“The Devil Went Down to the Sunset Strip”

“Angrrr Management were four talented guys. (They really were. I wasn’t just some starry-eyed groupie; I knew decent music and I knew stage presence.) Talented, yes, and awfully pretty, all of them. And every last one of them was dumber than a post. Had they never HEARD of Robert Johnson?”

“The Devil Went Down to the Sunset Strip” is a hilarious urban fantasy short story about 80s hair metal and selling your soul to Satan.

“The Devil Went Down to the Sunset Strip” originally appeared in Retro Spec: Tales of Fantasy and Nostalgia (Raven Electrick Ink, 2010).

Cover images © iScream Creative / iStockPhoto and Baris Simsek / iStockPhoto.

Available in a variety of electronic formats
Amazon |  Barnes & Noble |  Smashwords

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“Blood Relations”

The woman known as the “Vegan Martha Stewart” learns who her infamous father really is…and their relationship threatens to ruin their respective empires. A funny fantasy short story—with a bite!

Cover art © Robert Kohlhuber / iStockPhoto.com.

Available in a variety of electronic formats
Amazon |  Barnes & Noble |  Smashwords

First, Sweet Confessions: Erotic Fantasies for Couples is now available for pre-order! Alison Tyler is giving away a copy, if you want to mosey on over to her blog and make a bid for it.

Sweet Confessions contains my story “New Day, New Life,” about a woman recovering from an illness and wanting to experience life to the fullest. It also has a Sophie Mouette story, “Sacred Places,” about a couple discovering a shared dark fantasy.

It’s edited by the venerable Violet Blue, and may be spotlighted on an OWN network show (!!), and has a slew of wonderful authors, so…. It comes out next month, but you can preorder it now.

Next, I wanted to let all you Kindle users know about two free short stories I have up on Amazon for your enjoyment.

“What Dragons Prefer” is a humorous fantasy story, written as Dayle A. Dermatis:

A dragon slayer arrives to rescue a threatened town, but the real threat and the dragon’s true desires are not necessarily one and the same.

The story first appeared in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy Magazine, Fall 1994; and republished in Dragons: A Celebration of the Greatest of Mythical Creatures, January 1996.

“From Bitter to Sweet” is a literary erotica story (nothing terribly explicit in it), written as Andrea Dale:

An erotic lesbian short-short story about breakups, new love, and chocolate. Go ahead—savor it. Let it melt on your tongue….

The story originally appeared in Got a Minute? 60 Second Erotica (Cleis Press, 2007)

Both of these are short-shorts, and really too short for me to charge for them—but the downside is, even though they’re labeled as such, reviewers are complaining that they’re, you guessed it, too short! So, y’know, if you like them, it would please me greatly if you posted a nice review. That’s always better payment to me than money! (My mom and my sister are both still asleep, so I’m gonna get back to work now!)

“Famous Last Words” by Dayle A. Dermatis

You think you’re panicking about the e-book revolution? How do you think the print books feel? A funny short story about the end of the publishing world as we know it….

Available in a variety of electronic formats
Amazon |  Barnes & Noble |  Smashwords

“What Dragons Prefer” — free fantasy short story from Soul’s Road Press!

A dragon slayer arrives to rescue a threatened town, but the real threat and the dragon’s true desires are not necessarily one and the same.

“What Dragons Prefer” first appeared in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy Magazine, Fall 1994; and republished in Dragons: A Celebration of the Greatest of Mythical Creatures, January 1996.

Available free in a variety of electronic formats from Smashwords
(includes formats for Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook).

(Also: That’s right, Alia—stories you can read and enjoy!)

Here’s info on the first two:

“Dayle A. Dermatis’s ‘If the Shoe Fits’ is a funny (and rather ingenious) semi-modern twist on Cinderella, in which we find out why that shoe was really so important to everyone.” —Errant Dreams Reviews

“If the Shoe Fits” originally appeared in The Trouble With Heroes (DAW, 2009).

Available in a variety of electronic formats

Amazon |  Barnes &Noble |  Smashwords

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“Hell’s Belles”

Teaching etiquette to a spoiled debutante can be hell…literally.

“Hell’s Belles” originally appeared in Deathgrip: Exit Laughing (Hellbound Books, 2006).

Available in a variety of electronic formats

Amazon |  Barnes & Noble |  Smashwords

Edited by Liz Grzyb. Ticonderoga (www.ticonderogapublications.com), $15.99 trade paper (260p) ISBN 978-0-9807813-2-8

Talent shines in this beguiling collection of 17 paranormal romance stories from Down Under, many of which are more haunting and humorous than scary. Mr. Darcy of Pride and Prejudice takes a turn as a barbaric demon slayer in Fraser Sherman’s “The Sword of Darcy,” while a sugar-crazed cherub does his best to reunite two lovers in Nicole R. Murphy’s “The Protector’s Last Mission.” A telepathic tentacle monster reluctantly wedded to a human woman finds a way toward happy-ever-after in Liz Coley’s “Marriage of Convenience.” On the creepier end, both Felicity Dowker’s “Berries and Incense” and Kirstyn McDermott’s “Frostbitten” will leave readers with chills. Martin Livings and Talie Helene close the anthology with “The Last Gig of Jimmy Rucker,” a brilliantly hypnotizing and heartwarming tale. Readers will be delighted by this introduction to some of Australia’s best paranormal romance writers. (May)

This question has come up in different forms: Why do I have so many pseudonyms? How do I find your non-erotic stuff/how do I tell the difference between your erotica vs non-erotic works?

