I’ve enrolled Seducing the Myth in the programme, and you can grab it for a whopping 75% OFF! All you have to do is go to the book page on Smashwords, add it to your basket, enter this coupon code REW75 before checking out, and there you have it! 24 hot myths and legends on your eReader at a bargain price!
Don’t miss it! The promotion only runs until March 10th.
Happy reading, and don’t forget to leave reviews when you’re done, we appreciate it 
Wow, while I’ve been having a very busy weekend offline, it would seem I’ve also had an incredibly busy weekend online. I have lots of links to share:
So… that should keep you busy for a while, right? 
Seducing the Myth needs your votes! Yes, this hot erotic anthology has been included in the ‘Best Anthology Published in 2011′ category on the Preditors and Editors Readers’ Poll. Naturally, I’m delighted, but we’re up against some tough competition, so every vote counts!
Therefore, if you’re so inclined, I’d be mighty grateful for your votes:
http://www.critters.org/predpoll/antho.shtml
Also, whilst you’re in the mood for voting, if you haven’t already, I’d also love you forever for placing your votes for LucyFelthouse.co.uk and EroticaForAll.co.uk over at the Xcite Awards….
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XciteAwards
*bats eyelashes* – thanks so much for your support, it means a lot!
Happy New Year, everyone! So… it’s a new year, and there’s lots of talk of resolutions. I only have two:
1. Lose weight. Yes, boring as hell and the same as everybody else, probably. But there it is, let’s not dwell on it.
2. Write a novel. Infinitely more exciting, I am setting this as my resolution this year to stop me talking about it and spur me on to actually do it! So yes, this year (and hopefully even this month) I will be starting to pen my sequel to Bite with Height, following on from my visit to Paris last October for research purposes. Wish me luck and pen speed – I’m going to need it!
Today, I visited one of my favourite places in the world – the Peak District. Yes, me, my other half and my trusty paperback copy of Seducing the Myth headed up high on the Morridge Moors in the Peak District. We were there so I could have my photo taken with my copy of Seducing the Myth, in the very place where my story in the anthology is set. And here’s the result (yes, my hat is crazy and the wind certainly didn’t help).
Also, for those of you in the UK that were treated to new Kindles this Christmas, and also those of you that already had one, just to let you know that most of my Kindle titles in the UK store have had their prices reduced. I’m not sure why, or for how long, but take advantage while you can! Here’s my Amazon Author Page.
P.S. I had a super review of A Menu with a Difference from Girls Only Reviews – check it out! http://girlsonlyreviews.blogspot.com/2011/12/menu-with-difference-by-lucy-felthouse.html
As it’s the season of goodwill, etc… I’ve knocked a whopping 15% off Seducing the Myth on All Romance eBooks, just for you! For the next two weeks, you can grab it for just $6.79, a total bargain for 24 luscious stories.
Just the thing to load up onto your eReader! Not got one? Let’s hope Santa pops one into your stocking this year! Alternatively, bag yourself a paperback copy. Buy links are here.
Grab your copy from All Romance eBooks now!
And, most importantly, have a wonderful holiday season!
As it’s Cyber Monday, reputed to be the busiest online shopping day of the year, All Romance eBooks have been doing some awesome discounts, including several of my titles. So if you want to bag some of my titles at a bargain price, now’s the time!
Brick Dust & Bedsprings is just $0.75!*
Naughty Delivery is just $0.75!
Seducing the Myth is just $3.99!
Fang Bangers (containing one of my stories) is just $1.49!
I Kissed A Girl (containing one of my stories) is just $3.49!*
I Kissed A Girl II (containing one of my stories) is just $2.49!*
*These titles have best-seller stars, too!
I am still recovering from the craziest, most exhausting and yet totally fun weekend! Yes, it was Erotica 2011 weekend! The show is on at Olympia, London, once a year and I trekked down from Derbyshire to be there with lots of my author buddies, editors and publishers. Victoria Blisse and I also took advantage of the fact we were already in the area to do a reading at the super Sh! Women’s Store in Hoxton Square on Friday night.
So, Hoxton was the first stop. That’s me, complete with my yummy A Bit of Rough t-shirt and a copy of Seducing the Myth. The OH and I headed across London on the Tube and met Victoria Blisse, her lovely hubby and friend in Blu Bar, just opposite the sexy pink shop of Sh! Then K D Grace, fresh from an exhausting day at Erotica dashed in and met us too. So we chilled for a little while, then headed over the road to see the lovely ladies of Sh! and get everything organised for our evening of smut.
