Tinnean's Blog
October 23, 2025
What to do, what to do?
I'm working on this story called I Loved Him First, which was inspirled by I Loved Her First by Heartland. Wills and Theo's son Myles is getting married, and Wills sings this to him during the father/son dance. However, in order to get it published by JMS Books, it has to run a minimum of 12,000 words, so of course more needed to be added. We see Myles's birth, the Halloween when Wills and Theo realize their younger son likes girl's clothing, the school's talent show when Bear and Myles perform The Roving Kind, Myles's first real date (as opposed to going out with a bunch of his friends), and the aftermath of that date (not good).
The thing is, I've written myself into a corner. I'm not unhappy with where it's going, but... If Chad (the "boyfriend") discovered Theo had been a rent boy at one time in his life, how? His father was a former client (no problem), but he knew Theo as Sweetcheeks. Chad knew him as Mr. Bascopolis. Theo had to make a phone call to Chad's father, and I suppose he could have told the senior Pierce who he was, and the senior Pierce could have told his wife i.e. "Honey, you'll never guess who Chad's date's father is!" And as nice as she might be, (not sure about that at this point) the idea of her son being involved with a boy of questionable background (she's so deluded) might be the reason why she told Chad.
That could actually work! :-D
The thing is, I've written myself into a corner. I'm not unhappy with where it's going, but... If Chad (the "boyfriend") discovered Theo had been a rent boy at one time in his life, how? His father was a former client (no problem), but he knew Theo as Sweetcheeks. Chad knew him as Mr. Bascopolis. Theo had to make a phone call to Chad's father, and I suppose he could have told the senior Pierce who he was, and the senior Pierce could have told his wife i.e. "Honey, you'll never guess who Chad's date's father is!" And as nice as she might be, (not sure about that at this point) the idea of her son being involved with a boy of questionable background (she's so deluded) might be the reason why she told Chad.
That could actually work! :-D
October 7, 2025
Another great sale!
Today and tomorrow, 10/7-10/8, JMS Books is having a huge, on site sale. All ebooks are 50% off. And best of all, you don't have to be a Prime member.
September 28, 2025
Crazy times
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...
No, let's face it, right now, we're living through the worst of times. To help lighten things up a bit, several JMS Books authors are offering free books this week, 9/28-10/4 (including me!).
I'm offering Call Me Church, Destiny's End, and No One Should Be Alone, which was the first of the What If's....
Stop by the site and check out all the books that will cost $0.00 this week. And remember, they're all available on multiple formats!
No, let's face it, right now, we're living through the worst of times. To help lighten things up a bit, several JMS Books authors are offering free books this week, 9/28-10/4 (including me!).
I'm offering Call Me Church, Destiny's End, and No One Should Be Alone, which was the first of the What If's....
Stop by the site and check out all the books that will cost $0.00 this week. And remember, they're all available on multiple formats!
August 26, 2025
Sale!!
It's year 2 of Queer Lit BookBlast, where so many books are on sale for $.99, including They Come By Night.
It's also available on Amazon.
So come pay a visit!
It's also available on Amazon.
So come pay a visit!
July 6, 2025
It's that time again
July is JMS Books anniversary month, and it's 15 years this year!!! There is a monthlong sale, all ebooks 25% off.
This year, the topic is having an established couple going out on a date. I selected Ty Small and Adam Dasani from They Come By Night
Jimmy Black, Ty's best friend, worries about Ty's involvement with someone he's sure is an alcoholic--after all, every time he sees them together, Adam has a glass of wine in his hand. What Jimmy doesn't know is that wine is actually blood, since Adam is a vampyre. Jimmy determines to find Ty a new boyfriend, a better boyfriend. Ty has other ideas. ;-)
So if you have some spare time, stop by and check out In a Hundred Lifetimes.
