Espósame (Unlawful Contact in Spanish)

Bienvenidos a todos mis lectores de España! Estoy muy emocionado acerca del lanzamiento del Espósame el mes próximo y espero que disfrute de la historia. Gracias por sus mensajes y por su apoyo! Por favor, siéntase libre de e-mail me. Me encanta la portada para el libro! Gracias a de El equipo de Romántica en Románticas Revista para el envío de mí la imagen.

Yo no hablo mucho español, pero puedo entender la mayor parte de lo que he leído. Tengo que tener un diccionario para escribir de nuevo a usted. Pero por favor no deje que le impiden decir "hola".

Muchas gracias por venir a mi blog! Si usted visita a menudo, voy a tener que comenzar una versión en español de esta página.

For my English-speaking friends, just feast on that cover! You know, the male backside is pretty fantastic. I guess I'm always looking further down and haven't really noticed how sexy a man's back can be.

Slurp!

What a weird, weird world!

The Internet has changed the world. There's no doubt about that. As a journalist, I remember the days when researching a story sent you to the library, where you spent hours poring over microfiche and to government offices to read through dusty old records. Reporters these days have it easy, thanks to the World Wide Web.

But the Internet has done things that aren't so helpful, such as making it easier for people to steal books, music, movies and photographs. It's also made it possible to get a glimpse into people's minds in a way that we couldn't before.

For example...

If you arrive at this blog because of a Google or Yahoo search, my blog software records your IP address, what search engine you used, the country in which your IP is located, what referrer brought you here, what you read while you were on my blog and so on. It also notes which search terms you entered if you arrived here because of an Internet search.

I suppose these data are intended to provide a wealth of marketing information. I don't have time to use it in that fashion. I do check once in a while just to see what topics seem to interest readers most, and I always look to see what this week's search terms have been.

And that's the really weird and entertaining part of it.

By far, most people arrive here because they have it bookmarked or because they did a Google search. And most Google searches are simply for "Pamela Clare" or "Pamela Clare" plus the title of a novel. But some are rather interesting, not only for what they say but also for what they reveal about human nature.

So I'm going to share some with you.

Here are some of the Internet search terms for the past couple of days. To the left is the date, to the right is the search term. Check them out. I've bolded some for discussion below.


09/19/09 18:53:48 pamela clare author (Yahoo)
09/19/09 15:20:26 strip search prison bend over (Google)
09/19/09 15:17:57 steal books from borders easy (Google)
09/19/09 15:10:41 "pam clare" (Google)
09/18/09 16:57:41 the course fabric her arousel (Yahoo)
09/18/09 07:04:48 casting couch sex stories (Google)
09/18/09 07:03:19 pamela clare (Google)
09/17/09 23:15:44 untamed spoilers (Google)
09/17/09 23:15:33 untamed spoilers (Google)
09/17/09 23:14:44 prison wank (Google)
09/17/09 22:15:38 pamela clare (Google)
09/17/09 18:01:56 pamela clare (Google)
09/17/09 14:33:59 project: naked edge (Google)
09/17/09 12:35:39 free download pamela clare (Google)
09/17/09 11:32:15 pamela clare (Google)
09/17/09 09:05:42 pinch nipple pregnant sex (Google)
09/17/09 07:59:00 casting couch uptated weekly (Google)
09/17/09 00:10:59 astatalk (Google)
09/16/09 23:39:27 pamela clare (Yahoo)

As you see, most people who end up here simply search for my name. But ever since I posted the Goldilocks Goes to Jail series just before Unlawful Contact came out, I've been getting hits from someone every week who enjoys reading about the strip search. Every week!

Well, I'm glad I can fuel their fetish.

There are almost always sexual terms that land people here — not surprising given that I sometimes post spicy excerpts.

But I also have drawn lots of hits from people who want to steal. My post "If you steal books you suck" continues to get lots of hits. As some of you have discovered, I've cut off comments to that post because it turned in to a free for all with lots of abusive language and nastiness that I don't feel has a place here on my blog. As recently as today, people have posted insults, trying to slam me because I think book piracy is wrong. Well, that's too bad for those people. Obviously, they have issues. (And if they show up here, their posts will be summarily deleted.)

Interestingly, the post has also resulted in lots of people ending up here accidentally when what they were looking for was a way to download one of my stories illegally. I'm sure they eventually find a place that enables them to do just that, but it also means they spend a few seconds at least looking at the headline, "If you steal books you suck." So at least they get to know what I think about what they're doing.

