Jane Davitt's Blog, page 24

On the horizon

What's on the horizon? Well, Alexa and I have begun work on our next book together, a standalone m/m romance that's a little different for us as it's urban fantasy.

I've also written two short stories for Torquere. 'Every Drop of Your Love' will be coming out in September as part of Torquere's ten-year anniversary celebration and features a romance between a vampire and his human blood donor. The other short story, 'Clear Round' will appear in the 'Horsing Around' anthology, edited by Vincent Diamond, due out in November. It's set in my native England and I got quite homesick writing it.

Finally, looking to the future in more ways than one, I've started work on a SF threesome novella for Riptide, publication date Nov/Dec 2014.

And for fun, I'm expanding a short story that's in the free reads; 'Sir'. It's first person, present tense, which makes it virtually unsellable, heh, but we'll see how it turns out.

Interview on Tumblr

I was interviewed on Tumblr about fandom and pro-writing: interview is here.

It was great getting to chat with Sika about fandom though it's a subject I could ramble on about for hours, contradicting myself often most likely, so she was probably wondering how to get me to shut up ;-))

The Broken Triangle doing well

Thanks to all who've bought it.

It made the bestseller list at All Romance ebooks and it got mentioned in a USA Today article about new releases.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/happyev...

Also made number one spot at Amazon yesterday;

#1 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Literature & Fiction > Erotica

Release day for The Broken Triangle

Very happy to announce the release of The Broken Triangle by Jane Davitt and Alexa Snow. It's the sequel to The Square Peg and it's available from Loose Id here.

Many thanks to our editor Serena Stokes, all at Loose Id, and our cover artist Valerie Tibbs.

ETA A couple of people have asked, so to make it clear, this isn't m/m/m but m/m. And there's no cheating. It's a love triangle.

[Personal note: minor operation on my wrist tomorrow that requires general anesthetic/cast so I'll be afk for a day or so and unable to answer any questions and such but if you have any send them in and I'll get to them as soon as I can master typing with one middle finger not the usual two :-)]



Vin's a hot Goth, tattooed and pierced and the most popular bartender at the Square Peg. Want to date him or buy him a drink? Sorry. Vin's body is a temple and he's barely been kissed. His heart belongs to Riley, the guy he crushed on in high school and can't forget.

How about Vin's BFF Patrick? He'd let you buy him a drink and have your wicked way with him in the men's room (shh, don't tell Shane or Ben, the bar owners!) Okay, maybe Vin needs to loosen up and Patrick needs to calm down, but they're set in their ways.

Enter Riley, looking for Vin, and suddenly everything changes. Vin's handed a happy ending on a plate and Patrick's free and easy lifestyle loses its glitter as he sees what Vin has.

But does Vin really have his dream guy or does he just have Riley? Maybe they're not the same thing, after all.

Sequels

The sequel to The Square Peg, The Broken Triangle comes out on Tuesday July 2 and it got me thinking about the perils and pros of sequels.

I've done quite a few over the years and some were a slog, some were fun, but it's a sure and certain fact that some readers will like the first, dislike the sequel and vice versa. It's definitely a gamble because you're providing a direct comparison; it's not a case of, hmm, did I like this book by author Z about shape-changing snails with a love of the opera and an allergy to cats more than the book author Y wrote with shape-changing frogs into tattoos and bondage?

No, a reader can think, I loved this and that about book one and they're missing in book two, darn it. Or a cliffhanger can be resolved in a way they weren't expecting and that leaves them let down. (I'm thinking of my own experiences with the Stephanie Plum novel where a book ends with a knock on the door and you don't know if it's Ranger or Joe behind it.)

For me, even knowing going in that a sequel can turn some readers off the first book, a sequel is tempting in some ways. You've built a world already and it's fun to revisit it. You're curious yourself about what's next for characters you love, even though there's a twinge of guilt because a roses and kittens story is boring as hell so you're going to have to throw stuff at the poor babies.

It's also reassuring to know that you have an audience who liked the first book and will probably give the second a chance. Book sales: 0 is not what anyone wants to see on a royalty statement.

But in another way, it can be tiring to dismantle the happy ending you spent 250 pages getting to in the first book. It's like starting over. And if there's a gap of years between the sequel, you've forgotten the character's voices, who they are.

Happily, The Broken Triangle was written right on the heels of The Square Peg and we avoided the trap of happy ending spoiling by shifting the focus to a different romance, while bringing in Ben and Shane as often as needed.

For those wondering, there's a smidge of kink in this but Vin isn't into the same things as Ben and Shane, not by a long way. It's not a threesome either, but a love triangle.

So what do you like/dislike about sequels? Do you hope there'll be one if it's a book you liked or feel that it's unnecessary if the first book ended in the right place?

Life Drawing

Very happy to announce that my short story Life Drawing written for the Love Has No Boundaries event on the M/M Romance group went live today.

If you are a member of the group, it can be read here and it will also be available for download at the official site for the event soon and that is here.

Many thanks to Dorome for the inspiring prompt, and all those involved who work so hard on this annual event. Jen's team has done an amazing job. Special thanks to Barb, my wonderful editor and Alexa who read it over for me before submission to make sure, as ever, I wasn't sounding too English!

Go With the Flow

I added a new free story to my GR page. Go With the Flow was originally published by Torquere but is now out of print.

The story is here. Hope you enjoy it!

Stressed and exhausted, Paul's not too happy about being pushed into taking a yoga class by his sister, but the instructor, Rob, is hot enough to change his mind. When he falls asleep at the end of the session, he thinks he's blown it and wants to leave, but Rob's got other ideas.

