Isabelle Drake

In 2007 you could buy a short story from Amazon for forty-nine cents. The program was called Amazon Shorts, and pretty much nobody remembers it. It was Amazon’s experiment in digital fiction, and it ran for a few years before quietly going away. The Kindle turned up later that same year, and after that nobody needed a separate program for selling short fiction. Either that is there were better ways for Amazon to make easier money. One of the stories in that catalogue was mine. It is in the book I have coming out next month, and getting there took it through four publishers and two names. Brigand Flames started life in the fall of 2005 as Brigand Love , a Halloween short for Venus Press. Venus was one of the many small digital-only presses inventing e-publishing while the big New York houses were looking the other way. A pirate ghost, a woman tired of competing with a dead fiancée, an old journal bought at a charity auction. I loved that little story. Venus Press, as is the fate of man...

A ghost with a proposition. An exile with orders from the Oracle. Fate never plays fair. Two of my Ellora’s Cave paranormals are back, together in one volume for the first time. Flames of Fate releases Tuesday, October 27, and it is up for preorder now. Brigand Flames Unfulfilled in her relationship and beset by disturbing dreams, Lacey encounters a stranger on a business trip who is as mysterious as he is familiar. He stirs her memories as well as her lust. He wants her. Wants her body. Wants her help. Two lost lovers from a distant past ask Lacey for help of the most intimate kind, and by giving them what they want, she might find what she needs. Fate Unbound Exiled from ancient Greece, Taryn searches modern-day Los Angeles for the one man who can tame her wild heart. The Oracle’s decree: submit to every man who approaches, until she finds the single man who desires submission to her. Then, and only then, may she return to her beloved home. Adrian, the unrecognized son of Ze...

Jaya Vinar teaches other people how to chase their dreams. She’s not taking her own advice. She’s the star of her company’s motivational speaking tour. Sold-out presentations, record book sales, she is on top. But her past lingers nearby like a black cloud. When her boss saddles her with a “personal consultant” to keep her focused, Jaya does her best to scare the man off. Over-the-top, undone-buttons, spank-me-please style. Small problem. The man she propositioned isn’t the consultant. The consultant is three stools down, and he’s not scared off. He’s intrigued, and he’s about to guide her through three private sessions teaching her focus in ways that never appeared in any company handbook. Strawberries. A canoe. A whole lot of whispered instructions. Actually, Conrad Dunn isn’t a consultant. He’s a therapist standing in for his identical twin and he’s sinking fast. Every hour with Jaya makes the lie harder to keep and harder to give up. At night, after the lessons, Jaya pour...

You left your hot pink Stanley — the one covered with stickers you collected at a book conference in New York — at the trailhead. There's sand all over the backseat that will still be there at Christmas. You have a tan line shaped like exactly one sandal strap, somebody said "pumpkin spice" out loud on August 12th, and the pool closes Labor Day whether you've used it or not. Enter the Painkiller, a drink that takes your small complaints seriously. This tasty number was invented in the 1970s at a bar in the British Virgin Islands that had no dock. No dock, you ask? Right. To get a drink you swam ashore, which meant your money arrived wet, hence the name: the Soggy Dollar Bar . That may be the highest standard a beach bar can set. You have to actually want it. The official Painkiller calls for Pusser's, a dark navy-style rum made the way the British Royal Navy issued it to sailors right up until 1970. Nutmeg, clove, caramel, a little leather taste. Swap in a light r...

It’s still hot, pumpkin spice season may be on the horizon, but you have summer weekends left. Let’s craft one properly. Lets' do this quiz and make it happen. Pick your answer in each set and add up the points  You arrive at: 7 a.m., before another soul 11, like a civilized person 4 p.m., for the good light After dark You set up: Up by the dunes or in the middle of some trees, away from everyone Right at the water or wherever the best view is Wherever the umbrella or camp chair already is Wherever you can see everything that’s happening In the bag: Your laptop, which you swear you won’t open A paperback you’ll actually finish Three magazines you won’t Sunscreen, cash, and nothing else In your glass: A cold beer, no ceremony A thermos nobody gets to ask about Something frozen and ridiculous Whatever gets handed to you Your company: No one, gloriously One person who doesn’t need entertaining The whole loud crowd Someone you met an hour ago At sunset you’re: Asleep under a towel or b...

