Jane Davitt's Blog, page 23

Cover for 'Horsing Around'

On November 13, Torquere are publishing an anthology called 'Horsing Around', edited by Vincent Diamond with, you guessed it, a horse theme. The anthology will be available as a paperback and an e-book, and the stories will also be sold individually later.

My story is 'Clear Round' and it's about 20,000 words, a contemporary m/m romance, no kink this time, and set in an English village.

Training horses at his stable is Danny's job and he's good at it, but when it comes to prickly Seth, newcomer to the village who's refusing to let Danny use his field for the annual gymkhana, just how tight a rein will Danny need to tame Seth's temper?

As the men explore their attraction to each other, fears and weaknesses are exposed, leaving them with difficult fences to face before they can get a clear round.

Editing

Alexa and I are editing now. That's such a long process, but it's a little like watching butter and sugar, flour and eggs, become a creamy glop when you're baking a cake and then when some heat is applied (and that would be from the editor and proofreaders ;-)) a cake.

So I will keep stirring away and hope the cake tastes delicious :-)

We've come up with a working title of 'Killing Time' that fits in with several themes of the book, an urban fantasy with magic users going up against a nicely epic villain. I read a lot of fantasy and mystery novels, but mostly I write contemporary romance so it was fun to play in a different world. I'm also working on a futuristic SF novella so I'm really going boldly, heh.

Every Drop of My Love comes out today!

My short story, Every Drop of My Love comes out today from Torquere. Two firsts for me; my first published vampire story and my first set in Canada.

Many thanks to my editor, Jessica St. Ama, the cover artist, Brandon Clay, and Alexa for her support.



Steve is a human donor, making a living by allowing dying vampires to feed from him. Then he meets North, a vampire sun-damaged and terribly scarred but very much alive. As North feeds from Steve they become friends with a strong attraction building.

Once healed, North makes Steve an offer he doesn't want to refuse; let North hunt him through the city before being brought back to North's home to fulfill every fantasy Steve's shared with him.

It's going well until a mugger threatens Steve's life and North intervenes, creating an unbreakable bond between the two of them that threatens to ruin what they'd begun to build.

Excerpt is here and it can be purchased here:

Torquere

All Romance

ETA It's 20% off here at Coffee Time Romance

Couched as a Question now free

Couched as a Question, originally published by Torquere, all profits going to NOH8, is now back with me, so I'm adding it to my free read section here

It's a sweet romance, with a play spanking in there (how did that happen? ;-)).

When Matt's partner Jordan suggests redecorating, Matt's agreeable until he discovers it means getting rid of the red couch. It means a lot to Matt, and if Jordan's bored of it, maybe it's not the only part of Jordan's life he wants to change.

Discounted books

It's Torquere's 10 year anniversary! Get 20% off your entire purchase w/ coupon code "10years" at torquerebooks.com

Free! Drawing Closer

As part of their tenth anniversary celebrations, Torquere are giving away a book a day at a certain time.

On Thursday (9/12) they're giving away the first book I wrote for them (for anyone!) Drawing Closer, between 2-3 P.M. CST.

It's a short BDSM m/m romance.

Charles is a professor, an expatriate Brit, and a man with a past. He's put that aside, living the peaceful life he thinks he needs. He figures he's happy. Until he meets Gray Collins, that is. He's a student, and even though Gray waits until after his class with Charles ends to make his move, Charles decides he's not about to get involved. Gray is stubborn, persisting until Charles can't resist, which is when Charles' past comes to light. Will Gray be able to accept all that he learns, and convince Charles to let him get as close as he wants to?

Dear Author Giveaway of Hourglass

Dear Author is doing a book giveaway in August and one of the freebies up to be won today is my book, Hourglass

Full details in the post here

I have a fondness for Hourglass. It's the story of a producer who brings two actors back to make a movie of a cancelled 90s TV show called Hourglass. I added snippets of script from the TV show at the start of each chapter, or articles about the show, so there are three stories going on within the book; the TV series plot, the movie plot and the story of the two actors rekindling their romance.

