: Just Desserts by Lyn Cash Sensual Ebooks:Ellora's Cavemen: Dreams of the Oasis Volume 1 by Myla Jackson, Liddy Midnight, Nicole Austin, Allyson James, Jory Strong, Paige Cuccaro RWA From the Heart chapter Lories Best Published Third Place, Steamy/Erotica: Fallon Mates: Zeraac’s Miracle by Jory Strong What EC Accounting Director Courtney Nelson did on her summer vacation. —Susan Edwards Here’s your chance to win a free download book of your choice! Simply send answers to the questions below to Newsletter_Contest@ellorascave.com by September 18, 2006. A winner will be drawn at random from the correct answers. (If you have won this contest within the last 12 months, you are not eligible to win again.) Congratulations to Tina Pelton for winning our August contest! We hope you enjoy your prize. To enter our September contest, answer these questions correctly: 1. Who wrote Scarlet Woman? 2. What three books are in Jaid Black’s Death Row The Trilogy? 3. What’s the name of the heroine in Vonna Harper’s Thunder? August 2006 RELEASES Caress of Flame – Sherri L. King (Paranormal) Darius – Gail Faulkner (BDSM) Edge of Sweetness – Anya Bast (BDSM) Flaming Fantasies – Elizabeth Lapthorne (Vampire) Hawk's Prey – Dawn Ryder (Futuristic / Light bondage) Heavenly Hijinks (Planetary Passions) – Ashley Ladd (Paranormal) Hot Target – Nathalie Gray (Futuristic) Jaguar's Rule – TJ Michaels (Pnr / Shapeshifter) Kalina's Discovery - Cheyenne McCray & Mackenzie McKade (BDSM) Llewellyn's Song - Samantha Winston (Fantasy) Miss August – Madison Hayes (Contemporary) Out of Bounds – Ann Jacobs (Contemp/Light bondage) Phantom of the Wind – Charlotte Boyett-Compo (Futuristic) Rogues – Liddy Midnight & Cricket Starr (Shapeshifter/MĂ©nage/Gay/Futuristic) Shadows of Therese – Sahara Kelly (Vampire) Sacred Blood – Claire Thompson (Vampire) Spirit Flight – Jory Strong (Paranormal/Shapeshifter) Stud Muffin Wanted – Lena Matthews (Contemp) Tall, Dark and Deadly (reissue) – Margaret L. Carter (Vampire) Thea's Goal – Bonnie Hamre (BDSM) Thief in the Night – Tracy Cooper-Posey (Bondage) Treacherous Wishes – Denise A. Agnew (Romantic Suspense) Vengeance Due (Witches Knot 3) – Lauren Dane (Paranormal) Wyatt's Chance – Ciana Stone (Historical) Zero to Sexy -Jan Springer (Contemp/Interracial) Upcoming September 2006 RELEASES (Release schedule is subject to change.) Accidental Foursome – Daisy Dexter Dobbs (Contemp/RomCom/Menage/Ruben) Bacchus – Jordan Summers (Paranormal) Bain’s Wolf – Nathalie Gray (Werewolf/Light bondage) DĂ©jĂ  Vu (Planetary Passions) – Fletchina Archer (Contemp) Ellora’s Cavemen: Dreams of the Oasis III –St. Clare, Starr Winter, Munro, Luke, LaCroix (Anthology) Gift of the Goddess – Denise Rossetti (Fantasy/Menage) Last Resort – Sally Painter (Vampire) Mistress of Redemption – Joey W. Hill (BDSM) Pull My Hair – Kimberly Kaye Terry (Contemp /Interracial) Quickie/Autumn Animalia: Familiar Pleasures – Jory Strong (Pnr/Shapesh/Gay/Menage) Quickie/Autumn Animalia: First Moon Rise – Tielle St. Clare (Werewolf) Quickie/Autumn Animalia: Reluctant – Lauren Dane (Werewolf/Menage) September 1-4 Various times Rosemary Laurey/Madeleine Oh, Elizabeth Donald Dragoncon Atlanta , GA www.dragoncon.org September 1 All day Jan Springer Moonglade Elite Authors Blog www.moongladeeliteauthors.com and Night Whispers Blog http://nightwhispersauthors.blogspot.com/ September 1 4-6pm Rosemary Laurey/Madeleine Oh Waldenbooks 2727 North Fairfield Road Beavercreek, OH 45431 937-427-9092 September 5 8:00pm EST Jan Springer Erotic-Escapades Chat with the Night Whispers Authors http://www.erotic-escapades.com September 8 Noon- 2 pm Rosemary Laurey/Madeleine Oh Waldenbooks 193 Columbus City Center Drive Columbus, OH 43215 614-221-0439 September 8 7-9pm Rosemary Laurey/Madeleine Oh Barnes & Noble Booksellers Streets of Westchester 9455 Civic Centre Blvd. West Chester, OH 45069 513-755-2258 September 8 All day Jan Springer Moonglade Elite Authors Blog http://www.moongladeeliteauthors.com September 8 All day Jan Springer Night Whispers Blog http://nightwhispersauthors.blogspot.com/ September 9 1-4pm Shiloh Walker, Tawny Taylor, Jodi Lynn Copeland, P J Mellor Paperbacks n' Things 8044 N Wayne Road Westland, MI 48185 734-522-8018 September 10 2pm EST Nathalie Gray Love Romances CafĂ© chat