Still Rein-Holding at NUMBER THREE ~ Branded

Kaboom!!! my darling and beautifully decadent Big Cats, the romance publishing world, Dorchester Publishing to be specific... just exploded in a way the Kougar, and others, have been predicting for a couple of years now... SEE BELOW for the part of the story.
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Oh, sky-watching Felines, the planets ~ Venus, Mars and Saturn ~ are holding a menage love fest in the night sky on the northwest horizon... there must be lots of beam-zinging passion because, my goodness, they show up BRIGHT on the tame prairie!
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Yahoo! Still rein-holding at #3, the Kougar's BRANDED BY THE TEXANS... she is showering kisses on everyone who has purchased her bookie... thank you!
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For those KitKats who adore crypto news, here’s an exciting find!

New Red Panda Discovery In Tennessee!!

Posted by: Loren Coleman on August 4th, 2010

New Red Panda Discovery In Tennessee!!
by Loren Coleman, International Cryptozoology Museum, Portland, Maine ©2010

When I was in Tennessee visiting my brother Jerry, during the morning of August 1, 2010, my sister Susan and I visited one of the most incredible hidden secrets in the eastern USA, the Gray Fossil Site. (I am shown above at the 2010 red panda discovery site.)

In many ways this Washington County, Tennessee museum and fossil site is the East’s version of the West’s LaBrea Tar Pits. However, whereas the mammals and other animals being found at LaBrea are of the more common Pleistocene variety, the Gray Fossil Site discoveries are mostly Miocene mammals and other species.

~ cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/new-red-panda ~
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Authoress news and mews ~

The Kougar renewed her membership for FF&P ~ the Future, Fantasy and Paranormal chapter of the RWA. Heck, she didn’t even know it had expired. As it happened, moi went there and found out yesterday was the exact day her membership expired. So, she re-upped. It’s a gorgeous site and beautifully laid out. The Kougar wishes she had more time to devote to the chapter.
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Featured at SHAPESHIFTER SEDUCTIONS ~

The Pronoun Puzzle...
By Serena Shay

Pronoun, pronoun, who's got the pronoun...
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Featured at ROMANCE WRITERS BEHAVING BADLY ~

Flirty Friday- A Li'l Slice of Heaven
The Joys of Whipped Toppings
Dawne Prochilo

AND!

Thursday Thirteen - 13 Ways to Feel Sexy
by Mary Quast

Busy schedules and unsuccessful diets are the primary reasons many of us don’t feel sexy. Who can feel sexy when they feel tired and frumpy? Women are beautiful creatures; we just need to remind ourselves of it periodically. Now put the chocolate away (well, maybe not) for this one and take notes.
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DORCHESTER AUTHORS and WANNABE AUTHORS Hold onto your hats!

Thanks to a heads-up from erotic romance author, Serena Shay, it *appears* Dorchester is going to E-PUBLISHING ONLY...

~ absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?p=5214214#post5214214 ~

Note: This Big Cat author can’t say she’s exactly surprised... however, it does send shock waves through the ole system. How many more of the so-called BIG PUBLISHERS are about to jump into the digital selling pool?

KABOOM!!! DID YOU HEAR THAT BIG CAT AUTHORS?

This is an update courtesy of the erotic romance author, Renee Bagby, on the Siren-BookStrand author’s loop:

Here is the full article on it from PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY’s daily emailed update:

Dorchester Drops Mass Market Publishing for E-Book/POD Model
by Jim Milliot
Aug 06, 2010

Mass market romance publisher Dorchester Publishing has dropped its traditional print publishing business in favor of an e-book/print-on-demand model effective with its September titles that are “shipping” now. President John Prebich said after retail sales fell by 25% in 2009, the company knew that 2010 “would be a defining year,” but rather than show improvement, “sales have been worse.” While returns are down, the company has had a difficult time getting its titles into stores as shelf space for mass market has been reduced, Prebich explained. Dorchester recently let its field sales force of seven go, although Tim DeYoung remains with the company as v-p of sales and marketing.?The editorial team remains intact, although Prebich said the number of titles released monthly will likely be reduced from over 30 to 25. He said the schedule for 2011 is set and Dorchester has books in the pipeline through June 2012.

Dorchester will continue to do print copies for its book club business and has signed a deal with Ingram Publisher Service for IPS to do print-on-demand copies for selected titles. According to Prebich, some e-books that are doing well in the digital marketplace will be released as trade paperbacks with IPS fulfilling orders; the company, however, will not do any more mass market paperbacks for retail distribution.

Prebich said Dorchester’s e-book business has had “remarkable growth” which he expects to double again in the next year. Still, digital sales accounted for only 12% of total revenue prior to the company making the transition to the e-book/pod model. Prebich conceded that Dorchester will have lower revenues, but he expects margins to improve. He said the company is working out a new royalty rate with authors that he expects to announce next week. Editors are talking to authors now about the changes. “We hope they’ll stay,” Prebich said. Dorchester’s e-books are available at most major vendors and compatible with most platforms at an average price of $6.99. Trade paperbacks will be priced in the $12 to $15 range.