And smutty it was! Fellow Northern Bird Victoria Blisse was launching her new book, Tempting Rendezvous, published by Xcite. Therefore she treated us to some lush excerpts from her tale about rubenesque chick Leanna and her hot American hunk, Joe. It was sprinkled with Victoria’s usual humour as well as the totally hot sex and fab storyline and the audience, including myself of course, hung on to her every word, as well as giggling at the appropriate moments. Ms. Blisse herself struggled not to smirk a couple of times, too, but she maintained her resolve throughout. It was a fun-filled evening, in which Victoria read from Tempting Rendezvous and a recent Xcite anthology we both appear in, The Look of Lust.
I read my erotic mermaid tale, Down by the Pool, from Seducing the Myth, as well as an excerpt from The Look of Lust. Both stories seemed to be received well by the audience, and I got a few sniggers of my own from some humorous bits in my own tales.
As well as reading, Victoria and I also had some goodies for the attendees, as well as a raffle. We also followed up our readings with a fun Q&A session which included lots of questions, including ones about our favourite genres, our muses, how we got started writing, and whether or not we like Twilight (an allusion to our respective vampire tales). Finally, we signed copies of our books and sent our lovely customers to give the fab Sh! Girlz some cash! Speaking of the Sh! Girlz, they were on fine form as always, making sure us authors and our wonderful audience were well lubricated (with champagne!) and fed. We enjoyed cupcakes, homemade cakes courtesy of Ms. Blisse and homemade Rhubarb & Custard Chocolate Cups and Clotted Cream Fudge courtesy of my skilled OH. Let’s just say there wasn’t much food left over!
It was then around the corner to The Breakfast Club where more food and drink was consumed, and more fun was had. Our group consisted of myself, my OH, Victoria Blisse, her OH, K D Grace and her OH, who slipped into Sh! straight from work, bless him. The influence of the three erotic writers was obviously enough, though, because the conversation was enough to turn some heads and have us dissolving into giggles on a frequent basis. Luckily, we didn’t get into trouble and were allowed to enjoy our meals and drinks, before paying up and hitting the pavement to make our way back to our respective hotels for the night. It wasn’t a sad goodbye, as it so often is as we knew we’d all be teaming up the following day for more smut-mongering. Hurrah!
And smut-mongering we did. En-route, OH and I bumped into Victoria and her OH at Earl’s Court Tube station, then Lexie Bay and her fella outside Olympia Tube station. Once inside, we hit the Xcite stand, where Hazel Cushion was holding court and sellling smutty books at a very impressive rate. K D Grace soon arrived and there was much posing for photographs and perusing the naughty books, as well as exploring the show in general.
More smutters soon showed up, including Kay Jaybee and Rebecca Bond. Much chatting and catching up was done, but soon it was time to go and do some authorly stuff. The Xcite Reading Slam was held in the London Room, an echoey expanse of room which wasn’t ideal… but still, reading is reading. There we were treated to tales from Victoria Blisse, yours truly, Kay Jaybee, K D Grace, a newbie author who’s name I’ve forgotten and Lexie Bay – who bravely volunteered at the last minute, thusly popping her public reading cherry. Well done on your reading from Immoral Views, buddy! Unfortunately, towards the end there were multiple interruptions from people wandering in and out of the room and sitting down and chatting over the readings which was both rude and infuriating but we all kept smiling! It’s just a good job looks can’t kill
After the Reading Slam, there was an impromptu posing session with a bunch of soldiers. They were there on behalf of the “Soldiers Off the Streets” charity, and I’d already bought a wristband from them earlier in the day. But then I had the bright idea of giving them some business cards with Uniform Behaviour on them, due to the link with charity and helping returning soldiers. Then I had yet another idea for getting the Uniform Behaviour authors in attendance to do a group pose with the soldiers, thus getting some fab photos to help promote our mutual good cause! A good giggle was had by all, though it was impossible to get everyone to look at the same camera at the same time, so I’ve picked the best photo of the bunch!
Following our random photo shoot, there was time for more wandering of the show, photo taking, seeing people attired in all manner of clothing, and very little clothing, having a quick peek at the stage show, loo breaks and a mass sit down and drink/eat! All too soon, we were summoned back to the Xcite stand as myself, Victoria and Kay would be appearing on the afternoon’s panel, along with Kitti Bernetti, and chaired by the inimitable Jane Wenham-Jones. We dropped off our bags and respective friends and other halves and sneaked off together to have a quick briefing about what to expect and how things would work, before heading back into the London Room to arrange the room how we wanted it. What followed was a very lively, fun panel which I really enjoyed. It consisted of Jane asking us questions, us asking each other, and also lots of input from the audience. We talked about writing in general, specific genres, pen names, inspiration, getting published and much, much more.
