Ethan Day's Blog, page 5

Too beautiful for everyone not to see…

Proof that pictures can be as powerful as words…

D.H. Starr's Someone to be Thankful For

The 42 Days of Christmas Series from MLR Press continues and today I'm posting an excerpt provided by D.H. Starr! Hope you all Enjoy!

Have a happy holiday weekend. : )

Someone to be Thankful For

by D.H. Starr

Click Here to Purchase

Sometimes is not what, but who you're thankful for.

David is a twenty-four year old code writer for a software development company, handsome, wealthy, and living in New York City. By all appearances, his life is perfect. But outward appearances can be deceiving. Despite all his material accomplishments, the one thing he truly wants is what he doesn't have. Keller.

Preparing for his annual trip home to San Rafael, California, David if filled with dread knowing he has to face Keller, his best friend from childhood, his first and only love, the man he let slip through his fingers. But from the first day David arrives back home, he can tell things are different.

As events unfold, the walls David has carefully constructed around his emotions are broken down until he's left with nothing to protect him. When Keller shows up on Thanksgiving, David is forced to confront the very issue he had worked so hard to avoid.

For better or worse, this Thanksgiving will change David's life forever.

Excerpt

Placing a hand on his arm, Pearl looked around the room, then leaned in close, her voice nearly a whisper, conspiratorial. "I bet you have to fight the ladies off; a handsome young man like you, wealthy. Oh, if I were thirty years younger—"

"Aunt Pearl! That's—" Time froze, the air not even moving, as the front door opened and a tall, fair-skinned, dark-haired man with dazzling blue eyes entered David's home. "—Keller."

Ignoring his aunt's confused protests, David moved closer to the kitchen, leaning on the wall for support and making sure he had a quick escape if he felt the need to throw up. As if in slow motion, Keller scanned the room, the ropes of tendon and muscle in his neck casting shadows, highlighting each crevice David wanted to taste and explore. Damn, he's even sexier than I remember.

Wearing a black V-neck shirt and khaki pants, the simplicity of the outfit seemed to highlight each contour of Keller's body. His chest seemed even bigger, the top portion of the crevice where large pectoral planes connected visible. Broad shoulders stretched the protesting material, the rest of his shirt tapering to match the cant of his body, drawing David's attention to the bulge at Keller's groin. To say the sight knocked the breath out of him would have been accurate had David been breathing.

When their eyes locked, Keller's mouth pulled up into a wide grin, revealing sparkling white teeth and dimples accentuating each cheek. As if he'd been lassoed, David's feet started moving toward the vision of his childhood, of his dreams, of the future he wanted. His heart swelled, filling his chest to the point of bursting, fingers of happiness flowing through his veins, tickling and exciting him.

And then, as if those fingers turned to acid-laced nails, another man appeared by Keller's side…Jerry. David's feet stuck like glue to the spot where he was standing, his desire to fly in the other direction as much an impossibility as taking steps forward.

Click Here to Purchase

 

Z.A. Maxfield's A Picture Perfect Holiday

The 42 Days of Christmas Series from MLR Press continues and today I'm posting an excerpt provided by the lovely Z.A. Maxfield! Enjoy! I know I did. : )

A Picture Perfect Holiday

by Z.A. Maxfield

Click Here to Purchase

Photography club president Caleb loves football standout Christian Muñez. He knows it's an old high school chestnut, but if being a cliché is wrong, he doesn't want to be right. They've been in school together since the fifth grade but having brothers on the same soccer team provides Caleb with a great opportunity to get to know Christian better. What he finds out – about Christian's home life and his future plans – could end his hopes forever. Or they might be the beginning of something wonderful.

Caleb throws caution to the wind in A Picture Perfect Holiday.

Excerpt:

Oh, yeah. Take it off. Take that helmet off for me. Show me what you got.

Okay. Oh, Christ, the way the breeze caresses that sweaty hair is magic, turn my way. Please baby, please. Just another couple of degrees…

Snick, Caleb took the picture and waited for the next opportunity.

Yeah, that's it. Now let me see that shy grin… Ah, God, there it is. That's my pretty boy. Yeah, baby. Pout for me… That lower lip is yummy, mister. Give it a nibble, will you? Use those pretty white Chiclet teeth of yours and—

"Are you perving on number seven again?" Erin asked, raising her voice to be heard over the marching band. Decked out with sprigs of holly on their hats, they played the March of the Toys in a Christmas-themed, slightly too ambitious show.

"No, I am not perving on number seven. I do not perve. I appreciate when I see the skillful hand of the creator and I applaud a work of art in nature as I would any object of art in a mus—"

"You're totally sporting wood right now. I have seen wood before and that sir, is wood."

Jeez. Caleb flushed and shifted his position to hide it. Was it that noticeable? "Will you shut up already?"

They weren't kids anymore or anything. A visit from the boner fairy was nothing new, but seriously, did she have to point it out?

"I don't think so. No. A gay man's gal pal does not shut up in this situation. A gay man's gal pal asks what are you thinking? Every single person in this school already knows you pop wood for our varsity QB and I promise you, in his case QB does not stand for queer boy as much as it stands for quickly broken—as in every bone in your body—if he finds out you're sitting there perving on him. So cut it out."

"I can't help it." "You can too help it. You have to get over this thing you have for him, Cay. Caleb McKenzie does not pine after what he cannot have. Caleb McKenzie is fierce and independent and deserving of the love of an out and proud gay man. Caleb McKenzie is looking for a long term, life affirming—"

"You must have me mixed up with someone else. If I could have Christian Muñez for just one night—for one hour—I'd take it and never look back."

"No you would not."

"I would." Caleb snorted. "My wood would, and I go where the wood goes."

"No kidding. You and all the other Y-chromosomes. What I don't get is why Christian of all people? He's like a hillock of muscle with no personality and no brains."

"What's your point?"

"Have you ever, in this entire year, heard him say anything that didn't start with Um?"

"Now you're just being mean."

"No, I'm not. I have a class with him. It's Um, I think Stalin killed a lot of people. Um. I think Russia was only our ally because Germany was worse. He's not your type. He's inarticulate and vague. He's quiet and maybe a little shy. He's not into you. He'll never be into you. He'll never be worthy of you, even if he was. Which he's not."