I find that funny.

But, sadly, it's clear from the search terms I see every week that people are looking for ways to steal in other ways. Yes, people actually try to Google for tips on how to steal books from book stores.

A-maz-ing!

I recommend that anyone who is inclined to try stealing from a book store to read about my stay in jail first, since that's where they'll eventually end up.

Someone out there is probably doing a PhD dissertation on search terms and what they reveal about human nature. But one thing they show is people's true impulses if they're given a sense of anonymity.

It just goes to prove that people's moral character can't be measured by what they do or say in the company of others, but rather by what they do when they think no one is watching.

But, of course, on the Internet, someone is always watching.

More fun with foreign covers

The German translation of Unlawful Contact, available in November

Welcome back for another round of "Fun with Foreign Covers"!

I love these. It's fun for me to see what other cultures do with the covers to my books and the titles. Sometimes they're outrageous — a couple of the German covers for my historicals are hilarious in their inaccuracy, for example. But sometimes I like the foreign covers better, one example being the Spanish translation of Surrender — Rendición.


I love this cover!

At the top you see the cover for Süß ist die Angst — the German translation of Unlawful Contact. Stylistically, the cover is great for romantic suspense, and it fits nicely with my first German I-Team release, Kold vie der Tod.

Interestingly, the title Unlawful Contact has been giving foreign publishers fits, because it's a U.S. legal term and not really that easily translatable, at least not in a way that preserves the nice little double entendre. "Süß ist die Angst" means "Sweet is the Fear," which is a nice sequel to their title for Hard Evidence, which translates to "Cold as Death."

In Spain, Unlawful Contact is being released in October under the title Espósame — which I've been told means "Handcuff me." Oh, my! That kind of gets to the point — and then some! No cover for it yet, but expect it to be as sedate as the title is spicy.


A Portuguese translation of something that I wrote

Although I'm supposed to get copies of all foreign books, I often don't receive those copies. Heck, sometimes I don't even know a book is available in a certain language until I get the book two years after it came out. No joke. Here's a cover I went hunting for. I knew I had at least one book out in Portuguese. And here it is. I have no clue which of my books this is. But there it is.


The Thai translation of Extreme Exposure

This year, I discovered quite after the fact that my books were being released in Thai. That means my novels are now in seven languages. That's fewer languages than I studied in high school, but it's a growing number. I was excited. Then I learned from a Thai reader that apparently all my historicals are being released there, as well as the I-Team series. Book tour to Bangkok, anyone? I would love to go.

Latest Poll Results: You voted, there was no voter fraud, and the results are in! I guess I thought paranormal romance would rate higher and historical romance would rate much lower. After all, what we hear constantly from publishers is that paranormal continues to be hot and historicals just aren't strong.

But a huge majority of you chose historical romance as your favorite sub-genre, with romantic suspense coming second, erotic romance coming in third and paranormal fourth. I suppose the results might be explained in part by the fact that you voted here on my blog and I write historicals and romantic suspense. One might logically infer, then, that you're here because you like those sub-genres and read them. (Egads, can I give it a rest? I sound like a reporter even when I'm home having fun with you all on my blog!)

Historical romance — 24 (75 percent)
Contemporary romantic suspense — 19 (59 percent)
Erotic romance — 12 (37 percent)
Paranormal — 9 (28 percent)
Contemporary romance — 6 (18 percent)
Urban fantasy — 3 (9 percent)
Steampunk — 2 (6 percent)
Christian romance — 2 (6 percent)

I'll have a new poll up soon. Also, there will be I-Team interviews coming soon.

In the meantime, I'm off to bed. This week has been crazy at the paper, with an almost entirely new editorial staff slowly coming on board and a new computer program for laying out the paper's pages that no one knows how to use, including me. (Note to self: Next time, get a tutorial before you're on deadline with a bloody newspaper!)

The night you were saved by an I-Team hero

OK, so, I have gotten precisely zero questions for the I-Team heroes. This either means everyone is really busy, or no one has anything to ask Marc, Julian, Reece and Gabe. Given that school has just started, I'm betting it's the former. Believe me, I understand. The stress at the paper was extreme enough today to leave me — a journalism veteran of more than 15 years — ready to scream.

Being a woman, I know that women like to be seduced. They like the mood to be just right. So let me set the stage a bit better...

