Tales of Dunham – MORIAH JOVAN

“Twice.”

September 3, 2025August 23, 2026Moriah Jovan

“I am in my prime. Professionally. Financially. Intellectually. Not sexually. All things considered, my sexual prime came in the back of a 1970 Nova and went out the door of a judge’s office three months later.”

I crack me up. I really do. Yesterday, I randomly tweeted the above out of one of my books that I thought was one of my better lines. That’s Finn Marston,¹ from Lion’s Share narrating the circumstances of his shotgun wedding at 19.

That’s funny (yes, it is; fight me), but the real story is in Lion’s Share’s opening line.² Read more →

Once upon a time when I thought I was edgy

July 16, 2025August 8, 2026Moriah Jovan

When you say stupid shit and read it back almost 2 decades later when you’re cleaning up your blog
Part 2 of a series

Magdalene: a contest and a prize.
03/28/2011
[link removed]

Say You’ll Go

August 25, 2014July 26, 2026Moriah Jovan

After twenty years and five children, love just wasn’t enough anymore—until, five years after the divorce, it’s the only thing they have left.

“Say You’ll Go” by Janelle Monáe

Book updates

August 17, 2014August 23, 2026Moriah Jovan

1. ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF

My story, “Allow Me to Introduce Myself,” that appeared in Monsters & Mormons has been ready for me to put up for sale for quite a while. I just haven’t gotten around to it. I hope to get that done before Christmas. Kidding. Not really. ~~It won’t be on the Dunham site~~, so if you want to buy it from me (please do!) it’ll only be here, in the sidebar.

A Mormon nun battles demons and insecurity in the Louisiana bayou—with a baby alligator by her side and weapons powered by cold fusion.

Two new books

May 1, 2014July 26, 2026Moriah Jovan

They’re ***just friends*** … right up to the first kiss.

Sometimes love isn’t enough …
until it’s the only thing you have left.

PASO DOBLE & WE WERE GODS
go on sale today!

The print books are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all the regular places.

The ebooks are available from me (see links above), Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all the regular places (iBooks coming soon). From now until May 15, 2014, they will be priced at $1.99. After, they will be $5.99 and $4.99 respectively.

Get ’em now!

Oops

April 16, 2014July 25, 2026Moriah Jovan

That awkward moment when you’re a book designer and you design your own books and the print is even too small for you. (The re-do added 100 pages to it.)

The Paso Doble & We Were Gods release

April 14, 2014August 23, 2026Moriah Jovan

First version of book covers for PASO DOBLE and WE WERE GODS with original covers featuring couples.

Paso Doble & We Were Gods

May 1, 2014

from May 1, 2014 – May 15, 2014
the ebooks will be $1.99 each

★★★

On May 16, 2014,
the ebooks will go to a regular price of
$5.99 and $4.99, respectively

On parenting

April 12, 2014Moriah Jovan

Book cover of PARADISE by Judith McNaught. Tess: “You know this makes us like all the evil meddling parents in all those novels who pay off the boyfriend from the wrong side of the tracks, and then are responsible for the seething hatred between their daughter and her boyfriend until they meet up twenty years later and have angry sex.”

Étienne: “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

Tess: “But by that time, the boyfriend has used his seething hatred to make a billion dollars just to show her father up and comes back as a master of the universe to get his revenge on the parents and his girlfriend, even though she has never stopped loving him and was heartbroken that he never tried to contact her—” Read more →

On credibility

April 12, 2014August 23, 2026Moriah Jovan

“I,” Emilio said to his youngest brother, “am a manslut. That is a direct quote. Don’t be that. There will come a day—”

“A girl you like says, ‘Let’s be friends.’”

“You’ll turn forty-two and find out the woman you’re in love with thinks you’re the scum of the earth.”

Paso Doble

On fetishes

April 11, 2014August 23, 2026Moriah Jovan

The problem with exhibitionism is that sometimes people watch. —Tess LaMontagne

We Were Gods

Paso Doble

April 11, 2014August 23, 2026Moriah Jovan

“You’ve been smooth as a baby’s butt since you were gored three years ago,” Victoria said.

