A.J. Llewellyn's Blog, page 23

The Cross

The Cross is OUT NOW!

My new contemporary M/M tale is about a guy who goes home and must deal with the past…

Colin McDermott goes home to Sydney, Australia, to await his Green Card, which will grant him legal residence in the US. When the process drags on, he’s worried he’ll be denied, but he’s also financially stressed. He’s still paying his bills back in LA and coping with a sub-leased apartment in Kings Cross, the famed red-light district.

Forced to take a part time job in a Darlinghurst cafe, Colin comes face to face with the past he’d fled and the childhood he sought to forget. And there’s one other thing—he’s reunited with Ronan Hensley, the man he thought he could love until Colin shamed himself on a disastrous date ten years ago.

Can these two men rekindle their relationship? Can old wounds be forgotten and forgiven? As Colin walks the streets of the Cross—which, like him, clings to its shameful past—history comes back to life. He realizes so many things, but mostly that you can take the boy out of Australia, but you can’t take Australia out of the boy…

For purchase and/or an excerpt, please click this link: http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure...

Emergency Servicing: A HOT doctor Antho is OUT NOW!

The Doctor is in!

Emergency Servicing is out now with some damned hot stories in it! http://www.total-e-bound.com/product....

‘Down to Earth’ by Elizabeth Coldwell

When Ryan’s life comes crashing down, can the hottest nurse he’s ever met help put it back together again?

It started out the happiest day of Ryan Johnson’s life. At breakfast, his long-time boyfriend Craig accepted his proposal that they enter a civil partnership, and in the afternoon he’s making a parachute jump—a surprise organised by his new fiancé. But when his chute fails to open, experienced skydiver Ryan finds himself in the hospital, in traction and not going anywhere for a while…and everything starts to fall apart.

High-maintenance Craig doesn’t seem to want to be there for him anymore, but down-to-earth Luke—the hottest male nurse Ryan has ever seen—is determined to help him make a full recovery…and maybe even win his heart in the process…

‘Please, Doctor’ by Serena Yates

Patrick McNeill is obsessed with doctors. A serious-looking man in a white coat gets him hot enough to do…anything to please the physician.

Doctor Russell Walters is a successful emergency physician at the Royal Winkham Hospital during the day…and an occasional expert for a medical fetish club at night. He’s only doing his best friend and club owner a favour—until he sees Patrick walk into their pretend clinic. The gorgeous brunet who casts shy glances at him inspires Russell to put his best bedside manner forward. Suddenly he is the one who wants to play doctor!

The ‘medical examination’ that follows is definitely not authentic—but who cares when both participants find more satisfaction in one another’s arms than either thought possible…

Reader Advisory: This book may be hazardous to your health! Do not read if allergic to any of the following: unauthorized use of medical equipment, misappropriated procedures, or a significant dose of kinky sex between an extremely hot physician and his very eager patient.

‘Roley’s Wood’ by A.J. Llewellyn

When Dr Jack Hanrahan set out for a much needed vacation, he had no idea his life would forever change on a remote biking trail in Roley’s Wood…

Jack Hanrahan is a California surgeon taking a brief cycling vacation with friends in Edinburgh, Scotland. A woman’s scream shatters his peaceful ride in the recently cleaned up Roley’s Wood.

He and his best friend, Paul, a heart surgeon, race towards the sound. They find a woman lying on the ground, clinging to life, an arrow sticking out of her body. Jack and Paul have no way of knowing that she disappeared weeks ago and has been the subject of a huge manhunt. They try to help her, working on her frantically until they are able to call for help but by the time they reach the hospital, it’s too late.

In the confusion, they realise whoever fired at her must have been an onlooker because the arrow Paul took out of the victim is missing. How could they have not noticed the killer sneaking back to remove it?

The case soon lands in the procurator fiscal’s hands. Jack has never heard of this but soon finds that the man in question is the very sexy public prosecutor Brodie Shaw, who promptly asks Jack for help in the twisty mystery as they begin to fall in love with each other…

‘Love Without Borders’ by Sara York

Work brought them to the jungle, lust brought them together. But staying together may prove too difficult a task.

