K.C. Burn's Blog, page 5

Good News!!!

Yes, yes, good news! I feel like I’m tempting Karma or Fate or something by saying this, but things seem to be getting back on track after my derailment last year.  I’ve added a newsletter sign up on the top right of my site. If you’re interested, please enter your email address. For now, I’m only intending to send out a newsletter to notify people of my new releases – I won’t overwhelm your inbox, I promise!

First – MIA Case Files: Craving is going to print! YAY! I’m so thrilled, and although I don’t have a date (sometime in the next two months), I don’t care. I really want a matching set of print books for that series!

Second – I have a new contract! I just signed a contract with Dreamspinner Press for Pen Name: Doctor Chicken. It’s a contemporary romance or perhaps rom-com, and I’ve posted my sad attempt at a blurb below. It’s sure to change once the editors get ahold of it!

As a point of interest, Dr Chicken is the only time I’ve ever made myself cry… so it may actually be more angsty than comedic, but I’m really excited about this one. Tentative release date is near the end of 2013.

Sometimes it seems like Doctor Chicken consumes Stratford Dale’s life. The wildly popular children’s books were his brainchild as a stop gap to make some money while he pursued his dream of publishing graphic novels. Almost thirty, single, stuck with a contract that leaves him broke and churning out book after book for a pittance, Stratford’s dream seems no closer than it was ten years ago. The last thing he wants to do is tell a potential boyfriend about his odd career and poor life choices.

Vinnie Giani is a successful, self-made man who is charmed by Stratford’s bow ties, sharp humor and his clumsiness, even when their interactions include blood, stitches and duct tape. Vinnie’s been responsible for his mother and much younger sisters for years, and even though he’s only five years older than Stratford, he begins to treat Stratford more as a child who needs a parent, rather than an equal partner.

When Vinnie decides he can help ‘fix’ Stratford’s career woes, but only succeeds in making them worse, can their relationship withstand the blame and the strain of the lies they’ve told each other?

New Contract – Voodoo ‘n’ Vice!

Oh, my, it’s been a long time since I posted. I will try to be better once I’ve escaped from boxlandia, aka my new apartment in California. Time is at a premium, & with two contracts upcoming, that means lots of edits!

Anyway, I just got a new contract from Carina Press for the third installment of my Galactic Alliance series. No blurb or release date yet, and for all I know the title may change, but Voodoo ‘n’ Vice stars Captain Gideon Arcturus, who made an appearance in Alien ‘n’ Outlaw, and Tai, the unsuitable but exotic fire dancer he falls for. Gideon was a bit of a bastard in Alien ‘n’ Outlaw but Tai twists him up and makes him pay

Woot! So nice to be getting back in the swing of things since the icky back problems!

New Contract – Cast Off

While I was on vacation, I got a brand spanking new contract from Dreamspinner Press for Cast Off, the third in my Toronto Tales series. Anyone who was looking for Ian and Rick… well, you only need to wait until autumn! It’s a complete thrill, because this is the first complete book I’ve written since I had those months of back problems last year, and I love working with Dreamspinner. So glad to feel like I’m back on a roll. Crazy deadline one – success! We’re still waiting on the outcome of crazy deadline two

I’ve posted the tentative blurb for Cast Off below, but it’s possible that both title and blurb could change. It’s early days yet!

Rick Haviland is a man with a secret, a secret that has made him wary of both families and relationships. As a result, he developed a number of rules to ensure he doesn’t get ensnared by a man looking for more than a good time.

Fearing the reaction of his large, Catholic family, closeted Ian O’Donnell has spent years doing nothing but look for casual hook-ups. When he decides to bust out of the closet, Rick is right there, at a party they attend together, like a prize for the gut-wrenching ordeal he’s gone through.

Their attraction is immediate and electric and a terrible idea. Against all odds, Rick breaks one of his cardinal rules to have sex with Ian and Ian finally allows himself to care for a man. Connected by family and friends, any kind of involvement could have a detrimental impact on their circle, so they embark on a quest to find platonic friendship, with the promise of no strings sex on the horizon.

After several weeks, their hidden friendship develops into a hidden relationship. When Rick’s secret past is about to be exposed on the Internet, is Ian’s love and commitment strong enough to keep them together in the face of the destruction of both their careers?

