Mark C. Wade's Blog, page 2

September Giveaway is Live!

Captain Kellan Flynn is cursed. All men fear him, and even more so, they fear what the myths make him out to be. The demon of the sea who sails with no mercy and who won’t hesitate to slit a man’s throat if challenged. But there is more to him, and the curse upon him will someday consume him whole. Unless he finds the key to breaking it. Fletcher has always dreamed of adventure, of sailing the high seas. But he’s never even left his town of Helmfirth. He spends his days atop his favorite hill overlooking the sea and strumming his lute, wishing for another life. He spends his nights working in the tavern, listening to sailors weave tales of adventure he yearns to experience for himself. That is, until pirates make port and enter the tavern one night. After being press-ganged to join the crew, Fletcher is both afraid and intrigued by what awaits him aboard the Crimson Night. And it is aboard this legendary ship that he finds something he never expected to find: a pirate captain who awakes desires he’s never felt. Captain Flynn is captivated by the auburn haired beauty, but he doesn’t want his wickedness to taint someone as innocent and pure as Fletcher. Fletcher knows the captain is dangerous, and yet he can’t stay away. Life on the sea puts every man to the test, and with time running out, sacrifices have to be made. Can two men who are so different ever find their happily ever after?

August Giveaway is Live!

In this debut novel and series starter, the last member of a murdered House searches for a missing nobleman, and uncovers clues about his own tortured past. Rune Saint John, last child of the fallen Sun Court, is hired to search for Lady Judgment's missing son, Addam, on New Atlantis, the island city where the Atlanteans moved after ordinary humans destroyed their original home. With his companion and bodyguard, Brand, he questions Addam's relatives and business contacts through the highest ranks of the nobles of New Atlantis. But as they investigate, they uncover more than a missing man: a legendary creature connected to the secret of the massacre of Rune's Court. In looking for Addam, can Rune find the truth behind his family's death and the torments of his past?

What's Next for Me?

This will just be a quick update on my plans for the rest of the year. My main project will be a new book. My goal is to have it be longer and more expansive than my recent "series romances." As of now, my guess is that it will be a standalone, unrelated to anything else with no intention of it becoming a series.I'm dreaming big: more thematic elements, a more fleshed out fantastical world (rather than the real world with magical stuff that happens), and a wider cast of characters. My goal is to have it done sometime in November. I'll post some updates along the way.The only other thing in the works for this year is a "holiday in Merlin's Grove" companion novella to come out in December. It should be short, fun, and sweet to get in the holiday spirit. I'll also put out an Irish Dream Hunks Box Set at some point, but that's not new stuff. So you have that to look forward to, but unfortunately that means you can expect a pretty long stretch with minimal new releases. Don't forget to keep checking back periodically for the free book giveaways. They will continue to happen every single month!

The Staff of Dagda is Out!

Irish Dream Hunks, Book 3 releases tomorrow!You can pre-order it now if you want. It will be in Kindle Unlimited upon release.Thank you all for the support.Romance, Fairies, and Celtic MythologyRocco is an art historian, and he travels to Ireland to examine an ancient Celtic cave painting. Cáel is the politician that funded the trip.Rocco is a disheveled academic. Cáel only cares about how others perceive him.Good thing Rocco loves art, because Cáel appears to be a work of perfection. When Cáel shows up to the cave for a publicity stunt, Rocco is infuriated. But they have a connection neither can ignore.If you love mm romance, fairies, and Celtic mythology, you'll love this book.

July Giveaway is Live!

This month's giveaway is Blackbird in the Reeds by Sam Burns.Enter below:

The Staff of Dagda Cover Reveal

Here it is! The third Irish Dream Hunks book, The Staff of Dagda. Dagda was the Celtic god of fertility, agriculture, masculinity and strength.Rocco is an art historian. He must travel to Ireland to examine an ancient Celtic cave painting. Cáel is the politician that funded the trip.Rocco is a disheveled academic. Cáel only cares about how others perceive him. Good thing Rocco loves art, because Cáel appears to be a work of perfection. When Cáel shows up to the cave for publicity for his campaign, Rocco is infuriated. But they have a connection neither can ignore.If you love mm romance, fairies, and Celtic mythology, you'll love this book.