"Au contraire, Erin. I know I've told you the story, but in case I haven't, let me tell it now."

"Oh, here it comes." Erin rolled her eyes. "It all started on the first day of the fifth grade—"

Look for A Picture Perfect Holiday, November 23, 2011 at MLR Press MLR Press Advent Calendar

 

Click Here to Purchase

William Neale's Christmasing with You

The first release in the 42 Days of Christmas Series from MLR Press kicked off today with William Neale's Christmasing with You, now available!

Click Here to Purchase 

You can check out the blurb and excerpt below!

 

CHRISTMASING WITH YOU

BY WILLIAM NEALE

 

Andrew Bastion lost his partner to a violent and senseless criminal act. Devastated and all alone, he questioned how he would ever get through his first Christmas season without the husband he so loved. But when Drew's best friend convinces him to "find people who need help and help them," he finally begins to focus on something other than his own grief. And to his great surprise, he meets the one man with the ability to help heal his broken heart. Christmasing With You is a shamelessly heartwarming, upbeat holiday story that will require tissues, smiles, a box of good chocolates, and the willingness to believe that Christmas miracles really happen.

 

Excerpt

"Unless you go out and look for reasons to be happy again, you never will be," Mike said to Drew via their Skype teleconference. "And we're going to toast the fact that you're alive and healthy, you're the smartest, kindest person I know, and most important, you're the brother I never had. Now go open the damn bottle of wine."

Even though Mike now lived seven-hundred miles away in Atlanta, Drew walked away from the computer in his home office and found a chilled bottle of sauvignon blanc in his bar refrigerator. It had been there since Bill put it there. He found the corkscrew, opened the bottle, and reached for a wine glass from the bar shelf. Spotting a thick layer of dust as he held it to the light, he frowned at the fact that none of the bar stemware had been used—or washed—in months. He wiped the dust off this one with the tail of his shirt.

"Are you happy now?" Drew asked without enthusiasm, now returned to the conversation.

"Yes. Here's to your thirty-sixth birthday, buddy," Mike said and raised his glass in salute and took a sip of his own drink. "And, we're going to make one more toast. Only this one is in lieu of a handshake. And you know what a promise and a handshake means to us, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Then say it, Andrew Bastion. What does a promise and a handshake mean to us?"

"It means we swear upon our friendship that we will keep our promise," he answered in the same flat tone.

"Between now and the exactly thirty days remaining before Christmas, I want you to promise me that you will get out of that big old depressing museum of a house and go find some ways to make other people happy. I want you to find the Christmas spirit. You do that and you will start living again."

"No, Mike. I don't feel up to seeing other people yet."

"I'm not talking about dating them. I'm talking about you focusing on something other than your own sadness. You're the most generous person I know. So find people who need your help and help them. They're everywhere, Drew.

"I don't know, Mike. I—"

"Listen to me. I know you better than you know yourself. This will accomplish what all the grief counseling obviously hasn't. Will you promise me you'll at least make an effort? Please, buddy, I worry so much about you."

"I'll be fine and you don't need to worry about me. You have a new wife and two little step-kids to worry about now."

"I'm allowed to worry about whoever I damn well please, asshole, so stop playing martyr and make me a promise that you'll try."

"Mike, this is my first Christmas without Bill. I don't think I'm ready. I just want to stay here and be left alone so that I won't forget a single thing about him."

"Then remember how much he loved Christmas. Remember the enormous trees he always brought home that he knew were too big but he bought 'em anyway. Remember how he loved throwing impromptu parties to decorate them and how he was always trying to get us all to sing carols with him."

Drew couldn't hold back a small smile. "Yeah, and bless his tone deaf heart—he could make every dog in the neighborhood start howling."

Make laughed. "Yeah, you sure got that right. But it didn't stop him from knowing every song by heart and loving everything about the season. What would he want you to do? What would Bill tell you to do about Christmas this year? You think he'd want you to be all alone and miserable?"

Drew let out a long breath knowing he'd lost this battle. "No… I guess he'd be yelling at me to get my ass out of this house. Okay … I promise I'll at least try."

"That's my bro. Now drink to it. See, you're already making progress. I'm gonna check on you in a couple of days and I want to hear about more progress, okay?"

"Okay, Mike—whatever."

"Drew, you know I'm riding you so hard because it's time for you to be pushed back into living again. And it's only because I love you. You know that."

"Yeah, I do. I love you too. God, I wish you were still here."

"I am, buddy. I'll always be here for you."

***

Drew sat alone on the sectional sofa in what he now thought of as his family-less room. He held the same hardly-touched glass of wine and stared at the logs burning in the fireplace. He hadn't really wanted the wine or the fire and now both were too warm. But it indeed was his birthday on this November the twenty-fifth and he was at least trying to contemplate what he had just promised his best friend.

"Okay, Bill, I know—it's time to get my act together and make the effort," he said out loud. Talking to an absent Bill had become a frequent habit since his passing. Drew knew it suggested some mental issues but at the same time, it was comforting to indulge in the fantasy that on some other plane, Bill could hear every word he said. No one else knew Drew did this and, he figured, as long as he didn't start really believing Bill was there, he'd eventually stop.

He got up from the sofa, dumped the warm glass of wine in the bar sink, and poured himself another. This time he dropped three ice cubes in it and chuckled when he remembered how Bill always did that and how Drew would scold him for ruining a perfectly good glass of white wine.

Drew walked to the antique mahogany armoire where the house's sound system equipment was hidden, opened the doors, and picked up the iPod Bill had connected to it. Bill had spent many hours building playlists of music for every occasion and took pride in making customized and fully loaded iPods as gifts for friends. There still were several of them in their unopened boxes on the armoire's bottom shelf. Drew scrolled through the different collections loaded on this one until he found the one he was looking for. It was labeled A D&B Christmas—their friends often referred to Drew and Bill collectively as D&B. There were dozens of albums and hundreds of holiday songs in this one collection alone.

"You really did love your Christmases, B," Drew said softly. He scrolled to the album he was looking for and pushed Play.

Yes, it had been Bill's favorite Christmas album and Bill especially loved to play it while the two made their annual batches of Christmas cookies. Drew would wince and then faux complain every time Bill hit a high note about two notes flat. And now, he would give his soul to hear Bill singing it off-key just one more time.

