A.J. Llewellyn's Blog, page 35

Sunday in the Park with George

 

Meeting Kevin Morgan feels like a beautiful fluke for chess star, Lucas Addison…but winning his love would be the best move he's ever made.

                                                Sunday in the Park with George

                                                             By A.J. Llewellyn

Purchase Link: http://tinyurl.com/4vbg2wo

  Synopsis:

Lucas Addison's life is all mapped out. A rising chess superstar, he is an orderly, fastidious kind of guy whose reputation as a jerk precedes him. He's resigned to a career–filled life until he spots fallen movie idol Kevin Morgan in the crowd watching him play chess in a tournament one cold, but sunny afternoon in Central Park. Kevin's exquisite good looks and haunting eyes tear at him. What happened to this guy and why did he walk away from the world? And why does Lucas think he can…and must save him?

Lucas becomes enthralled by the actor who walked off the stage in the middle of a matinee performance of his one-man show on Broadway the previous year.  The one time million-dollar-a-movie man appears to be homeless and rebuffs Lucas's attempts at friendship, hurting Lucas's feelings. All Lucas cares about is that New York is still in the grip of fierce late winter storms and the nighttimes are below freezing. Can he get Kevin inside, out of the cold? Could they possibly become lovers?

Things start to defrost between them when Kevin accepts his invitation to see a benefit performance of the classic play, Sunday in the Park with George…

For HOT excerpt and for purchase, please click this link: http://tinyurl.com/4vbg2wo

Paper Valentine

 

Happy Valentine's Day! My new M/M novel set in Victorian England may be historical but has all the hot romance you've come to expect from an A.J. Llewellyn story. Wishing all my wonderful readers a day of romance and passion.

I love you all!

A.J. xoox

PAPER VALENTINE

London, 1840. At the height of Victorian hypocrisy, two men meet and fall in love. Their romance is forbidden, punishable even by death, but their passion blossoms thanks to a paper Valentine.

Saint Valentine's Day has become a new and very popular day for lovers. Thousands of Londonites are clamouring for the ideal romantic gift. While men buy chocolate and posies, they yearn for something more unusual, more personal. Enterprising brothers Aldon and Samuel Barnaby hit upon the idea of paper Valentines, creating lavish presentations decorated with silk, lace, and paper flowers.

Aldon is fortunate to have his perfect valentine going to his expectant wife, Geneve, but Samuel still longs for his own true love, pouring his heart and soul into his beautiful creations. Samuel's romantic verses inside his paper Valentines are in huge demand, yet not a single local girl can lay claim to his heart…because his passion lies not in a woman, but another man—Jude, a handsome but shy widower.

Jude's heart, haunted by grief, hasn't been ready to consider marriage again. But slowly, through his inclusion in the Barnaby family's lives…and his frequent excursions to stop and stare at the Barnabys' shop window…he begins to wonder in what direction his future lies.

Can Samuel possibly allow his heart to explore love with another man? Could Jude ever love him in return? He sends Jude an exquisite, anonymous paper Valentine, not suspecting that his entire world is about to be turned upside down…

For an excerpt and purchase please click this link:

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=1074

The Actor

By A.J. Llewellyn

As a writer, some weeks I'm flush, other times, I'm prostrate with worry about bills, so I take on part-time gigs when I can. Frankly, the experiences often end up in my books (The Vendetta, and Cops and Rubbers, for example) and it's all good.

My experience last week working for The Actor will also wind up in a book somewhere, somehow. For now, I'll keep it to this blog.

He called me out of the blue. He's such a big name I thought it was a joke until I heard how upset he was. He'd put some valuable books into storage and some guy firebombed the storage facility. The fire department hosed the joint down and The Actor's belongings were all badly water-damaged.

His call came as a referral from a literary agent friend and I started to realize it really was The Actor calling me. He sounded so distraught I agreed to meet him at his Hollywood Hills home and begin the process of cataloguing the books that needed to be replaced and pricing out replacements.

A fantastic job for me, the book lover.

I arrived bright and early the next day with my laptop and signed the confidentiality agreement. I was not to disclose who he was to anyone, I was not to post pictures anyplace of his home etc. etc.

His said residence is so high up in the Hollywood Hills he'd warned me to bring my lunch and coffee with me. I was kind of ecstatic to see he'd provided me with a bottle of spring water and a desk with a comfortable swivel chair.

I was good to go, except it all felt eerily quiet. And empty.

Other than the room we worked in, the rest of the house showed no signs of life. He'd been back east making a movie until the storage facility called him. He'd raced back for a few days to deal with the insurance company and all those books.

We started sorting through boxes and I began to feel worse and worse for him as I saw the valuable tomes damaged beyond repair.

A serious collector of art, he's a big Salvador Dali fan and had several irreplaceable hand-written books by the artist. Even a cookbook.

