K.C. Kendricks's Blog, page 71

T is for Today (and Tango in the Night by KC Kendricks)

April 23, 2015Day 20
The 2015 A to Z Blogging ChallengeMany Sundry Things
T is for Today
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Today is a special day. Yes, today is the first day of the rest of my life, but that gentle reminder is only a part of it. Today is the day to shutter regrets and take a step toward a brighter future today, also known as tomorrow.
Today is a Thursday. The day job starts at eight and, if all goes well, will end at four. I suppose I have the same thoughts as everyone else when it comes to wondering what the day job will bring to my desk. Annoyance? Aggravation? Challenge? Opportunity? Excellence? It’s best to remain open to what today will bring and not worry about tomorrow’s special set of circumstances.
Today is Day 20 in the A to Z Blogging Challenge and I’m keeping up fine. This is the fifth year I’ve participated so today I’m pleased with myself.
Today I can use the talent I’ve nurtured and I can fill the screen with words. I decide which words are worthy of today.
Today is a spring day and the world around me is changing before my eyes. Everywhere I look I see more green. Today I celebrate this annual re-coloring.
Today brings the chance to tell someone near and dear to me I appreciate them. It’s up to the universe who walks into my world, but it’s up to ME to seek out a special person and remind them of what we mean to each other.
Today is my day and how I use the minutes given me IS my free choice.
Today.
KC Kendricks http://www.kckendricks.com

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Once again this year I have to do a little book promo along the way. You won’t know about my books if I don’t tell you about them, right? Today that book is a personal favorite of the author.
T is for Tango in the Night
Jubal Graham is back on the job after a shooter took the life of his long-time partner, and sent him into a coma followed by months of rehab. Determined to have justice, Jubal is focused on finding a killer, not a new romantic entanglement. Ellis Banks, with his smoldering blue eyes and denim-clad swagger is a distraction Jubal can’t afford – or ignore.
Ellis Banks came to Philadelphia to bust a drug operation; one that connects to the same case agency legend Kentuckian Jubal Graham is working. Ellis finds himself drawn to Jubal, but Jubal holds him off. Sure that Jubal is interested, even though he wears his slain lover’s ring, Ellis mounts a determined siege.
Jubal’s surprise at having a suitor develops into a growing affection for Ellis, one clouded with old fears. Fate ripped one lover from his arms, and now Ellis is in the line of fire. Jubal’s courage can protect Ellis, but is it powerful enough to love him?
Tango in the Night is available at Amber Allure and other fine online booksellers. 

S is for Sundry Things (and Seducing Light by KC Kendricks)

April 22, 2015Day 19
The 2015 A to Z Blogging ChallengeMany Sundry Things
S is for Sundry Things
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Sundry (adjective) – Of various kinds; several Sundry (noun) – various items not important to be mentioned individually
Most people’s lives are filled with many sundry things, most of them truly mundane in their similarities. We sleep, be it deeply or restlessly, and we rise to face the morning. We work, or not, go to school, or not, and generally do what we do to fill the hours until we sleep again. My own life’s pattern includes family, friends, writing, a day job and many sundry things.
The word “sundry” when used as a noun implies those various things in life are unimportant. I got to thinking about that one day and I’m not sure I can agree. Fifteen minutes sitting on the patio with my spouse may on the surface appear to be a sundry thing but sometimes it can be the highpoint of the day. The same can apply to the minutes spent grooming the old dog. Is his obvious joy at being brushed a small, unimportant thing?
Perhaps anything that brings us joy, no matter how small and inconsequential it may be in the course of our day, is worthy of note.
Perhaps that’s why we bloggers never shut up about seemingly sundry things.
KC Kendricks http://www.kckendricks.com

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Once again this year I have to do a little book promo along the way. You won’t know about my books if I don’t tell you about them, right?
S if for Seducing Light
Asher Myles struggled to put his life back together after an identity thief striped him of everything but his talent for capturing light and shadow with a camera lens. With a new job and a new start, Asher’s on his way to Montana – and a meeting with the man he’s fantasized about since he first saw him on the silver screen. 
Nick Light, actor, director, and Hollywood royalty, doesn’t like paparazzi. When he agrees to have his Montana ranch photographed for a style magazine, the unexpected happens – he falls for the man with the camera. Nick’s secret comes out when he realizes Asher is also gay. 
If there’s one thing Nick can’t resist, it’s a man with a talent for seducing light.
* * *
Seducing Light is available at Amber Allure and other fine online booksellers.