http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ loveromancescafe/ September 11 5pm Rosemary Laurey/Madeleine Oh Around About Books 8 West Main Street Troy, Ohio 45373 937-339-1707 September 15 9–10am EST Jan Springer eCata Chat with prizes http://www.ecataromance.com September 15 All day Jan Springer Moonglade Elite Authors Blog http://www.moongladeeliteauthors.com and Night Whispers Blog http://nightwhispersauthors.blogspot.com/ September 15 6-8pm Ruby Storm, Titania Ladley, Cynthia Williams Waldenbooks, 104 Wausau Center, Wausau, WI 54403 715-848-3463  September 16 6-8pm Ruby Storm, Titania Ladley, Cynthia Williams Waldenbooks, 3800 Highway 16, La Crosse, WI 54601 608-781-5222  September 17 1-3pm Ruby Storm, Titania Ladley, Cynthia Williams Waldenbooks, 4800 Golf Road, Eau Claire, WI 54701 715-839-7733  September 17 9pm EST TJ Michaels and Lauren Dane chat The Romance Studio http://www.theromancestudio.com September 18 Noon-2 pm Ann Jacobs Barnes & Noble 213 North Dale Mabry Tampa, FL 813-871-2228 September 22 6-8pm Lorie O'Clare, Mary Winter, R. Casteel, Titania Ladley, Ruby Storm and A.Q. Fredrichs, Charlotte Boyett-Compo Waldenbooks, 2060 Crossroad Blvd., Waterloo, IA 50702  319-232-8423 September 22 All day Jan Springer Moonglade Elite Authors Blog http://www.moongladeeliteauthors.com and Night Whispers Blog http://nightwhispersauthors.blogspot.com/ September 22 6-8pm Cynthia Williams Waldenbooks, 2060 Crossroad BLVD, Waterloo, IA 50702 319-232-8423   September 23 1-3pm Cynthia Williams Waldenbooks, 2801 North Grand Ave, Ames, IA 50010 515-232-2544   September 23 6-8pm Cynthia Williams Waldenbooks, 1551 Valley West Drive, West Des Moines, IA 50266 515-225-1753 September 23 1-3pm Lorie O'Clare, Mary Winter, R. Casteel, Titania Ladley, Ruby Storm and A.Q. Fredrichs, Charlotte Boyett-Compo Waldenbooks, 2801 North Grand Ave., Ames, IA 50010 515-232-2544  September 23 6-8pm Lorie O'Clare, Mary Winter, R. Casteel, Titania Ladley, Ruby Storm and A.Q. Fredrichs, Charlotte Boyett-Compo Waldenbooks, 1551 Valley West Drive, West Des Moines, IA 50266 515-225-1753  September 24 9-10 pm EST Jan Springer and TJ Michaels The Romance Studio Chat with Night Whispers Authors http://www.theromancestudio.com September 25 8pm TJ Michaels Writerspace Chat www.writerspace.com September 26 9-10pm EST Jan Springer Coffee Time Chat http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/Chat.html September 29 All day Jan Springer Moonglade Elite Authors Blog http://www.moongladeeliteauthors.com and Night Whispers Blog http://nightwhispersauthors.blogspot.com/ September 30 1-3pm Mary Winter, Rod Casteel and Charlotte Boyett-Compo Waldenbooks, Sycamore Mall 1650 Sycamore St. Iowa City, IA 52240 319-351-3677 September 30 6-8pm Cynthia Williams Barnes and Noble Mall of America 118 E Broadway Bloomington, MN 55425 952-854-1455 September 30 9:30am-4pm Nikki Soarde writing and marketing workshop Edmonton chapter of the Canadian Author's Association University of Alberta For details: Nikki@nikkisoarde.com or d.k.hunter@telus.net.   October 13-14 Various times Marcia James Central Ohio Fiction Writers’ conference in Worthington, OH Radisson Hotel Columbus 7007 N. High Street Worthington, OH 43085 614-436-0700   Denise Rossetti www.deniserossetti.com Gift of the Goddess      If the opening chapter of her first published book is any indication, Australian author Denise Rossetti may well become a must-read for anyone who loves fantasy Romantica. Gift of the Goddess brings EC readers a richly imagined world, deftly described in fresh, vivid language. Denise characterizes the setting as “a medieval sword-and-sorcery world settled by humans, with remnants of Earth society and values.”      Not to mention some pretty fun hybrid races—ranging from hideous to alluring—created by splicing human genes with those of other creatures. A violent race of man-eating reptile-men were bred as slave soldiers covered with scaly armor that renders them nearly impossible to kill. A gorgeous race of bird people have wings and tails and feathers in all colors.      But the best part of this land is the law of the love goddess Lufra, which states, “no man may take his pleasure inside any part of a woman’s body, unless she has climaxed first. Each time, every time.”      