Harper Fox's Blog, page 5

Harper's Big May Day Giveaway!

Well, we were over at Padstow today, and I got flicked by the skirt of the great dancing ’Obby ’Oss. But those are photos for another day, though I understand my close encounter means I will be pregnant before the year is out.

That *would* be a turn-up for the old books.

But all these celebrations have made me want to celebrate the season with all of you too, so here we go! I’d like to pick your brains again, please. I’d love to commission an audio version of one of my FoxTales books. I don’t know when I’ll be able to afford to do so, and it will be quite an investment, so I’d like to know which out of the four I’ve released under FoxTales so far – Kestrel’s Chance, In Search of Saints, Half Moon Chambers, All Roads Lead To You or A Midwinter Prince – you’d most like to see (or hear :-D ) turned into an audiobook. Actually, we could add Last Line to that pile, since the rights revert to me this month.

So, just drop me a comment here on LJ or on Facebook answering that question, and I’ll pop everyone’s names into my gardening hat. Then I’ll pick out three winners (together with a couple of spiders and twigs, no doubt), each of whom can choose a free ebook from my backlist. Go check out your choices at my newly updated website! (Thank you, Lia.)

http://www.harperfox.net/

Just click “Books” and you’ll see the list. If you’ve read everything there, I’ll put you down for a copy of Brothers Of The Wild North Sea, releasing on 11th June.

A very happy Beltane / May Day to all, and thanks for playing along! xxx

Publishers Weekly Review!

My first historical novel, *Brothers Of The Wild North Sea*, has been given a great review by Publishers Weekly. I'm delighted and very honoured. *Brothers* releases on 11th June and is available for pre-order on Amazon now.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-61921-480-4

Kestrel's Chance is launched!

Well, I thought I'd posted this yesterday, but LJ must have been hungry and ate it all up... :-D

Instead of my usual unseemly scramble to publication ("Hey, it's available! Er, on Amazon. Oh, could you just wait a few days while I figure out how to crank it up onto All Romance and Smashwords?") I thought I'd line up all my ducks - or my Kestrels - in a neat row before announcing the launch of Kestrel's Chance . I'm delighted to say we have a go! Here are the buy links:-

Amazon.com
http://tinyurl.com/blclhar

Amazon UK
http://tinyurl.com/ctw2h5m

All Romance eBooks
https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-kestrel039schance-1150455-145.html

Smashwords
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/302492

Well, Harper's on holiday...

..kind of. I thought I could get *Kestrel's Chance* published before our house move, but I'm a big eejit and completely underestimated the truly majestic tides of chaos currently sweeping me away. :-D Also, the story needs some tidying up, and as ever I am hugely indebted to Josh for bull's-eyeing exactly where and how. Seriously, dude - you got the mojo. And the inestimable gift for making me feel good about it! So, big apologies for the delay - we lose our internet connection on 28th Feb and will be "dark for comms" until about 5th March. By then Kestrel should be all glossy and ready to fly, and will be my first priority in our lovely new Cornish home.

Kestrel's Chance is finished!

*Kestrel's Chance* s finished. I don't know whether to celebrate or go to bed and cry - I'm really going to miss Rory and Kes. Still, I'll have the pleasure of introducing them to you very soon - just a round of edits, and some much-needed help from the lovely people who step in at this point to turn my flour-and-water story into a nice, well-iced cake! I'm looking at a mid-to-late Feb release t any rate, before we move house. Here's a little taste of KC for you...


**ADULT CONTENT WARNING**

Kes had never found it strange that a half-globe of weatherproof nylon said home to him more than his own flat. Especially at dusk, with Rory’s array of little LED lights hitched up to the poles inside, shedding a dream-like light onto the snow. Just too many years on the mountains, he’d supposed, and God knew his concrete box in Braeside had few charms… Kes hadn’t slept there for the last two nights, not since Rory’s visit. He’d decamped to a cheap B&B. Things that had seemed tolerable to his own jaded gaze had leapt out at him garishly when he thought about Rory seeing them. The cold he'd barely noticed had leapt out and gnawed at his bones.

A tent halfway up Fleet Mhor was luxurious digs by comparison. Kes took one more look around him into the glowing blue dusk. Yves and Virginie had made camp well for a pair of brats. Their tent was firmly pitched, facing the right direction to let the wind flow over it. The corrie was sheltered, and there was no chance of avalanche off its steep wall. The only thing that bothered Kes was a faint greenish shine to the twilight. Too much haze in the sky for aurora, more like the viridian glimmer in an opal.

Still, Rory had said the forecast was okay. Kes ducked under the tent flap and there he was, making them tea from their aluminium Kelly kettle. The inside of the tent was warm, at any rate by a mountain man's standards, and he'd taken off his jacket and fleece. He was a grand sight in his T-shirt, his solid frame comforting, part of the reason – Kes realised it now – why the damn tent felt like home. Even mountain rations tasted better when Ro had been the one to pour the boiling water onto them. No reason for that, but Kes had always found it so. Their sleeping bags were laid out in their usual casual proximity.

Rory looked up, stirring tea in a plastic mug. “Are the children asleep, then?”