R is for Retirement (2015 A to Z Blogging Challenge)

April 21, 2015Day 18
The 2015 A to Z Blogging ChallengeMany Sundry Things
R is for Retirement
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I’m obsessed with retirement. Everything bit of forward planning I do is with retirement in mind.
The word “retirement” is actually a misnomer for many people including myself. I have no intention to “retire” and sit by the side of the road. The goal is a lifestyle change beginning the day I’m eligible to start drawing retirement funds. For me, being blessed with a traditional pension fund through my employer, that’s fifty-nine and a half. I fully intend to live my dream and become a full-time writer and Lady of the Manor. Until then, it’s one day at a time.
In May of 2014, my beloved took off for five days with his siblings while I stayed home to mind the wee beasties who reside with us. Our beloved old dog had health issues that prevented me from allowing him to stay with my parents. Those five days on my own were a slice of heaven on earth. I wrote over twelve thousand words in five days – plus walked, gardened, took care of the house, and visited my parents every day. Those days were a capsule of what I want my “retirement” to be.
May it be so.
KC Kendricks http://www.kckendricks.com

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Once again this year I have to do a little book promo along the way. You won’t know about my books if I don’t tell you about them, right?
R is for River Walk.
Detective Fallon Roxbury has a big problem. A twenty-year old cold case turned hot threatens to expose his secret - shapeshifters exist and they’re living in Montgomery Circle under his protection. Between a new witness and a group of fanatical alien watchers, Fallon’s scrambling to uphold the law and keep his promises intact. He already knows no power on earth can keep his shapeshifter lover from stepping into the mix.  
Sundown has come into his own with his human lover by his side. Fallon is his compass, and shield, as he seeks to keep his Clan united and teach them most humans can be trusted. A catalyst, Sundown is rare among his kind, a descendant of heroes. The status of his Clan rests on him and he’s determined to see his people prosper on this world owned by humans - without the humans knowing shapeshifters walk among them.
Secrets have a way of being exposed. Fallon’s not the only one who knows about Sundown’s kind. A cop used to right and wrong being black and white, Fallon struggles to learn shades of gray. Their relationship is tested as Fallon and Sundown race against the clock to find a kidnapped shapeshifter before the Clan takes matters into their own hands.  Because if they fail, Fallon knows his lover will be forced to stand with his people and act against him. 
River Walk is available at Amber Allure and other fine online booksellers.

Q is for Questing for the Perfect Name (2015 A to Z Blogging Challenge)

April 20, 2015
Day 17

The 2015 A to Z Blogging Challenge
Many Sundry Things

Q is for Questing for the Perfect Name

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Writers are on a never ending Quest for the perfect name. We might like Quentin, or Quinn, or even Quincy, but we may never use them. We’re looking for the name that resonates with the reader. 

Heck, yeah, it’s a crap shoot! 

Say I close my eyes, flip the phone book open, and put my finger on the name Michael. Now, how can I use Michael again? I can’t. So I do it again and land on Peter. Um…. Maybe not since I write GAY romance. Third time’s the charm, right? Nope. Landed on Tony and that give everyone an NCIS moment. This is hard!

Okay. I’ve settled on the name Tyler. I’ve written the story. And then I see twenty-four new releases and every one has a Tyler. And it’s too late to change it because the contract is signed. 

Yes, we writers are ALWAYS on a quest for the perfect name. 

KC Kendricks
http://www.kckendricks.com 


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Once again this year I have to do a little book promo along the way. You won’t know about my books if I don’t tell you about them, right? 

Q is for …. I got nothing for Q. You get a promo free day. 

A Conversation Between Writers - Gimme a cookie and do it now!

