Please help me welcome back saucy, sexy author Ann Mayburn as she celebrates Decadent Publishing’s 200th 1 Night Stand series book release!

One of the best things about writing for Decadent Publishing’s 1 Night Stand series has been the opportunity to explore many different kinds of worlds, including one of my favorite paranormal creatures, the shifter. When I was first thinking about what kind of paranormal romance I wanted to write for the 1 Night Stand series I knew right away that I wanted to do some kind of hot shifter sex, and that I wanted to write about ménage based relationships between a pair of Alpha’s and a beta, but the imaginary people in my head couldn’t agree on what kind of were they wanted to be.

I’ve always loved shifter stories, something about getting in touch with your inner animal appeals to me on a base level. It’s more than just being able to change form, it’s about becoming that creature, reverting to a more basic level of awareness where silly human hang-ups and prejudices don’t exist. Animals love without reservation, with their whole hearts, while human love usually has some kind of strings attached.

At first I thought I would go with the standard werewolf but that didn’t fire my imagination. If I could be any type of animal, what kind would I want to be? Why, a cat of course! Even cheesy 80’s movies knew werecats were hotter than weredogs. Not a cute little house cat, but a big, ferocious, independent creature of dangerous beauty. I thought about being a lion, a tiger, etc but since my story would be centered along the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States I decided on a big kitty that still roams that area. The beautiful puma.

Part of what makes a werepuma so interesting is the human half of that combination. Throw in our sometimes messy ideas about what is right and wrong, what is or isn’t love, and our basic need for companionship and you have deliciously complex romances.

Of course magic is involved as well. There are shamans in the world of ‘Prides of the Moon’, human warlocks and witches, and the magic of the bond and soul-bond. The bond is a special magical connection between two or more shifters who have made love and formed a link between them. Once the bond is formed they can feel each others emotions and physical reactions, including pleasure. Yes, if two people are bonded they can feel what their mate is feeling during sex.

The soul-bond goes one step beyond that, literally bonding the other person’s soul to your own. It is a deep intimacy more profound than marriage, because once a couple is soul-bound there is no divorce or backing out. You are part of that person’s soul forever. With the bond comes extra strength, both mental and physical, and the couple can communicate in each other’s minds across great distances.
In the world of my shifters bi-sexuality is common. Each pride is headed by a male and a female Alpha with their beta, or betas, as second in command. Some Alphas and betas will search their entire lives for the right partner and never find them. That’s where Madam Eve and her 1 Night Stand matchmaking service come in. Word has spread through the shifter world that Madam Eve has an almost magical ability to pair shifters together, and her inbox is overflowing with applications.

I hope you enjoy my stories from the ‘Prides of the Moon’ series. A new short story in the series will be coming out once a month as part of Decadent Publishing’s 1 Night Stand series for as long as my readers want them. Thank you, as always, for giving me the chance to entertain you.

About the author

Ann is Queen of the Castle to her wonderful husband and three sons in the mountains of West Virginia. In her past lives she’s been an Import Broker, a Communications Specialist, a US Navy Civilian Contractor, a Bartender/Waitress, and an actor at the Michigan Renaissance Festival. She also spent a summer touring with the Grateful Dead-though she will deny to her children that it ever happened.

From a young age she’s been fascinated by myths and fairytales, and the romance that often was the center of the story. As Ann grew older and her hormones kicked in, she discovered trashy romance novels. Great at first, but she soon grew tired of the endless stories with a big wonderful emotional buildup to really short and crappy sex. Never a big fan of purple prose, throbbing spears of fleshy pleasure and wet honey pots make her giggle, she sought out books that gave the sex scenes in the story just as much detail and plot as everything else-without using cringe worthy euphemisms. This led her to the wonderful world of Erotic Romance, and she’s never looked back.

Now Ann spends her days trying to tune out cartoons playing in the background to get into her ‘sexy space’ and has learned to type one handed while soothing a cranky baby.

Find Ann online at her… Website | Facebook | Twitter

Giveaway

Ann is giving away an ebook copy from her 1 Night Stand collection to one lucky commenter on today’s post. To enter to win, leave a comment for Ann… what type of shifter animal would you be?… and fill out the Rafflecopter below. Good luck!

You can see Ann’s collection of 1NS stories here!

a Rafflecopter giveaway