Q. Kelly's Blog, page 7

Guest Author

Hey! I'll be the guest author this weekend on this group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/557114481075268/

I'll be in and out and can't commit to being in the group at any specific time(s) right now. I may be traveling to Seattle--or not. I don't know yet. But I'll be around! Shoot the breeze, ask questions, etc.

"In Need of Resolution" -- a lesbian romance serial

I've always wanted to write a serial--something like a TV show that has episodes. They've become increasingly popular with the rise of ebooks, and I realized after I started "In Need of Resolution" that it had a terrific foundation for being a serial. I originally envisioned it as a novella or novel but now know it's perfect for a serial.

Serials bring challenges, of course. Do you map out an entire season or plan episodes one by one? What if sales of episode one flop? Should you wrap up the "show" quickly in episode two or keep going and hope sales catch on? How long to wait between episodes? What if you want to go back and change a bit of character history that has suddenly become inconvenient? This move certainly isn't without its risks, but here I come! :)

The first episode of "In Need of Resolution" is about 28,000 words. I am about halfway finished with episode two and hope no more than a month elapses before it's out. My ideal is to have no more than two months pass in between episode releases.

SALES SITES
Kindle US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MHDTK6I
Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00MHDTK6I
Kindle Germany: http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00MHDTK6I
Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/in-need-of-resolution-q-kelly/1120074503?ean=2940149655854&itm=1&usri=2940149655854
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/465354
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/in-need-of-resolution
(will appear on Apple, etc. in a few days through Smashwords)

Episode One:
When best friends Lori Chambliss and Josie Cosgrove agree to write a New Year’s resolution for each other, the consequences promise to reach far and wide. Josie, a philosophy professor at Portland College in Oregon, is somewhat of a wild lady: sleeps around, not settled down and such. She’s more than fine with that and is dismayed when Lori’s resolution for her is to attend at least three therapy sessions. Josie’s idea to make therapy bearable: seduce the counselor. Once Josie has her mind set on something, she sees the mission through.

Dr. Evelyn Darby is a fifty-six-year-old therapist who has long felt restless and unsettled. She often daydreams about owning a cozy coffee cafe. She is divorced and has two grown daughters who don’t talk to her like they used to. Her new patient, Josie Cosgrove, stirs envy and longing in Evelyn. Makes Evelyn want more from life. Before long, Evelyn’s strong sense of professional honor collides with her yearning for more.

Meanwhile, Lori, who is also a philosophy professor, has landed in an equally vexing dilemma. Josie’s resolution for her is to seduce Reagan Richards, Lori’s favorite student from the past semester. Even though Portland College doesn’t necessarily forbid professor-student relations and Reagan is no longer Lori’s student, Lori is horrified. For one, she hates kissing and sex because they’re yucky and germy. For two, she doesn’t take risks. She loves her comfortable life. Lori is sure she’s setting herself up for humiliation. Turns out Reagan has problems of her own and may be willing to lend a sympathetic body.

This episode is about 28,000 words. Also included is a sneak preview at a scene from episode two.

These stories and more will continue throughout the episodes of IN NEED OF RESOLUTION. Stay tuned!

Kindle Unlimited -- "Third" and "Time and Time Again"

With Kindle Unlimited, you can read any participating book for a blanket monthly price of $9.99. (First trial month is free!) I have two books in the program.

"Third": https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006ZPNJ7U

"Time and Time Again": http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IZLK42A

"Old Woman" Audiobook

Just a little announcement to say the "Old Woman" audiobook is up. Earlier than I thought it would be! :) It's available on Audible, Amazon and iTunes.

http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/The-Old-Woman-and-Other-Lesbian-Stories-Audiobook/B00MAKJ7ZC/

"Third" Is on Sale!

"Third" is on sale for 99 cents (from $6.99) on Kindle the next few days!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006ZPNJ7U

Book bundle -- Savings of $4!

Howdy! Hope this email finds everyone well. I am working on a new lesbian romance novel tentatively titled "In Need of Resolution." I've also begun work on putting out ebook bundles and am pleased to announce the first, "3 in 1," is available (although it has been in print form for awhile). Savings of $4! Individually, these three works in the bundle cost $2.99 for a total of $8.97. You can buy the e-bundle for only $4.99.  I think the next one I'll do is putting the Strange Bedfellows series in one file and selling it for $9.99. In the next few months, I intend to bundle each of my works in some package or the other. Most of them will be two novels together for $9.99 (nice savings because each novel usually sells for about $6.99). Each of the novels will, of course, remain available at that low individual price of $6.99.
Links for this one:Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L9S5PH0
Kindkle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00L9S5PH0
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/452220
BN: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/3-in-1-q-kelly/1117380092?ean=2940149811861
Kobo: (not out yet)
CreateSpace (print): "3 in 1" by Q. Kelly

Interpreter(s) Needed

Hello everyone. I will be attending the Golden Crown Literary Society Conference in Portland. I've requested an interpreter(s) from GCLS, but due to several factors, doubt my request will be granted. I am looking into other options such as asking for volunteers among people I know in person (provided GCLS lets them into the con free).