April 19, 2015


I'm in a baking mood. Diet is by the wayside. Yesterday I made oodles of cookies. (Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Chunk & Snickerdoodles) This morning at 4:30 am I started on Sugar cookies and Gingerbread Men. I'm also making Nutty Sweet Potato Biscuits and Pigs in a Blanket. Stocking up freezer. Maybe some ready-made nibbles will make me more incline to stay at the computer and write. 
~ Brenda Williamson

~~~~~

Cookies! I love cookies! But cookies are evil. All that butter. All that glorious brown sugar.

I DON'T CARE!! I baked two batches of sugar cookies last Sunday. One batch was plain but the other got some lemon zest and some finely chopped rosemary. (Very finely chopped, too.) Even Himself likes those. I want to make some oatmeal raisin but I want to soak the raisins in bourbon first. I know. I'm a lush. It's strange but two homemade cookies satisfies me better than six store bought cookies. Ergo, homemade is best. ~ KC Kendricks
KC Kendricks http://www.kckendricks.com/KCKendricks_bookshelf.html

P is for Poseidon's Pleasure

The 2015 A to Z Blogging Challenge
Many Sundry Things

Day 16
April 18, 2015

P is for Poseidon’s Pleasure

Welcome to day sixteen of the 2015 A to Z Blogging Challenge. As today is a Saturday, it's a straight promo day and I'm keeping it short and quick. 

Today I have a short excerpt from Poseidon’s Pleasure . Our heroes meet after years apart and Brett recalls the very first time he saw Mark. It's a bittersweet moment.  

Enjoy! 

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His hand lifted, stretched toward me, then fell to his side. “You look good, Brett. Really good. Like life is treating you right.” 

“Thanks. It is, for the most part.” I held my right hand out in that time-honored way of men everywhere. He licked his lips, and I was suddenly twenty-nine and awkward again, wondering why any man would look at me and want to take me to bed. My memory flashed back to a distant, muggy night, the air filled with ozone from approaching lightning. 

The first time I saw Mark Matthews he was pinned to a chain link fence by a pack of straight bullies with more than mischief and mayhem on their agenda. The streetlight was bright enough for me to see the terror on his young, bruised face.  

I laid on the horn and drove my car right into the fence beside them, not caring in that moment if I hit some of them or not. The mob scattered, and a bloodied and battered boy leaped into my car. He sobbed into his hands the entire drive to my best friend’s apartment. I took him inside and cleaned him up. He was seventeen, and I knew better than to touch him, even to administer some first aid, but I did.

After twenty years, the night he turned eighteen remained burned into my memory.

I stood there, arm extended, praying he’d shake my hand. Just one little touch to make him real for me again, and prove to me I’d existed as a younger man with life and energy. And dreams.

He stared at my hand for the longest time, then he pressed his palm to mine, and quickly let go.

* * *

KC Kendricks
http://www.kckendricks.com 


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More about Poseidon’s Pleasure
(Book 3 in the Southern Cross series) 

Brett Houston triumphed over his life. Raised by an abusive father, Brett sacrificed his personal happiness to keep the ones he loved safe. Ready to make big changes in his life, Brett treats himself to a Caribbean vacation. To his surprise, he ends up at a seaside ball, wearing a G-string and presiding over the festivities as Poseidon, the God of the Sea.   

Mark Matthews left behind his hometown, and his first love, to put down roots in California. With vacation time to use, or lose, Mark books a holiday on the island of St. Lucia, unaware of the surprise reunion Fate has waiting for him. 

Brett cautiously examines the fractured bonds of the past, while questioning the possibility of a future with Mark. It’s simpler for Mark. He won’t settle for anything less than a future tending to Poseidon’s pleasure.

POSEIDON' PLEASURE is available at Amber Allure and other fine online booksellers.

O is for Onyx (and Open Roads by KC Kendricks)

April 17, 2015Day 15
The 2015 A to Z Blogging ChallengeMany Sundry Things
O is for ONYX
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From Google:
METAPHYSICAL ONYX STONE -Onyx stone meaning for inner strength. It raises one’s resistance and persistence, enabling one to carry even unmanageable tasks to completion. On a mental level, it increases one’s power to keep focus, making it possible for one to use well all that one has mastered. It quickly enhances the retention of memory and promotes attention to detail. These traits make Onyx an instructive instrument for pupils, teachers, business owners, accountants, lawyers, software and computer technicians, and all those whose work calls for high levels of focus, dedication and discipline.
My father had an onyx signet ring. The onyx was square and the family monogram, an “H,” was affixed in gold in one corner with a small diamond set in the opposite corner. Dad wore it on his ring finger with his wedding band. As a girl I would often ask to see the ring having some sort of fascination with its dark depths. After Dad died the ring came to me.
I’ve often thought I’d like an onyx signet ring of my own. Given the metaphysical properties of the stone, it might be of benefit to the writer. Anything that can increase focus and discipline can only be a good thing. 
KC Kendricks http://www.kckendricks.com
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Once again this year I have to do a little book promo along the way. You won’t know about my books if I don’t tell you about them, right?
O is for Open Roads
Tyler Phillips enjoys his small town life. He’ll never get rich working the family business, but he knows there’s more to a man than the size of his bank account. Easing into mid-life, Tyler’s restless for something he can’t find in the little borough of Easton – male companionship.
