Marie Sexton's Blog, page 36

Naughty Threesome Blog Tour

The release of Song of Oestend is just around the corner, and to celebrate, I'm going on a whirlwind blog tour with two of my fellow Total E-Bound m/m authors, Talia Carmichael and S.A. Meade. The tour begins on release day, Monday, August 22nd, and will finish off on the 29th. Follow us on the tour and comment often. We will be collecting names of all commenters on our tour and giving away a grand prize at the end of the tour.  The more you comment, the better your chance of winning!

We will be stopping at the following places:

Monday, August 22nd: Top2Bottom Reviews (http://top2bottomreviews.wordpress.com/)

Tuesday, August 23rd: Talia Carmichael's blog (http://taliacarmichael.com/blog/)

Wednesday, August 24th: Amara's Place (http://www.amaras-place.blogspot.com/)

Thursday, August 25th: Fiction Vixen (http://www.fictionvixen.com/)

Friday, August 26th: Marie's blog (http://MarieSexton.net)

Saturday, August 27th: Heidi Cullinan's blog (http://heidicullinan.wordpress.com/)

Sunday, August 28th: Smexy Books (http://www.smexybooks.com/)

Monday, August 29th: S.A. Meade's blog (http://kestrelrising.blogspot.com/)

One lucky winner will receive:


$50  All Romance Ebook ebooks bucks! (You must have an account at All Romance Ebook so we can send the prize to you.)
1 pdf from Talia's backlist (winner's choice of Detour, Reckless Behaviour, or A Tender Roughness)
A swag pack from Marie
1 ebook from Marie's backlist (winner's choice of Promises, A to Z, Strawberries for Dessert, or One More Soldier)
1 pdf of S.A. Meade's Stolen Summer


Stolen Summer, by S.A. Meade

The horror of Evan and Colin's stolen summer may be over but the nightmares remain. Can their love survive the fallout?

Available from Total E-Bound on Monday, August 29th

Pre-order it now from Total E-Bound!

Visit S.A. Meade at:

http://kestrelrising.blogspot.com/

FB:https://www.facebook.com/pages/SAMeade/171142316286649

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/kestrelrising
Ralston's Way, by Talia Carmichael

Book one in the Prentiss Series

When the computer guru meets the rancher who likes things his way, who will have their way?

Available from Total E-Bound on Monday, August 22nd

Pre-order it now from Total E-Bound

Visit Talia Carcmichael at:

http://taliacarmichael.com

Blog: http://taliacarmichael.com/blog

Newsletter: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/taliacarmichael
Song of Oestend, by Marie Sexton

 Symbols have power…

Available Monday, August 22nd from Total E-Bound.

Pre-order it now from Total E-Bound

Make sure you follow us on the tour and comment often. We will be collecting names of all commenters on our tour and entering them into our grand prize drawing.  The more times you comment, the more times your name will be entered for the grand prize. The winner will be announced on August 30, 2011.

 

 

 

So come on our naughty journey as we have some fun, mayhem and get a little wild. We look forward to seeing you in the blogosphere!

 

Update

I haven't done an update in a while, mostly because I haven't felt like I had much to say, but it seems like it's time for me to get back on the horse, so to speak.

Between Sinners and Saints has been out for two months now, and the response has been very good. It's always great to hear from readers, but especially great to learn that I've struck a chord with them. It's had a couple of fabulous reviews. If you're interested in reading those, they can be found at Literary Nymphs, where it was given a Golden Blush Award, and at Dark Divas, where it earned five Divas and a Recommended Read. Thank you, to everybody who's bought and read Saints. I appreciate it!

My first non-contemporary novel, Song of Oestend, will be released by Total E-Bound on August 22nd. The paperback will follow shortly afterward (exact date TBD). You can preorder it now (you know you want to). This is my longest book to date, and in many ways the most nerve-wracking. I hope you'll enjoy it. Also, for those who haven't seen it yet, I've hidden an Easter egg somewhere on my site, behind which you can find the first half-chapter or so of Song of Oestend.

Now, my new big news is that my space pirate story, Blind Space, has been accepted by Silver Publishing. This is sort of a fun little piece – not nearly as heavy as some of my other stuff. It's about 41,000 words, which makes it a long novella, or maybe a very short novel. It will be available at some point down the road in both ebook and paperback. Exact date TBD. I'll post here as soon as I know more.

In other news, Heidi will be here visiting me at the end of August, so we may have some fun pics or something to post at that time. And speaking of Heidi, if you haven't bought her latest release, Dance With Me, you should go buy it NOW. My personal prediction is that this will be Heidi's most successful book yet. It's really excellent.

Of course, Heidi's not the only one with a new release. Ethan Stone also has his latest novel, Blood and Tears, and Scarlett Parrish has a hot little vampire book, A Little Death. Check those out, too.