Jason believes the attraction he has for Doctor David Blankenship will never be more than lustful dreams until David shows up at the firehouse, asking Jason to travel to Guatemala with him for a charity trip. Excited that they’ll be working together, Jason is ultimately disappointed because their schedules are too hectic for them to even speak to each other.

Then magic happens when David seeks out Jason on the third night in the jungle giving both of them a taste of paradise. With the ice broken, David plans some time alone. But David’s ex wants to derail Jason and David’s relationship. Insecurities eat away at Jason, leaving their relationship hanging in the balance.

‘Doctor, Doctor’ by HL Holston & Eleanor Bruce

Chief Petty Officer Daniel Stewart has a problem, namely Dr Ryker Kincaid. Secret lovers for a year, is their romance doomed when Ryker decides to leave the Navy?

Daniel Stewart, Chief Petty Officer and dedicated Corpsmen, works at the Naval Hospital in Naples, Italy where he carries around two big secrets—one, he’s gay, and two, he’s in love with a very sexy Navy doctor, Ryker Kincaid, who he’s been having an affair with for a year. Yes, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell may be gone, but military rules that prevent officers and enlisted from dating are still in place. Ryker and Daniel have to keep their relationship hush-hush or face discharge.

When Ryker elects to leave the Navy after his current tour is up, all of Daniel’s future plans for their careers are blown to bits and causes Daniel to spiral out of control. Will Daniel’s rash decision cost them everything or push their relationship to the next level?

‘Trusting the ER Doctor’s Heart’ by Noelle Keaton

People trusted Kyle and Trent with their lives every day, surely the two men could entrust their hearts to each other.

After his last relationship resulted in a nasty break-up, the last thing emergency room physician Kyle Montgomery is looking for is another romance. Yet when he meets hunky paramedic Trent Jones, Kyle cannot deny the immediate attraction and undeniable spark between them. As their love develops, Kyle begins to put the past behind him and focus on his burgeoning relationship with Trent.

Trent, who has been drawn to Kyle ever since he first laid eyes on him, can hardly believe the handsome and sophisticated physician would give him a second glance, much less return his feelings. Coming from a modest background, Trent wonders if he’s in the same league as Kyle and if their relationship can go the distance. When Kyle’s former lover surfaces with allegations that cause Trent to question Kyle’s true feelings and motivations, it is up to both men to take stock and decide whether theirs is a love worth fighting for, a love worth trusting in…

For purchase and/or excerpts please click this link: http://www.total-e-bound.com/product....

The Twelfth of Never – Free Blog story!!

I am stoked to announce I am starting a new FREE blog story series on Leather and Lace, sharing space with authors Remmy Duchene and Dianne Hartsock.

It’s my turn at the wheel each Saturday starting today! So check out chapter one of The Twelfth of Never with stunning cover art by Sara York.

This is a new, twisty mystery featuring love, magic and mayhem…

Here’s today’s link: http://leatherandlacereads.blogspot.c...

Aloha oe,

A.J.

 

Finding Venus

By A.J. Llewellyn

Living in LA, I know hundreds of actors and singers and get invited to all kinds of plays, musical performances and showcases. I try to attend everything I can since I value my friendships, but sometimes the results can be questionable. When my best friend, Claire, invited me to join her on Saturday night to see a new musical at a restaurant, I had an open heart (and stomach) but had no idea what to expect.

I certainly didn’t expect one of the most moving experiences I have ever had in my life.

The restaurant, Mare’ka, a little vegan gem tucked in a strip mall on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, was chaotic and jammed, the stage tiny.

The cast of Finding Venus sat on stools and squeezed into the small space, its star, Caroline Waters highlighted with her amazing voice, wonderful wit, her piano and guitar playing and her amazing, vibrant soul.

It was a mighty wind the Goddess Venus ushered in that frigid evening as one of her daughters shed tears and heart blood to the rapt crowd as she shared the story of her life.

Born in Norway, Caroline Waters was raised strictly under her father’s coda that success comes with discipline, discipline and discipline. She learned to play music and to perform from the time she was very young. I kept thinking of the Von Trapp family singers as she described having never had a day off as a kid. Sundays were spent exercising.