Noel Springs got caught up in the economic downturn. His job gone, and retirement a lot of years in the future, Noel decides to take a long drive and see some of the country before dedicating himself to finding new employment. The open road is just what he needs right now. 
When his car overheats outside the little town of Easton, Noel discovers the local mechanic is hotter than his radiator, and just as eager to blow off some steam.
Open Roads is available at the Amber Allure imprint of Amber Quill Press.
http://www.amberquill.com/store/p/1187-Open-Roads.aspx

N is for NASCAR (and Netting Neptune by KC Kendricks)

April 16, 2015Day 14
The 2015 A to Z Blogging ChallengeMany Sundry Things
N is for NASCAR
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Do you turn left at 200 miles per hour?
Say the word NASCAR and the part of the USA you live in will determine the reaction you get. During the War Between the States, Maryland was a border state. So it is with NASCAR. I live in one of the three most western counties in Maryland and friends and family are conflicted. Do they admit they like NASCAR or hide it like a dirty family secret?
Me? I don't hide it. I’m out and proud. I love NASCAR.  Do I have a favorite driver and a favorite team? Yes – Stewart Haas and Tony Stewart. It’s been a few tough years for Team #14 but I look at it this way – Tony will come out of this time a stronger, better person with a more seasoned outlook. And Danica Patrick? I hope Danica will continue until she gets a win. 
I confess to enjoying American muscle cars in general. My fascination with fast machines is what led me to be a race fan, not the other way around. It may not be politically correct, but give me eight cylinders and a minimum of three hundred horses under the hood and we’ll just see who gets to Loch Lomond first.
KC Kendricks http://www.kckendricks.com
*_*_*_*
Once again this year I have to do a little book promo along the way. You won’t know about my books if I don’t tell you about them, right?

N is for Netting Neptune

Theron Bowman is in the throes of a mid-life crisis. At forty, he needs to make some serious decisions about his future. He splurges on a two-week vacation in the Caribbean, and like everything else in his life, things go horribly awry and he ends up working to pay for his room.

Forced by his father to break ties with his family, Colby Denton came to rest on St. Lucia, and opened an exclusive resort. To celebrate his tenth year on the island, and his birthday, Colby arranges for a series of festive beachside parties. When a sexy sea god swims out of the ocean in front of him, Colby has a brand new plan – netting Neptune.

Netting Neptune is available at the Amber Allure imprint of Amber Quill Press.
http://www.amberquill.com/store/p/1168-Netting-Neptune.aspx

The Kendricks 600 - it's not NASCAR

April 15, 2015

The Kendricks 600. It might sound like NASCAR  but it's not. It's blog number 600 here at Between the Keys. 

When I was in the planning stages of doing the 2015 A to Z Blogging Challenge, I was pretty sure number six hundred would fall right in the middle of things and so it has. The question was do I mark the day or let it go? If you're reading this, you know the answer. 

I decided that instead of making #600 part of the A to Z, I'd do a separate entry to commemorate the occasion. 

So 600 blogs. Egads. One would think I had nothing else to do.

KC
Blog #1 from 1/1/2008

M is for Myriad (and Moon Dances by KC Kendricks)

April 15, 2015Day 13
The 2015 A to Z Blogging ChallengeMany Sundry Things
M is for Myriad
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I love the word MYRIAD. Let’s go all dictionary for a moment.
Myr-i-ad [mirēƏd] (noun)a countless or extremely great numbera unit of ten thousand(adjective)countless or extremely great in numberIn English, the word myriad is commonly used to denote a large but unspecified number. I like to tell people I have myriad duties at the day job. They may look at me strangely but I don’t much care.
A favorite quote comes from an episode of the old television show, Queer As Folk. Speaking about herself, one of the character says, “My house has many rooms. I inhabit but a few. The rest go unvisited.”
We all have many sides to our personalities, many rooms. We sense things we are both capable and incapable of doing. If we’re brave, we may visit both. So when we view these many rooms, how do we interpret them? As two-dimensional boxes? Are they flat squares on our life’s flowchart?
I like to think my house has myriad rooms, sort of like a prism. There are facets and reflections. My house with myriad rooms gleams like a crystal sparkling in the sunlight.
I peer into those unvisited rooms with wonder and it’s enough for me to know they exist. Perhaps the time will come when I step into one, or more, but it's not today. Today it's enough to simply keep those many doors open.
KC Kendricks http://www.kckendricks.com

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Once again this year I have to do a little book promo along the way. You won’t know about my books if I don’t tell you about them, right?
M is for Moon Dances 
 For Lieutenant Fallon Roxbury, Special Police Consultant, reality has taken on a strange shift. Shapeshifters exist and a clan of them live under his protection. One is his lover, Sundown. Protecting the Chal is a full-time job, a task which would be easier if they weren’t so secretive - and scheming. When Fallon’s police force partner suggests a vacation, Fallon jumps at the chance to take Sundown someplace private. A resort near where he grew up seems like the prefect place for a get-away. Ten days filled with sex, sleep and sun is just what they both need, but more than fun lurks in the woods.
The ancient nemesis of the Chal is still out there and could one day return to earth to enslave both Chal and human alike. Secrets of the Chal past come to light when Fallon’s suppressed memories of his early years resurface. The shapeshifters have always had a plan defeat their enemy, one with Sundown at its core. 
Moon Dances is available at the Amber Allure of Amber Quill Press. http://www.amberquill.com/store/p/1943-Moon-Dances.aspx