Overall, it was a very good experience with some very interesting questions raised, and answers given. I think everyone on the panel, as well as everyone attending definitely took something away from the session, and you really can’t ask for better than that! After packing away, a debrief was given back at the Xcite stand, and then we all disappeared off for more looking around the show, and some fun photo ops. Me and my fabulous author buddies posed along the “Erotica wall” as we called it and I actually felt rather famous as multiple cameras were pointed at us. Granted, they were all being pointed by other halves and friends, but still! 
It was a tiny taste of what it feels like to be in demand, and it was good fun. As you can see from the pics, there was lots of giggling going on and I believe at one point we almost knocked the wall behind us over altogether, which would have been an interesting experience! Luckily, we all emerged unscathed, then the rest of the day/evening consisted of a second launch of K D Grace’s super-steamy new novel, The Pet Shop, which flew off the Xcite stand at the speed of light, and more wandering around the show. Finally, we all reluctantly split off to go our separate ways for the night, and myself and my OH ended up in a restaurant in Hammersmith with Victoria Blisse and her OH, enjoying an absolutely delicious meal and more amusing chat, which also included some more plans for world domination. Good times!
All in all, it’s been a fabulous, fabulous weekend for so many reasons. Seeing the Sh! Girlz is always a delight, so a huge thank you to them and the lovely attendees of the reading on Friday night. You all rock! It’s also been great to spend time with people that I consider to be my buddies but I sadly don’t see anywhere near often enough! Geography sucks! Then of course there were the fab events that Xcite let us loose on, and the signing opportunities on the Xcite stand, so a big thanks also goes to Xcite, who also rock. I met some great people too, including a few readers on the Xcite stand, so if you’re reading this thanks for stopping by and saying hi to us all, and of course buying our books. We couldn’t do it without you!
Now it’s time for me to wrap up as this has to be the longest blog post ever – if you’re still here, well done! I end with this:
Link to more photos on Facebook, if you’re so inclined.
Please welcome Fulani to Myth Mondays for his post on Andi in Chains, which is featured in Seducing the Myth. Take it away, Fulani….
*****
Andromeda is a Greek myth, a story of a young woman who was sacrificed to a sea monster but saved by a warrior. It first appeared in written form in Ovid’s collection Metamorphoses, around 8AD, but is probably far, far older. Ovid was a Roman poet and Metamorphoses is a collection of mythical and semi-mythical stories in the form of a long narrative poem that describes the history of the world from its creation through to the reign of Julius Ceasar. It was an instant success and remained one of the most popular literary works for centuries. The story remained well-known, possibly because every schoolboy who has to learn Latin would have been introduced to the text. There are many paintings of Andromeda chained to a rock – for example those by Titian (1553-59), Vasari (1570), Rembrandt (1630), Chasseriau (1840), Dore (1869) and Poynter (also 1869).
There is some historical background to the legend. Andromeda’s parents, Cephus and Cassiopeia were the kind and queen of Ethiopia – not necessarily the same place as the modern-day country, because in Greek times the word was used to refer both to an area that extended south from modern-day Aswan, in Egypt, and from the east of the Nile into what we now call the Middle East. Tradition has it that the rock to which Andromeda was chained as a sacrifice is located by the harbour of Jaffa, Israel.
The story has a lot of detail and quite a few characters.
In addition to Andromeda’s parents, King Cephus and Queen Cassiopeia, the dramatis personae include Phineus, the brother of Cephus, to whom Andomeda was to have been married. Then there were the Nereids, daughters of the sea god Nereus. The story really started with Cassiopeia boasting Andromeda was more beautiful than the Nereids, and they were offended. They complained to their father in a ‘What are you going to do about this insult?’ way. He talked to Poseidon about it. Nereus was the eldest son of the Titans Pontus and Gaia, making him a powerful deity in his own right, though it’s unclear what his relationship with Poseidon was – Poseidon was specifically a god of the seas with the Mediterranean as his sphere of influence. Some sources suggest they’re different aspects of the same deity, so the conversation between them may have been a little strange.
In any event, Poseideon sent Cetus, a sea monster, to ravage the coastline of Ethiopia.
