Lee Welch's Blog, page 3

Italian edition of Mended with Gold out now

[image error]Out now in Italian.

Surely one of the nicest things that can happen to an author is someone offering to translate one of your books into another language. The chance to reach more readers in a language not your own is a true honour!

The Italian translation of my novella MENDED WITH GOLD, plus its free epilogue OUT LOUD, are now available in one edition online: or I should say: CON VENATURE D’ORO e AD ALTA VOCE is now available.

Enormous thanks to the lovely and generous Dr Cristina Massaccesi...

On success and giving up writing

[image error]Cruikshank’s ‘the Headache’ feels relevant.

At my writing group the other night, someone asked how I was feeling about the success of Salt Magic Skin Magic and I spouted a whole lot of weird stuff and nearly burst into tears.

Yes, friends, this has been a very strange time for me.

I’ve read hundreds of posts on dealing with rejection, on keeping on writing in the face of indifference or negativity. But what about if your book gets good reviews and sells better than you expected? What then? We...

Need a sapiosexual connection? TEACHER’S PET 2 is out now

[image error]OUT NOW! Eight stories for less than the price of beer.

Forget abs of steel, a flawless complexion or beautiful hair. For some of us, a person’s mind is by far the sexiest thing about them. It’s their intelligence that gets us hot and bothered. It’s their conversation, their wide-ranging knowledge, their sense of humour.

To me, intelligence has to be intellectual and emotional. Yes, charm me with your wit and insight. Yes, discuss the books we’ve read and the films you enjoyed. Tell me about...

Master Vervain is looking for love

[image error]Master Vervain: Looking for love (or maybe he’s already found it?). Art by Vic http://bloodwrit.tumblr.com/

Fancy a FREE advance reader review copy of a new anthology from NineStar Press? I have a short story in the anthology and therefore have a few review copies to give away (ebook only).

The anthology is called TEACHER’S PET Volume 2. It contains eight short gay/lesbian romance stories inspired by the student/teacher trope. All stories, of course, contain only enthusiastically consenting a...

Out Loud: A short FREE epilogue to Mended with Gold

 

[image error]This story is for everyone who loved Joe and Alex in Mended with Gold.

Want another story about true love, comics, and wild New Zealand beaches?

In 2017, MLR Press published my first novella – Mended with Gold. It’s about Alex, a photographer with post-traumatic stress disorder, who falls in love with Joe, a sweet, shy comics artist.

Reviewers described Mended with Gold as ‘beautiful’ and ‘moving’ and other words that made my writerly heart brim with joy. But Mended with Gold was pretty sho...

Marketing unmasked: A ‘how to’ for the reluctant writer

[image error]Marketing: Mysterious? A bit scary? By the end of this post you’ll have silly nicknames for each other…

Marketing. It strikes fear into the heart of many a writer.

It’s like being asked to plunge your bare hand into a barrel of cockroaches. ‘Oh God, really, no. Do I have to? Oh, ick.’

Partly, I think it’s the word. Marketing. I think of flashy glad-handers in sharp suits, shoving pamphlets I don’t want in my face. Or I think of charts and accounts and similar dull businessy things that make m...

The Crystal Palace magician: some history

[image error]The Crystal Palace under construction. One of those guys is probably John Blake, magician.

Do you like some history with your magic?

This post is for the history-lovers amongst us, for those who want the low-down on the real people and events that inspired the fictitious industrial magician, John Blake, from my just-published book Salt Magic Skin Magic.

The book starts just after the closure of the Crystal Palace (as the Great Exhibition Hall of 1851 was known). The reader soon learns that Jo...

Salt Magic Skin Magic is out

[image error]You can buy it now

Want a story that’ll make you feel better about the world?

This post tells a story that’ll give you hope. It’s my story, about my book – Salt Magic Skin Magic.

Once upon a time (a year ago) Salt Magic Skin Magic was accepted for publication by Riptide Publishing. Wow! Champagne flowed. I danced on tables. The kids got away with murder and no washing for a week.

Then, in March, things changed. I’m not going into the circumstances again, but Riptide offered authors their righ...

Eek! My book is out in a week

[image error]This is John, the magician from the book. As well as being hot, he’s very, very inventive. And kind to hedgehogs. Luckily.

Eek is such a great word, isn’t it? Eek. Eek. Eek! It practically squeaks off the page in jocular alarm.

Yep, it’s an eek kind of day. That’s because Salt Magic Skin Magic – my upcoming fantasy historical m/m romance – will be released in one week. It’s up for pre-order now and the reviews (eek!) from advance reader copies have started to come in.

So far, the reviews on G...

My own, weird personal gold

[image error]What’s his? What’s yours?

I’ve been doing the planning and research for a new book since January – and you know what? It’s been going really, really badly.

I used to think as soon as I’d had one ‘yes’ from a publisher I’d never doubt myself as a writer again.

Ha. Aha ha. Yeah. You’d think I’d never met myself.

I’ve heard ‘yes’ three times now, and it made me happy each time, but it doesn’t seem to have made any difference to the way I feel about my ability to write a good book. Interesting, r...