by Aimée Avery

Thank you, Kim and Romance Junkies Blog, for having me today.

My best friend likes to see me embarrassed, so she puts me on the spot whenever possible. Really, I think this is something that most of my friends like to do because I’ve noticed it with all too much frequency. There is always a sure fire way to do it too. Sex scenes! Oh, not the ones in movies (that’s the perfect time to run out of the theater for popcorn), but the ones in books.

Anyone who has read any of my stories knows that I have included a scene or two of the naked pretzel, but none have seen me actually write them. If they had, I’m sure there would be video on YouTube. Oh, yeah. It’s that funny!

Picture a nice corner table in your local Starbucks. There is a woman sitting there tapping on the keys of a laptop with a venti something close by. Suddenly, she begins to prop up her laptop bag in front of the computer, building a wall separating her from the other caffeine addicts. She begins to frantically look about the room, leaning forward to see what the baristas are doing and giving an evil eye to all the other customers. Her face turns slightly pink, and she begins to slide down in her chair so that you no longer see her over the makeshift wall. The sound of typing continues.

After a few minutes, the typing stops and she does a perfect impression of Kilroy, again looking about the room. She suddenly retreats back behind the wall and the sound of feverish typing resumes. This repeats two or three times over the next half hour until she finally sits up in her chair, puts the laptop bag back down on the floor and frantically waves a cup cozy as she tries to fan the beet red glow from her face.

Yeah, that she is me. And thank goodness none of my friends have witnessed that display. No, they just have me turn beet red by having me read aloud other author’s descriptions of the mattress mambo.

I guess you could say that is how my relationship with fellow writers June Williams and Enid Wilson first began. We were and are members of an online writers’ forum, where writers and readers from all over the world share a passion for Jane Austen. I live in California near Santa Barbara; June lives near San Francisco and Enid in Sydney, Australia. Continents may divide June and I from Enid, but with the Internet, the whole world is in your living room. Only on this particular day, June, as well as a few other California members of the forum, were in my living room and Enid had just posted the chapter of her then latest story. Guess who got to read it out loud?

I don’t think anyone remembers what I read. They were laughing too hard to remember much of anything except the way my skin went from fuchsia to carmine, crimson and, finally, rust.

As the years have gone by, I am occasionally plagued with the remembrance of that afternoon. But if anything, I can only say that good has come out of being embarrassed (well, at least in that instance). June, Enid and I have combined our efforts and released Honor and Integrity: A Collection of Pride and Prejudice-Inspired Short Stories.

There are stories that take you into the future, to the past and keep you right here in the present. Some are sweet, humorous and, yes, some have sex. And, no! I’m not going to read them out loud!

For more information about the authors and book, check out the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Honor.Integrity.book.

One lucky reader can win a free eBook copy of Honor and Integrity. Just leave a comment here about what embarrasses you. Entry is open to worldwide readers and closes on 30 July 2012. Happy reading and writing!

Book Description
What if Mr. Darcy’s mother was still alive? What if the Bennet sisters had suitors who were unacceptable? What if Elizabeth didn’t realize Darcy’s identity? And what if three authors of Jane Austen-inspired stories put their heads together and challenged each other with creating stories which contain the words ‘honor’ or ‘integrity’?

This collection of nine short stories contains sweet, romantic and intriguing stories across Regency, fantasy and modern genres.

You can find steampunk, deception, manipulation, theft, murder, love, marriage, coffee and many more themes in this volume.