Category: Helen’s Books

Books I’ve published, or books currently being written.

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Published! Hanuman’s Gift by Helen E. H. Madden

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For those of you who are fans of steampunk, horror, evil rabid zombie monkeys, or all three, my story “Hanuman’s Gift” is now available for sale through Amazon, Barnes & Noble’s Nook, and Smashwords. It is for sale for 99 cents at each venue, so don’t hesitate to grab your favorite format and load it into the e-reader of your choice!

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Deep in the Archives, Augustus Whitby toils through his duties in the , dreaming up romantic stories far more plausible than the supposed “investigations” of the field agents. A story from Agent Harrison Thorne and an unassuming artifact from his recent case, however, proves much to Whitby’s chagrin that there are some truths that are far stranger than fiction.

Tales from the Archives are short stories set in the world of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences. They explore events mentioned in the novels, characters seen and unseen and may include novel teasers of things to come.

The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences is the delightful creation of Philippa Ballentine and Tee Morris.  You can find the other stories in the Tales from the Archives collection here, including stories by Nathan Lowell, Phil Rossi, P. C. Haring, Starla Hutchon and other fantastic authors.  And be sure to get a copy of Phoenix Rising, the first novel in the MOPO series by Pip and Tee!

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WIP Wednesday – Sketches from “The Little Death”

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“I Do Not Wish to See” by Helen E. H. Madden,
Character Sketch from “The Little Death” Podcast Novel

I took a break from my other work-in-progress this past week to do some other drawings and catch up on writing. Frankly, I haven’t been able to make it to my desk that much. But I’ve been doing a lot of artwork on the iPad (did I mention how much I LOVE my iPad?). This was drawn with a new app I picked up, Sketch Club. Sketch Club is a bit different from the other programs I’ve got, missing some of the bells and whistles of Sketchbook Pro like the ability to resize a layer as you work on it, but it’s got some fantastic drawing and painting tools. I love the rough scratchy style I can get with it.

Anyway, this is a drawing of Robin Helki, the main character in “The Little Death,” the novel I’m currently podcasting at www.heatflash.libsyn.com. I’ve shared snippets of the story before. Robin is a telepath who reads psychic information by touching things. She collects evidence for the violent crimes division of a police precinct in a dystopian society, and is slowly going mad as a result of her work. You can find all the episodes of “The Little Death” on the Heat Flash Erotica Podcast. If you like the story, feel free to pass on the episodes. They run under a Creative Commons 3.0 license, so it’s free to listen and share.

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Buy “Metamorphosis” for charity!

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My story “Metamorphosis” is on now available from Freya’s Bower in ebook format , including Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Reader, HTML, Mobipocket, and Epub. Proceeds from sales of this story go to charity! Here are the details…

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Erin, a young woman caught between her parents’ expectations and her own wants and needs, feels nothing in her life is going right and fears disappointing the people she loves the most. But now it’s time for her to be “cocooned,” to enter a dream state that will reveal the truth about who she really is and the life she’s meant to live. Dare she risk finding out? And will anyone, including Erin, be happy with what she learns?

This is part of the anthology Dreams & Desires v. 4. All net proceeds from the sales of this story individually or in the anthology benefit A Window Between Worlds, a non-profit organization that provides art supplies and training for art as a healing tool free of charge to battered women’s shelters.

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So there you have it! This story originally ran as part of the Heat Flash Erotica Podcast. If you are a regular listener of Heat Flash, you’ll definitely want to read this. You can also buy the complete collection of Dreams & Desires v. 4 at Freya’s Bower.

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The Little Death – Inspector Slade

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More character notes on “The Little Death.” Agent Robin Helki is the heart and soul of the novel, but without Inspector Michael Slade she’s got no reason to really live. Who is Inspector Slade, and what is his relationship to Robin? How long has he been on the Fifth Precinct police force? What crime is he investigating now? And how does that affect Robin?

In “The Little Death,” there are espers and there are norms. Robin falls into the first category, Slade into the later. OverWatch has decreed that the two classes of citizens shall not interbreed for any reason. It’s simply too dangerous. Will Robin and Slade heed that warning, or take the risk? And does Robin really dare trust Slade as she slowly descends into the madness all espers fall prey to?

For anyone who’s wondering, I’m doing these sketches on cheap art paper with Micron drawing pens and a Pentel brush pen. The painting is done in ArtRage Pro. It’s a quick job, but enough to give me a feel for what Robin’s world is like.

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The Little Death – Who is Agent Robin Helki?

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It’s PerNoFiMo (Personal Novel Finishing Month) here and I’m currently working on finishing a novel I started 2 years ago. The title is “The Little Death,” and I can best describe it as Blade Runner meets Wuthering Heights. I start podcasting this the first week of January at the Heat Flash Erotica Podcast. It’s a sci-fi noir tale, not exactly erotica, but it does have a great deal of adult content.

By the time the first week of January comes around, I want people to be anxiously waiting for this story. Maybe not a lot of people, but at least a few. And I want those people to be asking two questions when the time comes. Who is Agent Robin Helki, and what is the little death? Here’s a clue to the first question, just to get you guessing.

More clues will be forthcoming over the next two months. I promise.

BTW, this is for Alice Gray and CityDifferent, both of whom have been very supportive of everything I do, including this novel. And also for Matt Fuckin’ Wallace, because he told me to “keep my chin up.” This is how I do that, Matt.

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I’m in the Myths & Magic anthology and Nerdvana!