This year, the topic is having an established couple going out on a date. I selected Ty Small and Adam Dasani from They Come By Night
Jimmy Black, Ty's best friend, worries about Ty's involvement with someone he's sure is an alcoholic--after all, every time he sees them together, Adam has a glass of wine in his hand. What Jimmy doesn't know is that wine is actually blood, since Adam is a vampyre. Jimmy determines to find Ty a new boyfriend, a better boyfriend. Ty has other ideas. ;-)
So if you have some spare time, stop by and check out In a Hundred Lifetimes.
June 2, 2025
Let's talk about AI
Thanks to the wonder that is the Net, I've been getting ads for Georgette Heyer's Regency and Georgian romances. I've always loved her works, so of course I clicked on them and learned some of them are in audio format. This led to YouTube, because why not? Mostly I found reviews, but I did find an audio book of These Old Shades, and it was free.
Excellent, yes? Actually, no. It was read by AI, and it was horrendous. The voice was flat, the pace of the reading was soooo off it pulled me out of the story, and it was obvious whoever taught this version of AI how to speak got it wrong in more ways than I want to think of. For instance, the word M'sieur. How was it pronounced? Em sieur. Seriously?
I gave it a thumbs-down and left a scathing review.
Excellent, yes? Actually, no. It was read by AI, and it was horrendous. The voice was flat, the pace of the reading was soooo off it pulled me out of the story, and it was obvious whoever taught this version of AI how to speak got it wrong in more ways than I want to think of. For instance, the word M'sieur. How was it pronounced? Em sieur. Seriously?
I gave it a thumbs-down and left a scathing review.
April 27, 2025
#JMSfreebookweek2025
This has become a sad, sad world, and we're all stressing out. In an effort to alleviate this a little, my fabulous publisher is offering Free ebook week. Over 100 JMS authors (including me!!) are participating. Come by the site and find the start of a new series or a new-to-you author.
And as a reminder--JMS not only offers you the format of your choice, but the option to order them all at no extra cost!
And as a reminder--JMS not only offers you the format of your choice, but the option to order them all at no extra cost!
Oops...
I totally forgot to mention the latest book I published with JMS Books. Sweetest Taboo was released a couple of weeks ago, after JMS put out a call for unfinished WIPs. I started this in 2022 and is Tony and Bryan Sebring's story, from Tony's POV. The reason it took so long was because I knew its topic would make it almost impossible to get published.
Then I had a thought... suppose I make this a What if...? What if Tony and Bryan aren't blood brothers? And the story took off from there. We learn about Tony's birth parents, Anthony Sebring senior's decision to raise the boy as his own, and Tony's enduring love for his "brother".
Some things remain the same--Sebring I has no love for the wife he'd been required to marry, and he still has that second family out in San Francisco--but some things are very different. I'll leave the reader to discover them.
I've done a couple of stories along this line-- Family is What You Make It which asks what if Winchester was actually Mark Vincent's son, and No One Should Be Alone --which asks what would happen if the WBIS was disbanded and Mark was recruited by the CIA?
And I'm very happy to have Sweetest Taboo join them.
Then I had a thought... suppose I make this a What if...? What if Tony and Bryan aren't blood brothers? And the story took off from there. We learn about Tony's birth parents, Anthony Sebring senior's decision to raise the boy as his own, and Tony's enduring love for his "brother".
Some things remain the same--Sebring I has no love for the wife he'd been required to marry, and he still has that second family out in San Francisco--but some things are very different. I'll leave the reader to discover them.
I've done a couple of stories along this line-- Family is What You Make It which asks what if Winchester was actually Mark Vincent's son, and No One Should Be Alone --which asks what would happen if the WBIS was disbanded and Mark was recruited by the CIA?
And I'm very happy to have Sweetest Taboo join them.
December 6, 2024
This year's Advent Calendar
My novella, Lyin' in the Green Grass, is part of JMS Books Advent Calendar, and is free today.
Tommy Johnson’s life is inadvertently endangered when Zack Jones writes a song mentioning him. Zack has to make things right with the reclusive man. Can he, and more importantly, can Tom let him?
Because, of course, I couldn't resist bringing in the WBIS. ;-)
Tommy Johnson’s life is inadvertently endangered when Zack Jones writes a song mentioning him. Zack has to make things right with the reclusive man. Can he, and more importantly, can Tom let him?
