Arctic Light

As is my usual practice, my latest book as Lauren is available for download for my DW circle for the next week or so!



Download from Bookfunnel.

The download will be up until the book goes live on Amazon on May 2.

(Technically this is Shifter Agents #6, but it's a standalone that shouldn't require any context to read.)

It's that time again - Lauren Esker has a book out on Sept. 10, which means you get it for free (if you want it).



Download Not Half Badger on Bookfunnel
(It will be available until Sept. 9th.)

( Blurb under the cut )

Also, today's the several-times-a-year "Zoebub" (unrelated to Zoe Chant; it's run by Zoe York) aka Stuff Your Kindle/Ereader Day, so if you're interested in perusing their free romance book offerings, www.romancebookworms.com is the place to go. The books are only guaranteed to be free on Sept. 5, but most of them are probably free for several days around it. (I have Shadow Dragon set free on Amazon through the end of the day on Friday; there's also a not-by-me free Zoe Chant book in there.)

Several of these are reprints, but here's what I had out in 2021:



I don't actually think this is sane, sensible, or recommended, but once I realized I was putting out roughly a book a month this year, I decided to see how long I could keep it going, just as a personal challenge to myself. As it turned out, I had something out every month this year except for March. (And I literally just noticed I used the exact same type treatment on the Horses and Wolf Country covers. Oops.)

I'm cheating a bit with the last one, because it's just a free Lauren story that's been on my Lauren Esker website forever and I finally got around to putting up on Amazon, but I made a new cover for it, so I'm counting it. Free version downloadable here.

Things to do for the rest of the year:

- Edits for Tor (my next Zoe) & ARCs.
- Much-needed website cleanup/update.
- Mailing list maintenance and redoing the onboarding sequence. (Or at least make a plan for it.)
- Color some Kismet pages with the hopes of restarting it in January.
- My annual New Year's Eve story.

Any of this that doesn't get done this month (well, except the last one) can be pushed into January; I'm planning on taking it easy between now and the end of the year.

Next year's primary goal is consistency. I can write fast, but what I'm not very good at is planning to work on specific projects and then sticking with those rather than bouncing to new things. I'm not entirely abandoning my usual "mayfly on crack" working process because it's just part of how my brain works, but in general I want to get better at reliably delivering books in a series by a particular deadline.

I have an oversweetened chestnut praline latte from Starbucks, the tree lights are turned on, and I am wrapped in a blanket on the couch while the spouse gets mad at a video game and our 16-year-old retriever mix does the geriatric-dog equivalent of losing his glasses in another room a dozen times in a row, and I plan to write Yuletide treats frantically 'til the deadline.

... in other words it's a perfect Christmas Eve. <3

Tree bling:



The barn ornament is new this year. When we were kids, we had a Fisher Price toy barn, and I saw the ornament (which is Fisher Price merch, based on the toy) and bought one for my sister and one for me. The actual toy goes "MOO" when you open the door. We used to do that ... a lot. Because we thought it was hilarious. I bet Mom didn't think so.

Shilling:

My latest Lauren book, Metal Pirate (Warriors of Galatea #3), is out: Ebook | Paperback. I think I'm going to wait to send out the official emails 'til after Christmas. Email me if you want a free copy and let me know what format you want.

Prompted is a new anthology of short, light romance by Elva Birch, aka ellenmillion. Every story I've read so far has been absolutely delightful! There's a mix of M/F and F/F of all heat levels, from ultra sweet to graphic to kinky. Available at Amazon, at other vendors, or you can get a free copy if you sign up for Elva's mailing list.

My latest SF romance as Lauren Esker is out!



Metal Dragon: Warriors of Galatea #2

Stranded with an alien dragon!

Meri is a widow, consumed by grief for the husband she lost ten years ago. She never expected to be stranded on an alien planet full of vicious dinosaur-like wildlife ... let alone with a tormented, silver-eyed dragon prince. He says he's rescuing her. He's definitely the only person who can protect her from this world's monsters. But there's no one to save her from her own treacherous heart, after she believed she would never love again ...

As a slave to the Galatean Empire, dragon shifter Lyr lost everyone he ever loved, and walled up his heart in self-defense. Protecting Meri doesn't have to mean falling in love with her. Even if she's brave and beautiful, and everything that Lyr and his dragon could have wanted in a mate.

But it's just the two of them. No one is going to know ...

Available on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PDZQCT4

And if you want to read the first book in the series, Metal Wolf:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DG33QJG

The books are intended to stand alone, but they involve the same group of characters and have some crossover elements.

The third in the series, METAL PIRATE, will be out this summer/fall sometime.

Hi, new people following me from the DW friending meme! And people who have followed/friended me in the last couple of years in general. For one reason and another, it's taken me this long to write an intro post, and I don't think I ever did one the last time I did a friending meme at all.

So - hi! I'm sholio/sholio, or Layla. I live in Alaska, and I'm a graphic designer, artist, and writer. I used to mainly do freelance graphic design, but over the last couple of years I've transitioned to writing for a living, and I do that full-time now. I write het paranormal romance as Lauren Esker (also on Facebook and on Amazon). I've written a few M/M books in the past as Layla M. Wier (that pen name is basically retired at this point, though), and I'm planning on launching a new pen name this summer for fantasy and sci-fi that's not really romance as such, but tends to feature LGBTQ+ characters and pairings. I haven't settled on that name yet. I also write ultra-commercial erotica-laced het romance as part of a group pen name, which I'm not naming because we're trying to preserve the polite fiction that we are a single person (a la the way kids' series like Nancy Drew or Trixie Belden are written by a number of writers working under the same name) but I'm happy to tell people what it is if you ask in a PM or on a non-public post. I just don't want to give it out in public.