“You’re supposed to be smooth,” Emilio replied, suddenly irritated. “That’s the point.” Read more →

We Were Gods cover

December 23, 2013Moriah Jovan

We Were Gods

December 21, 2013August 8, 2026Moriah Jovan

Étienne’s ex-father-in-law: “I have faith in you, Étienne. You can fix anything. I would like to see my two favorite people together again. And building. You become gods when you build together.”

Oui. Gods. They most certainly had been.

Once.

★★★

WE WERE GODS
A Dunham Novel
Release date: May 1, 2014

On the creation of man

December 16, 2013Moriah Jovan

Étienne looked down at his pop can. “I’m building a time machine,” he said abruptly.

Knox snorted in amusement.

He shrugged. “I won’t be able to. If people could travel through time, it’d be— The universe would implode. The Big Bang theory? Totally true. It was because somebody traveled through time.”

A Tardis cut-out and fold-up paper toy, like paper dolls.

One day I started writing a book.

December 12, 2013August 23, 2026Moriah Jovan

That day was November 6, 2013. I finished it December 8, 2013.

I haven’t done THAT since I was working graveyards at a convenience store, but Sabrina Darby kept poking at me.

Whatcha workin’ on?

NOTHING! I’M DRY AS A BONE! DUNHAM DRAINED MY WELL! I’LL NEVER WRITE AGAIN!!!! WAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

So … what’s in your idea folder?

OH, FINE. Here’s a list. I don’t know what to do with ANY of this stuff.

Tell me about THIS one. It seems most fully developed.

It’s just sketches. I have no idea what to do with it.

Hmm. *reads* So, um, why does X character do Y thing?

And that was pretty much all it took Read more →

Dunham: The Past

July 4, 2013August 23, 2026Moriah Jovan

It is finished. I will now wring out my brain.

Now, you! Go go go! Get it and enjoy Revolutionary War swashbuckling on this Independence Day!

Side note: A bit of this book occurs on the Barbary Coast. Celia, the heroine, has spent some time in Egypt. So I am finding the Egyptian uprising today particularly poignant. Independence Day for Egyptians too?

A 23-year gestation

May 29, 2013August 8, 2026Moriah Jovan

The dedication page for my novel, DUNHAM. Text: “To 22-year-old me. I started this book in a 100-level American history class in October, 1990. I was bored. That’s always how it starts. It took me 23 years to write this book, most of which I spent fiddling with it because I didn’t know how to carry out my vision. I'm not sure I remember exactly what that was now.”

A few interesting stats:

Total new words of narrative written from idea to publication: [8/8/2026: I couldn’t figure this out.]
Total number of narrative words discarded: [8/8/2026: I couldn’t figure this out.]
Total word count of final version: 296,500 words

The making of Dunham

May 16, 2013August 23, 2026Moriah Jovan

And so begins a post (or series of them) (you know how wishy-washy I am) on Dunham, the privateer-heroine and pirate-hero Revolutionary War swashbuckler, which, for those of you not following the serial, will be available for sale JULY 4, 2013.

To kick it off, here’s the final cover for the official book: Read more →

“A book a year is slacking.”

May 29, 2012August 23, 2026Moriah Jovan

This sentiment got some traction in writerland a couple of weeks ago, but since the beginning of this digital publishing surge, it’s been a (sometimes unspoken) maxim. No, actually, it’s been around a long time. Way back in the day when I was a member of RWA and went to all the chapter meetings (MARA), there were two prolific category writers in my chapter. They worked for both Harlequin and Silhouette and put out three titles a year minimum. Then you have the James Patterson-type book mills wherein a team of ghostwriters is assigned to an idea and a title and off they go. I now know of many writers, especially erotic romance and erotica writers who espouse this view. Read more →

Magdalene is here!

April 23, 2011August 8, 2026Moriah Jovan

For a ticket to a fast and hawt ride on the rollercoaster of angst and love, the line starts here:

~~B10 Mediaworx (print and digital)~~
Amazon (print and Kindle)
~~OmniLit (digital)~~
~~Barnes &amp Noble~~
~~Smashwords (digital)~~

And its first review!