A near-fatal accident on her bicycle changed her life. After struggling to recover – alone - since her parents chose to keep touring as she lay in her hospital bed, Caroline/Venus discovered that almost dying had freed her spirit and her body. She realized she was gay but when she came out to her parents, they refused to believe it.

They brought psychiatrists home in ham-fisted efforts to convince her she was confused. In one amusing sequence, the psychiatrist told her mother, “She’s not confused. You’re confused.”

A visit to San Francisco when she was nineteen introduced her to a woman named Stefanie Stroh. For Venus, life began to make sense. All the things she’d yearned for, dreamed of, suddenly became possible.

I am in a puddle of grief as I recall this portion of the show. Venus and Stefanie were so in tune that when Venus returned to Norway and communication from Stefanie suddenly stopped, Venus became frantic. Terrible dreams of Stefanie calling out to her ruptured her sleep for months until she finally told her parents that she had to return to San Francisco to find her.

Her parents didn’t encourage the idea, her mother blurting, “What if she isn’t there?”

They finally gave Venus a letter they’d withheld from her.

Stefanie Stroh had disappeared in the Nevada desert four months ago, last seen walk toward a freeway in the town of Winnemucca.

She hasn’t been seen since.

There wasn’t a dry eye in the house - even on the stage – as Venus described her long search for Stefanie. The soul-wailing unleashed in the performance as she finally accepts she must let her sweet friend go, reduced everyone in the house to tears.

Caroline Waters is a brave woman, an even braver artist and I cannot wait to see this show again. Thanks too, must go to her incredible cast. I can’t decide where to start but will go with my heart and say that Katisse Buckingham and Jennifer Richardson’s musical accompaniment was perfect. As for the performers, Katia Moraes as Stefanie is simply wonderful. Marie Bergenholz as her mother had a sometimes thankless role but was pitch-perfect. Ottiliana Richardson, portraying a couple of different music teachers and life-guides for Venus, was exquisite.

Brian Dyer as her father had me shaking in my boots that he might force us all into the Norwegian forest for deep knee exercises.

I loved Waters’ camraderie on stage with her amazingly supportive performers, including Matthew Moore, who played the sympathetic psychiatrist.

This is art. High art. It is also a compassionate, realistic study of what unsolved mysteries can do a human life. How do we let go? How do we say goodbye when we can’t? How do we move on? How do we smile again?

We Find Venus.

Stefani Stroh remains missing, believed murdered. Her case is still open and in the show’s program, Caroline Waters has a photo of the real Stefanie with a plea for any information to be forward to the Nevada police. I found her case online: http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/s/stroh_stefanie.html

I urge my readers to sample Caroline Waters’ special brand of music. She has a YouTube video and clips of her songs on her website: www.carolinewaters.com but do whatever you have to do to see her next (as yet unscheduled) show. You will be inspired, empowered and entertained.

You too, will Find Venus.

Aloha oe,

A.J.

Summer Rain: Orgasmic Texas Dawn Book 5 is OUT NOW!

Purchase link: https://spsilverpublishing.com/summer-rain-ebook-p-1387.html?zenid=f7397fc7e4d1fccfb4591129ae7a2962

Sean Mercado, a rookie Dallas Marshal, and Nicholas Fournier, a Canadian cop, are pulled into Jubilee and Kieran’s lives after a near death experience for Jubilee who is shot during a bank holdup that leaves him seriously wounded.

Former Canadian Special Ops Nicholas Fournier never dreamed making a deposit at a Dallas bank for his ailing aunt would change his life, but it does. He meets US Marshal Jubilee Mason who in turn introduces him to Sean Mercado, a new recruit to the Big D. Nicholas is still reeling from a romantic fiasco where he threw caution to the wind traveling to Texas to meet a guy he communicated with online.

Though planning to fly back home, he’s tempted to spend a little more time with the hunky Louisiana transplant and find out a little more about the US Marshals. He soon finds there’s a lot going on in this hectic Texas city and it ain’t just summer rain.