Because, of course, I couldn't resist bringing in the WBIS. ;-)
November 7, 2024
On the Beach
I watched the remake of On the Beach last night. Spoilers ahead ahoy, and I'm not kidding.
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It was a good deal grittier than the original, and Armand Assante (as Captain Dwight Towers) sounded a lot like Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman. Other than that... I'm ambivalent about it, and I'm sure Nevil Shute is turning over in his grave. He was upset with the original, in part because of how Dwight's relationship with Moira was portrayed. (in the book, he remained faithful to the memory of his wife.) In the remake, he pretty much hops into bed with Moira as soon as he meets her.
Also--and I know this is unrealistic, since people are what they are--I hated seeing the Aussies attack each other, another reason why I prefer the book and the original version. This was like Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. In the cities, the worst in people came out, while in the country and suburbs they just went about living what was left of their lives.
As for Dwight abandoning his post for Moira... maybe that's what the studio thought the public wanted for the ending, but I liked him better when he was true to the way he viewed his position. I don't remember if it was mentioned in this version, but he'd been given command of the entire US Navy, as little of it as was left. I also preferred the reasoning behind Dwight taking out the Scorpion, ( the original name of his sub)--he couldn't leave a ship under his command unmanned in a foreign country. That was why he took her out that last time--to sail her beyond Australian waters (about 30 miles out) and scuttle her. NOT because the men took a vote and wanted to go home.
And what was up with him injecting his second-in-command directly into his arm when Neil was hooked up to an IV? Wouldn't it have made more sense to administer the drug that way?
At least the Australian accents seemed authentic. In the original version, Julian's (Fred Astaire) and Peter's (Tony Perkins) seem to bounce from British and Aussie back to American as the movie progressed.
I did think the message they received ("don't despair" and 'the whales survived" and the way it was delivered (solar-powered laptop) was clever. And at least Dwight never fired off his warheads.
So all things considered, I prefer the 1959 version to this (I had to watch it after I finished with this one, just to get the taste out of my mouth), and the book to both of them.
s
p
o
i
l
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r
s
p
a
c
e
It was a good deal grittier than the original, and Armand Assante (as Captain Dwight Towers) sounded a lot like Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman. Other than that... I'm ambivalent about it, and I'm sure Nevil Shute is turning over in his grave. He was upset with the original, in part because of how Dwight's relationship with Moira was portrayed. (in the book, he remained faithful to the memory of his wife.) In the remake, he pretty much hops into bed with Moira as soon as he meets her.
Also--and I know this is unrealistic, since people are what they are--I hated seeing the Aussies attack each other, another reason why I prefer the book and the original version. This was like Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. In the cities, the worst in people came out, while in the country and suburbs they just went about living what was left of their lives.
As for Dwight abandoning his post for Moira... maybe that's what the studio thought the public wanted for the ending, but I liked him better when he was true to the way he viewed his position. I don't remember if it was mentioned in this version, but he'd been given command of the entire US Navy, as little of it as was left. I also preferred the reasoning behind Dwight taking out the Scorpion, ( the original name of his sub)--he couldn't leave a ship under his command unmanned in a foreign country. That was why he took her out that last time--to sail her beyond Australian waters (about 30 miles out) and scuttle her. NOT because the men took a vote and wanted to go home.
And what was up with him injecting his second-in-command directly into his arm when Neil was hooked up to an IV? Wouldn't it have made more sense to administer the drug that way?
At least the Australian accents seemed authentic. In the original version, Julian's (Fred Astaire) and Peter's (Tony Perkins) seem to bounce from British and Aussie back to American as the movie progressed.
I did think the message they received ("don't despair" and 'the whales survived" and the way it was delivered (solar-powered laptop) was clever. And at least Dwight never fired off his warheads.
So all things considered, I prefer the 1959 version to this (I had to watch it after I finished with this one, just to get the taste out of my mouth), and the book to both of them.