Amid the storms and floods that followed, Cephus consulted the Oracle of Apollo which told him to sacrifice his daughter to Cetus to save his kingdom. Hence, Andromeda chained naked to a rock on the shoreline awaiting her fate.
What about Perseus? Well, he has quite a backstory. He was Mycenean. His mother was the daughter of the King of Argos, a powerful city state that’s now part of Greece and one of the oldest continuously-inhabited places in the world. The king had, however, received an omen that he’d be killed by a male grandchild – hence he kept his daughter in a bronze prison, where she was impregnated by Zeus. Unwilling to actually kill his daughter or grandson, the king set them adrift on the seas in a wooden chest.
They pitched up on the Greek island of Serifos and were taken in by a fisherman (who happened to be the brother of the local king). In time, the King of Serifos, Polydectes, proposed to marry Perseus’ mother. To protect her from Polydectes – and this is again a long and involved story – Perseus promised to undertake a quest, which turned out to be finding and killing the Gorgon Medusa. He had to ‘borrow’ – well, strong-arm the use of – various magical implements to do this. And it was on his way back from that quest that he came across Andromeda, rescued her and married her.
What follows is even more complicated. Perseus has a stand-off with Phineus (remember him? Andromeda had been promised to him in marriage). He would up killing Phineus by showing him the head of Medusa – handily hacked from her body and carried in Perseus’ knapsack. Well, it was the proof that he’d finished the quest. The sight of the head turned Phineus to stone. Perseus then returned home, killing Polydectes the same way and rescuing his mother (who remained there as consort of the fisherman who’d rescued them both, and who was installed as the new king).
He had to trek around the area returning magical items he’d ‘borrowed’ for his quest to kill Medusa. After that he went to the Olympic Games then under way in Larissa, where versions of the story differ. He may have accidentally killed his grandfather with a rogue quoit hit or discus throw, or his father may have been living in exile by that time. In any event, rather than return to Argos and claim the throne, Perseus became king of Tyrins, another Mycenean city state close by.
Andromeda joined him there, they lived happily ever after and had seven sons and two daughters – a busy sex life, then, and there was no contraception in those days…
I originally came to the story through art – I particularly like the Chasseriau, Dore and Poynter paintings of the myth, all of which I’ve known for a while. But having decided to take Andromeda as the starting point for the story, I wanted to do a contemporary re-telling. Who could take the role of the various kings? Who would be prepared to settle scores with murder, imprison others on the basis of susperstition, chain their own daughter to a rock as a sacrifice? Well… I guess I could have set the re-telling in some tiny backwater state with a powerful dictator, or in the context of unscrupulous multinational companies. But the idea of the kings as gangsters and drug dealers, ruling their own mini-territories around the docks of an old industrial city, appealed.
So who was Perseus? These days, the nearest we have to a warrior of his personality type is probably a mercenary of some sort, used to pulling off operations with a mixture of high-tech equipment and low-tech violence.
And the thing about chains… Perseus freed Andromeda from her chains and they went on to have a lifelong, loving relationship. But a ‘what if’ thought struck me. What if she actually liked the whole experience of being chained up? What if that had been the secret fantasy keeping her warm on long dark nights? You don’t have to read much to discover that empirically, fantasies of bondage, rescue, and the rescuer not releasing the captive but taking advantage of them are quite common among women (and among some men, actually).
So that gave me the plot outline.
One question left – who was telling the story? Well, it needed to be someone who was there. I imagined it as story told maybe in a bar, by someone who knew the background, and told to a journalist who’d heard about the whole episode and wanted to write it up in a sensational and hard-boiled way.
Find out more about Fulani on his blog, http://fulanismut.blogspot.com/.
Find out how to bag your copy of Seducing the Myth here.
This morning brought some yummy goodness into my inbox – two reviews and an interview!
Firstly, the fab Kay Jaybee has been busy – she reviewed Seducing the Myth for the excellent Oysters & Chocolate website, then also interviewed me to find out more about the anthology and my work in general.
Here’s a snippet from the review:
“…hot with a bit of extra sexy thrown in for good measure. From straight romance, to bi-sexual fun, with the occasional helping of girl on girl action, and a quick gorgeously gay threesome, there is something for every connoisseur of erotica in Lucy Felthouse’s latest offering to the world of smut—bring on the next!”
You can read the entire review here. And also check out the interview on Kay’s website.
Secondly, Romance Novel Junkies read and reviewed A Bit of Rough. I wouldn’t say it’s a romance, per se, but the reviewer certainly seemed to enjoy it!