And really, Steve and Rob, the fictional characters played by Ash and Lee, are as real as the actors because take one step back and look; the actors are characters in a book.

It was a little different for an m/m romance in that the two actors weren't the only POVs in the book; the story has a few chapters from the (straight) producer's POV and I stand by that because Ben is Cupid, Ben is the catalyst. He brought Lee and Ash together in the first place and he's reuniting them now. He's vital.

And Samantha, his daughter, is us. The fans. Because if Hourglass is anything it's a homage to fandom.

I spent the day the last episode of Angel aired in tears. Floods of them. I called the TV station to complain, voice choked with more tears, when they cut the special Grr-Argh from the final episode of Buffy to go to a commercial.

I put all the intensity I feel about shows I love into this book.

This is one of the chapter headings that I wrote pretty much as me with maybe the tip of my tongue in my cheek ;-)

OMGOMGOMG!! They've cancelled it! Hourglass has been cancelled!! I can't -- I'm just gutted. I'm crying here, srsly. I don't know why, the article said something about contractual issues and timeslots and I JUST DON'T CARE!!

We've got to do something. We've got to get them to change their minds. Spread the word on all the lists you can. I'm going to start a petition and find out who to send it to.

I'm just -- no more Steve? No more Rob? EVER? Two more episodes left? And they've already been filmed so God knows where they left it or if we'll ever see them hug the way we've been waiting for.

I just can't deal with this right now.

I mean, I was just at the con last month and there was NOTHING, you know? I got a photo with both of the guys and they were joking around like everything was FINE. Ash even remembered me from the year before and asked after my cat!!!

I'm supposed to be posting another chapter of 'Sands of Time' and I know you guys want to know if Steve finally gets a clue about how Rob feels after what happened with the pie and it was going to get really steamy, I swear, but after this I just can't write a word. Totally blocked.

Why did they cancel it? WHY?

[Post made on a Yahoo list 'Hourglasses and Egg Timers' in April 2000]

The Patient Professor

Men in Uniform II is out of print so the rights for my story, 'The Patient Professor' are back with me. For some reason, I forgot to add it here.

It's a story of a museum guard who falls for one of the visitors and it's in my free reads here on GR and can be downloaded in any format from Archive of Our Own here.

Kobo

My Kobo updated itself yesterday and everything changed (whhhhhhy?) I ended up calling the help desk so for anyone with a Kobo who might run into the same problem as me, since the update the way you add a book to a custom shelf has changed. Used to be, there were three horizontal lines next to the book and you clicked them, selected 'add to shelf' and chose a shelf.

Now you press the title of the book. Not touch it; that opens it. Press down.

I registered my complete and utter lack of enthusiasm for this with customer support. Am I supposed to be a mind reader and intuit this new method?

I suppose I should be glad I persisted long enough that she went away and found out how to add books to shelves post upgrade; at one point I was told that updates do get rid of features we like and we have to live with it (why should I?)

I pointed out that Kobo doesn't do much and removing the ability to add a book to a shelf is one of those few things so why take it away?

She said maybe the three lines made the page look cluttered.

You can take minimalism too far.

Cover for 'Every Drop of My Love'

The talented Brandon Clay just sent me the cover for my upcoming short story, 'Every Drop of My Love'.

It will be published by Torquere on September 18.



Steve is a human donor, making a living by allowing dying vampires to feed from him. Then he meets North, a vampire sun-damaged and terribly scarred but very much alive. As North feeds from Steve they become friends with a strong attraction building.

Once healed, North makes Steve an offer he doesn't want to refuse; let North hunt him through the city before being brought back to North's home to fulfill every fantasy Steve's shared with him.

It's going well until a mugger threatens Steve's life and North intervenes, creating an unbreakable bond between the two of them that threatens to ruin what they'd begun to build.