Here’s a handy reference guide!

I have different pseudonyms because I write in different genres. It’s to help my readers easily find what they’re interested in. I also try very hard to be clear when I’m promoting something, what genre it’s in. If I say fantasy, I mean fantasy, not erotica. And so forth.

Dayle A. Dermatis – fantasy, science fiction, occasional non-fiction. I did sell one short, sweet romance story under this name, but it appeared in small presses a long time ago. When I put it up for sale as an e-book soon, I’ll use my sweet romance pseudonym (and if anyone is confused and buys the story and then realizes they’ve already read it, I’ll happily refund their money because if they’ve been a fan of mine for that long, they totally deserve it!).

Andrea Dale – erotica and erotic romance

Sophie Mouette – erotica and erotic romance co-authored with Teresa Noelle Roberts

Sarah Dale – spicy romance co-authored by with Sarah J. Husch

Kendra Wayne – erotica and erotic romance. An alternate name for Andrea Dale, really, for when I’m going to have two stories in the same anthology. Also the name I write under for Custom Erotica Source.

Andrea Loewen – romance, some with paranormal elements. There may be some sexual scenes, but if there are, they’re not full-on erotic. I haven’t yet sold anything under this name, but I have several things making the rounds.

All of my publications are listed on my Bibliography page, divided up by pseudonym with the genre noted.

Questions? Comments? Fire away!

The collection features over thirty stories by a wide range of best-selling and award-winning authors, including a previously-unpublished poem from Nebula and Hugo award-winner Ursula K. Le Guin, as well as a chapter from Rachel Carson’s groundbreaking book The Sea Around Us. Authors contributing stories of environmental rescue and recovery include Vonda N. McIntyre, Judith Tarr, Deborah Ross, Sarah Monette, David D. Levine, David Gessner, and Lyda Morehouse, among others. Tiffany Trent and Phyllis Irene Radford edited the collection.

The book is available in epub, pdf, mobi, and prc formats in the Book View Café bookstore and will be coming to the Kindle store soon.

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Okay, so why am I mentioning this here? Well, obviously, it’s a benefit I believe in, and obviously, there are some major names in this book, so you know it’s gotta be good.

But there’s another thing.

I’m in it.

Wait. Because I’m still reeling in shock, I have to repeat that. I have stories in this anthology, too.

HolycrapI’minananthologywithUrsulaK.LeGuinandVondaN.McIntyreandJudithTarrandKristineKathrynRuschandIamsoooonotworthy!

Not only that, but I sent them two stories, figuring they’d pick the one they preferred…and they took both of them. I think I’m the only person with two stories in there: A reprint of “The Power to Change the Shape of the Land” (originally in Sword & Sorceress XVI) and a new (older) story called “I Sing a Song of Mourning.” (Also known as, the two stories with the longest titles I’ve come up with.) Both are fantasy, for those of you who eschew the steamier side of fiction.

Please buy a copy, folks. If not for my stories, then for all the other amazing ones in there (look at that TOC!), and for the Gulf. Thanks!

Jude-Marie Green, “Hula Hoop”
Robert Borski, “Invasion, 1955”
Neil Coghlan, “Storm on Fifth Avenue”
K.M. Praschak, “Rain Goddess: The Dust Bowl, 1930s”
Lyn C. A. Gardner, “The Mustache”
Bruce Boston, “beat people”
Leonard Richardson, “The Day Alan Turing Came Out”
Brian Rosenberger, “These United States of Frankenstein: Meltdown”
Jennifer Rachel Baumer, “New and Improved”
Amanda C. Davis, “Sparks between Our Teeth”
Cliff Winnig, “R101 Is Burning”
Todd Wheeler, “Dreams like Snowflakes”
Karen A. Romanko, “Zeb”
Cat Rambo, “Ticktock Girl”
Lon Prater, “All That Remains Is the Middle”
Don D’Ammassa, “Slipstream Fiction”
G. O. Clark, “Putting off the Past”
Marge Simon, “The Fix”
Nancy Ellis Taylor, “The Last Time I Was in Vienna”
C.D. Covington, “U8: Alexanderplatz (1989)”
Dayle A. Dermatis, “The Devil Went down to the Sunset Strip”
Paul Abbamondi, “Art Deco and the Infestation of New America”
Ann K. Schwader, “The Darkness Whispers”
Brenta Blevins, “Mercury 13–And Beyond”
David D. Levine, “Nucleon”