Here’s a snippet of the review:
“Fans of real erotica, will appreciate this quickie novella that packs a whole lot of heat. It was definitely a good form of erotica. It’s a romance book, but if you are looking for a sweet romance, this is not for you. My only disappoint, is that I was enjoying the book and didn’t want it to end so soon. I would have really loved to read more about Alison and Andrew; their chemistry was that amazing to me in this novella. I look forward to more books by the author.” 4 out of 5
I’m going to wish you a good weekend now – I’m only working tomorrow morning, because then I’m off to good old London town to do some partying – it’s the joint K D Grace and Maxim Jakubowski book launch at Sh! Hoxton! K D’s launching The Pet Shop, and Maxim is launching Ekaterina and the Night. It promises to be a very good evening, and I can’t wait. It also means a weekend spent exploring London’s streets – good job my legs and feet have recovered from Paris!
Please welcome K D Grace to Myth Mondays for her post on Stones, which is featured in Seducing the Myth. Take it away, K D….
*****
My first fascination with Medusa was really a fascination with Perseus and Andromeda by way of studying the constellations in sixth grade science class. I was assigned the constellation, Andromeda, and though I didn’t retain much of the cool astronomical stuff until much later, I never forgot the story, in fact it was my introduction to Greek Mythology, which I’ve loved ever since. In the story of Perseus and Andromeda, Perseus, with lots of help from the gods, saves Andromeda from a horrible sea monster by turning the sea monster to stone with the head of Medusa, which the gods also graciously helped him separate from Medusa’s body. And of course he would have needed the help of the gods, as one look at Medusa would turn anyone to stone.
It was much later that I learned Medusa’s side of the story, and it’s very much a tragedy. Medusa was the beautiful daughter of two sea deities. She was so exquisite that Poseidon took a fancy to her, and Poseidon always got what he wanted, so he chased her into the temple of Athena, where she should have been safe. But he raped her there. Athena’s response was not to punish Poseidon or even comfort poor Medusa, but instead, Athena punished the victim by making it so anyone who looked into Medusa’s eyes would be turned to stone. The story of Medusa’s rape by Poseidon probably represents the subjugation of the gods and goddesses of a civilization the Greeks conquered. Stories of rape were a common way of showing the subjugation of local deities to the deities of the conquerors.
In some versions of the story, Athena also makes Medusa ugly, and gives her snakes for hair. In other versions, it’s Medusa’s terrible beauty that is too much for the human eye to behold, but the end result is the same, anyone who looks into her eyes turns to stone.
In Seducing the Myth, my story, Stones, speculates on what might happen if Medusa had not been killed by Perseus, but is instead alive and well and living a secretive life in a decaying mansion in some suburb in the States. She might be calling herself Magda Gardener, but she’s complete with all the psychological baggage from her past life as a myth. And now, she simply wants what every woman wants — a normal life with a chance at happiness and love.
She also wants an orderly garden, so she hires Paul Danson to restore the mansion’s gardens to their former glory and to pay special care to the statuary, which has sentimental value to her. When Paul Danson finds himself drawn into a strange world of nightmares and lust he begins to suspect that there may be more to the reclusive Magda that meets the eye, and yet there is no denying the attraction.
I found it very difficult to stick to the 4K word limit on this story because Magda/Medusa’s life in the modern world just became more and more intriguing as I wrote. It was almost like she was whispering in my ear. Fortunately, I didn’t look her in the eye, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be revisiting her and Paul Danson in something considerably longer when I get the chance.
Find out more about K D Grace on her website, http://kdgrace.co.uk. She’s also on Facebook and Twitter.
Find out how to bag your copy of Seducing the Myth here.
MAY
1st http://ichbineinteufel.blogspot.com/
2nd http://madamedsboudoir.blogspot.co.uk
3rd http://jeanjoachim.blogspot.com
3rd http://www.lovehoney.co.uk/blog/
8th http://zeemonodee.blogspot.com/
8th http://elizabethablack.blogspot.com/
9th http://tempesteoriley.wordpress.com/blog
10th http://kdgrace.co.uk
11th http://romanticnovelistsassociationblog.blogspot.com/
12th http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/board/
15th http://dbmoonauthor.blogspot.com/
16th http://inluvwithromance.blogspot.com/
22nd http://paraposse.blogspot.com/
29th http://labellebooks.blogspot.com/
31st http://www.savvyauthors.com
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For The Girls – Hot Men & Hot Stories