Hop Against Homophobia & Transphobia – Winner!

Wow – I was away/offline for most of the hop, but I can see a tremendous number of people participated, and that’s just awesome!

As for me, I was going to donate $2 for each comment I got on my post. I had 31 responses, so $62. But I like to round up, so I sent $50 each to HRC and the LA Gay and Lesbian Center. It’s not much, but every little bit counts, right?

Thank you all for stopping by, I really appreciate you all coming out and visiting the blogs that were up to spread the word.

Now… the winner! Thanks to random.org, my winner is: KimberlyFDR

Kimberly, I’ll email you about your prize

Hop Against Homophobia & Transphobia

Welcome to the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia!

There have been a lot of strides forward this past year, haven’t there? Obviously there’s still a long way to go, but there are two topics I’d like to comment on.

First – More states and countries have signed marriage equality into law. Which is awesome, of course. I don’t often express my beliefs or political opinions, partly because I don’t much like confrontation, and partly because I expose so much of myself through my writing that I don’t feel the need to open even more of my inner self for inspection. But there’s something about the marriage equality debate that drives me crazy (aside from the fact I don’t think there should be ANY debate at all – just fucking do it already).

But one of the other things that makes me bonkers is this fallback on the bible, and using it to define marriage. I’d like to send a big slap upside the head to everyone using this argument. Christians didn’t invent marriage. They don’t hold copyright or patents. It’s not their intellectual property. So why, exactly, do they feel they have the right to define it? But I’ll stop there – I have some fairly strong opinions about religion, but I’m pretty sure expressing them would count as being confrontational.

Second – The first professional sports player in the big four comes out. Yay! Congratulations Jason Collins! It’s a shame that anyone’s sexuality should still fucking matter, especially with respect to doing his JOB, but it’s not a perfect world and I definitely admire his courage in going public.

I must admit, I was surprised that the first wasn’t an NHL player. Between the You Can Play project and the fact that over 60% of NHL players are from nations who’ve legalized marriage equality, I thought FOR SURE a hockey player would be the first one out.

While I know the people participating in this hop and visiting the hop sites are already LGBT or allies, it still makes me feel warm inside, because we’re growing in numbers all the time. I’m happy we’re united in fighting against homophobia and transphobia. Because there is sweet fuck all to be afraid of and no good reason to hate, and the more people who know it, the better.

Now after that rambling stream of thoughts falling out of my brain… the contest!

I’m offering an ebook from my back list to one random commenter. Make sure you leave your email address in the comment (and it’s okay if that’s all you leave as a comment).

Like last year, I’m also going to offer up some $ for charity, but I’ll up the ante a bit. I’ll contribute $2 for ever comment, up to a maximum of $200. I’m not rolling in it, people! Anyway, I haven’t quite decided which charity, although it will likely be The Trevor Project or HRC. Since I now live in Pasadena, I may also look at a local charity that aids LGBT youth in the Los Angeles area. I may even split the donation, I haven’t decided.

Now, I’ll also be out of town and most likely offline until May 29, so I’ll post & contact the winner then.

Check out all the other participants at the main hop page! The hop lasts until May 27 and there will be prizes available on other sites.

Chatting… en Français!

In honour of the recent release of Cop Out in French, I’m supposed to be chatting on the Dreamspinner French Facebook page on Saturday, 10am-12pm Eastern. It’s a bit scary, because it’s my first Facebook chat ever, but it should be fun, too.

It’s also a bit scary because I can’t really “chat” per se in French. I may be Canadian, but I have the vocabulary and sentence structure of a painfully stupid three year old. But I will have some translation help!

But if you can speak French… hmm… *read* French, stop by and keep me company Or just like the page and you can follow along – probably better than I will be able to!

The Great Move, Part 1

Oh, look, a blog! What’s this doing here? Oh, I know, it’s languishing from lack of attention. But I have good reasons, I swear.

My husband got transferred to California. From Orlando. Big, huge move, right? Well, the whole transfer was actually contingent on us selling our house. We ended up with a cash offer that meant we’d close in three weeks. Three weeks to prepare for a move across the country (thankfully we didn’t actually have to pack, but still LOTS of stuff to do).

