I am Jenn Dease, and my first book just came out from MLR Press. It is titled ‘Captain’s Mate’ and is the first book in the Dragon Marines series. This is a Military, Dragon Shape-Shifter Romance set in the future.

I am currently working on the second book in the Dragon Marine series and a short Christmas story set in the same world.

Here is a short excerpt:

Dane lay in his bunk going over the day’s events. The Team Liaison he’d requested had finally arrived. A very handsome, blond human with the most striking eyes. They were the color of the sea near his home island. A turquoise color.

The lieutenant commander was the type of man Dane was attracted to. Muscular but not muscle-bound, a self-confidence that was evident in the way he moved and spoke. When they had stood in Michaels’ room, Dane wanted to grab the man and taste that mouth. Lay him on the rack and feel those muscles without the uniform covering them.

The urge to grab Franklin Michaels had surprised him. Never before had anyone made him feel that way. It was almost instinctual. Almost like it was fated. Oh Hell!

This was not how or when Dane had planned on meeting his mate. But the Goddess had other ideas. And She was probably grinning at him right now. Mother Goddess did have a sense of humor.

As for me, I have been a reader since grade school. (We can blame Nancy Drew for that.) I have read romances since then. I was there for the beginning, Rosemary Rogers, Kathleen Woodiwiss, Laurie McBain, Dame Barbara Cartland, and the other original Queens of romance. I had subscriptions to Harlequin. I finally became bored with what had become formulaic stories and went on to Paranormal, seeking something new. Read these for years before they started to become boring.

I had one of those email notices from Amazon, ‘If you like this, you will like that’. It was a recommendation for “My Fair Captain” by JL Langley. A romance between a space captain and a Prince. Set in a Regency style planet. Wait. What? A romance between two men? Seriously? I was intrigued. Bought the book and devoured it. I just loved it! I bought all of JL’s books. Went on to Jet Mykles’ ‘Heaven Sent’ series. Carol Lynne, AKM Miles and many more. I had found my niche.

There were many times when I began to write a het romance, but something was just not right. When I decided to write a GLBT romance, it just seemed natural to me. This must have been what I was missing. Did it come easy? No. It was something new and exciting, but actually writing a book is not easy.

Ever hear of the Brenda Novak Auction for Juvenile Diabetes? I was extremely lucky to bid on Kris Jacen of MLR Press, senior editor, to look at my manuscript. And I won. After the shock of that wore off, I looked at the MS I had. This was when some panic set in as I realized this was the second book in the series. I had four months to write the first book before the due date to send it to Kris.

When I sent the MS in, 13,000 words, I was expecting a nice letter back about what needed to be done to make it better. To my shock and delight, Kris offered me a contract. I actually read the email about four or five times. Then, when I came down from the ceiling, I called my sisters. I called L.Shannon, an author who encouraged me along the way. We celebrated. I, of course, accepted the offer. I am not stupid.

Then began the pleasure of edits. And, believe me, I needed a lot of editing. We built ‘Captain’s Mate’ up to 25,000 words. It was fun, it was crazy. And thanks to Kris, my book came out on May 30.

Thanks for listening. I can be reached on FB at facebook.com/jenn.dease.5 I am on Twitter, but am still trying to figure it out. My blog is jenndease.com