"Prostitution required the violation of my body. Piracy required my soul. The first enslaved me. The second set me free. "

Against all odds, a prostitute becomes the most powerful pirate chieftain in the South China Seas. Sold into slavery by her parents, Xianggu works on a floating brothel for ten years before a midnight pirate raid changes her life. Determined to rise above her lowly status, the fearless young woman embarks on a journey requiring beauty, brains, and brawn.

Red Flag boss, Zheng Yi, is captivated by the spirited Xianggu and soon makes her his wife. This begins her adventure into the violent world of sea banditry. But Xianggu must do more than learn to wield a sword, sail a ship, and swim across a bay. She must become indispensable to Zheng Yi or risk losing everything, even her life.

In 18th century China, when men made and enforced the rules, the Dragon Lady lived by her own.

Divinity was their destiny. Until mortality became their fate.

Mnem has everything. A glamorous lifestyle, beauty, family, and immortality. But she doesn’t have a platform. Or followers. Or relevance. Which is why Mnemosyne, the goddess of remembrance and mother of the nine muses, is fired.

Mnem isn’t the only one. Three other goddesses are also up the mortal creek without a divine paddle. Now they must build a life—a real one.

Although their divinity is gone, their soul and courage remain. But mortal life is so frustrating! As the four ex-goddesses struggle to find friendship, love, and purpose, mortals get in the way. Sexy mortals. Obnoxious mortals. And dangerous ones. Before they have a chance to get a handle on the whole mortality thing, their lives take an unexpected turn with one epic decision. One with deadly consequences.

Available now from Cleis Press!

Who knew the ancient world could be so downright… arousing?

Like uncovering a sexy diamond in the rough, LEGENDS OF LUST, EROTIC MYTHS FROM AROUND THE WORLD reveals the fiery passions lying dormant behind your favorite mythological stories. This adults-only, debut collection of the fourteen steamiest erotic short stories by Autumn Bardot is an explosion of sexy, nasty, and romantic retellings that will take your love of myths to a whole new level.

Odysseus, a mere man, becomes a god-like master of the tease in the eyes of the sex-starved and eternally lustful goddess, Calypso. The tale of Amazonian queen, Hippolyta, and Theseus gives “love-at-first-sight” a whole new meaning that will enthrall your senses. The encounter between Vishvamitra and Menaka takes them to explosive new levels of bodily nirvana. And Gilgamesh, the mighty god-king, sends temple prostitute Shamhat to tame a wild man, but instead he teaches her something about man’s most primal instincts… and is not left wanting.

Run wild in your personal Elysian Fields of pleasure with this spicy, irreverent peek into the sensual world of our most beloved gods, heroes, fairies, and shape shifters from every corner of the earth.

Unfettered by responsibility, Locusta, the daughter of a vintner in the Roman province of Gaul, enjoys the indulged childhood of the elite. Concerned with only the day’s amusements, she rides gentle ponies, reads Ovid, and learns the herbal arts from her handmaid. A family problem compels Locusta to go to Rome, a decadent and treacherous city where she has little desire to remain.

Despite attempts to keep her herbal skills a secret, the Roman elite soon discover Locusta’s talents. And use them for their own nefarious purposes.

Thrust into a world of depravity, scandal, and murder, Locusta’s life changes forever when a young Emperor Nero requires her expertise. Caught in an imperial web, it’s a profession she must embrace or die.

But sometimes love has a different agenda.

The year is 1464, and young King Matthias controls Hungary, his family, and the fate of the world’s most notorious political prisoner, Prince Vlad Dracula.

Ilona Szilágy, the king’s cousin, is young and ambitious. Dracula is determined to marry into the Hunyadi family. It is love at first sight…but the king has other plans. The Impaler Prince, however, never takes no for an answer.

This begins Ilona’s journey into the treacherous world of court intrigues, family betrayals, and her husband’s dark desires. Eager to become Vlad’s trusted confidant, Ilona soon discovers that marriage to man tortured by his past comes with a price.