Daniel McKenzie walked away from the glittering underground world when he enlisted. Military service would give him purpose. Discipline. Control. Or so he thought. Back in his canyon farmhouse overlooking the LA coast, he's restless. After his best friend drags him to Tigers, one of the city's exclusive clubs and one of his old haunts, he finds himself back in the life he thought he'd left behind. A connection takes him deeper in and soon he is delivering intimate experiences people can't find anywhere else. Helping couples and singles discover new styles of physical intimacy. A husband who hasn't felt anything since the war. A wife who never confessed her desires. A woman who fled her hometown and the shaming memories there. All encounters contracted, consented to, and finished before the sheets are cold. He's skilled. He's needed. He's burned out. Months of shapeshifting for others leave him empty. When he retreats to the isolated Northern California m...

I spent a chunk of July doing something I'd been avoiding, reading my own blog. Not all of it. But enough. I'd been meaning to assess things and tidy the place up for over a year, and cleaning means going back through, and going back through means thinking, considering, and making decisions. I’ve been keeping this blog for over twenty years, so, yeah, a lot to think about and go through. I got to work. I deleted posts that no longer serve anyone: contests that closed a decade ago, giveaways for books that have since gone out of print, announcements about events that came and went while some of you were off living your best life elsewhere. Nobody needs a link to enter a drawing that ended in 2009. Or do they… No, they don’t. Next up, the labels. If you'd clicked one before, or looked at them, you might have found a mess. I had eighty-three of them. There were labels used once. There were three different ways of saying the same thing. I got them down to twenty-three, so n...

A character I named Belmont showed up in my book, Servant of the Undead, due to necessity. He's lumpy and easily over-looked but with time he grew on me. He's been to, lived in , and escaped, the place where Hayden, the poor struggling main character, is just now arriving. This section below was one of my favorites to write. It gave me the opportunity to consider how humor can function in horror. The laughs make the terribleness even more terrible.  Excerpt from  Mistress of the Undead Belmont pushed himself off the floor, shuffled to the bathroom, not bothering to flush the toilet after he pissed. Still naked, he made his way to the kitchen, set the kettle on, grabbed his French press. He reached into the cabinet over the sink for the bag of coffee beans but all he found was an empty space. Rolling onto the balls of his feet, he reached further back, felt around the vacant space, smacking the bottom of the cabinet. “Don’t bother looking. I drank it all.” Hayden froze. Waited ...

If you are a reader who also drinks, and if you're here, I'm going to assume yes on both counts, this cocktail was practically invented for you. If you go looking for this recipe online there are versions everywhere, and some of them have gone completely off the rails. Blue curaçao? Crème de menthe? We are not doing that. We're doing the version from Greg Seider, a New York bartender who also wrote Alchemy in a Glass, which means he has both the credentials and the vocabulary to be trusted. His Tequila Mockingbird is a spicy margarita riff built around something we don't use nearly enough in cocktails: watermelon. And I know, watermelon sounds like it should be easy, but it's actually a bit of a diva. Too little and you can't taste it. Too much and it waters everything down. Get it right, though, and you have something bright and juicy and just a little dangerous. The good news is you don't need a blender. Just a muddler, some fresh watermelon, a jalap...

1. It's the first real warm Saturday of the season. You: A) Drive to the nearest body of water with a tote bag full of snacks and a book you've been saving since March. B) Text five people "what are we doing today" and let chaos decide. C) Open every window, put something good on the speaker, and spend the morning just… existing in it. D) Start planning. Itinerary, reservations, the works. Summer doesn't organize itself. 2. Your summer drink is: A) Whatever's cold and comes with a little umbrella. B) Something spicy...a jalapeño margarita, obviously. C) A big glass of iced tea on the porch, no rush. D) Champagne. It's always the right answer. 3. Pick a summer shoe: A) Sandals you've had for six years that go with everything. B) Sneakers because you never know when you'll need to run toward something fun. C) Bare feet, honestly. D) Wedges. You didn't come here to be comfortable, you came here to look good. 4. Your ideal summer read: A) A big, sw...