It was actually pleasant hearing the first few songs and remembering so many holiday seasons they had spent together. But as soon as Karen Carpenter's dulcet voice began the next one, he knew he had made a big mistake.

Merry Christmas, darling.
We're apart, that's true.
But I can dream and in my dreams
I'm Christmasing with you…

… I've just one wish on this Christmas Eve:
I wish I were with you.

Drew put down the wine glass and buried his face in the softness of the tufted silk pillow beside him. His shoulders shook and chest heaved as he poured all his cumulative sadness and loneliness into the kind of crying breakdown he hadn't allowed himself for at least a month now. How could he have predicted that such a sweet and innocent little Christmas song by The Carpenters could trigger such a relapse?

With grim determination, Drew lifted himself up, wiped his eyes, and leaped more than walked to the sound system cabinet. Grabbing the iPod with one hand, he jerked it and the cable connecting it from the sound system. With a windup worthy of a baseball pitcher on the mound, he delivered a down-the-middle strike directly through the center pane of the leaded glass door leading to the sunroom.

"I'm so sorry, Bill," he said to the empty room, tears streaking his face. "But it hurts more than I can stand. I will never play your music again."

Christmasing With You is available at MLRPress.com

Click Here to Purchase

The MLR Press Holiday Story-a-Day Extravaganza!

 

This Holiday Season MLR Press will be releasing one holiday themed story a day beginning November 20th and running all the way through New Years Eve!! An incredible undertaking if you ask me…and if you've found your way here the assumption is that you might. : )

The list of authors is long and impressive – most long things are – and I'm thrilled to find myself right smack in the middle of it all. A Summit City Christmas will be released Saturday December 10th, a precursor to the final book in the Sno Ho/Summit City Series coming Winter 2012.

You'll find a short excerpt below from Summit City Christmas along with a full calendar of release dates for all the other fab stories which will be available starting this Sunday with William Neale's Christmasing with You.

Many happy returns and all the best to you and yours this holiday season!

Ethan

 

A Summit City Christmas

Ethan Day

Available December 20th from MLR Press

Click Here to visit MLR Press

Holiday's with friends and family are never dull and Boone's first Christmas in Summit City is no exception to that Yuletide rule.

You are cordially invited to join Boone and Wade for a Christmas Eve extravaganza, including many of your other favorites from the Summit City – Sno Ho series.

 

Excerpt:

   Our attention was quickly diverted from Donny's footwear as the front door burst open and my parents came rushing in, or my mother to be exact—dragging Rocky along as he held onto the Dixie-train for dear life.

   My mother was fully painted for war, her make-up perfectly applied, despite having more of it on than any one individual ever should, her dark brown hair piled up on top of her head, teased into a poofy bouffant.

   "What are y'all doin' sitting around half dressed?" she asked, as if we'd all lost our minds. "We've got dozens of cookies to get iced. Hop to!"

   "Geez-uz woman," Rocky said, huffing away like she'd forced him to climb the mountain on foot…while carrying her. He was still sporting that same Rick Springfield style hair cut that he'd had since the mid eighties. All the stress of the holidays had never suited him well, conflicting with his free-spirited, laissez-faire nature. "Settle yourself down 'fore you give yourself an aneurysm."

   Before Wade or I had so much as an instant to respond she'd descended upon us, slapping us both on the ass. "Get up those stairs and for the love of God take a shower. You two smell like a sweaty, dried up come rag that's been left lyin' on the floor for a week."

   The twins both burst out laughing

   Wade's entire upper body turned blood red and he laughed, but a little uncomfortably. "Your parents know entirely too much."

   I winked at Wade and turned, opening my arms to my mother. "Come on mumsey, Monkey wants a hug!"

   "Boone Daniels, don't you come anywhere near me, you stink to high heaven!" Dixie squealed.

   I continued to advance on her and she turned, beginning to run in the opposite direction.

   "I will slap you into next week just to ask you about the weather…so help me, Boone!" Dixie warned, pointing back at me with a long painted red nail.

   "Need…mommy love!" I hissed doing my very best Gollum impersonation. "Squeeze the mommy!"

   Rocky was now bent over with his hands on his knees, laughing his ass off as Dixie let out a panicked, blood curdling scream just before I took hold of her.

   Wade wrapped one of his thick arms around my waist and began pulling me away from her.

   "Love the mommy!" I added, arms flailing as Wade dragged me toward the open staircase off the living room.

   "Oh, and stop using that creepy voice," Dixie said, her fears subsiding now that Wade had a solid hold on me. She shook her head at Rocky. "Quit that laughing. It's your fault that boy has no class whatsoever."

   I was thinking they were each equally guilty for that as I winked at my dad. Wade bent down and tossed me over his shoulder.

   "So butch, isn't he?" I asked, as he easily lifted me up off my feet.

   "You could do me a favor and have a few less bags of chips every week," Wade quipped.

   The twins were snickering as Wade began climbing the stairs.

   "Shit head," I mumbled at him. "I don't recall you complaining any other time about my size."

   "Difficult to lodge a complaint when you have your dick shoved down my throat," Wade whispered, obviously not wanting my parents to overhear that particular comment.

   "We're gonna go butt fuck each other now!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, waving like a newly crowned Ms. Teen Queen as I hung upside down dangling from Wade's wide shoulder.

   "We are not!" Wade said, slapping me on the ass.

   "There's no time for that," Dixie said, not the least bit phased.

   "Spank me, Daddy!" I said, after yelping from the pinch he gave me. "I'm calling the abuse hotline, you rat bastard."

   "Ha!" Wade spat out, obviously unimpressed. "Serves you right…incessant trouble maker."

   "Such a hypocrite." I sighed. "You don't mind doing it, just talking about it in public."

   "Don't you let him take a bath either, Wade Walker, you hear me?" Dixie yelled at the top of her lungs. "We'll never get him back out!"

   "Yes ma'am," Wade shouted back as he cleared the last step up into the loft bedroom.

   "You people are no fun at all," I said.

   "Don't pout, baby," Wade said, carting me into the bathroom. "I'll service you in the shower if you like."

   "Sweet! Daddy's gonna feed me some meat." I sighed, my eyes widening as his fingers yanked my thermal undies down, exposing my ass to the cool air in the room. I could see him smiling though our reflection as we passed the large mirror. "I'll stuff you good-n-full, till you can't take anymore."