Feel free to PM me or email me at laureneskerwriter at gmail if you would like to try any of my books. I'm happy to hand them out to flist people for free. :D Lauren's website also has a couple of free stories, with more to come.

I used to be active in the small press comics scene, and I've been doing a weekly sci-fi webcomic called Kismet since 2002 (give or take a few years' hiatus in the middle there). It's all online for free. The first book, Hunter's Moon, is archived at my website and the current book, Sun-Cutter, updates every Monday and is about 160 pages so far. (It's on Tumblr, so you can follow it there, but the nav buttons don't work on mobile. There is a partial archive at my website, along with some short side comics. These are only partly archived because my other archive site went down and I haven't gotten around to finishing getting them up at my site yet. I really should do that ....) Anyway, the Kismet comic also has a Patreon where I post sketchbook pages, development art, glimpses of upcoming stuff and so forth, and a Tumblr sideblog for similar content and page announcements, kismetcity, which I really need to do more with.

(Kismet is what the icon on this post is from.)

So that's the pro stuff! But you're probably here for the fan stuff! My fanfic is all on AO3, except for most of the Stargate stuff from 2006-2008, which can be found on my old website and will be on AO3 ... uh ... eventually? On Tumblr, I'm laylainalaska/sholiofic - the first is for reblogs and gifs and general chatting with people; the second is for fic and fic announcements, where I also periodically solicit prompts for whatever fandoms I'm in at the moment. I tend to be a fannish serial monogamist - although right now, unusually for me, I seem to have two main ones, Agent Carter and The Flash (and the DC universe shows in general), and I'm still kinda dipping in and out of White Collar and a few other side fandoms. I mod collarcorner (White Collar gen prompt community) and also run SSR Confidential, an Agent Carter fanworks exchange that will have its signups in March.

So basically what you're going to get around here is a lot of fan squee about whatever I'm into at the moment (Flash and Legends of Tomorrow come back on Tuesday, eeeeee!!), fic, and intermittent chatter about writing/comics/my life/etc. Due to current events, there may also be more politics around here than there used to be, but I'll put it behind a cut.

And that's me! It's really great seeing so much renewed activity around here, and I'm going to try to be more active on DW/LJ in 2017. (HOW IS IT 2017 ALREADY, WHAT.) I'm looking forward to chatting with you all, whether you're just stopping in or have been here for years. :D

Lauren's new book is out! And I had super fun with this one, guys. :D (The official announcement will go out on Lauren's mailing list in the morning.)



Here it is on Amazon!

This is the third book in a series, but it completely stands on its own ... actually better than the previous ones do. This is the one with the cruise ship shaped like a giant floating sphinx!

( Blurb copy under the cut )

And if you'd like to read it and want me to send you a copy, just send me an email at laureneskerwriter at gmail and I will happily do so.

On the Lauren Esker front, I posted a free short story over at Lauren's website, Chasing Bigfoot. Well, I say "short"; it's actually around 14K. Oops. Anyway, it's set shortly after Guard Wolf and stars Jack and Casey from Handcuffed to the Bear. Casey gets her first case as a trainee field agent, and it involves ... well ... Bigfoot. OR DOES IT???

I actually meant to write this one around Halloween, but one thing led to another and I didn't get around to it until after finishing the rough draft of the dragon book.

I've got it up for download in several formats: Kindle - Epub - PDF (right-click/save as for any of these). Or you can read it on the website.

Have at! And should you encounter any formatting weirdness or download issues, please let me know! (Or any issues of spelling, grammar, or research fail, for that matter, should one happen to jump out at you.) I included a few images in the ebook - nothing important, just pictures of Pacific Northwest woods - but those caused me more formatting headaches than the rest of it put together, so if they come out terrible or squashed on people's ereaders, I'll probably just end up deleting 'em.

(I also finally went and made myself a bear icon, now that I have all this extra icon space ...)

Okay, so first of all, another of my Lauren Esker books is published FINALLY. This is the "werewolf puppies + evil scientists" book: Guard Wolf. It is also the sequel to the very classily named Handcuffed to the Bear, and various characters from that book appear in this one as well.

Guard Wolf is only 99 cents, but for you guys, if anybody wants to read it, I'd be happy to email it to you. :)

(And it doesn't hurt my feelings AT ALL if you aren't interested, trust me.)

Thank you to everyone who provided suggestions on how to fix my "getting my characters caught without having them be stupid" conundrum, by the way. Your suggestions were incredibly helpful, and the final scene is vastly improved!

Meanwhile, the full list of Yuletide requests has been released for people writing treats. Now that I've got the book cleared off my to-do list (\o/) I plan to write a couple of treats ... actually, I have already written one, though I'm waiting 'til after the regular Yuletide deadline to upload anything. Now I just need to find another prompt that catches my fancy ...

This one has the very classy title of Handcuffed to the Bear.

However, this is actually the most like my fanfic of any of the romance books I've written so far. It's the first in a series about the agents of the Shifter Crimes Bureau (they solve the crimes that no one else will!).

( Cover and all the deets under the cut )