For myself, I honestly can't say what's next. I have a few things in the works, although all of them are only half-ass at this point. I've been struggling these past few months with my health. Nothing major at all, but for somebody who's used to visiting the doctor about once every two years, it's been a real downer. Things seem to be evening out now, so I hope to get going on something again soon. The general lack of productivity is driving me mad. Of course, my kiddo will be heading back to school in a few weeks, and that will help. I love her to pieces, but her presence does not bode well for my writing time.

For those who can make it to New Orleans in October, I look forward to seeing you at GayRomLit. It looks like it's going to be a great time!

Take care, and enjoy a bit of ManCandy, in honor of my fun, funky space pirates!  ;-)

Song of Oestend: Available for Pre-Order!

Song of Oestend is now available for pre-order from Total E-Bound. Go here. The ebook will be released on August 22nd. The paperback will be released shortly afterward (exact date to be determined).

Author Fan Letter Blog Crawl

Dearn Lynn Flewelling:

I knew as soon as I learned of Kassa's blog crawl that I wanted to take part, and I knew I wanted to write this letter to you. But it's taken me a long time to compose it, because I wasn't really sure where to begin.

There are a lot of things I could thank you for. I could thank you for writing the Nightrunner series, which I love. I could thank you for proudly letting Alec and Seregil be lovers. I could thank you for introducing me to the idea of m/m fantasy. I'll never forget reading the end of Stalking Darkness, and feeling as if a whole new world had suddenly opened up to me. It's because of you that I started reading m/m fantasy, and then m/m romance, and eventually writing it myself.

Yes, I could thank you for all those things, but there's something else I want to thank you for more: I want to thank you for being a real person.

I know that sounds strange.

In early 2009, I learned of the Writing on the Waves workshop cruise you were hosting the following Spring. My friend Amy and I lamented that we couldn't afford to go. Shortly after that, I began writing my first novel, Promises. In the fall of 2009, when Promises was accepted by Dreamspinner Press, Amy said, "That's it! We're going on that cruise!"

Unfortunately, Amy didn't make it, but I did, and I can't tell you what a fabulous experience it was. In the months leading up to it, I pictured myself and other aspiring authors sitting like students in a classroom while you shared your great wisdom with us, and those visions were basically correct. But what I failed to picture was the rest of it: all of us having dinner together, and drinks, singing karaoke, and playing shuffleboard at midnight in our evening gowns.

After that, you asked if I was going to YaoiCon, and after being invited by you, how could I say no? You were kind enough to have me put on a panel with you and two other authors I was very much in awe of. I felt like a little kid being asked to sit at the adult table at Thanksgiving! But no matter how many times I tried to belittle my own writing or my own success next to yours, you were always the one who said, "Stop. Your books are as 'real' as mine." And Lynn, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for that.

Since that time, you've answered so many questions for me, and for the other authors who were on your cruise. You've helped and supported us all. You've been a mentor to us, but a friend as well. You've been the woman we all looked up to, but more importantly than that, you've been yourself – not just Lynn The Bestselling Fantasy Author, but Lynn, the real person, who hates bad reviews and has tough days and sometimes feels angry or jealous or annoyed just like the rest of us.

And for that, Lynn, I cannot thank you enough.

Sincerely, your student and your friend,

Marie

*****

Be sure you check out yesterday's letter here, and tomorrow, the blog crawl wraps up over at Kassa's. Hope to see you there!

Join me at Denver Lady Jane's Salon in Denver!

I'll be doing a reading in Denver next week, if anybody cares to come out and watch me hyperventilate in public.

No idea yet what I'll be reading.

Information can be found here.

Guest Blogger: Rachel Haimowitz

My guest today is Rachel Haimowitz. Rachel is galavanting through cyberspace and giving away prizes to promote her newest story in the Anchored universe, Where He Belongs. We'll be giving away a copy later, so stick around. You can check out the rest of Rachel's tour stops here.

*****

A Nice Place to Visit, But I Wouldn't Want to Live There

 

In the world of Belonging—the alternate universe in which Anchored and my new release, Where He Belongs, take place—slavery is still legal all across the world. Slaves are trained to do many things in the Belonging-verse. Many, like Daniel (the protagonist of both Anchored and Where He Belongs), are owned by a corporation or government and are highly trained to meet the needs of that particular organization. Others are owned by individuals. Some—particularly those who are conscripted later in life via legal or financial trouble—remain doctors or lawyers or accountants or whatever they might have been as freemen. Others get stuck digging ditches from the time they're old enough to hold a shovel. But the one profession I'm asked about the most are the Companions.