As each book came out of the wet boxes, he shared stories of how he came by them. I will, for the rest of my life value those little excursions down memory lane. I have never had such an enjoyable job. I like this man more than I can say. He's got a poet's soul, in spite of his mega-buck career.

I think I helped The Actor rediscover his treasures. He kept asking, "Why me? Why did this happen to me?" We realized replacing some of these volumes would be almost impossible.

I told him I thought it happened so he would spend time with those books again.

He gave me a long look and said, "Somebody else told me that this morning."

We powered through a long day and I never took a break, eating my sandwich as we worked. He was exhausted and fell asleep on the floor late in the evening.

I figured it was time to call it a day.

When I returned the next day, he'd arranged coffee and water for me and I thought that was sweet. We began working and he casually asked me, "I hear you're a writer. What kind of books do you write?"

I blew the subject off. He let it slide for about ten minutes then pulled a fold-out chair towards me and sat, fingers templed under his chin. He asked me again.

Again, I dithered.

Now he was intrigued. In a town where most writers can't wait to pitch their pet project to the first celebrity they see, I was being unusually reserved.

He pushed and pushed until I said, "I write romance novels. Gay erotic romance novels."

"Get outta here!" he said, nudging me. "What do you really write?"

I repeated what I'd said and he rushed to his own laptop to Google me.

"Jesus Christ!" he exploded. "Is this really you?"

"Yes," I said. I wondered if I was now out of a job.

"But I have to buy one of your books. Which one should I buy for my Kindle, A.J.?"

I was so surprised and so tickled, I suggested Fawnskin, since my partner, D.J. Manly co-wrote it. I couldn't wait to tell D.J. this story.

The actor bought and downloaded Fawnskin. He spent some time noodling around my website and seemed agog at my output.

Stealing Rain, another book written with D.J. had just been released as an audio book on Total-e-Bound that day.

"Do you know about the text to speech function on Kindle, A.J.?" he asked.

I shook my head, no.

"Here. I'll show you." He fiddled for a bit and next thing I heard was a man's robotic voice saying, "And then I sucked his cock."

"Oh, my God!" The actor looked shocked. The scene got raunchier. I wanted to die as he hurriedly tried to turn off the dialogue function.

"I can't believe you wrote that," he said.

"I can't believe you bought it," I shot back.

He kept staring at my books online on his laptop as I kept hunting through antiquarian booksellers for comparison prices for his books on my laptop.

The Actor kept asking me questions.

"I should play you in a movie," he said. "Say…I should play you and D.J. I could play you as twins. I've always wanted to play twins. Wait until I tell my wife about you!"

I laughed. He was so goofy and fun.

We opened a gigantic book he had of the artist H.R. Giger's Alien movie monster art to check on the damage and our afternoon got even more weird. Of all the books he had with mold and other water damage, this one had mounds of mold growing on its pages with little creatures running around.

"Eeew," he screamed, dropping it on the floor.

We got a good laugh out of that moment.

I had a small job for a few days, right out of a Hollywood movie with a man I will never forget. A man I will always remember with a smile.

A man who bought one of my books. And he told me via email, is actually reading and enjoying.

I'm sorry I had to finish that job, not that I wish him more damaged books, but this was a gift, the few days I spent with him. And sometimes, just sometimes, gifts happen.

Aloha oe,

A.J.

Relentless Love

The Sequel to Relentless Passion is OUT NOW at Ellora's Cave!!

Purchase Link: http://www.jasminejade.com/p-9069-relentless-love.aspx

Alex has already lost one lover to his brother Zeca. Now his fickle shenanigans have driven Hugh, his other lover, away as well. Alex desperately wants what his brother has, an intensely passionate relationship, so Zeca shares their father Toppy's advice—you have to love before you can be relentless. Good advice, if Alex weren't so afraid to follow it.

When Toppy's own love life gets a little, um…strange, he escapes to St. Tropez. He takes Alex with him, who finds himself face-to-face with Hugh. Too bad Hugh is already lip-to-lip with someone else. But Alex has come too far to turn back now.

 The game is on, and while Toppy gets up to his own sexual shenanigans under the St. Tropez sun, Alex will do anything to get back into Hugh's life…his bed…his body. He'll first have to learn to face his fears. Only then can he find relentless love.

For purchase and for an excerpt please click this link: http://www.jasminejade.com/p-9069-relentless-love.aspx

Wedded Bliss

OUT NOW! eXtasy Books is back up and Running!

Purchase Link: My new book Wedded Bliss, just went live on eXtasy Books!! Yay!! http://tinyurl.com/45k9az6

When Jack accepts Bruce's marriage proposal, it's for the money. After the last piece of confetti's swept up, he realizes he'd marry Bruce for love.