June Updates

As many of you know, I was considering not writing Irish Dream Hunks Book 3 just yet. But I've gotten back to work on it, mostly because I was already so far along in the process. So expect that to come next month! Unfortunately, I don't have a title or cover, yet. That will be posted here soon.The above image is a cave painting of the Great Irish Elk. The main character in Book 3 is an art historian and he is doing research on this painting for the first part. I'll also post pictures of the other art he studies in the book to keep your interest.Structurally, it's probably the most interesting book I've written. Each section is based around one piece of art he researches. So we get little vignettes about different parts of his life in different parts of Ireland. The main characters from the other books will make some cameos in this one, but it is completely standalone as a novel.Book 3 still has magic and myth and fun banter.I also think the book I write after this one is going to be a bit longer and complicated. I want to really settle into something more serious. My style to this point has mostly been to take common romance ideas and infuse some paranormal/fantasy elements. I've been itching to break free of these tropes for at least one book to keep pushing myself creatively. I'm thinking it will be in a whole different world like traditional Tolkien-style fantasy rather than the modern real-world with some twists. I'm pretty excited for it, and I've got a bunch of notes started while I wrap up edits on this Irish Dream Hunks book.If you still haven't gotten into this series yet, I've made Book 1 (The Harp of Dunnbog) $0.99 to try to counteract the negative review, so it's the perfect time to try it out.Also, remember to sign up for this month's giveaway if you're interested.

June Book Giveaway Announcement!

Rogue in the Making (Studies in Demonology Book 2) just came out, so this month our giveaway is Book 1, Warlock in Training by TJ Nichols.Studies in Demonology: Book OneAngus Donohue doesn’t want to be a warlock. He believes draining demons for magic is evil, but it’s a dangerous opinion to have—his father is a powerful and well-connected warlock, and Angus is expected to follow the family tradition.His only way out is to fail the demon summoning class. Failure means expulsion from the Warlock College. Despite Angus’s best efforts to fumble the summoning, it works. Although not the way anyone expects.Angus’s demon, Saka, is a powerful mage with his own need for a warlock.Saka wants to use Angus in a ritual to rebalance the magic that is being stripped from Demonside by warlocks. If Angus survives his demon’s desires and the perils of Demonside, he’ll have to face the Warlock College and their demands.Angus must choose: obey the College and forget about Demonside or trust Saka and try to fix the damage before it’s too late. Whatever he does, he is in the middle of a war he isn’t qualified to fight.Don't forget, you must sign up each month for the giveaway.