But, here’s the thing… I’d just registered for GayRomLit… I’d asked one of my publishers when I’d need to get a manuscript in, if I was going to have any hope of getting a new book out before GRL. I was told April 15. I said okay. Then we sold our house with a closing date of April 5. Flight to California scheduled for April 6.

Um… yeah. Probably I shouldn’t admit this aloud, but when I promised that manuscript? It was nothing more than a glint in my eye. So, manuscript FROM SCRATCH, and MOVE ACROSS COUNTRY. No f**king problem, right?

Seriously, I thought I was going to lose my ever-loving mind. Let’s not forget… hubby’s never had to do this process from start to finish. We fought like we’ve never fought in the twenty years we’ve been together.

And then of course, taxes. I procrastinated so badly on the taxes, we had to all our tax stuff in our luggage, because… yes, we’re in temporary housing for two months. During which, all of our stuff will be in storage.

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t entirely good reasons. Some of it may have been me being stupid. But… I made ALL my deadlines. Which means I can breathe, and I’ve made a start on updating my website and catching up on some of my social media… Amazing!

Then I promptly flew back to Chicago for the Dreamspinner Press authors’ weekend. It was a fabulous time, and I learned a lot. I may even start making a few mini videos. We’ll have to see… I did also sign up for another crazy deadline, but we’ll save that one for another post. I’m going to have a few for the California Files!

I’m really hoping that I’ll have good news about that manuscript soon, but in the meantime, I’m starting something new… it’s a little different from my normal stuff, so we’ll see how it goes!

Also, I was at Contact Infinite Futures this week reviewing Oblivion and I’m at Flirty Author Bitches today talking about one of my favourite reference sites for writing… no, sorry, it’s not a porn site.

Ooh, and we can’t forget… a new Lords of Aether post went up today, from me & Lex, and Cop Out came out in French this week. Hmmm… maybe breathing is overrated

Blurb Blunders and Romantic Dealbreakers

I’ve been seriously remiss about updates, a situation I expect to continue for at least another month Life is CRAZY right now. However, I’m at Chudney’s Place talking about Romantic Dealbreakers, both in fiction and real life, and I’m at Flirty Author Bitches discussing blunders people make in blurbs that can cost sales. Come and visit!

Got Plans for February Next Year?

Last weekend, I participated in an awesome mini-con in St. Augustine, Florida called Olde City, New Blood. It was designed for readers and authors of Urban Fantasy & Paranormal Romance and was an excellent weekend. It was the first year, but I have high hopes it will be an annual event. I recapped the highlights over at the Loose Ends blog, and you may want to block your calendar for next year!

A New Release, An Award & A Blog, Oh My!

I’m a total slacker doodle! I have a new release out today, which more or less snuck up on me because my non-writing life has been a little nuts. I’ve got a story in Fifty Gays of Shade, a BDSM anthology from Torquere Press (edited by the fantastic Kiernan Kelly).

Welcome to Shady Business, the hottest gay BDSM club in town. Owned by Grey Shade, it’s the place you want to be if you’re into leather, whips, crops, and hot and steamy sex.

Each story in this anthology takes the reader inside the club for a steamy, hot night filled with passion, sex, and leather. From love stories that pluck at the heartstrings with riding crops, to subs masquerading as Doms, from virginal first-time forays into the scene, to tales of experienced members in the leather community, there’s something for every reader here. Top or bottom, Dom or sub, every need is met, every desire filled.

At Shady Business, no good deed ever goes unpunished.

My story is called Tangerine… It’s Kevin’s first time at a BDSM club. Will the fantasy live up to his expectations or will it be too hot to handle?

Tangerine is definitely BDSM lite, because that’s more my style. I also have to have a wee fangirl squee because I’m in an anthology with Sean Michael. How cool is that? There’s a release day celebration on the Torquere LiveJournal Page, with several of the authors dropping in during the day. Maybe even including me, if I can figure out how LiveJournal works.

An Award…

I was both surprised and honoured that Alien ‘n’ Outlaw won a SFR Galaxy award for Best Alien Hero. R’kos was such an interesting character for me to write, so I’m glad that others were able to empathize with him as well.

Finally, the blog…

I’m at Contact Infinite Futures, talking a bit about Continuum and time travel stories. Stop by if you can!