Companions are the, er, "sex slaves" of the Belonging-verse, some individually owned, some rented out by the hour. Comparing them to prostitutes is accurate in a way: some are essentially $10 hookers in knee pads, others are $10,000-a-night elite escorts, and the rest fall somewhere in between. But thinking of them that way really does sell them short. Companions—even the cheapest among them—are more like geisha: full-spectrum entertainers possessed of a great many skills, not all of which have to do with pretty faces or talent in bed.

In fact, the narrator of the first two stories in Where He Belongs is a Companion-in-training. We meet him at the tender age of twelve, by which point he was already a talented singer, musician, and conversationalist. He was studying classical literature, current events, even psychology. His corporate owners were grooming him to entertain high-class, highly educated VIPs. Were he to be sold when his training was complete, he'd likely fetch at least half a million dollars, maybe more.

So how does one get a Companion of their own? Well, you could buy one, but if you want the best, be prepared to shell out some mega-bucks. If, however, you've recently purchased, let's say, a strapping young farmhand—smart, sexy, subservient, but rough around the edges and thoroughly uncultured—you can send him to Companion training. Might I recommend Nevada Arts? They're the best in the country, and 24/7 training (room and board included!) costs a mere $18,000 a quarter. (Or, for those who want to keep their slave close to hand, training on a class-by-class basis is also an option.) Curriculums run from a single quarter to several focused years, but their most popular option is this twelve-month initiation for seasoned slaves:

First Quarter:

Introduction to Sexual Pleasuring (male-focused, female-focused, or mixed track)
Introduction to Music Theory
Introduction to Voice (aptitude-based) -or-

Introduction to Musical Instrument (master's choice)
Movement and Dance 101
Daily Body Sculpting (yoga, aerobic conditioning, weight training)
Language 101 (master's choice of eighteen popular language tracks)
American History from the Fifteenth to the Nineteenth Centuries
Victorian Literature
Basic Pan-American Cooking, Baking, and Confectionary

Second Quarter:

Sexual Techniques 102: Working With What God Gave You
Sensual and Therapeutic Massage 101
Music or Voice Training 102
Movement and Dance 102
Daily Body Sculpting
Language 102
America in the 20th and 21st Century
20th Century Literature
Basic Pan-European Cooking, Baking, and Confectionary

Third Quarter:

Sexual Techniques 201: Toys, Tools, Multiple Partners, Mild Kinks
Introduction to Acupressure -or-

Introduction to Cosmetology and Styling
Music or Voice Training 201
Movement and Dance 201 -or-

Introduction to Bodyguarding
Daily Body Sculpting
Language 201
Modern Cultures Across the Globe
Popular Literature of the 21st Century
Basic Pan-Asian Cooking, Baking, and Confectionary

Fourth Quarter:

Sexual Techniques 301: Topping Like a Pro -or-

Sexual Techniques 302: Bottoming Like a Pro -or-

Sexual Techniques 401: Kama Sutra and Beyond
Music or Voice Training 202
Psychology of Pleasure 101: Anticipating and Meeting Your Master's Unspoken Needs
Movement and Dance 202 -or-

Intermediate Bodyguarding
Daily Body Sculpting
Language 202
Current Events and Politics
Shakespeare 101
Intermediate Cooking, Baking, or Confectionary (master's choice)

Almost sounds fun enough to try yourself, doesn't it? You probably wouldn't much care for their disciplinary and motivational methods, though. On the other hand, that Sex lab meets twice a day, seven days a week, for the entire year. Attending it, or owning someone who's attended and is eager to show off their skills with you, might almost make living in the Belonging-verse worth it.

Almost.

But I'll stay here if you don't mind, and settle for the occasional visit via story. I hope you'll visit as well, and check out the world of Belonging for yourself.

*****

The hottest name in network news is Daniel Halstrom. He is a sensation, a rising star. He is also a slave, owned wholly and completely by NewWorld Media.

But before he was a star, he was a frightened child from a bad place with a promising, if limited, future ahead of him. In The New Kid, young Daniel begins his schooling. Then, for a slave, the simple pleasure of a Bathroom Break is sometimes the only pleasure to be had. Later, Daniel doesn't know it, but A Chance Encounter might be the most important of his life. Next, in Camera Obscura, one of Daniel's colleagues reflects on the fact that as much as the camera may show, it can hide even more. Finally, when you're a slave, Independence Day is just another day.

Buy it here.

Learn more about the Belongingverse here, and more about Rachel and her other works here.

*****

Thanks very much to Rachel for being my guest today. Rachel will be choosing one commenter to receive a signed and numbered limited-edition chapbook of Where He Belongs. Leave a comment below to enter. A winner will be chosen on Friday, July 8th.

Pay no attention…

…to the man behind the curtain. Or any other nonsense going on here at the moment. Trying to move Cupoporn and fucking up my own site in the process. Stay tuned for more insanity. Or not.