Another Rant on MM Romance Reviews

I know it's a major mistake to respond to a negative review, so I'll do it here where presumably the person involved will never see it (hence, it's not a "response" to them). The only reason I want to rant and vent about this is that it is literally the only review on Amazon for The Harp of Dunnbog. That means Book 1 in the series currently has a 1 star rating over totally bogus accusations.I'm halfway through Book 3, and I'm pretty sure this one review has single-handedly made it a complete waste of my time to continue with it. Honestly, it's almost enough to make me take a break from writing and figure out what else I can do with my life.If your only complaint in a book is that the author didn't do their research, you might want to be 110% sure you know what you're talking about. It's one thing to dislike a book. It's one thing if it didn't click or you didn't like the writing style or something subjective like that. But if you're going to call out a factual mistake as the only reason to completely tank an entire trilogy, you better be certain.Let's start with the easier one to dispense with. It is true that I "don't know much about archaeology" as the reviewer put it. But I'm not sure why he thinks the main character would "know better" than to touch a stone lodged in the mouth of a body at a site.Martin studies folklore. He's not an actual archaeologist. The book makes it clear that he's mostly there to interview townsfolk about the stories passed down through the generations. This is his first time at such an archaeological dig. He's nervous about it. He makes a mistake. These things happen.It's called the "inciting incident" if we're being pedantic. But even if he should have known better, a freaking spirit comes out of the bones and has sex with him later on! It is clear this is going to happen from the description of the book. Why would you even start reading such a book if "realistic archaeology" is what you're looking for. Wouldn't the better thing to complain about be that it's unrealistic for a freaking spirit to come out of some ancient bones?But now on to the real kicker. The reviewer says I "don't know much about baking." This crosses a line that disgusts me. Don't give my book 1 star because I don't know about baking. In real life, I'm basically a professional baker. I've baked every type of bread imaginable. There are NO baking errors in this book. I assure you. If you think there is one, it's probably your own misconceptions about how baking works.Sean's first bake is a sourdough bread. Here's some of mine (I've baked sourdough every single week, without exception, for years): In that scene, he talks about Irish soda bread. Here's one of mine:Martin eats a French pastry soon after, and Sean describes the process of making puff pastry by hand. I've studied French pastry, and here's a cherry and cheese Danish made from an 81-layer puff pastry I made from scratch:I'm not sure if Sean bakes a cake in this one, but here's a three layer, cherry and almond cake with Swiss meringue buttercream I made (obviously all from scratch and by hand):Sean doesn't venture into German territory in the book, but I have! Here's a two-layer raspberry torte with a chocolate ganache I've made:I've made breads with rye, spelt, and pumpernickel. I've made classic dinner rolls, fan dinner rolls, and crescent rolls from scratch. I've made French baguettes, macarons, and croissant. I understand the ins and outs of all of these from years of reading, training, and experimenting. I could go on, but I think you get the point.So dear reviewer, you've tanked any chance I could have had at Irish Dream Hunks being a successful series. I'd like to know what baking mistake was so egregious that my entire book was worth giving 1 star to.The reviewer claims I should "do more research." I'm a writer. If the above isn't enough research to write a main character that's a baker, no one is ever allowed to write a baker.Reviews matter. If you don't like a book, just say so. One star reviews are a part of being a writer. I've never minded them in the past. I've even learned and improved because of them. But don't make up nonsense reasons you know nothing about and tell the writer to go do more research. (P.S. if you think I'm overreacting to a single review, consider this: someone is giving away a book FOR FREE. You click to the Amazon page. You see that the only review is 1 star. Do you still download it? Probably not. You will definitely not buy it. Plus, most advertising sites require minimum Amazon ratings even if a book is free. I now can't use those.)

May Giveaway Update

I want to continue to do a giveaway of a free book every month related to m/m romance with fantasy/sci-fi/paranormal elements. We all do what we can to support this tiny community! The way I've been doing it is a little awkward, though.Right now there is no transparency. You don't see the number of entrants. You don't know the book choices until you win. My current "rules" lead to awkward situations like in April where all Top 5 books in "gay fantasy" were f/f (good for them! but bad for this contest).And so on.So now I'm going to actually pick a book each month ahead of time and use an actual "giveaway service." This is worse for all of you, because you have to remember to click something each month to re-enter. But it is what it is. I think this trade-off is probably worth it in this case.The May giveaway is going to be the e-book of T.J. Klune's The Lightning Struck Heart.Once upon a time, in an alleyway in the slums of the City Of Lockes, a young and somewhat lonely boy named Sam Haversford turns a group of teenage douchebags into stone completely by accident. Of course, this catches the attention of a higher power, and Sam’s pulled from the only world he knows to become an apprentice to the King's Wizard, Morgan of Shadows. When Sam’s fourteen, he enters the Dark Woods and returns with Gary, the hornless gay unicorn, and a half-giant named Tiggy, earning the moniker Sam of Wilds. At fifteen, Sam learns what love truly is when a new knight arrives at the castle—Knight Ryan Foxheart, the dreamiest dream to have ever been dreamed. Naturally, it all goes to hell when Ryan dates the reprehensible Prince Justin, Sam can't control his magic, a sexually aggressive dragon kidnaps the prince, and the King sends them on an epic quest to save Ryan's boyfriend, all while Sam falls more in love with someone he can never have.Enter below. If it hasn't loaded properly, you can also enter here.