Gift of the Goddess is the first book in Denise’s Phoenix Rising series, and it looks to be a wild ride. “I’m terrified of being boring,” she says. “I like adventure and dangerous things, so if it starts getting boring, I burn something down or throw someone off a cliff.”      But Denise also understands that character reigns supreme in fiction—especially romance. “Women read erotic romance for the emotional pay-off, not just the sex,” she says. “Unless you have character and romance, the sex is just docking procedure. There’s no tingle in it.”      She likes reading and writing about sex for the tingle, but she also uses her sex scenes as a way of revealing her characters more deeply. “Sex is such a powerful drive in humans,” she says. “If done well, you can use the act of sex to make your character more naked, more emotionally revealed.”      Denise’s website (www.deniserossetti.com) is also a lot of fun. Check out the hysterically funny Amorous Adventures of Alice, a “kinda chunky, short-sighted and dreadfully uncoordinated” heroine badly in need of a good stiffy and some self-confidence. It’s a serial in which readers get to choose certain story variables at the end of each chapter. Subscribers to her free newsletter get the new chapters earlier than those who just visit her website, but she did give away the next plot twist. At the end of the most recent installment, Alice was trapped in a suit of armor and readers got to pick which character shows up with a can opener: Wolverine, Aragon, or Han Solo. We don’t want to spoil any surprises, but fans of Hugh Jackman will certainly want to read the next chapter. Renee Luke www.reneelukenovels.com Tempt Me Twice Ellora’s Cavemen Dreams of the Oasis Volume III      Renee Luke’s romances are about real-life relationships between regular people. Her first EC story, “Tempt Me Twice,” is about a married woman who is making one last effort to save her marriage through sexual healing before filing the divorce papers she’s been carrying around in the trunk of her car. “ “It’s just a true-to-life story about the kinds of things women go through every day,” she says.      Married for 15 years, with four children, Renee has a pretty normal life now; however, her early life was anything but.      The daughter of what she calls “true hippies,” Renee spent the first three months of her life camping by the Yuba River in California. “We had no electricity until I was 11, no phone, no television, and we had an outhouse.” Her parents were Hare Krishnas and named her Radhika, the female counterpart/lover/wife of Krishna.” “I love the name, but no one could say it, … so we changed it. I got to pick my own name, so I named myself after a character on Days of our Lives.”      Renee got hooked on romance as a stay-at-home mom when she received a box of books intended for the previous occupant of her home. She burned through the whole box, reading a book a day, and then found a bookstore that sold used romances. It was when she started rewriting the endings in her head that she knew she had to try her hand at writing one. “I got 50 percent done and realized this was hard work. But I had to finish it because I had opened my big mouth and told everyone I was gonna do it.”       Her goal is to take readers on an emotional journey. “Mine are the kind of love stories that could happen to anyone,” she says. “I hope they’re as emotionally satisfying as they are physically satisfying.”  Men have often referred to a woman’s entire genital package as a “box,” as in “tight box.” It’s a nice, neat term with no particular negative connotations—except for Pandora’s Box, which is still an apt metaphor. Opening your box definitely has all sorts of consequences, some of which your mother warned you about and others that come as a surprise.      Archetypes aside, “box” calls forth images of a contained space that you put things in, which is pretty accurate when you think about it. Let's try using it in a sentence: “The handsome FedEx man handled her box like a true pro. Someone had trained him well.” Or how about this: “Dwayne opened her box slowly, as if he were unwrapping a precious gift and wanted to savor the anticipation and pretty wrapping as much as possible.” Or better yet, “That latest Ellora's Cave novel really rocked her box. She was still enjoying the afterglow as she drifted off to sleep.” Mmm hmm. Box will do just fine. —Susan Edwards During the Renaissance, the vagina was thought to be an inside-out penis.      