On his decision to drop the mass market format Prebich explained: “These are like pioneer times in publishing. We felt like we needed to take some chances and make a bold move."

Here's a better article from PW:

~ tinyurl.com/24jwx5c ~

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From Astrology.com ~

On August 6, Venus, the planet of love and relationships, moves into Libra for a brief stay till September 8. It joins Mars, the planet of action and Saturn the planet of responsibility and reality already located in overcrowded Libra.

Venus, which rules the sign of Libra, is all about pleasure, especially pleasure shared with someone else. This planet concerns itself with love, romance and harmony in our emotional attachments, marriages, friendships and other unions (like business partnerships). Venus is content to spread happiness and tenderness, all the while teaching us how to love and appreciate others and the things that we possess.

Libra is the diplomat of the zodiac and Venus is excellent at smoothing round rough edges, wanting to spread harmony and bliss around. Libra is known as the relationship sign not because it is especially emotional. As an Air sign it tends to be cool and detached but it does like to have a partner in life so puts its' considerable energies towards co-operation both at work and socially. With Saturn in Libra as well, the focus is definitely on relationships of all types including our relationship to ourselves and our own self worth.

However, it will not be entirely plain sailing initially, since Venus immediately runs into the complicated set of influences set up by planetary positions with Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter and Pluto all ranged together in aspect. The Moon at this time is also in the first few degrees of fellow cardinal sign of Cancer, and the combination of Saturn/Venus in Libra, Uranus/Jupiter in Aries, and Pluto in Capricorn, forms what is known as a Cardinal Grand Cross in astrology. A Grand Cross is a combination of (at least) four squares and (at least) two oppositions.

On August 7, Venus is in opposition with Uranus across the zodiac, which will throw up the odd romantic surprise. If you are insecure or possessive, Uranus will rattle you up. So be sure to give your romantic partners more elbow room to keep them happier. On the following day, Venus is conjunct or at the same degree as Saturn which suggests that work and duty have to come first. Saturn can be a damper and leave one feeling isolated; however, it can also add a touch of sophistication. Being charming in a business-like way will suit the mood. Then Venus opposes Jupiter on August 9, which always has a sugary sweet, marshmallow feel to it. Indulgence, frivolity and the lighter things of life will be on offer. No one will want to dig below the surface to sort out unpleasant issues so, while not it may not be exactly sincere, it can be very relaxing. And finally on August 10, there's a sexy, seductive, oh-so-possessive Venus square to Pluto. There'll be charming smiles around but all with a hidden agenda behind them. Thereafter, Venus settles down to a more even pace of balanced equilibrium and fun.

Use the energies of the cosmic forces to improve all your relationships, achieve personal goals and grow as individuals. Use your wisdom to keep harmony and balance between your internal needs as well as the needs of others. A square usually indicates conflict, whether it is of your own doing or not, so face challenges instead of having decisions made for you. Being passive may not be a very useful tactic when powerful, cosmic energies are at work.
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Now ~ FIRST! just for the big cool cats ~ from the Flash Cat...

Happy Courtship on another Earth

X-Serial Flash in Two Hundred ~ Sylva and Zeke’s story continues...

Part 586 ~

Sylva zoomed backwards, pulled by some streaming force. Briefly she saw the gleaming rippling waves of the ocean, before her awareness sailed upwards. Sylva found herself soaring above a range of mountains. The Rocky Mountains? She’d never visited the Rockies on her Earth, and had only see them on TV, in pictures, or in movies. Glimpsing what she figured were conifer trees, she guessed the long range she continued flying over at a high altitude was the Rocky Mountains. Okay, what now? Her next thought never arrived. Suddenly she faced a humongous horseshoe-shaped door that appeared to be thick steel.

Zeke ignored the quick rise of heat. Sweat ran in rivulets down his neck as he finally broke the sea’s surface and smoothed the submersible through the slap of high angry waves. “Full thrusters,” Benjamin ordered. “She’s gonna be a wild hard ride, Zeke, but we gotta get some distance fast. Let me know if you need help.” Letting Benjamin’s words sink in, Zeke gave a nod. He kept a firm hold, working the two levers as the submersible’s speed increased. Like a sleek seal she surfed and slid through the monstrous bubbling waves he watched though the craft’s transparency.
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TO BE CONTINUED...
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Part 1 - 15 ~ see blog ~ January 15th Cometh, then Part 15... and before...
Part 16 ~ 585 ~ see the Kougar’s prior bloggies... or the Passionate Ink forum, the FREE READS page ~ passionateink.org/forum ~ OR! Now available on The Romance Studio Forum, JANUARY 2009 through JUNE 2010 flashes ~ theromancestudio.com ~ Click on the FORUMS, then Savanna Kougar ~ the Fantasy Lair ~
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FRIGHTENING!!! Please, darling Kittens, do not believe any article that says fluoride is countering the poisons in tap water. FLUORIDE is one of the killer toxins in tap water. For one thing, it kills off your thyroid. This Big Cat knows because she’s become a health victim of fluoride and other toxins.
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~ HAPPY LAZY HAZY SUMMER DAYS ~

Wish Upon on a Blue Moon New Year...
May your most romantic dreams come true...

Unbridled kisses from the Kougar...