  "It's a Christmas miracle," I said using my best, truly horrible British accent. "God bless us one and all!"

Copyright 2011. Ethan Day.

 

October's Gay Day is upon us!

Sunday, October 30th is Gay Day at my Yahoo Group. Gay Day is the one day a month when the best authors in GLBT Romance stop by to post excerpts of their new and upcoming releases.

 

The following authors will be generously offering giveaways you can enter to win:

KC Burn – Cop Out

Pia Veleno – My Ghost

Clare London – London Eye

Josephine Myles – Barging In

Andrew Grey – Legal Artistry

Andrea Speed – The Little Death

Devon Rhodes – One More Wish

Jambrea Jo Jones – Rayne's Wild Ride

Ally Blue – Love, Life, and Lemon Cookies

Z.A. Maxfield – St. Nacho's 4: The Book of Daniel

Stevie Woods – And This Man Is My Lover? & Stone By Stone

Willa Okati – Between You & Me & Readers Choice from Back List

K.Z. Snow – The Zero Knot or Readers Choice from Back List

Elizabeth Noble – Together Bound & Marked Yours (As a set)

SJD Peterson – Quinn's Need or Lorcan's Desire

Kate McMurray – Across the East River Bridge

Simone Anderson – Readers Choice from Back List

Jaime Samms – Ghosts And Lovers

Viki Lyn – The Tiger Within

Tara Lain – Golden Dancer

 

The amazing Authors below will be popping in and out to chat & post excerpts from their latest books:

 

Bryl R Tyne – Divinity

Nix Winter – Loving Robin

Viki Lyn – The Hunter Within

Lily Sawyer – Somebody To Love

Simone Anderson – To Love Again

Charlie Cochrane – Music in the Midst of Desolation

Andrea Speed – Pretty Monsters (Josh of the Damned, #1)

 [image error]

The day will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST in the Ethan Day Yahoo Group where we'll be posting excerpts, running contests for free books, and chatting about all the new and upcoming releases from your favorite authors.

Ethan Day Interviews Geoffrey Knight about The Cross of the Sins

Now that I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things between GayRomLit and my own writing, I figured it was about time to start up the 5.4.8×5 series once again. Though the interviews will likely post once a month for the time being instead of bi-monthly as I still have a lot going on, I figured who better to kick things off than Geoffrey Knight and the first of his Fathom's Five Series, The Cross of Sins. No one I can think of does high-octane, gripping the edge of your e-reader, action and adventure better! As he's co-authoring the first book of a new series with yours truly, I was able to twist his arm into doing and interview with me. ; ) Now that the third book in the Fathom's series, The Curse of the Dragon God has been released it seems like the right time to present all of you with our conversation about Cross – the book that started a franchise which consistently leaves readers desperate for more.

  

ED: First I simply have to ask the obvious, which is probably the question you get asked most…but I can't help it, I have to know…otherwise I'll be forever imagining a horny teenaged Geoff locked away in his bedroom at night, whispering the name Luca between clenched teeth while doing unmentionable things to himself. : ) This series is like every Indiana Jones/adventure story loving gay boy's wet dream of a fantasy life come alive on the page…and then some. From the lava tubes off the island of Kahna Toga to the island of Vulcano, The Cross of Sins, book one in the Fathom's Five series, was a virtually, non-stop thrill ride of suspense, action and hot-n-sweaty man lovin'– so seriously dude, like where the hell did all this come from!?! And how long did you have all of this playing out in your head before you finally sat down and wrote a single word?

GK: Well, seriously dude, it's been in there for a long time! When it comes to full-length novels I actually have them brewing in my head for years, cooking and bubbling and stewing away until they're exactly what I want them to be. When it came to kicking off the Fathom's Five series, I actually jumped in too quickly on my first attempt. It was way back in 2000 and I hadn't spent nearly enough time hatching the story and characters properly. Back then there was only one lead character (not five). His name was Luca da Roma but he was different to my current Luca. Back then he was on the trail of ancient clues that had been hidden in famous works of art around Europe. But I found that having one hero was too limiting for the scope of what I wanted to write, and within 20,000 words I'd written myself into a hole. Then a little book called The Da Vinci Code was released with a very similar plot (and a few million more sales than mine), so I put the project in the bottom drawer and let it sit there for a very long time. But it never left my head. Then in 2007 I pulled it out and realized it'd work a helluva lot better if I took the Charlie's Angels approach—multiple protagonists. But of course, more is more in the world of Fathom's Five, and I thought why settle for three hunks when I could have five of them! So I took a number of hot gay porn stereotypes and moulded them into guys who were as rounded and grounded as I could make them without losing the rollercoaster heroics. Then of course they needed a father-figure, so I borrowed a lot from Patrick Stewart's Professor Xavier in the X-Men movies to create my Professor Fathom. And suddenly every ancient mystery, every corner of the globe, every villainous cult and deadly trap and ruined temple were at my fingertips and I was off and running!

 

ED: That's awesome to hear the evolution of what has become an incredible adventure series that has people constantly clamoring for more. I think the real lesson here, especially for the new and would-be writers out there, is that just because an idea doesn't pan out in the beginning with a little time and patience something even better can bloom from the compost pile of other ideas.

Speaking from the logistical standpoint of threading together the POV's of so many head-lining protagonists while balancing all of their individual needs, wants, and inner turmoil – what processes do you go through in order to keep it all sorted out? I only ask because I can't multi-task at all in real life, let alone inside my own head. I'd totally take my hat off if I were wearing one. : )

GK: I can't multi-task in my head either. It has to be down on paper. And not just on the computer, I mean physically on pieces of paper so I can push everything off my desk and lay out these little pieces of paper and shuffle them around till the narrative works. What I usually do is start with the basic plot—who are the villains, what's the mystery and what's the McGuffin (the item of the quest)? Then I come up with locations to suit that particular mystery. Then I plot the course of the novel under the headings of the different locations. For example, I'm currently working on the fourth book in the series, The Temple of Time. It's all about the Mayan Calendar which actually goes back to the Olmecs. So obviously Mexico is the number one location that's central to the plot, so usually that location becomes the point for the climax so that I can bring all the characters together to the one location to end things with a bang. But then I come up with a number of other locations that thematically gel with the plot and central location. Because The Temple of Time is all about (you guessed it) Time, the other locations in the book pinpoint various models of ancient clocks—so throughout the novel we jet off to Prague to visit an astronomical clock, to Morocco to visit a water clock, and to Amsterdam to visit a wind clock. (Of course, I use the word "visit" very loosely; it's more like "run, chase, dodge bullets, duck for cover and duck under the covers"). So you can imagine my desk is kinda messy with all those snippets of paper. And my number one rule is: Don't Turn On The Fan!