Some people may be amused at such ignorance, but consider this: In male-to-female sexual reassignment surgery, the penis skin is turned inside out and stuffed up inside the body to form a vagina. Most of the tissue and plumbing inside the penis are removed, but a nub of erectile tissue is left intact and molded into a clitoris. So, basically, the vagina of a male-to-female transsexual is an inside-out penis. Maybe our ignorant forebears were on to something after all. Sources: The Story of V: A Natural History of Female Sexuality by Catherine Blackledge; and SexChangeSurgery.com Our nomination for the sexiest guy this month: Antonio Banderas      Ten years ago, People magazine named him one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world. A year before that, Empire magazine said he was one of the 100 sexiest stars in the history of film. No argument from us on either of those honors.      As a boy, he wanted to be a professional soccer player, but a broken foot ended that dream when he was 14. Born and raised in Spain, he had to learn English by sound for his first American film role, Mambo Kings. Though he's played some tough caballeros, he's only 5'9” tall.      We forgive him for being prettier than his wife Melanie Griffith because he stuck with her after her hideously disfiguring plastic surgery made her look like that extraterrestrial monster who didn't quite fit into Vincent D'Onofrio's skin in Men in Black. IMDB says Antonio hates plastic surgery and quotes him as saying, "This lust for beauty is a terrible thing. I've forbidden her [Melanie] from ever going to a cosmetic surgeon again. It is something we have agreed to for the sake of our marriage" Okay, there's that macho thing about his forbidding his wife to do something. Hey, we didn't say we wanted to marry him, just that he is one sexy beast. Urolagnia Sexual arousal via urine or urination      Pee lovers can get their freak on in an assortment of ways. Some people get off by being peedon, often preferring a golden shower on a particular body part. Others like to pee themselves. Still others are aroused by peeing in front of people or by watching people pee. For some, it's the smell of urine; for others, it's the warm, wet feel of the stuff. Then there's the sight of pee-stained clothing or of watching some struggle when they have to pee really bad.      Extreme urolagniacs like to drink pee, at which point they become urophagiacs. Here's a hint if you want to please a urophagiac: Don't eat asparagus before providing refreshments from your urinary tract because it will most likely make it greenish and stinky. To sweeten your bladder beverage, do drink diet sodas or other stuff with artificial sweeteners. The only plus we can think of to urophagia is as a diagnostic tool: If your pee is sweet without benefit of such sweeteners, you might be diabetic. Of course, the reason you give your doctor for requesting a diabetes test is up to you. Though the urine of a healthy person is said to be largely sterile, we're still gonna place urophagia under the category of “don't try this at home.” Dear Empress: I’ve become so addicted to my vibrator that I can’t climax now without it. The problem is, my bf says it makes him feel inadequate that he can’t make me come without artificial means. And he finds the buzzing unpleasant. What should we do? Buzzy Dear Buzzy: You should get another boyfriend. Ms. High and Mighty: I’ve been having cybersex with a very hot guy for about six months now. He really wants to meet me and do all the things we’ve been talking about over the internet. The problem is, I posted a picture of a gorgeous friend of mine and said it was me. Now he’s expecting someone who looks like a super model. I would have to have plastic surgery and breast implants to even begin to look that good. I really want to meet this guy in person but I’m afraid he’ll dump me when he finds out what I look like. Not Pretty as a Picture Dear Not Pretty: No, but you’re as dumb as a bloody post. Dear Empress: My bf is 12 years younger than me. I look pretty young