Cover for The Broken Triangle

Alexa and I just got the cover art for The Broken Triangle, by the talented Valerie Tibbs. Love it to bits! The book comes out on July 2.



A bigger version is here:

http://janedavitt.livejournal.com/202...

Release date for The Broken Triangle

It's not set in stone, but we have a tentative release date of July 9 for The Broken Triangle, the sequel to The Square Peg. Could move around a little, but that's where we are right now.

ETA Now July 2.

Echo; a John/Nick story

This is a short snippet featuring John and Nick, the characters from Laying a Ghost because today is Alexa's birthday. It's set some time after the trilogy ends. A few others are on my LJ here

Echo

Nick walked into the bedroom to find a strange man kissing his husband. The tray he carried was heavy, laden with a teapot, two mugs, a plate of buttered toast, and a pot of homemade raspberry jam, so he set it down on the bedside table before doing anything else.

John was fast asleep, snoring in a way Nick found endearing now, less so when he was trying to go to sleep. It was past eight in the morning; on the decadently late side for John to be in bed, but they'd made a night of it.

Nick swallowed, the back of his throat raw, matching the throb in his ass. Oh yeah. Quite a night. There was something about his birthday that made John express his love in a way that went beyond passionate and into insatiable, as if the awareness of another year gone made him want to make the most of those that remained.

Nick had no complaints. None. And he wouldn't be the only one moving with a little extra care today.

He'd planned to wake John with the treat of breakfast in bed, then maybe keep John between the sheets for a gentler version of the lovemaking that'd kept them up until the small hours, but the stranger would have to be dealt with first.

John frowned as a kiss landed on his ear and rolled over, his hand exploring Nick's side of the bed, vaguely groping for him.

Also endearing.

Less so was the woman who shimmered into view where John had been lying. Turning her face up for a kiss from the stranger – no stranger to her, Nick guessed from the loving smile on his face – she murmured something.

What it was, Nick didn't know. Sounds tended to die away over the centuries.

Not ghosts, but an echo. He sighed. A fresh ghost in the house would've been a pain in the ass, but once gone, they were gone. An echo was harder to eradicate; the paranormal equivalent of rising damp.

He chewed his lip, watching the couple repeat what seemed to be about thirty seconds of kissing, ending with that smile and murmured words. John would wake soon and what Nick had planned wouldn't work with an audience, even if only he could see them.

He'd never seen the couple before which implied something he'd done had triggered this echo. They seemed happy and in love, but it couldn't have been the wild night that had created the link between past and present. John and he had plenty of those, even if they didn't always match the heights of a few hours ago.

His gaze went to a scrape on the wooden floor that was on the to-do list to fix and he exhaled. Shit. That had to be it. They'd rearranged the bedroom furniture a few days ago, and the bed was against a different wall. Last night was the first time they'd made love with the bed in the new position. The combination of the intense emotions taking place in the exact place these two had experienced a similar moment of shared passion had created the echo.

It was a working theory, anyway.

John stirred, his hand rubbing his face. "Imph."

"Morning, love. Happy Birthday."

"Mmm." John blinked, yawned, then opened his eyes fully. "Tea? You brought me breakfast in bed?"

He sounded so pleased Nick decided to do it more often. Of course, that resolve was tricky to execute when John got up before him pretty much every morning…

"Yeah. Planned to feed you until you got your strength back, then pick up where we left off."

"I'll not make it to the end of the day, let alone my next birthday, but aye, why not? Come here and give me a kiss then."

Nick scratched his cheek. The couple was as clear to him as John was and it was really disconcerting to see them kiss with John oblivious. "Uh, hold that thought and get out of bed?"

"Why?"

"Because we need to move the bed back where it was and with you in it, we'll do more than scratch the floor."

"You're going to explain this, aren't you?" John threw back the sheets – which passed through the kissing couple – and planted his feet on the floor.

Nick eyed John's lean back appreciatively and when John stood extended his admiration to John's ass. He could see faint marks on it from his fingers, but John hadn't complained at the time and wouldn't be likely to today. He'd been the one driving into Nick and making him cry out incoherently after all.

"I walked in to find you in the middle of a smooch session with two ghosts. The filling in a sandwich." He explained his theory, wondering if he was even close to the truth. When it came to events like this, it was all mostly guesswork.

John's hand went to his face again, rubbing it irritably as if he'd felt the kisses from whoever the hell the guy was. Interesting. And annoying. "Oh for the love of— Well, we'll put it back where it was. And you can tell them, whoever they are, that they've got no manners."

Laughing, more in love with John than he could ever express in words or actions, Nick went to him and pulled him close. "I'll scold them all you like, but they won't hear me."

John leaned his forehead against Nick's shoulder, his breath warm through the T-shirt Nick had pulled on. "And you're sure we have to move it? I liked it fine where it was."

"I'm not sure, but if they disappear when we do, it's probably fixed it."

"We move it an inch at a time," John said grimly. "And you tell me when they disappear."

The bed ended up on the same wall, completely off-center, with no room for the table that went on Nick's side of the bed, but John gave a satisfied nod. "That's sorted them."

"You know we can't leave it like that."

John got back into bed, snagging a piece of toast on the way. "Pour the tea before it's cold and stewed and stop nagging me. We can put the bed in the middle of the garden later, if that's where you want it. Right now, I just want to know the only man I'm sharing it with is you."

Nick checked the room again for ghosts. "You are."

John gave Nick's side of the bed a pointed glare. "I am not then."

Without bothering with the tea – John was right, it'd be too strong to be drinkable – Nick got back into bed. "You are now," he said and put his kiss over the ones John had gotten from the ghost, replacing a distant echo of love with the warmth of reality.