quill pen and ink well on old book in library

Heart Set on a Signed Book at GCLS?

Karin Kallmaker Events and Appearances 0 Comments

How can it be June? It’s only a couple of weeks until I’ll be hopping in the trusty Subaru to head to my favorite event of the year. This year the Golden Crown Literary Society conference for all people who love sapphic fiction is in Denver, a city I’ve visited often and love.

Along with the many great panels and ways to interact with readers and answer questions is a huge vendor booth hosted by Bella Books that will have a wide variety of actual, real, smell the ink, pick-up-and-hold books. Every author present will have books there, including me. Read More

Scoop of Baskin-Robbins Chick'n & Waffle Ice Cream on a waffle

How I Know the Universe Loves Us – My First Post about Ice Cream

Karin Kallmaker Cheers & Chocolate, Favorite Things 4 Comments

Given that my food love centers around ice cream, it’s hard to believe I’ve never written a blog about it. Ice cream is such a part of my life that when I was researching food for my medieval romance Knight of Nights I was sad for an entire day that there was no way to include ice cream. It’s quite depressing to imagine a world without ice cream.

I’m Not an Ice Cream Snob. Seriously.

I like everything from soft serve to supermarket gelato to the artisanal goodies made in small batches in restaurants. I happily range from a Mickey D’s vanilla cone on a 105 degree day after running errands to a Talenti pint of whatever chocolate, caramel, crunchy gelato concoction was on sale to fancy plated desserts. Baseline, it has to have balanced flavors that work well together and a mouth-pleasing creaminess.

And yes, I stalk ice cream on sale and pounce on any brand that doesn’t use substitutes for the sugar or fat. They can use less of those two things, but not substitutes. There are concoctions that use emulsifiers and stabilizers which can taste good, but they’re a dessert that is a cousin to ice cream. Not ice cream.
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190+ Sapphic authors have chosen their favorite scenes just for you at I Heart SapphFIC!

Picking a Favorite Child – Free Anthology and Mega-Sale News

Karin Kallmaker Book News, Events and Appearances 0 Comments

That Dreaded Question

One of the most challenging questions a writer can get is, “What’s your favorite of what you’ve written?” The answer is never easy.

Most of the time, my favorite thing is what I last imagined in my head and actually made it to the page the way I hoped it might. Or that scene that for some reason always makes me cry. Or has a writer’s tool in it that I managed to use to its best effect. It’s hard to answer “That scene – look at the foreshadowing!” and have anyone who isn’t a writer really get it. Read More

profile of dark-skinned black woman with natural hair wearing a sleeveless top. Golden lights are over her shoulder and a wine glass in front of her.

Finding Nikki Velvet

Karin Kallmaker Book News, Checked Out, Coin of Love Series, Covered Hearts, Knight of Nights, Velvet in Venice, Wind in Her Hair 10 Comments

I have an itchy brain, and it pokes at me when a group of things has one item not like the others. Like when all the towels but one face fold-out on a shelf – what kind of madness is that!? I wish it had kicked in a little bit earlier on my latest project, though.

One of These Things . . .

If you follow me on social media, you know I was having a crisis of “One of these Things Is Not Like the Other” about my new Coin of Love novella series cover art. It was making my brain itch.

Once the next four installments were planned and the covers set side-by-side with Velvet in Venice, the five covers looked like this:

The itch in my brain was that the lovely gondola, canal, and old building on Velvet was nothing like any of the other covers, all of which featured a character from the story inside and conveyed (at least I hope so) the time period of the story.
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Sapphic Book Bingo graphic

Sapphic Book Bingo Unicorns – Find Them Here!

Karin Kallmaker Events and Appearances, Readers and Libraries 36 Comments

It’s a new year and time for the 2023 edition of Sapphic Book Bingo, organized by the completely awesome Jae.

Have you not heard of Sapphic Book Bingo? Well. Here’s all the details from Jae herself and links to download PDFs of the two bingo cards – Book Unicorns and the Main Categories.

Find out everything you need to know, then come back here for ideas on my books that will help you fill your Bingo card. You could have some of them on your shelf already. Reread a favorite or find something new!

Subscribe to Jae’s recommendations, by the way. You’ll get a wide range of suggestions and for sure discover some new authors. Her weekly blog posts will have some giveaways!

My Unicorns

Just pausing a moment to say that I’ve always wanted a unicorn and thanks to Jae, I’ve realized I have many. Thanks Jae!

Imperfect sex: Car Pool The chili pepper scene, one of the few in my books based on personal experience. Enough said. In A Fish Out of Water sex invokes a terrible curse, so I would say, yes, something goes wrong.Read More

Golden brown cookies with cracks and sugar sparkle on a white plate that features a green-hatted and green-scarf wearing snowman.

Seattle Ginger Spice Cookies

Karin Kallmaker Cheers & Chocolate, Favorite Things 7 Comments

Why Seattle?

This recipe was stumbled upon by my wife, Maria. She thought it would be a tasty treat for everyone at her brother’s house up in Seattle. Somehow I was the one who ended up making them and DANG they turned out perfectly the first time, so preen for me. Everyone loved them.

Five days later they were getting a little bit dry, but still tasted good, especially dipped in a warm beverage. The ginger kick is there, but it’s not “hot.” The final taste is ginger with other warm spices and the rich goodness of dark sugars mixed with butter. Read More

The skyline of Venice from approaching from Murano Island to the Grand Canal

A Rainstorm in Rome and Self-Portrait of Brain Exploding

Karin Kallmaker Book News, Coin of Love Series, Covered Hearts, Knight of Nights, Velvet in Venice, Wind in Her Hair 0 Comments

I Lose My Heart to Venice

A few years ago, before pandemic restrictions, my wife and I traveled to Italy. Our first stop was Venice where we were picked up by boat at the airport and whisked to our hotel on Murano Island, with the familiar skyline of Venice in the distance.

We were there for all of a few hours before I knew I’d write about Venice through the eyes of a smitten tourist. So many places can’t ever live up to their hype, but for me Venice was all that and so much more. Read More

Star Wars character Rey holds her yellow light saber

The Short Life and Excellent Death of Darth Lumpius

Karin Kallmaker Cheers & Chocolate, LIFE + STYLE 48 Comments

The Force Was With Me

Back in August I knew I would be writing this post and that this would be the title.

Darth Lumpius had visions of immortality. Its evilness was about the size of two Cheerios. A routine mammogram screening discovered the nasty little bugger. Three weeks later Darth Lumpius was no more, aspirations of takeover all for nothing, thanks to a crack team of Resistance fighters: one surgeon, one radiologist, one radiation oncologist, one therapeutic oncologist, and a platoon of technicians and nurses. They each had their own light saber and the Force was with them. Read More