for my age because I’ve had two face-lifts and I dye my hair its original color. But my pubic hair is almost completely gray now and my bf wants me to dye it too. Can you dye pubic hair without burning your pussy? Older Woman Dear Older Woman: Phone L’Oreal. Aren’t you worth it? Dear Empress: I’ve been invited by friends to go to a nudist camp for the weekend. I’m really looking forward to seeing all those naked bodies but I’m afraid I’ll be walking around with an erection all weekend. How can I enjoy the scenery without looking like a walking hat-rack? Mr. Unruly Boner Dear Mr. Boner: Chop it off. Forbidden Fruit      September is my friend Patsy Rose's favorite month. That's when the kids go back to school, and she has a chance to update her MILF website. She says she just does it for Christmas-shopping money, but I think she gets a kick out of posing naked in Big Blue, her monster pickup truck.      I like September because that's when apple season starts. I love everything about this scrumptious gift of nature, including its status as the forbidden fruit that Eve employed to seduce Adam. A bum rap, by the way, if you ask me.      An apple orchard in moonlight is a magical place for lovers to cast a spell, feeding each other freshly plucked fruits and making love in the silvery mist among the craggy trees. Here's a recipe for an apple-sausage dish that tastes delicious and looks wicked. Apples in Flagrante Delecto 4 baking apples 1/2 pound of ground sausage 1/2 cup minced onion 1 tablespoon walnut oil 4 link sausages (precooked) 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup orange or grapefruit juice 1/4 cup bourbon or rum butter      Preheat oven to 350°. Core apples, peel only the top one-third, and slice off bottoms so they sit without rolling. Brown ground sausage, drain off grease, and set aside. Saute onions over low-medium heat till transparent and add cooked sausage. Spray baking dish with cooking oil and set apples, not touching, in it. Stuff each apple cavity with 2 teaspoons of sausage mixture, 1 teaspoon of brown sugar and a dab of butter. Sprinkle remaining brown sugar and rum over it and bake for a half hour. Remove from oven, stick link sausage in cavity and fill in around it with ground sausage mixture, sprinkling the rest of it around the apples. Return to oven and cook another half hour until apples are soft. Experimenting with past-life regression by Sally Painter      From 1987 to 1990, I had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in a paranormal project. My cousin, Lee, a hospital counselor, called me about a doctor conducting past life/reincarnation research. He was a physician in a head-trauma hospital and had studied hypnosis as a means to help his patients recapture memories lost due to their injuries. He and my cousin worked together at the same hospital and had witnessed the past-life recollections of some of the patients. That's how this project evolved. Lee thought I’d be a good subject since he knew I’d had paranormal and psychic experiences all my life.      The first session was held at one of the nurses’ homes. The house, circa late 1800s, was under renovation. Wood siding had been scraped in preparation for new paint. A lonely pumpkin on the porch steps completed what could have been an opening scene from a scary movie. I watched myself walk through the leaves covering the driveway and stop in front of the weathered door. My breath was rapid. Was I actually going to do this?      Until the moment when I stepped onto that porch, I thought I was prepared for anything, but my confidence waned. I looked down at the porch floor, noting one foot planted on an old board and the other on a new plank. The symbolism made me smile.      What lay beyond the door? My heart was pounding. I knew when I walked out of that door an hour later, I would not be the same person. I knocked. A tall red-haired woman greeted me and invited me inside. I walked through the doorway and stepped into a life-altering journey.      During my three-year voyage, I rediscovered friends. My mind opened wider and reached further than I could ever have imagined. Over the next years, we learned that we are all connected in an intricate and complicated weaving of lives.      