 

ED: Uh oh…no sleep overs for you and me then…I do love me some fan while I sleep. : )

It was obvious to me as I was reading the book how much you cared about each of the protagonists in the book. As much as you seemed to enjoy getting them into mountains of trouble, you also brilliantly found ways to ground each of them with their own flawed reality: Will Hunter who was raised by the family butler, Felix thanks to his neglectful and an altogether absent father, Luca da Roma the orphan raised by nuns who has a deeply ingrained desire to know where he comes from, Jake Stone and his Achilles heel – the homeless teenager Sam, Eden Santiago who at first glance seems like the most pulled together yet has a one time lover who turns out to have meant more than Santiago lets on, and my fave, the cowboy Shane Houston, who stands up to defend a father despite never getting the man's approval and who risks his own life to save his horse. If you don't mind, explain what your process was during the plotting and writing of Cross and why you decided to give such weight to these characters when you didn't really have to? Why was it so important for you to give them each their own lives and loss within the construct of this otherwise fast-paced thrill ride? Why mix the social drama with the testosterone fueled action and adventure?

GK: Great question! I think as a writer, the one thing you have to do above all else is write something that interests you! Because if you're not interested in what you're writing, chances are nobody else will be either. So to maintain my own interest in these guys across the bigger canvas of their adventures, I needed to give them their own personal stories and subplots to slowly unravel over the series. Some readers have criticized the books individually for not having enough character development, but in doing so they're not looking at the bigger picture. If I had solved all my heroes' individual personal demons in the first book, I'd have nothing else to work with in subsequent books. Luca's a great example of this: he doesn't know who he is, where he came from, but in each book he and the reader get closer and closer to figuring out his past until eventually the secret to Luca's true identity becomes the major plot of Book 7 (and trust me, it's a humdinger!). The same goes for Jake. Who he is and why he does what he does (and Sam's real identity) don't actually come to light until later books, but all the clues are there in the previous books. You just have to look for them. So yes, I'm working on a very big canvas, and when someone says there's no character development I'd love to say "Yes there is" and show them everything that's slowly unraveling before their eyes, but then that would spoil a LOT of secrets and mysteries yet to come! My only advice is, take EVERYTHING in! Every word, every scene, is there for a reason.

 

ED: You'll never hear me complaining – I love a good tease.

Now we can get down to the romance – from the moment Jacques Dumas entered the picture in Venice you let us know immediately with one simple sentence exactly what this man had meant to Eden who was unable to lie to the sexy Frenchman. Their entire past is fully illuminated with that one admission from Eden who then wondered to himself why he ever allowed Jacques to slip away. Dumas even mentioned some unanswered letters he'd sent to Eden at some point in their past. It's made evident that it wasn't a nasty break-up and it struck me as odd considering that up until this point in the book, Eden seemed to be the only one of the five who appeared completely comfortable in his own skin. It was almost a little shocking to me since I'd already formed such a strong picture of who Santiago was, but I found myself liking the character so much more because of it. I certainly have my own theories as to why but I wondered what you believed was the real reason Eden let go of Jacques go all those years ago?

GK: Ah, Jacques! I love Jacques, I think he's a great character who, after the first adventure in The Cross of Sins had a very major role to play in the second book, The Riddle of the Sands. In fact, he featured in almost half the book and had quite an adventure in the Amazon with Eden, all the while revealing more about their past and the reasons their romance didn't work—but might possibly work again. Unfortunately, Riddle finished up WAY too long. At 500 pages, my publisher told me it was too long, and they were right. So I had to cut 200 pages (yikes!). That was a VERY tough thing to do, and I learned a lot from the process. After a few days of wondering how the hell I was going to lose almost half the book without completely scrambling the plot, I realized Jacques and the big Amazon adventure was going to have to go! I still sent Eden to the Amazon, but I had to write Jacques out of that subplot completely and shorten Eden's journey dramatically. In the end it works for the book. The bad news is poor old Jacques doesn't get a mention at all in the novel now. The good news is he will come back in an upcoming book to play one third of a love triangle. My lips are sealed as to who, when, why and how!

 

ED: LOL…you're the biggest tease!

Perhaps it's just me and my own romanticism about you Aussie boys, but would you agree that some of that sense of adventure, which you've folded into the pages of your fiction is inherent, a by-product of that awesomely unique country from which you hail, or am I merely deluding myself with visions of me & Hugh Jackman on the back of his trusty steed? : )

GK: I like that vision of Hugh Jackman! Unfortunately I'm nothing like Hugh and if you threw me into the pages of one of my adventures, well, let's just say those car chases would be short-lived and I'd most certainly pass out if someone shot me in the arm. But having said that, yes, Australia is a naturally adventurous country and you do grow up learning how to treat a snake bite, or what to do if a shark is circling you, or knowing where and when to swim despite the heat and the temptation to jump into any old waterhole; not that I've ever had to dodge a shark, but growing up in country towns I've certainly had my fair share of run-ins with snakes. We actually have all 10 of the Top 10 Deadliest Snakes in the world here in our backyard. There's a snake scene in my latest ebook The Seventh Wave (which is partly set in Australia's outback) which brought back more than a few of my own snake adventures. But to be honest I think my love of adventure stems more from being a movie-loving kid growing up in a small town with one old run-down picture theatre, staring up at the screen wide-eyed and in awe of Raiders of the Lost Ark. (If ever I meet him, I owe Mr. Spielberg a drink!)

Click Here To Purchase

THE CROSS OF SINS – BLURB

Somewhere in the world is a statue so sinful that a secret sect of the Church wants it destroyed at any cost. Somewhere in the Turkish desert, in the streets of London, and in the depths of Venice, are the clues to find it. And, somewhere in the hearts of five sexy, daring, thrill-seeking gay men, is the courage and die-hard determination to unravel one of the greatest mysteries of all time.