Another option: Are any of you fluent in ASL/sign language and going? Would you be willing to help me out some? Interpret a workshop here and there, or a lecture here and there?

Please let me know. Any help is appreciated.

MarioKart...

I've been looking forward to MarioKart for Wii U for months. I even pre-ordered it at Best Buy (to get a $10 card for free gas). I fired the game up almost as soon as I got it, and hm...
 
It's easy. Like, way too easy. Either that or I've gotten super duper good. The challenge is more present in online play, but what happened to the computer players? Wussies! I dunno--something just seems to be missing. And all the reviews I've read are glowing and don't touch on this.

Is it just me? Probably. Oh well... maybe I just need to give it a little more time. I love the game, don't get me wrong. Especially the online play. But I can't help but feel a little something is missing.

Erotica and More Erotica, Oh My!

Howdy folks! I'm pleased to present a review on Jove Belle's "Uncommon Romance" today and an excerpt. Here is the review (read to the end of the entire post for a synopsis of the collection). You can also enter a giveaway to win a $25 Amazon gift card. Woo hoo!



A disclaimer: I don’t really read erotica. However, Jove Belle is a great writer, so when she asked me to review “Uncommon Romance,” I was enthusiastic. And I certainly was not disappointed.

“Uncommon Romance” contains three novellas: “Raw Silk,” “On Her Knees” and “Hollis.” My favorite is “On Her Knees,” perhaps because, for me, it strikes the perfect balance between romance, plot and erotica. There is still plenty of raw and graphic sex (and the novella is no doubt erotica), but also the novella has a very sweet, romantic and suspenseful undertone that is not present as much in the other two novellas.

In “On Her Knees,” the big question is whether the leads, Simone and Abby, who crushed on each other in high school but couldn’t admit it, can find a future together ten years later. (See an excerpt below this review.)

In “Raw Silk,” the leads are a married couple very much in love with each other, so there isn’t, for me, much suspense in the story, even after they bring in a third person for some fun. “Raw Silk” skews more on the side of pure erotica—definitely a great thing for many people! ;)

In “Hollis,” the leads, a FBI instructor and a detective at the instructor’s training camp, agree to a BDSM relationship early on, and there’s really no question until very late in the story about whether they have any desire for their relationship to progress past three weeks of fun. 

That being said, the plots and characterization of “Raw Silk” and “Hollis,” while perhaps not as suspenseful as “On Her Knees,” will still appeal to many people. I in particular enjoyed the BDSM aspect to “Hollis.” Threesomes (as in “Raw Silk”) are fairly common, but BDSM is something I have not read much about, so I really enjoyed learning more on the subject.

I fully recommend this collection, and let me tell you one thing. Jove Belle knows how to write sex. She keeps it fresh in scene after scene. Very few methods and techniques are repeated, whether within a story or across all three novellas (off the top of my head, I can name only one notable sex act that was somewhat repeated and even then it was written differently enough both times).


"On Her Knees" - Excerpt

Simone poured herself a glass of wine and sat on the sofa sipping it. Either Abby would show up and be impressed with the wine selection—it was a damn fine bottle—or Simone would move from sipping to gulping and finish off the damn fine wine by herself. Nothing pathetic about that. Not at all.

She’d debated waiting naked, but the possibility that Abby would be a no-show compelled her to dress. She’d rather have Abby take her clothes off than have to get dressed alone later when she was drunk on a bottle of wine she also drank alone. When she’d told Abby to get her ass to her place, Simone had felt brave. The sound of Abby on the verge of release, the heady power of knowing she’d caused the desperate way Abby gulped air, her breathing choppy and uneven, had made her overconfident. The longer she waited, the more foolish her demand seemed. An orgasm with the woman who twisted her insides, even via phone, was better than not having one at all. Wasn’t it?

She was on her second glass of wine when she heard a faint almost-not-there knock at the door. It was so soft she wondered if she’d imagined it out of desperation. A few seconds passed and she heard it again. Definitely not a hallucination.

Simone finished the glass of wine in a final gulp before opening the door. She needed the brief reprieve before she crossed the point of no return. When she opened the door, there’d be no turning back.

Abby looked as uncertain as Simone felt, like she wasn’t in complete control of the actions her body was taking, but she knew it probably wasn’t the smartest thing she could be doing at midnight on Thursday. Simone invited her in before either one of them could change her mind. Again.
“I wasn’t sure you’d come.”

“Neither was I.” Abby clutched her long overcoat tight around her body. Her knuckles were turning white.