One lifetime I rediscovered was in the 1920s. The daughter of a bootlegger, I was married to a US Attorney determined to stop all bootleggers. I was murdered as a result of his unrelenting mission. Another lifetime was during the dark ages when I lived in Venice. While I've encountered some strange things in my past life regressions, I've never encountered vampires or gargoyles.      In a life before that, I was a Mayan priest placed on a flat-topped pyramid and told to make it rain. During this regression the doctor asked me (as the priest) if I could in fact make it rain. I replied, no, I but they thought I could. Then he asked what would happen if it didn’t rain. I responded I would be sacrificed.      It didn’t rain.      In another lifetime, I was a slave—the personal handmaid to a pharaoh’s daughter. She had an illicit love affair with his top adviser, and as punishment I was thrown to a tiger. I never understood how that was punishment for her.      The common thread in all of these lives was the people. Time and time again, the same people were revealed in every life. It was the same for the others participating in the project. We discovered that we move from one lifetime into another with the same circle of people. Lovers often return life after life as lovers. These people sometimes play very significant and often difficult roles that help shape our lives.      We realized we’re all playing our parts in a united effort to work through lessons we need to master. It could be as simple as learning certain disciplines we neglected in another life or it might be as complex as needing to forgive someone from a previous lifetime.      One thing was certain, we carry the emotion first and foremost from one lifetime to another. Those emotions often dictate certain inexplicable likes and dislikes toward a person or even an object. Do you have a certain scent or aroma you cannot tolerate but have no rational explanation for the dislike? For me, it is burning sage. I discovered a lifetime as a Native American on the Great Plains when my tribe died from starvation one brutal winter. We burned sage during those last weeks. I don’t know the exact purpose other than a ritual one, but I unknowingly associate that smell with that lifetime and my negative reaction to it is so emotional I become sick.      I was once asked if I use any of these experiences in my books. I have incorporated some aspects. For example in my time travel, All I Want, I relied on my past life recalls for the authenticity of living in 1250 AD Scotland. The foods, mannerisms, sights, and the smell of the peat fields reflect those impressions I brought back from my regressions of lifetimes lived in Scotland.      In Fated Mates, my contribution to the anthology, Love Me Tomorrow, was inspired by a progression we conducted into a future life. Of course, the reptilian race depicted in my fictional account was a creation of my imagination. The ragtag rebel resistance, however, was very similar to the one I discovered in a future life set in 2356 AD. While I’ve encountered some strange things in my past life regressions, I’ve never encountered vampires or gargoyles. Of course, I haven’t gotten to revisit all of my past lives—yet. Ellora’s Cave author Sally Painter conducts monthly workshops and broadcasts a paranormal talk radio show called “Sally’s Midnight Hour,” featuring paranormal authors and researchers. Learn more about her and her work at www.sallypainter.com. Boys of Summer 2006      Alas, the end of summer is upon us. With heavy heart, we bid adieu to lazy summer days spent ogling oiled Adonises at the pool.      But take heart. In the darkest days of the coming winter, you can return to this page and bask in eternal sunshine with Ellora’s Cavemen, thanks to EC Art Director Syneca Featherstone’s fast camera and fine eye for man candy. She took these photos in Daytona Beach at the 2006 Romantic Times Convention. Hot hunks in cool water. Sssssssssss. (from left: Devon Yala, Joe Gruber, Bobby Kerecz) We love a man in nothing but jeans and sunglasses. (from left: Rodney Chatman, Jason Santiago, and Bobby Kerecz) Brooks Johnson and Joe Gruber make our shirts look good. Jason, Devon, Rodney, and Bobby give new meaning to the old Joyland sign. 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