You're in a strange town (maybe Denver — it's plenty strange) walking down the street at night. From behind you hear approaching footsteps. You look over your shoulder and see two men in hoodies following you down the street.

You walk a bit faster.

So do they.

You turn a corner, hoping they won't follow you, but they do.

They're laughing now, calling out to you, leaving no doubt in your mind that if they get their hands on you, it will become the worst night of your life. Your pulse races. Your mouth goes dry.

You start to run.

They run, too, and they're so much faster than you are.

They're right behind you now, laughing at your fear, and you can hear that they're excited. They're excited at the prospect of hurting you.

A hand grabs the collar of your shirt.

You scream, feel yourself jerked backward, and fall. You know what's going to happen now, and you're at a place so far beyond fear that your mind is nothing but buzzing panic, white noise that races to the frantic rhythm of your heartbeat.

Out of an alley you didn't even notice, a dark figure appears. You can't see his face because he's moving too fast and you're so scared. In a heartbeat, one of the men who was chasing you is on the ground, writhing in pain.

You crawl as fast as you can out of the way and watch as the tall, dark figure takes down your other would-be attacker.

Then the dark figure turns to you, kneels down. "Are you okay?"

His voice is soothing, deep.

You're breathing hard, shaking from head to foot, and it takes you a moment to answer. "Y-yes."

He helps you to stand, and you get your first look at his face. "Let's get you out of here."

Twenty minutes later, you're back at your hotel. He walks you to your room, offers to stay until the police arrive. You're grateful, because the thought of being alone right now is too terrifying. But you're finally in a calm enough frame of mind to thank him, and while you wait for the police, you have a chance to ask him anything you want.

You start with the basics. "Y-you may have saved my life. Wh-what's your name?"

Now... Who is it — Marc, Julian, Reece, or perhaps even Gabe? If you could ask him anything, what would it be?

Harvest time

Sorry to have vanished. Work has been extremely busy. While most newspapers are going belly up, we're growing and doing better and better. Although I'd like to take the credit, it's actually the result of lots of hard work on everyone's part and the fact that we do a kind of journalism that fewer places are doing. But the bottom line is that between ghostwriting and working at the paper, I've been putting in very long days and getting very little sleep.

This weekend, I'm putting the ghostwriting down for a few days and spending my Labor Day putting the final polish on Naked Edge, which I will ship off to New York on Tuesday morning. Then next week, I'll go back to the ghostwriting, which will probably take me another month to finish. And then I start my next book...

In the meantime, it somehow became September. And the veggie garden that my son Benjamin planted this past spring is feeding me quite nicely. We planted a variety of tomatoes, zucchini, butternut squash, bush beans, cucumbers, green peppers, Anaheim peppers, celery and broccoli. The weather here has been a bit funky — June was unnaturally chilly — but I have been getting lots of cukes, tomatoes (particularly romas and cherry tomatoes), and green beans, as well as some Anaheims and a green pepper or two. And I'm about to get a bunch of broccoli.

Too bad Benjy's not here to share the yummy results of his hard work.



Next year, we're going to go all out and plant the entire south side of the house, in addition to putting some beds in the shade for greens and herbs. I want to add a lot of things to what we're growing, including acorn squash, cantaloupe, more beans and more broccoli. The next step will be to plant a small orchard — apples, sweet cherries, plums and pears — and then we'll be supplying the lion's share of our own fruits and veggies.




I'm very drawn to the idea of "urban homesteading," i.e., using your yard to have a mini-farm that sustains your household. Where I live, I can have up to six hens in my backyard for eggs, as well as a hive of honey bees. Imagine how much my garden would love its own bee supply.

Of course, all of this means learning a lot about growing things, as well as learning to can. But the benefit is an enormous savings year to year in fruits, veggies and, eventually, eggs and honey. Plus I never have to wonder where the plants grew or what was sprayed on them. And if Y2K actually ever hits — remember the hype around that? — I'll have food to each.

Though we'll probably spend more than we save at first, long-term it will enable us to be more self-sufficient. And who doesn't get excited about the idea of being a beekeeper?

Did anyone else plant a veggie garden this year? If so, how is it going?

Coming soon: Interview the I-Team heroes

Reece, Julian, and Marc will make themselves available to answer your most penetrating questions. Please send the questions to me via email, Facebook message or by posting them below so that I can get the questions to them. What have you always wanted to ask them. Indulge yourself!

And a happy Labor Day to everyone!