Cover Artist: Reese Dante

Genres: Action/Adventure, Contemporary, Cowboys, Crime (police/detectives/PI), Family & Relationships, Gay, Romance

ISBN: 9781614958864
Format:
Pages: 229 pp.
Word Count: 45165
For purchase and/or a super-yummy excerpt, please click this link: https://spsilverpublishing.com/summer-rain-ebook-p-1387.html?zenid=f7397fc7e4d1fccfb4591129ae7a2962

BALTHAZAR STARBLITZ is OUT NOW!!

Amber Allure’s STEAMPUNK Pax Anthology “Days of Future’s Past” stories are OUT TODAY! Including stories from me, D.J. Manly, T. A. Chase, Vivien Dean and Helen Louise Caroll.

Buy one, or buy ‘em ALL!  http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/

My story, Balthazar Starblitz is a steampunk-werewolf tale! Oh, my! http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/BalthazarStarblitz.html

Balthazar Starblitz by A. J. Llewellyn  

When Flip McCabe spots an unusual ad in a magazine requesting a young man or woman to train in the fine art of tea service, he’s pleasantly surprised to learn that it’s still available. He needs this job—any job—desperately, but his new boss, Mr. Chen, will mysteriously tell him only to report for duty at Platform Thirteen at LA’s Union Station at nine o’clock the following morning.

Arriving in plenty of time, Flip becomes panic-stricken when he can’t find any such platform, nor is there a tea shop listed at the bustling railway station. Frantic to get to work, he stumbles across an old line on an outdoor platform and is catapulted in another era of the station somewhere else in time.

The elegant, old-worldly Mr. Chen dispenses tea and serious help for those who need it, but his frail body is no longer up to the dangerous escapades involved with murder, mayhem and steam trains. Flip is sent back to the past to help various famous, often wrongfully convicted criminals, and then plunged back to the present to find a man who needs not only his help, but his love.

But will Flip be able to aid the dynamic, exhilarating Balthazar Starblitz, a werewolf on the run from charges related to a series of grisly murders he did not commit?

Genres: Gay / Steampunk / Dark Fantasy / Werewolf / Action / Adventure / Time Travel

Heat Level: 3 

 Length: Novella (23k words)

For purchase and/or an excerpt, please click this link: http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/BalthazarStarblitz.html

 

Isle of Capri

Isle of Capri is out NOW~ http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/IsleCapri.html

This companion piece to my “Relentless Passion” and “Relentless Love” books is out and I LOVE this cover!!

Isle Of Capri 

by A. J. Llewellyn

  ISBN-13: 978-1-61124-381-9 (Electronic)

ISBN-13: 978-1-61124-886-9 (Paperback)

British soap star Marius Treadway’s week has gone to hell. Still reeling from a failed romance, he quit his TV show only to learn that his sizable business investments are nothing but scams. Depressed and needing time to rethink his future, he travels to the island of Capri to visit his long-lost Uncle Toppy and twin cousins, Zeca and Alex.

At first, life seems relaxing and enjoyable on the sun-drenched, lemon-scented island, but it soon becomes clear that Alex’s private hotel is being targeted for crime, possibly because it’s gay-owned. Then, one of the oldest gay business owners in Capri Town finds his store trashed.

Determined to help his family, Marius soon meets dazzling Brazilian soccer player Crisanto Alvarez, who makes a play for him. Can it really be that, underneath it all, the isle of Capri is a healer of hearts?

Genres: Gay / Contemporary / Romantic Comedy / The Arts / Sports / Athletes Heat Level: 3

For purchase and/or an excerpt, please click this link: http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/IsleCapri.html

Pālehua: The Last Warrior Book 2 OUT NOW!

Purchase Link: https://spsilverpublishing.com/palehua-ebook-p-1365.html?zenid=a014d88c440e2d2bc4801df00685a4c2

Lio Paikai, reincarnated warrior of the lost kingdom of Hawaii, finds trouble in paradise. Big, bad trouble with the old island gods demanding a sacrifice from his family. Pālehua: blood sacrifice.