Synopsis:

Jack Callahan is in a financial bind, so when Australian novelist Bruce Logan offers him a small fortune to marry him so Bruce can get his green card, Jack agrees. The two men know enough about each other to pull off the immigration interview at Homeland Security and they can happily share an apartment in LA. Until Bruce establishes legal residency.

The problem is that Jack develops feelings for Bruce and is torn when his new husband starts dating another man. Not only that, but Bruce's expected book royalties fall short of his expectations. He can't pay Jack and it seems that he's in love with his new man. Jack however, finds his lengthy solitude has been broken and his feelings for Bruce only deepen. Can the two married men actually find wedded bliss?

For purchase and HOT eXcerpt, please click this link: http://tinyurl.com/45k9az6

Stone Richards

Stone Richards

By A.J. Llewellyn and D.J. Manly

The M/M author community lost a friend and wonderful author in the recent passing of Stone Richards. It shocked me because I knew I hadn't heard from Stone for a while but had no idea he was struggling with the return of a very virulent form of cancer.

When I first started writing at eXtasy Books three and a half years ago, Stone, D.J. Manly and I were the company's three M/M authors. Stone and I became friends via email and like D.J., was friendly, supportive and determined to keep writing the stories he loved. In spite of the continual whispers in the background of our chosen genre being a passing fad, Stone kept writing. And so did I.

Of course, it was not a fad, but had Stone not said to me during a Christmas chat we co-hosted when I had just two published books under my belt, "AJ, write the stories you want to write. Just have fun" I may have felt more pressure to write other things.

Stone wrote under a few names and who Stone really was makes no difference. But, as D.J. said when we learned of Stone's passing, "He was one of us."

For me, the genre of M/M was a comfortable fit. I feel passionately about my work. Stone felt passionately about work…but most passionately about living. He was always off on some big adventure. He loved casinos and I remember him cutting an author chat short to visit a riverboat casino one December afternoon. He didn't tell the readers that. Just me.

I was a newbie and felt out of my depth when he left me alone to handle the e crowd, but I soon relaxed and found it was fun. I was also pleased to hear that he won that day.

We have all lost a great friend. A true original who wrote what he wanted to write. I hope Stone Richards is somewhere in that big casino in the sky having fun. And winning the big jackpot. I will miss him for a long, long time.

A.J.

A.J. and I spoke on the phone this morning about the passing of Stone Richards. And as I reflected on his passing, I thought the one thing I fear most about leaving this world is not being about to create and to write. So, I'm thinking that maybe since Stone put so much heart into his work, his reward will be to have a nice desk with a first class computer and a constantly brewed carafe of coffee beside him. And he can write twenty four hours a day without needing to stop the flow to do menial tasks or sleep. His audience will be a roomful of devoted readers in the form of angels who will adore everything he writes. And as he reads his work aloud, they will applaud and comment and ask a billion questions, and beg him to write more. That's where I think Stone is.

D.J.

To Stone's many wonderful family members, friends and fans, read one of his books today and then go out and do something grand. Do something that makes you  feel lucky. I think he would love that.

A.J. and D.J.

My Lifeline

By A.J. Llewellyn
When I was six, I lost my precious mother to a horrible, disgusting, slow, painful disease. Colon cancer took her from me when she was 37. I never got the chance to say goodbye to her. All I had left of her was the book of fairy tales she used to read to me. My father, in his grief, packed up all our belongings shortly after our funeral and whilst I was at school, he moved us in with my grandma. He had left most of our treasured toys behind and our books…except the fairy tales.
That book was a lifeline for me. I stared at the pictures at night to comfort myself. I read the words over and over…imagining she was still there with me, talking to me, laughing with me, assuring me that no dream was too big.
Words became my refuge. My days and nights were spent reading and writing. I wrote my first book at the age of 8. My dad began to worry about me.
And then he bought me my first typewriter.
It became my obsession. It was a small portable Olivetti and I taught myself to type. It's been my chosen work tool ever since. I still have my first typewriter. It will always be in my life no matter how many laptops and desktops I go through.
Several months ago I began volunteering at Braille Institute doing Dots for Tots. It is work I am passionate about and deeply committed to.
One of the books I have worked on the most is Little Quack's Bedtime. It was an important book for blind children because just like Little Quack, many blind children fear the dark and fear bedtime.
This book reminds me each time I touch it, work with it, and dot it, how lucky most of us are. This is not something most of us have to deal with. It's been explained to me that sleep time is the time parents fear as much as their blind children because they have to leave them alone.
I hope as I progress in my work with Braille that I can help ease children's fear of being alone in the dark. I hope they will have simply dozens of books to read, to transport them to different places. Just like any kid.
I do belive in the power of story. And I believe in fairy tales.
Today, I feel my mother is with me as I begin a new phase in my journey, learning how to transcribe Braille. This feels like a giant step and a right one.
The wonderful people at Braille are giving me a Braille Machine (see above) that looks a lot like my old Olivetti.
I can't wait to complete Boot Camp on Thursday and then start the 12-month course so I can be a licensed transcriber.
My hope is that I can contribute to the inner lives of blind children, who just like me, need the lifeline of the written word. Our schools have neglected these children for too long. I was shocked to learn that 80% of blind children who are not taught to read Braille don't graduate high school or go on to tertiary education. They wind up on social security.
Braille is coming back with a vengeance in our schools and our world. The best part about all this is that Braille books and services are FREE.
Just as I get a thrill out of knowing all the books I put dots on are going to a child who will love learning to read, I will love learning how to make those dots in the first place.
There is a part of me who is still that lonely kid who believes in fairy tales. I feel like Cinderfella, about to enter the ball.
Just me and my Braille Machine. And I can't wait!
Aloha oe,
A.J.

