Why I wrote Naked Sushi by Jina Bacarr
October 11, 2013 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as computer programmer, Cosmo, Cosmopolitan, erotic, erotic romance, espionage, Harlequin, hottie, Instagram, naked, Red-Hot Reads, sexy, spy, sushi, video, VineI’ve always been a geek.
I got my first computer when the screen was black and the print orange. I was a member of an infamous BBS (bulletin board system) back in the day when I wrote a column for a computer magazine called “Sweet Savage Byte.”
I did podcasts on a video camera with a floppy disk that only allowed you to record a minute of time. I remember setting this up in a Borders bookstore in Hollywood. Yes, those were the days…
I’m also a huge James Bond fan.
And I love Covert Affairs with the fab heroine Annie Walker.
You put all that together and you get…Naked Sushi.
It’s also a story about facing the fear of rejection. We’ve all been there. Often that’s the reason we don’t finish a manuscript because we’re afraid of rejection. In Naked Sushi, Pepper O’Malley realizes with the help of the hero that’s what is keeping her from achieving her dream of becoming a spy. She poses as a naked sushi model to get the goods on her sleazy ex-boss with the hero FBI hottie getting in on the action in this excerpt from Naked Sushi.
Six days days until Naked Sushi, my Cosmo Red-Hot Read from Harlequin, is released! So here are two videos with an excerpt from my story. What’s wild is that we’ve gone from 60 seconds max in the early days of video to 6 seconds on Vine and 16 seconds on Instagram…
What’s fun is that the Vine video loops forever and you can take your time reading the sexy snippet. I found some hot music that adds to the fun atmos.
Pepper hits the digital stores on October 15th.
PS — the silky border that I used as a frame around my videos is a remnant from ornate kimono designed by a designer I met when I was taking kimono lessons from a Japanese sensei
Coming on October 15, 2013 from Cosmo Red-Hot Reads from Harlequin:
0 0 Read moreNAKED SUSHI is available for pre-order on Amazon!
Text Copyright © 2013 by Jina BacarrCover Art Copyright © 2013 by Harlequin Enterprises LimitedPermission to reproduce text granted by Harlequin Books S.A. Cover art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved.® and â„¢ are trademarks owned by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its affiliated companies, used under license. by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its affiliated companies, used under license.â€Music:He’s So SexyDream Valley MusicComposer: Michael Stephen Decker Publisher: Shockwave-Sound.Com
Naked Sushi, Harlequin, and Cosmo, oh my! by Jina Bacarr
September 11, 2013 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as August, Cosmo, Cosmopolitan, erotic, erotic romance, espionage, Gail Chasan, Harlequin, Malle Vallik, naked, OCC, OCC/RWA, Red-Hot Reads, romance, spy, sushiThe hot, lazy days of summer heated up last month when Harlequin editors, Gail Chasan and Malle Vallik came to speak at our August OCC meeting.
I was especially thrilled to see Malle Vallik. I’ll never forget the excitement racing through me when I found out that Malle wanted my NAKED SUSHI novella for the new Cosmo Red-Hot Read line from Harlequin. Not only did the Harlequin team have to approve each manuscript, but also the team from Cosmopolitan. This was a story I loved because I used my own experiences producing video podcasts as well as working for a computer magazine and a video game company to create her character.
A selfie of Malle and me — somehow the OCC Chapter sign got reversed when I put it up on Instagram.
In Naked Sushi, Pepper O’Malley is a tech-head but under that flannel shirt, she’s just itchin’ to find the right guy and fall in love. And she wants to be a spy:
Here’s the cover copy:
One day I’m getting canned from my job as a computer programmer for having wild copy-room sex with a guy I thought was the new game designer. The next, I’m crashing my ex-boss’s business lunch in a creative attempt to get my job back and men are eating sushi off my naked body!
——————
Here’s a fun Instagram video I made with the opening lines from Naked Sushi:
Coming in October 2013 from Cosmo Red-Hot Reads from Harlequin:
Copyright © 2013 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited
Cover copy text used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited.
Permission to reproduce text granted by Harlequin Books S.A. Cover art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved.
used under license. by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its affiliated companies, used under license.”
Music:
Publisher: Shockwave-Sound.Com
A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Loo in Atlanta by Jina Bacarr
July 11, 2013 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as 2013, Atlanta, bathroom, convention, Cosmo, Georiga, Harlequin, honey, hotel, loo, naked, Nora Roberts, October, Red-Hot Reads, Ritz Carlton, rose, RWA, sushiNo girl forgets her first.