Meet Luca da Roma, an Italian model and expert in art, both ancient and modern; Dr Eden Santiago, Brazilian biologist, physician and genetic engineer; Shane Houston, a Texas cowboy and an expert in cartography; Will Hunter, a San Diego college student and football star, majoring in ancient history; and Jake Stone, an adventurer-for-hire from New York and the newest member of Professor Fathom's team of hot gay adventure seekers.

Together, they are Fathom's Five, traveling the world, solving ancient mysteries, uncovering priceless treasures, and getting into hot, sticky and sexy situations, while thwarting danger at every turn! From Venice to Vienna, from Tuscany to Turkey, from the South Pacific to the seas off Sicily, join in the heroic adventures, hunky sex and hot, high-octane action of THE CROSS OF SINS.

 

THE CROSS OF SINS – EXCERPT

Shane and his mother let the screen door slam and pounded the boards of the dilapidated porch, far enough away from the door so that Claudius couldn't hear them.

As darkness fell and distant thunder echoed off the mountains, both Shane and Gertie started talking at once. But it was Shane who had the louder voice.

"Gertie, what the hell are you doin'? Has he asked you to marry him? After what he did to our family!"

"Shane, he did nothing to our family."

"Gertie, he drained the entire well. He bled us dry and made billions. And left Dad broke."

"What your daddy did, he did to himself. I don't know why you're taking his side, anyway. We both know he was a mean, angry drunk. You and he never once saw eye to eye! And stop callin' me Gertie in front of Claudius! He's a gentleman. And yes, he did ask me to marry him. And I said yes!"

"What! Why!"

"Because, dammit Shane, I'm lonely!"

"You've got me!"

"No, I don't! You've got your own life! Shane, I love you. And in a lot of ways I loved your father too, despite the things he said and the way he acted. But now I need you to understand my life too. I'm all alone, Shane."

She reached for him then and touched his arm. Her shawl fell from her shoulder down to her elbow.

"Honey, you know nobody will ever take the place of you. But Claudius, he makes me feel alive. And for an old woman—"

"Ma, you ain't old."

"I'm getting old. And since you left home, I get lonely too. And these days, when someone knocks on my door, I open it. And I ask them in for a cup of tea."

"Ma, I don't think Claudius is here for a cup of tea—"

"Hush!" scolded Gertie. "He keeps me company."

Shane sighed and wrapped his mother's shawl up around her shoulder. "He doesn't treat you bad?"

Gertie shook her head. "Heavens, no! Not at all."

"What can he give you?"

"He's got big dreams, Shane! He tells me he's working on something incredible! Something to do with new energy. Something that'll change the world. I don't know what it is, but he tells me he's cooking up a storm!"

"Yeah, but does he cook you dinner?"

Gertie laughed. "Goodness, I haven't met a man yet who can."

"Gertie, you need to meet more gay men."

Gertrude eyed him with a soft anger. "Shane Houston, I told you about that Gertie thing!"

Shane sighed. "Yes, Ma."

Gertie smiled and pecked her son on the cheek.

He wrapped his strong arms around her then. Either his arms and shoulders had gotten bigger than she remembered, or she'd gotten smaller. It didn't matter.

"Just be careful," he whispered into her neck as he hugged her tight. "I worry about you!"

As another bolt of lightning illuminated the distant sky, Arturo and Acacia galloped across the paddock toward the house. Shane could hear them. And he smiled.

Tomorrow he would take all three of them out—including young Jax—and let them run wild in the sun, trampling the earth, grazing the prairie, having fun. Just Shane and his horses.

"I'd better get these guys into the stable," he said now. "That thunder's getting closer."

"And I'd better get back inside and make sure Claudius is alright."

Gertie kissed him on the cheek once more and headed through the screen door.

Shane stepped down off the porch as Arturo and Acacia approached. He immediately sensed their anxiety. He saw their wide-eyed fear.

"Whoa, whoa, guys! You okay?"

Suddenly Shane realized that Jax was nowhere to be seen.

Riding Arturo bareback, with Acacia by their side, Shane and the horses thundered across the land as the sky thundered above them. They came to a halt, Arturo rearing upward, at the edge of a shallow ravine.

Shane jumped from Arturo's back and stood staring down into the dark.

He heard a frightened whinny, then, as lightning shot across the sky, he caught a glimpse of young Jax, trapped in the gully. He seemed unharmed, but somehow he had managed to fall or find his way down there and couldn't get back up.

Shane quickly sized up the steep ravine. "I'm comin' little buddy! Hold on!" Then he turned to Arturo. "Arturo. Rope! I need you to get me a rope from the stables. Rope! Do you understand?"

Arturo's head bucked up and down, his hooves clomping, and as swiftly as he raced across the ranch, he disappeared into the darkness.

At that moment the heavens opened and the rain came down in a deluge.

It turned the sides of the ravine into a muddy slippery slide as Shane scrambled and rolled his way down, his clothes soaked through by the time he hit the floor of the ravine.

Jax came bounding up to him.

"Hey, mister! You okay? You hurt?" Shane checked the colt's lanky legs, his hips, his ribs. No broken bones. Now all they had to do was find a way out.

Shane knelt in the pelting rain and stroked Jax's wet coat. "Okay little buddy, here's the deal. You're gonna be brave and let me sling you over my shoulders, okay? Then you and me are gonna climb our way outta here." He glanced up the wall of the ravine to see it quickly turning into a mudslide, then added, "Somehow."

With some effort, Shane hoisted Jax over his shoulders and felt the weight. "Damn, you're a growin' boy, ain't ya!" Then, with his fingers clawing into the mud and boots finding footholes wherever he could, the young cowboy started to climb his way out of the ravine.

He got six feet up when thunder cracked across the sky.

Jax squirmed nervously.

Shane lost his grip and slid all the way to the bottom again.

"Okay," he panted to himself. "Maybe this is gonna take a little longer than I thought."

He started clambering up the embankment again. Just then the rain got heavier. It poured over the brim of his hat. He had trouble seeing what he was doing, feeling his way, making a grab for a ledge or a sturdy-looking shrub with each flash of lightning.