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I just got a box with my author copies of Myths and Magic: Legends of Love, from Dreamspinner Press. This includes my story “The Sower and the Reaper.” I just have to say, the time I submitted my story to the time I got paid and got my author copies was less than three months. I have NEVER seen a publisher move so smoothly or so fast. I’m very happy with how the book turned out. See how happy I am?

Okay, I look a little bleary, but that’s because I have a virus-thingy right now. On the inside, I am very, very happy!

Myths and Magic is available in ebook and print paperback. Get your copy today!

Aaaaaand while I’m on the subject of anthologies, I’ve got an interview up at Fred Towers’ blog. Fred is the editor of Nerdvana, a gay erotica anthology about smart guys and the guys who love them. My story “Bully on the Playground” is in this anthology. Visit Fred’s blog here! Nerdvana is available in paperback and in Kindle format at Amazon.com

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“Metamorphosis” to be published for charity!

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I just got the official word that my short story, “Metamorphosis,” will be published by Freya’s Bower in volume 4 of their Dreams & Desires charity anthologies. All net proceeds for this anthology will be donated to the A Window Between Worlds art therapy programs for battered women shelters. In addition to being published as part of the anthology, the story will be available for sale on its own, again with the proceeds going to charity. Here’s the cover art for the individual story.

Special thanks to Posh Gosh Designs for the fantastic cover art and to Marci Baun over at Freya’s Bower for publishing the story. You guys have been fantastic to work with. The story and the anthology should be available in February.

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Writing Wednesday – “Afternoon of a Faun” available at All Romance eBooks

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Afternoon of a Faun, a m/m erotica short story I wrote for Coming Together: Al Fresco, is available as a single story at All Romance eBooks for just 69 cents! Coming Together has recently begun re-publishing the original anthologies as well as individual short stories and new material. The proceeds from these stories and books/ebooks go to various charities. Proceeds for Afternoon of a Faun will go to Conservation International.  Afternoon of a Faun is a “delightful tale (tail?) of empowerment and revenge featuring a mythical beast with an insatiable appetite.”  You can buy Afternoon of a Faun here.

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Writing Wednesday – Coming Together Anthologies

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Coming Together has a new online store! For those of you not familiar with Coming Together, this is a series of erotica anthologies, the proceeds of which are donated to charity. Authors donate their stories (and yes, we have to compete to get in, the series is so popular!!) and the editor, Alessia Brio, devotes her time and pretty much her life to making these books a reality. Proceeds from each volume go to a different charity. So visit the store, buy a book, and do something good by Coming Together!

(And yes, I’ve got stories in two of these anthologies – Coming Together: With Pride and Coming Together: Al Fresco!)

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Friday Round Up

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I’ve had so much going on lately, I thought I’d post a few links to let you know where I am and what I’m up to. Enjoy!

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Future Perfect was reviewed at Coffee Time Romance! I got 3 cups out of 5; not the top rating, but the reviewer did make some very nice comments, including…

“I loved this story! The sex scenes were amazing, the shared memories were very erotic, and the lesson learned was extraordinary. This tale was just perfect.” (for the story Alienated)

“I loved this tale! The emotional upheaval that Marnie’s ex-girlfriend caused with her vicious words shows realistic sensitivity in Marnie. I feel that Sal’s abrasive manner is perfect when handling the emotional woman. This was a fantastic story.” (for the story A Fish Tale)

There were several other nice comments like this as well. If you want a good idea of what the book is like, I do suggest reading this review. Again, Future Perfect only got 3 out of 5 cups, but with comments like these, I really can’t complain! And if you’d like to pick up a copy to read yourself, you can get Future Perfect right here!

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Future Perfect was also reviewed by Bitten By Books, and this time got 4 tombstones out of 5! My favorite comments here include…

“A wholly new take on the story of the birds and the bees! The author takes the idea of the circle of life, the pollination of flowers, and turns it into an erotic male/male romp that you won’t believe.” (for the story The Honey Bee)

“Election Day will never be the same after reading this enticing and sexy short which gives a whole new meaning to making the candidates earn your votes! So much political humor wrapped inside this that I couldn’t stop laughing.” (for the story The Voting Booth)

A very nice review, and my thanks to Bitten By Books!

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Welcome To Mundania makes an appearance on Babbling About Books, and More! The cover art for Welcome to Mundania puts in an appearance in a blog post entitled WTFckery with the following comment…

“Whoever created this cover was dropping acid or the reader has to to the same thing or swallow some LSD tabs to figure out what this cover is. Maybe this cover will help you reach nirvana in your life? All the pretty colors… ooh… trippy..“

If you follow the link in the comment, you end up at yet another blog, Kris ‘N’ Good Books, which also gives the cover art for Welcome To Mundania a good once over. Honestly, I love both blog posts, and couldn’t stop laughing when I read them. The cover art was designed to have an acid trip effect. It’s actually based on the artwork for the Heat Flash Erotica Podcast, which is where these stories first ran. Heat Flash tends to be experimental, and the artwork was meant to reflect that. Anyway, I loved reading the comments and made sure to thank the blog owners, since they gave my book a great deal of exposure 😉

Welcome to Mundania is available at Logical-Lust.com!

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Beyond that, it’s Friday, which means I’m over at Oh Get A Grip today, blogging about charity. Also, the latest episode of the Heat Flash Erotica Podcast is available today. This week’s story is a very dirty m/m/m/m/m take on Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Enjoy!