A Wizard in Waikiki

 

A naked man comes out of the ocean saying he's come from the past to save our future. Is he a dangerous lunatic or is he…  

                                                            A Wizard in Waikiki

                                                A new M/M Paranormal Romance

                                                               By A.J. Llewellyn

Purchase Link: http://tinyurl.com/4np4as2

 Beachgoers on a hot day in Waikiki are stunned when a tall, handsome, island man rises from the ocean and strides, naked across the sand. He walks straight to the small, ringed enclosure containing four Wizard Stones. Positioned between the beach and the foot traffic of Kalakaua Avenue, most tourists never notice them. However, Konu, the naked man, becomes agitated at the sight of a young Asian girl draping her beach towel over the wizard stones. He flings her towel to the ground, inciting a near-riot. Konu however, is oblivious. He's come a long way, from Tahiti and is one of the ancient wizards whose power was infused into the stones four hundred years ago. 

With the invisible battle between good and evil at its peak, Konu and the other wizards have been dispatched to help balance the power. He lands in modern-day Waikiki, stunned by the changes – and also, to find he is alone. Seeking the signs he's supposed to be sent, he's surprised when a cop tries to arrest him for indecent exposure. Then the young girl's grandfather tells the officer the strapping islander is with him. Konu has no choice but to go with him. Konu soon discovers the old man thinks the ancient sorcerer is a homeless lunatic. Will the ancient forces of evil beat him? Or can this Wizard in Waikiki find his power again, and perhaps…even love?  

For purchase and for HOT excerpt, please click this link: http://tinyurl.com/4np4as2

Black Point FOREVER – HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

 Black Point Forever

 Book 6 in the super-hot M/M series by

 A.J. Llewellyn and D.J. Manly

 OUT NOW at www.extasybooks.com 

Purchase Link: http://tinyurl.com/28amm2d

In this final chapter of Matt and Thomas's love story, their precious baby daughter faces death until an unexpected rescuer saves her…

Matt and Thomas have the life of their dreams. Successful writers and movie producers, they are the proud parents of baby Rose Elise Carter who is a dream child until she suddenly becomes gravely ill. Diagnosed with a rare bone marrow disease, none of their family members are compatible donors for the little girl. Her surrogate mom has disappeared and can't be found. Rose's cousin Daphne is a match but is deemed too young to withstand the painful donor process.

When Matt bumps into Thomas's long-lost love, Daniel, in a fit of torment he confesses their nightmare. Daniel offers to submit himself. He's a match. Will Thomas fall once again for Daniel or will love, like Black Point, belong to Matt…forever? 

For HOT excerpt and purchase, please click this link:

Purchase Link: http://tinyurl.com/28amm2d

My Yakuza

 

OUT NOW!!

Purchase Link: http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=1029

Shiro Yamada has infiltrated a fearsome Yakuza clan in Tokyo in search of his missing mother, but now both their lives are at stake, unless he's willing to kill a New York City cop.

Shiro Yamada's problem has always been his lovely, wayward mum, Siono, who was whisked to her native city of Tokyo from their home in Honolulu, Hawaii by a mysterious businessman. Now she's gone missing and may even be dead, according to a strange telephone call.

Scraping together money to fly to Tokyo, Shiro learns that his mum's boyfriend was none other than Shun'ichi Harada, a major Yakuza clan leader. He has no choice but to infiltrate the deadly gang as a low-level bike messenger. He finds out his mother was forced into sexual slavery, but is she dead or alive?

Shiro puts his life at risk, and that of a young Yakuza prostitute, Miki, by asking too many questions. The Yakuza have figured out who Shiro is and if he wants to survive, he must travel to New York and eliminate a powerful enemy: Kono Takumi. The man's crime? He is a NYPD detective who infiltrated the Yakuza to solve a murder mystery. Not only that, but Kono is gay, which the clan finds offensive.

Unfortunately, so is Shiro. Will he shoot to kill the one man he finds so attractive? Or is this a dangerous game in which there are no winners?