Then the mud beneath his left foot gave way, the rocks in his right hand came loose, and Shane once again slid to the bottom of the ravine with an increasingly-frightened colt on his back.

That's when both man and colt heard Arturo's whinny at the top of the embankment.

Shane looked up and a coiled rope landed across his face. "Ow!"

Then suddenly he heard another sound.

Not Arturo's whinny from above.

Not thunder.

This was something altogether different.

A rush.

A roar.

Shane looked quickly up to the opened heavens, then left, where the ravine ran all the way up to the mountains. And all he could whisper was, "Oh shit!"

Quickly he hoisted Jax off his shoulders.

He ripped off his drenched shirt, the weight of it slowing him down.

He took the rope in both hands in seconds made a lasso out of it. "Arturo!"

The crashing roar—the sound of a fast-approaching flashflood—grew louder and louder. There was no telling how far away it was. Minutes. Maybe only seconds.

Jax gave a scared whimper and begin to trot in the opposite direction of the coming flood.

Shane dropped the rope and tackled him. "No, Jax. Stay with me."

With colt in one hand, Shane scrambled back to the rope. "Arturo! Are you there?"

Arturo's head appeared over the top of the embankment. Lightning broke the sky above him. Thunder belted across the night, setting the angry clouds aglow. And getting closer by the second—

—the rush of the killer flashflood.

Shane swung the lasso over his head and threw it hard and high. The loop landed over Arturo's head and slid down his neck.

Shane grabbed Jax and slung him over his shoulders once more. He tangled the roped around his wrists, looked up and screamed, "Arturo! Pull!!!"

As the mighty stallion backed up, the rope snapped tight, hauling Shane and the colt upward. Shane dug his boots into the muddy, collapsing wall as best he could, taking huge strides upward, trying to help Arturo as the horse pulled on the straining rope.

For the dark of the ravine, the roar became deafening.

The rope cut deep into Shane hands and wrists.

Still he pushed upward with every kick and stride.

Arturo pulled backward, his hooves slipping in the mud.

Lightning flashed, and Shane glanced left once more. That's when he saw the wall of water appear, destroying a corner of the ravine a hundred feet away as it tore its way toward them.

"Arturo! Pull! Pull!"

Arturo gave it all he had, sliding and stamping backward through the mud.

Jax saw the wall of water coming for them and began to kick and buck.

Shane held on tight.

Pushing and kicking higher and higher.

Mud sliding under his boots.

He felt the spray of water jetting down the ravine toward them. It smacked against his face, his arms. It would only be a matter of seconds before—

—the flood hit the base of the embankment and devoured it.

Everything began to slide downward as the rushing water rose. Fast!

The wall slipped into a mudslide.

Shane's footing went with it.

The torrent of water slammed into his feet, trying to drag them down as the flood quickly rose.

"Arturo!"

The rope lurched higher.

The flood took out half the wall.

It pulled down on Shane's legs.

Grabbed hold of his bare waist.

Jax kicked and panicked.

Arturo pulled as hard and fast as he could.

Shane felt the tangle of ropes around his hands and wrists begin to give.

Then suddenly—

—the edge.

Shane hit the edge of the ravine.

He threw Jax to safety.

He felt Acacia bite painfully into his shoulder, trying to pull him out of harm's way as Arturo continued pulling on the rope at the same time.

Dragging him clear of the hungry flood that ripped apart the ravine.

Flat on his back, heaving with fear, adrenaline, relief, Shane lifted himself on his elbows and in a flash of lightning saw Acacia sheltering a scared but safe Jax.

Then he felt Arturo nudge his shoulder to make sure he was okay.

Shane let out a sigh and stroked Arturo's mane. "Thank you," was all he could manage before collapsing on his back in the mud.

Click Here To Purchase

History repeats and you still gotta have friends…

As I've been running around like the-little-homo-that-could lately, it's become painfully obvious that I can't. At least with regard to keeping up with all my blogger duties. What's worse, is this is apparently part of some sick pattern of behavioral abuse – as evidenced when I went poking around the posts of the past trying to find something to re-place before you, never pretending to not be blogger hand-me-downs, while simultaneously hoping you wouldn't actually notice either. LOL!

Now that I've blown that evil-ploy all to hell, we'll move on. As I was saying – upon reading the following post from several years back, I was immediately struck by the fact that I have a pattern – something I'm now looking into having turned into a diagnosis I can go to the doctor and get a pill for. I'm calling it Lazy-blogginitis. And I suffer from it, big time! : )

 

That being said, I hope ya enjoy this blog-blast-from-the-past!

 

Because You Gotta Have Friends…

Whew…smells a little musty in here, lemme throw open the curtains and crack the windows in this joint. I feel like I haven't been here in ages!  Before you go getting all finger-pointy let me just say…it's totally not my fault!  I mean, I lost my keys…the locksmith wanted to charge a fortune to let me back in…he was kinda hunky so we worked something out in trade.  Can I just say…he had a really nice master-key.

 
Okay…right.  I'll end my holiday in the fictional town of Pornotopia now.  I thought it might sound better than, "I've just been busy."  Between the new job, new-book promo, and submitting what I hope to be my third book, the weeks just sorta got away from me.  I can't help it…I'm a Pisces, I get easily distracted!

 
I've been thinking a lot lately about the past, my past…my friends, the boys – the girls.  Obviously this is something we all do, but perhaps not with quite the same vigor and determination we writers do.  Personally I tend to attack my memories like an invading army, or possibly a kid furiously digging through his toy box, desperate to find that one special toy.  The missing strand of story-DNA that will allow us to create our very own Jurassic Park…which in my case is more likely to be over-run with spastic, yet lovable gay boys and snarky, sarcastic females than Velociraptor's.

 
I'm more than willing to rape my own experiences for the good of my fiction.  So, is it really that life imitates art so much as the opposite?  Perhaps it's both?  I have zero qualms about using my friend's misfortune and personality quirks for my characters.  For those who might think that awful…I'm equal opportunity and take full advantage of my own personal agonies as well.  One of my BFF's sent me text over the weekend laughing his ass off at something in Dreaming of You that was one of my personal misfortunes which while not fun at the time it was happening to me in my real life, was hysterical after the fact.