Woven throughout is a peek into the life and times of one of the world’s most enigmatic and maligned rulers…the man before the legend.

With Bardot’s decadent period detail and a cast of gritty evocative characters, The Impaler’s Wife offers a fierce yet sensuous glimpse into the violent 15th century.

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A mystical shape. Three gruesome murders. One reluctant heroine.

And the only person able to prevent the next murder is an anxiety-prone recruit.

Divorced and depressed, Daphne Sites is stunned to learn that a unique empathic ability allows her to identify otherworldly life. So when a secret organization asks for her help, it's difficult to refuse.

Serik Jalani is the man who must convince the reluctant recruit to assume an awesome mantle of responsibility. There's only one way to do this. Reel her in slowly. Except Daphne suspects Serik is not being entirely truthful. About the organization. About the mission. About his identity.

As Daphne attempts to keep her new life secret from two sassy sisters, one jealous ex-husband, and a bimbo Barbie neighbor, she struggles to embrace the mysteries of a cosmic technology and realize her own self-worth.

If Daphne hopes to stop the next murder, she must first confront her biggest problem. Herself.

The first in the Merkabah Series. A forbidden love destroys an ancient legacy.

An insidious evil threatens to escape into our world and only an empathic professor can stop it.

Psychotic episodes spread through a prestigious prep school and the headmistress seeks help from an occult society. Daphne Sites, the newest member, must determine if the mass hysteria has unearthly origins. She’s a bit anxious—this is only her second assignment.

Daphne soon discovers she’s in way over her head after a terrifying encounter with a possessed student. Attacks by thugs and nonhuman enemies don’t bolster her courage or confidence either!

The search for answers sends Daphne to the Amazon jungle, Ecuador’s majestic cathedrals, a ghoul-infested hacienda, and a creepy catacomb. If Daphne hopes to live, she’ll have to figure out the truth from the lies.

Legends, lies, and lust thwart an empathic woman’s attempts to stop a supernatural evil in the second book of the Merkabah Series, where a forbidden love destroys an ancient legacy.

A dating website leaves a trail of shriveled bodies and Daphne Sites is on case. But following the string of clues to solve this mystery requires working with the man who broke her heart.

As if that wasn’t difficult enough, a shady magician, a vicious hellhound, a devious predator, and SJ’s ancient enemy are determined to see her fail. Not to mention the other misguided beings—human and otherworldly—that keep Daphne on her empathic toes.

From the city morgue to San Francisco’s Chinatown to a Napa Valley winery, Daphne struggles to find the murderer and learn the truth about SJ and The Watchers.

Legends, lies, and lust thwart an empathic woman’s attempts to stop a supernatural evil in the third book of the Merkabah Series, where a forbidden love destroys an ancient legacy.

Daphne, stunned by SJ’s announcement, refuses to believe the truth. As she struggles to accept her role in an ancient prophecy, Erra continues his quest for vengeance. And he’s not stopping at slaughtering the innocent. He’s systematically murdering every merkabah medium in the world. Daphne has a choice to make. One that will change her world forever.

Coming 2021

Does the word symbol make you shudder? Discover how powerful symbolic word choices can enrich character, plot, emotion and more - your way.

Words are powerful magic, imbued with nuance, subtext, connotation, and emotions that reside deep within our collective consciousness. Words and symbols impart meanings readers respond to on a visceral level that extend beyond the literal meaning.

Discover all the ways that iconic symbols can provide thematic, foreshadowing, contextual, plot, and characterization beyond the superficial. This is a quick guide, a springboard meant for you to leap high and dive into powerful symbolic word choices.

Symbols and their layered meanings act as a diving board into a deep pool of emotional, psychological, spiritual, cultural, and intellectual dynamics that you decide how to mold and manipulate. It’s one more tool for your writing toolbox.