 Lio Paikai is adjusting to both his passionate, new relationship with his lover, Kord Ashley, and his status as ‘Ailani, the reincarnated, loyal warrior of the last king of the Hawaiian islands Oahu and Maui. Having severed his ties with his mother, Kalani, Lio grows closer to his father and his new family, but Kalani won’t leave them alone.

Violating a restraining order, Kalani is arrested. Hours later, when Lio accompanies his stepmother to a birthing class, a strange woman falls from the sky landing on the hood of his SUV. Old wounds and old curses open up, threatening to destroy his entire family. Lio must right an ancient wrong to appease the island gods demanding an immediate Pālehua: blood sacrifice.

For a HOT excerpt and/or purchase, please click this link: https://spsilverpublishing.com/palehua-ebook-p-1365.html?zenid=a014d88c440e2d2bc4801df00685a4c2

Love For Sale is OUT NOW!

Amber Allure’s new NOIR Anthology A Collection of Gay Mystery/Detective Romance Including The Following Books…

Love For Sale by A.J. Llewellyn

The Low Between by Vivien Dean

The Mayfield Speakeasy by L.A. Witt

The Ravishing by D.J. Manly

Storyville by Lynn Lorenz

Buy one or buy ‘em all here: http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/

Love For Sale: http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/LoveForSale.html

When Matt Killian, a LAPD cop-turned-private-eye, is approached one rainy day in Hollywood to take on a missing person case, he initially wants to say “no” when the potential client tells him he chose Killian because he’s gay. Killian changes his mind, however, when he learns the man is distraught because his son, Dane Marks—AKA notorious gay porn director, Danny Dark—is missing. Matt is further surprised to learn that Dane has already tried to take his own life, twice, and has now disappeared, possibly to escape interference in his third attempt.

It’s a race against time as Killian tracks down Danny Dark and attempts to short-circuit the man’s desire for self-destruction. Plunged headlong into the sometimes-amusing, sometimes-terrifying world of gay porn, Killian is mistaken for a go-go dancer and performs in a live show to get close to Dane.

Can Killian save Dane and show him that sex isn’t love and love isn’t sex…that love is amazing and is not for sale?

 Gay / Contemporary / Mystery / Detective / The Arts / Exhibitionism / Public Places Heat Level: 3 Length: Extended Novella (34k words)

 Purchase Link: http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/LoveForSale.html

 

Fire and Rain: A Tribute to John Bruno

By A.J. Llewellyn

Just yesterday morning, they let me know you were gone… I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend, but I always thought that I’d see you again. – from Fire and Rain, music and lyrics, James Taylor

When I first started writing gay erotic romance fiction six years ago, I didn’t tell many people. It was a new medium for me and I wanted to see how it went. I had coffee one day with my friend John Bruno, who had been struggling to find work as an artist. I’ve never met a kinder, more talented man. I couldn’t understand why he couldn’t get a break. He told me he was getting work here and there…and suddenly mentioned a movie he’d directed. When I probed he wouldn’t say what kind of movie at first. He finally said he was directing gay porn.

I was delighted. I told him I was writing gay erotic romances and we had a good laugh that we were such shy puveyors of porn. John Bruno (his porn name, not his real name), became one of my biggest supporters and introduced me to Adam Killian before Adam became the multimedia superstar he is now. Adam and I did a shoot for three of my favorite bookcovers and John showed an intense interest in my work.

We’d talk shop and he told me hilarious stories of life on the set. Then one day he casually suggested we should work together. We had big ideas. Actually, the ideas were his. He had this vision of porn webisodes based on a book he thought I should write. John was brilliant that way. He was cutting edge.

Today, he is gone. Way too soon.

His life cut short by his own hand.

Yesterday, I learned he took his own life on Monday morning and I am in grief. I am in torment, but I have had to accept that he had tried before with pills. This time he made sure there would be no rescues. It wasn’t a cry for help.

He was, as a mutual friend said to me last night, done.

John had a gun nobody knew about and drove to a park in Michigan where he’d been visiting his parents and sat for a long time with the weapon before turning it on himself.

Everyone I’ve spoken to has beautiful memories about this man and feels a deep, deep sadness at his passing.