“You want me to hang that up?” Simone touched her fingers to the lapel of Abby’s coat, just let them rest there lightly for a moment. She’d demanded Abby’s presence so she could touch her with a lot more than just two fingers skimming along fabric, but the action still felt overly intimate to her.

Abby chewed her bottom lip. “Ummm…” She unknotted the belt slowly. “I think so.”

What the hell was the big deal? It was just a coat, for Christ’s sake. Abby’s hesitance confused and annoyed Simone. What did Abby think would happen when she took it off? She’d be trapped in Simone’s apartment forever?

Then Abby parted the front and let it slide off her shoulders and Simone was staring at breasts. And legs. Perfect breasts and legs that made her want to prostrate herself in worship.

Synopsis:Happily ever after doesn’t look the same for every couple.In Raw Silk, June and Ashlyn Phillips, happily married, occasionally enjoy adding another dynamic to their sex life. When Katerina “Kat” VanderVort enters June’s office one day, she sets her sights on June. Lucky for her, Ashlyn loves to indulge her wife’s fantasies.In On Her Knees, Simone Davies is finally happy. That is, until her chief tormentor and biggest crush, Abby Nelson, shows up at her firm’s holiday party. Together they struggle to forget the past and build a future together.In Hollis, homicide detective Jude Lassiter pushes a little too hard, and her instructor at a FBI anti-terrorism training session, Special Agent Beverly Hollis, knows exactly how to punish her. Jude is all too willing to submit. 

Social Links: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jove-Belle-Writer/158540030985619?fref=ts Twitter:https://twitter.com/jovebelle Website: http://www.jovebelle.com/ Blog: http://lesbianauthors.wordpress.com/ Goodreads author: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/998382.Jove_Belle Goodreads book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18342342-uncommon-romance
Meet the Author:Jove was born and raised against a backdrop of orchards and potato fields. The youngest of four children, she was raised in a conservative, Christian home and began asking why at a very young age, much to the consternation of her mother and grandmother. At the customary age of eighteen, she fled southern Idaho in pursuit of broader minds and fewer traffic jams involving the local livestock. The road didn't end in Portland, Oregon, but there were many confusing freeway interchanges that a girl from the sticks was ill-prepared to deal with. As a result, she has lived in the Portland metro area for over fifteen years and still can't figure out how she manages to spend so much time in traffic when there's not a stray sheep or cow in sight.She lives with her partner of seventeen years. Between them they share a collection of six children, one dog, two cats, a mortgage payment, one sedan, and a cushy SUV big enough to hold the Lesbian Brady Bunch on their family outings. One day she hopes to live in a house that doesn't generate a never ending honey-do list.Incidentally, she never stopped asking why, but did expand her arsenal of questions to include who, what, when, where and, most important of all, how. In those questions, a story is born.Her books include The Job (coming October 2014) Uncommon Romance, Love & Devotion, Edge of Darkness, Split the Aces, Chaps, and Indelible. They are available at http://www.boldstrokesbooks.com



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Prince Charles Is No Stay-At-Home Wife

Ah, Prince Charles. You may have done it again. For those of you who haven't followed British (or Russian) events lately, the heir to the British throne has allegedly made an offhanded comment comparing Putin to Hitler during a private conversation with a woman who escaped the Holocaust. It caused an uproar--not so much the comparison itself but because of WHO Charles is. (For the most part, people agree the comparison is spot on.)

And of course in the British system, personal opining is a big no-no for the royals. The queen would never either publicly or offhandedly comment on her personal opinion.

So some British politicians now are calling again for Charles to resign as heir to the throne because he apparently can't respect the "gag" order that he has to stay out of politics.

I can see the issue here because he represents Britain but isn't coordinating with government officials on official public policy. But at the same time... hmm. it's just really fascinating. He has been in hot water before for kind of trying to "govern" a little, whether through injecting tiny personal opinions here and there or something like secretly inserting staffers into governmental offices (a matter that seems to have been blown way out of proportion).


All I know is that while Charles may not reign long, he will be a fascinating monarch in his own right because for the first time in probably several hundred years, the monarch might actually try to influence policy in a public manner rather than through the weekly private meetings with prime ministers.

Side note: Charles has yet to acknowledge if he actually made these remarks.

And here is some clarification as to why this issue might be so important.

I'm sure Queen Elizabeth II has had to sign plenty of bills she doesn't personally agree with. But under British law, any bill has to be signed by her to become law. And the way the government is set up, she is obligated to sign anything.

Now, Charles...I could see him signing plenty of bills he personally disagrees with, but if one crosses his desk that he strongly and deeply disagrees with, I can see him as the kind of guy who can't let that sit on his conscience. And he very well might refuse to sign the bill, thus throwing the British system into an uproar. It's just really interesting for me to think about this maybe happening.

In a way, the British royals are like an old-fashioned stay-at-home wife. They provide the looks and the pageantry but are expected to keep their opinions to themselves. This apparently isn't exactly to Charles's liking.