The past couple months were filled with conference travel.  In early March, I attended an academic/literacy conference in Baltimore. It's an event I've attended on and off for over a decade. When I first started attending, I went as an MFA student. The faculty of the MFA program I was attending told us the event was a blast - super fun! I am, and was back then, all about having fun especially if it involves books and writers. So, expecting the sort of fun I typically had at a writing event, off I went.  As it turned out, as I figured out the first time I went, it was not that kind of fun. I found the other attendees to be a tad stuffy at times. No laughing in the halls. Very literary. As it turned out, it was a serious event filled with serious people. I did have the promised "good time" but it took some rethinking on my part. Once I caught on to the serious nature of the event, I decided not to tell anyone I was a romance author. Meanwhile, over the years, I continue...

Motivational speaker and personal improvement expert Jaya Vinar is out of control--or so people keep telling her. When her boss pairs her with a handsome personal consultant, things get even more out of control. She wants to scare him off, he wants her in his bed. Only one can win. And neither is exactly who they’re pretending to be. Sometimes wild, and rocky, starts lead to even wilder, and happier, endings. Excerpt The Troy, Michigan hotel bar was circled by oil paintings of thoroughbreds grazing on rolling hills. Thanks to the wall paneling and brass fixtures, it was businesslike and sophisticated, yet still cozy. An ornate mirror ran the length of the bar, reflecting the brightly-colored liquor bottles. The only person seated in the row of tall stools was a brown-haired man in a nondescript navy jacket and khaki pants. A glass of white wine sat in front of him and his full attention on his phone. She stood back, watching him, a plan forming in the back of her mind. The idea ros...

The Sloe & Cranberry Sour may feel like a vintage classic—something your great‑aunt might have sipped in a velvet‑draped supper club—but in truth, it’s a relatively modern creation born from two intersecting trends in cocktail culture: the revival of sloe liqueurs and the renaissance of the sour. Sloe berries—tiny, tart, wild relatives of the plum—have been steeped in gin and spirits in the UK since at least the 1700s. Traditionally, sloe gin was a farmhouse project: pick the berries after the first frost, prick them with a needle, drown them in gin and sugar, and wait for winter to do its magic. By the mid‑20th century, sloe gin had a reputation problem. Cheap, overly sweet versions flooded the market, and bartenders largely ignored it. But the craft spirits movement of the 2000s changed everything. High‑quality, small‑batch sloe liqueurs—like Edwards 1902 Mulled Sloe Liqueur—brought the ingredient roaring back into fashion. Enter: The Modern Sour Revival The classic sour (spirit ...

1. You walk into a New Year’s Eve party and the first thing you reach for is: A. The charcuterie board — you negotiate contracts, you can negotiate cheese. B. A jewel‑toned mocktail that looks like it belongs on your Instagram grid. C. Your work bestie, because you two communicate in eye‑rolls and ambition. D. A quiet corner where you can finish the last chapter of your book before midnight.   2. Your phone buzzes at midnight. Who’s texting you first? A. Your group chat of overachievers who hype each other like it’s a sport. B. Your mentor, sending a “Proud of you” message that makes you emotional. C. Your crush, who finally figured out how to use punctuation. D. No one — you put your phone on Do Not Disturb to protect your peace.   3. You wake up on January 1st craving: A. A bold new project that scares you in the best way. B. A fresh planner, color‑coded tabs, and a latte the size of your ambition. C. A long, luxurious morning in bed with a novel and zero obligations. D. A b...

Boat House Punch was created by cocktailier Julie Reiner from Clover Club and Flatiron Lounge of New York. This fizzy, citrus-packed concoction is pretty much summer in a punch bowl. First up: lemon oleo saccharum. Sounds fancy, right? But it’s just muddled lemon peels and sugar. Its like they are having a sweet little spa day until they release the oils and turn into syrupy gold. Easy peasy lemon squeezy… literally. Next, you’re pouring in dry gin (your sophisticated side), Aperol (bittersweet and bold), St-Germain (floral vibes), and a juicy trio of lemon, orange, and grapefruit. And just when you think it couldn’t get any dreamier, in comes the sparkling rosé for that flirty fizz that screams “celebration!” This isn’t your average overly-sweet mystery punch that leaves you rethinking your life choices. Surprise! Boat House Punch is chic, flavorful, and fabulous. So whip up a batch, pop on a sundress, and let the good times (and compliments) flow. INGREDIENTS 4 lemons, peeled 1/2 cup...