As in her first RWA conference. Mine was Atlanta 2006. Ah, yes, I still remember the Harlequin Party at the Ritz Carlton and the meet-up with the OCC crowd. The boxes and boxes of books stacked in conference rooms, waiting to be opened. The great speech Nora Roberts gave that year.
And my hotel room.
The toilet didn’t work. There I was, just off the Atlanta Link shuttle, exhausted from the long flight, bags in my room, shoes off, when I had to wait for maintenance…
And wait…
And…
Like I said, you remember your first.
Hopefully everyone’s loo is in good working order at this year’s national conference once again being held in Atlanta July 17-20th, but I can’t help but chuckle when I look back at my experience at RWA 2006.
Here’s the video I shot of my bathroom saga:
Between the Red-Hot Covers by Jina Bacarr
June 11, 2013 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Amazon Kindle, Cosmo, cover art, erotic romance, espionage, Harlequin, naked, Red-Hot Reads, spy, sushiWe’ve seen it all over the years in book covers.
Cute cartoon covers, clinch covers, and the recent addition of “elegant bling” covers. Masks, cufflinks, a man’s tie–you know what I mean.
Now I’m excited about a new trend: Temp covers!
For the first time since I’ve published, Harlequin has put up “temp” covers for the Cosmo Red-Hot Reads.
Each of the books that I’ve found on Amazon by Lauren Dane, Tawny Weber, and Helen Kay Dimon all show the same wildly sexy, raspberry-red covers with the Cosmo logo.
Here’s the RED-HOT Temp Cover for my Cosmo Red Hot-Read: NAKED SUSHI!!
Amateur spy PEPPER O’MALLEY gets more than she bargained for when she discovers her sleazy boss is hiding corporate secrets.
She gets fired.
Was it her fault she got caught in the copy room with her pants down with a hunky thief?
The only way Pepper can get her job back is to become a naked sushi model and spy on her ex-boss.
She’s thrown into a world of corporate espionage she never imagined…
What do you think of the idea of Temp Covers? It’s definitely branding the books in a unique and exciting way. I can only imagine the sexy cover Harlequin has up their sleeve for Naked Sushi…
Naked Sushi and RT Book Reviews by Jina Bacarr
May 11, 2013 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as books, buzz, chocolate, contemporary, Cosmo, Harlequin, hot, naked, read, red, romance, RT, RT Book Reviews, sushi
“I got goose bumps thinking about the icy cold fish wiggling between my thighs even if they were dead fish,” says Pepper O’Malley in Naked Sushi, my upcoming Harlequin/Cosmo Red Hot Read (Oct 2013),
Naked Sushi is about more than dead fish.
It’s the story of a smart working girl who is trapped by her own fear of rejection. Pepper is a computer whiz, adventurous, and has all the right moves, but she keeps sabotaging her efforts to get the job she really wants.
Does that sound familiar?
All of us fear rejection, which is why we put off finishing that manuscript or sending it in until we do one more polish that is never enough. I know. I’ve been there. I learned that writing may be a solitary job, but publishing is a team effort. No matter how good your manuscript is, it will remain a lonely .doc file on your computer unless you press that Send button.
Like Pepper, I started in the world of video games, playing with the boys, so to speak. No one wanted to hire women, but somehow I got the job. I learned how to write interactive games, which has since helped me in writing novels. Keeping all the balls, that is story points, in the air and tying up all the ends to give the player, and now the reader, a satisfying ending.
It’s not all dark chocolate truffle delights. You will get rejected.
I have. For lots of reasons. But I never stop trying. Never will. It’s in my DNA. That’s why writing Pepper was so important to me. I wanted to show that we have to get to the root of our fears, as Pepper does, and sometimes that means opening up and letting it all hang out. Talking about it with a good friend or the hero in your life helps…so does writing in a journal.
It’s good for your soul.
And your story.
You’d be surprised what you’ll find out about yourself.
——————
Naked Sushi Update: I was so excited to see my Cosmo Red Hot Read from Harlequin mentioned on the RT Book Reviews site:
“With our column, Forewords, we let readers know the latest book news about some of the web team\’s most-anticipated upcoming releases across the genres — just as the projects are announced!”
via Forewords – The Books Before The Buzz | RT Book Reviews.
—————–
This is so cool!! Click on the link above to go to RT Book Reviews, then scroll down to DOWNLOAD AND GO and you’ll see NAKED SUSHI mentioned under Contemporary Romance.
Thank you for the mention, RT!
Jina
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