 
I've had a lot of people comment about really loving the 'driving scene' in Dreaming.  I laughed my ass off when writing that because it was based on one of my gal pals from many years back.  She was from New York and the single worst driver I've ever known.  We literally came out of a store one time to find a policeman sitting on the hood of his patrol car waiting on us to come back out.  As he wrote her a ticket, he made a point of letting her know she'd been barreling through town so fast that he'd been unable to catch up to us.

  
I obviously change the names and sometimes even the genders to protect the not so innocent.  Let's face it.  None of my friends are all that innocent.  All this playful rummaging about in my memories got me wondering about my friends in terms of gender.  My first really good friends were gay men.  It was upon meeting them that I really allowed myself to just be me.  No pretense, no hiding my light under a basket.  Flame on!, so to speak.  There were two Boy-BFF's I was especially close to; we'll call them Beau & Luke.  How very Dukes of Hazard of me, I know.  For a year we were practically inseparable, The Three Musgayteers.  Then of course, Beau moved away with some guy.  He was supposedly in love or something!  I know…how rude right, so much for Bro's before Man-Ho's?

 
And for those of you've read my blog titled Jealous…again, you know how my friendship ended with Luke.  What I like to call the Tourette's Tragedy of 1992.  Needless to say, after that I'd had my fill of gay boys.  They were apparently only good for one thing…well maybe two or three, but friendship wasn't one of them!  This kicked off my 6 year Man-haters-gal-pal-only-club.

 
I'm not sure what draws me toward the women folk.  Perhaps it's a little nature vs. nurture in action.  While my little head always turns my attention toward the big-beefy-muscles that be men, my big head seems to gravitate to the girls when it comes to actually having a fulfilling conversation.  Despite the fact that I covet the man-meat, I suppose growing up surrounded by women has made the ladies something I derive a lot of comfort from.

 
Of course, just like the gay boys of my past, the chicks who were my BFF's kept finding BF's and thus also ran off to marry their orgasms.  At this point I realized that friendship shouldn't be determined by genitalia.  And over the long haul, I've discovered that while my gay friends tend to desert me more often, they also seem to come back sooner, scratching at the door while licking their rug burns.  My girl friends on the other hand run off to the 'land of the little people who carry big germs', hardly ever to be seen or heard from again.  Shady bitches! : )

 
Perhaps it says more about me than anything that I've always valued my friends more than the men I've dated.  I keep telling myself that it's because I haven't found The One yet.  But to be perfectly honest, I'm sick of looking for the son of a bitch!

  
The One needs to get off his hairy ass and come find me. ; )  Honestly…what the hell does The One do all day?  Sheesh!

 
End Rant

 
Much Love
Ethan

August's Gay Day is HERE!!!

 

 

 

Sunday, August 21st, is Gay Day at my Yahoo Group. Gay Day is the one day a month when the best authors in GLBT Romance stop by to post excerpts of their new and upcoming releases.

 

The following authors will be generously offering giveaways you can enter to win:

Geoff Knight – Drive Shaft 2

Andrew Grey – Persona Training

Clare London – Just-You Eyes

Jaime Samms – Finding Home: Ageless Book 3

S.J. Frost – Readers Choice from Backlist

Devon Rhodes – One Wild Wish

Stevie Woods – More Than Chains To Bind

Angel Martinez – Fortune's Sharp Adversity

Lily Sawyer – Somebody to Love

Pia Veleno – Make You Sweat

KC Burn – Trompe L'oeil

Kate McMurray – Blind Items

Tara Lain – Volley Balls

Jambrea Jo Jones – A Fistful of Emmett

P.A. Brown – Readers Choice from Backlist

 

The amazing Authors below will be popping in and out to chat & post excerpts from their latest books:

 

P.A. Brown – Bermuda Heat

Geoff Knight – CURSE OF THE DRAGON GOD

Z.A. Maxfield – Rhapsody for Piano and Ghost

Lynn Lorenz – Cemeteries & C'est La Vie

Jambrea Jo Jones – Alliance

The day will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST in the Ethan Day Yahoo Group where we'll be posting excerpts, running contests for free books, and chatting about all the new and upcoming releases from your favorite authors.

 

I hope everyone will stop by to catch up with your favorite authors and join in all the fun!

An Evening of Gay Men's Romance at Giovanni's Room

 

I'll be in Philadelphia next week for Author's After Dark and I wanted to post about this extra event set up by Laura Baumbach for MLR Press and it's authors. I hope anyone in the area will stop by and spend an hour or so chatting with those of us who'll be in attendance.

See you in Philly!!! : )

 

Philadelphia, PA (August 12, 2011) Join MLR Press at Giovanni's Room for an up close and personal book signing featuring the award winning authors of some of the best in contemporary gay fiction.

 

The evening will include readings by: Victor Banis, Ally Blue, James Buchanan, Z.A. Maxfield, William Neale, and Rick R. Reed. Selections from their current releases will showcase a variety of heat, from sweet romance to scorching erotica, and genre ranging from horror through mystery, BDSM, humor and more.

 

Also in attendance and signing books: Laura Baumbach, Kimberly Gardner, Ethan Day, Jet Mykles, Diana DeRicci, Taylor Donovan, Liz Strange, DH Star, David Juhren, and Karenna Colcroft.

 

Giovanni's Room, founded in 1973, is the oldest gay bookstore in the US. Housed in historic buildings from the 1800s, Giovanni's intimate setting and comfortable ambiance allows readers and authors to connect one-on-one, providing a unique experience. Attendees can mingle with their favorite author or discover new books and authors.

 

Owned by best-selling, award-winning author Laura Baumbach, MLR Press offers the highest quality stories to readers of gay fiction and erotic romance. MLR Press titles include multiple award-winning and Lambda nominated books such as the Donald Strachey Mystery Series by Richard Stevenson and The Golden Age of Gay Fiction edited by Drewey Wayne Gunn, a Benjamin Franklin Award winner. Books from MLR Press take readers on amazing adventures through the creative minds of a small, select group of bright, uniquely talented authors and artists.

 

Friday, August 12, 2011, 5:30 to 7:00 pm

Giovanni's Room, 345 S. 12th Street

Philadelphia, PA

For additional information on this event:

http://www.giovannisroom.com/event/evening-gay-mens-romance