By the way…

(I meant to mention this in my vacation update yesterday, but then I spaced it.)

I've hidden an Easter egg somewhere on my site which contains an excerpt from Song of Oestend. Just in case you'd like to look for it.

Song of Oestend will be released by Total E-Bound on August 22nd, 2011.

Vacation!

I'm a terrible blogger. I know it. You know it. The thing is, I have a rather mundane life. I could write about my latest adventures doing the laundry, or about how there's a kid who bags groceries at my local store who looks exactly like Brent Corrigan, but really, I can't imagine anybody cares too much.

This week, however, I'm in Florida, so I thought I'd share a bit about our vacation so far.

Last year when my family and I went on the Writing on the Waves cruise with Lynn Flewelling, we booked a couple of nights in Florida first. I picked a hotel at random that was inexpensive, offered free internet access, and was close to the cruise ship docks. Where we ended up was Cocoa Beach.

Now, I should back up and tell you that in general, the ocean scares me to death. It's big and powerful and just plain scary. I've been to beaches in LA, San Diego, Oregon, Alaska, and Hawaii, and they've all freaked me out just a bit. Also, with the exception of Hawaii, they've pretty much all been cold. And I don't mean you step into the water and think, "Oh, that's refreshing." I mean, ice fucking cold! So imagine my surprise last year when we walked out into the Florida surf, and the water was warm! What a pleasant surprise. Also, the beach here has a long, slow slope out into the surf. The waves are low and gentle, and I'm sure surfers would be bored to death, but for a person with a slight ocean phobia, it's perfect.

We only had one day here last year, and we've been saying ever since that we needed to come back, and so this year we did. Later this week, we'll spend a couple of days in Orlando. We're skipping Disney World this year, but we will go to Universal Studios. My daughter wants to see Seuss Landing, and I'm dying to see The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. But first, we have several days doing nothing but hanging out on the beach.

I've been terribly lax about taking photos, so I'll have to swipe some from the internet.

We're staying again in the hotel we stayed in last year. It's not fancy. No pool, no gym, no restaurants, no room service. Just a room. That's all. But from our window, I can see the ocean, and more importantly, it's about a two minute walk to the beach. We seem to be on a stretch of the beach that's between resorts, and there aren't many people around us. The beach looks exactly like this:

That's about the size of the crowds here, too. My kid has been body-boarding non-stop. I've done a bit of it, too, and my hubby has been building sand castles.

Yesterday, we ventured down to Cocoa Beach Pier. Word to the wise: if you're ever in this area, avoid this tourist-trap nightmare like the fucking plague it is. It's $10 to park, or you can use the metered parking (a quarter will buy you a whole ten minutes). The thing is, from the outside, you really can't tell what you're paying to see. As somebody who pumped $1.50 into a meter (and only used half of it) let me assure you, there's NOTHING to see at all. There's a restaurant, and another bar/restaurants about halfway down the pier (it can be seen on the right hand edge of the photo below, hanging sort of unevenly out over the surf). There are exactly two gift shops, both about the size of my living room. (One of them sells dried alligator heads, which I find disgusting on multiple levels.) After the second restaurant, you'll come to a desk where you have to pay $1 per person just to walk to the end of the pier. I think there's a tiki bar down there, but frankly, I wasn't about to give them $3 just so we could walk another twenty feet. Of course, there's also a beach there. It looks like this:

I'm sure I'm just antisocial, but I don't get it. You can pay good money to hang out on this overcrowded beach, or you can go a mile downshore and visit a beach that looks like this for FREE.

Needless to say, we will NOT be going back to Cocoa Beach Pier.

I did also discover Historic Cocoa Village. I couldn't find a good photo, but it's basically a cute little downtown shopping district. I only had a few minutes there, but I really want to go back. I may go later today while my hubby and child hang at the beach.

Since I'm here, I'll give you a quick writing update. There's not much to say. Between Sinners and Saints is now available in ebook, on Kindle, and in paperback. Song of Oestend will be released by Total E-Bound on August 22nd. My space pirates are finished, but I haven't sent them to a publisher yet. I may do that when I get back. Or maybe not. There is a possibly a new development with this which I'm not sure I can divulge. (Wow, wasn't that mysterious?) Other than that, I have absolutely nothing going on at the moment. My mind is blank. It's a bit alarming, actually, but I hope to get back in the saddle after this vacation.

And speaking of vacations, it's time I returned to mine. It's 9:00, and my daughter is chomping at the bit to get back in the water. I'll try to post again at the end of the trip. Hopefully I'll at least have some pictures of Harry Potter-Land to share.

Have a great week!

Paperback!

Between Sinners and Saints is now available in paperback! Go here.