John Bruno died because his dreams not only didn’t come true, they were trampled once too often.

He couldn’t get work in porn, in spite of his obvious talent  because the hot new thing is porn stars doing their own directing.

He couldn’t get work in mainstream media, in spite of his prolific background in it, not to mention his awards, because executives would find out he’d directed gay porn.

It happened more than once. He wouldn’t get the job.

Because he’d directed porn.

So what?

We discussed this devastating issue the last time he tried to kill himself. He was matter of fact about it. He was sad, but trying so hard to be positive. He quit the porn industry two years ago after a near-fatal overdose when he couldn’t handle losing work, losing his home and…his crushing, severe depression.

He moved home to be with his family for a while and worked as a waiter. He had hilarious stories and suggested a book.

He was as usual, wonderfully funny, sweet, but sad at the same time. He wanted to work. He took up photography again and would send me photos. He had bright ideas and suggested Moby’s Dick for a new book. Based on his idea, D.J. Manly and I wrote it and the book came out at Silver Publishing last year. I loved his cover for it and wished I could have paid him a lot more for it than I did but he was excited. He had other ideas, too.

I wondered, if it was this hard for a director of porn to get work, what must it be like for performers? Gay, or straight, it’s difficult. Last night I heard on the radio a story about a beloved female teacher who lost her job because one of her students found a very old snippet from a movie she did ten years ago.

What hypocrisy!

What pisses me off is that the same executives who wouldn’t hire John were probably watching his movies. At Falcon Studios and his own private label, Massive Studios, he discovered and honed many talented performers.

Adam Killian was one of them.

He was John’s videographer and it was John who encouraged Adam’s first foray into porn – his scene-stealing sex scene with Zeb Atlas in The Best Man. John nurtured Adam’s porn career the way he did other performers like Samuel Colt, Tristan Jaxx. I could go on.

John suggested to me a series of books, the first of which became Laid. He did the cover. I wrote the story. Our plan was to shoot it as webisodes. Falcon deemed the sex scenes too expensive too shoot so John set his sights on the second book, Bad Cops and this time he controlled the sex scenes and I wrote them from the actual shoot.

He did the webisodes with frankly mixed results. I still laugh over Rob Romoni’s scene where he and another guy watch each other jack off. Even to a novice like me it was obvious the two men were filmed at different times – thanks to a broken camera.

But we had dreams. Big ones.

We ended up doing more in the Laid series but only Bad Cops made it into webisodes before Falcon crushed his last hope and treated him shamefully by diminishing the work they gave him. It was out with the old. In with the new. His planned projects were handed over to a gay porn performer who was also directing.

John wasn’t a performer. He was an artist.

As such, he encourged his friend Erik Rhodes to direct and they worked on a couple of movies together. I know he was devastated by Erik’s suicide. I know he felt that same hoplessness, that John too, fumbled in the dark.

John Bruno loved people. He came across tough but was a big marshmallow. He was the kindest, most giving man. He got up time and again and kept trying. He gave his friends help and hope. He loved cats. He loved life. He just kept getting beaten up by it.

Last night, I looked at his model mayhem page where he is listed as a photographer under his real name. His work is there and he last checked in just a few days ago. John had begun a new life in Atlanta and was actively pursuing his photography. He was a brilliant photographer but when I looked at the comments on his page, they were all requests for help.

For his opinion.

Nobody offered him work.

It is perhaps fitting and of course ironic that in his last days on earth people saw him as a master craftsman. Which he was. Perhaps they didn’t know the panic and pain of not being able to get work. Of being overlooked. Brushed aside.

I listen with a broken heart to that other master craftsman, James Taylor and can’t help thinking of his line from Fire and Rain:

Well, there’s hours of time on the telephone line to talk about things to come.

Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground.

John was a sweet dream to all who knew him. And our beautiful, wonderful, high flying machine is finally in pieces.

On the ground.

Good-bye my friend. I hope you are in a better place. I hope you have no more pain.

I hope choirs of angels, other artists and writers want to listen to your words. I hope they appreciate with wonder your great art.

And I hope above all, more than anything, that you can once again fly.

Aloha oe,

A.J.