Kes zipped up the flap behind him and settled on the edge of one sleeping bag. “No. They're sitting up arguing over who gets to carry mam'selle's rock kit tomorrow. Oh, and they're both of them giving me hell for letting them bring it in the first place.”

“They're incredible. If they didn't exist, somebody would have to make them up.” Rory handed Kes the mug, giving him a dark-eyed look over the top of it which Kes was at a loss to interpret. “Is their night kit as fancy as all their other gear?”

“You wouldn't believe it. Self-inflating airbeds, iPod docks built into the mattress.”

“You're kidding.”

“No, large as life. You should go and see. You're the one who normally does the tucking-up at night.”

“Oh, no. If you've checked on them, they'll be fine.”

Kes sipped his tea. It was another little-known and inexplicable fact that Ro fixed the best brew to be found above 3,000 feet as well. “Forgive me,” he said cautiously, “but you don't seen quite your usual sunny self on this trip, Ro.”

There wasn't much room for avoidance in an eight-foot-by-six two-man tent. Rory could do a great deal by turning his back, however, and for a while Kes thought he wasn't going to reply. “Well, what do you expect?”

That was it. Kes didn't have to jump far for the bad conclusion, the affirmation of all his fears today. He grabbed at it, rough in proportion with his pain. “Because of what happened between us? Jesus, Ro. This is... This is why Alf won't let lovers work together. Why we have the non-frat code.”

“How drunk were you the other night? Because unless I was off my face too, nothing happened between us. Nothing to justify us calling ourselves...” Rory gave his own teabag one last savage squeeze and lobbed it accurately into the recycle pack. “Lovers. Did Alf re-team you and Martin?”

“I told you, he didn't know. I wish he had. I thought we weren't gonna talk about this, Ro.”

“We aren't.”

A hush fell. It was a kind of quiet Kes normally enjoyed – only the faint rustle of canvas, and far away behind it the night song of the mountains, a vast, barely perceptible vibration of cooling rock. It contained within it everything Kes was good at, everything familiar. And if Rory was there with him...

Everything you love, the silence told him. But Kes wasn't ready for that. His grief for Marty was a frozen weight in his chest, an unshiftable glacier, full of razor-edged rocks and all the years of accumulated crap he'd taken in the name of secrecy, pretending not to care. “I've been thinking,” he began. “All the stuff I said to you the other night... I wasn't too shitfaced to remember, no. The thing about forgetting Marty's anniversary – that was the worst. I made it sound like it was your fault.”

“Kes, you punched me out for it.”

“I know.” Kes waited until Rory at last turned around and came to sat opposite him, cradling his tea in his hands. The furrows left his brow as Kes trailed his fingertips over them, gently touched the marks still left on his face. “I am so bloody sorry for hurting you. And anyone else would say – you would say, if I'd given you a chance – that forgetting anniversaries is a sign of healing. Not for me, though. Not about Marty.”

“Well, first off I'd argue that I'd ever say anything so bloody trite.” Rory swallowed hard. “But... not even when it was someone who hid you away like a shameful secret? Was he ever going to leave his wife for you?”

“Of course not. I'd never have expected it.” Kes reeled it off easily, the lesson he'd taught himself in order to salvage his pride. “We never needed that kind of thing.”

“I don't mean having your name shouted from the mountaintops. I just mean sharing a flat, a life. The grocery run.”

Kes snorted. “He wouldn't have welcomed another one of those to do, not with three kids.”

“So a guy who hides you, but doesn't think twice about taking dodgy pictures of you then leaving them around the house for his missus to find – that's the anniversary you can't forget?”

“Rory...” Kes drew a deep breath. “You're my best mate, all right? Nobody could have a better one. And I was an arse to you the other night. But you're right – there's no way we can talk about any of this.”

“Yeah. Like you told Virginie, there's no crying up mountains. No fighting, either.”

“Aye. Not if we all want to get down in one piece. We should turn in and get some sleep.”

But even sleep was an issue in such a small tent. Kes and Rory had never gone so far as sharing a sack – that wasn't practical, not when the things were so designed as to seal one body in with thermal efficiency – but they'd always casually tucked up together, backside to backside or belly to spine. Stripped down to his woollen underwear – not as nice as Virginie's, only standard MRT issue – Kes lay propped on one elbow, looking at the five inches of space that now divided him from Ro, and might as well have been five miles. A very eloquent back, had Rory, even when wrapped up in orange polyester. “I'm gonna miss that,” Kes said without thinking, and instantly regretted it. He couldn't shove his partner to emotional arm's length then try to pull him back with the other hand. Maybe Rory wouldn't pick him up on it or understand...

He ought to have known better. The muffled reply came promptly. “I'll miss it too.”

“Yeah?”

“In a way. Not the part where it gives me wet dreams or I wake up in the morning with a bloody enormous hard-on.”

“Oh.” Rory knew how to snatch the breath out of his lungs, that was for sure. “I… I’m sorry.”

Announcing the winners!

Good morning, all! (Well, quarter of an hour after morning here, but I'm *almost* on schedule.) I was delighted that so many people took the time to enter my little comp and give me their thoughts on my cover art. My random name-picker chose one winner from LJ comments and one from my FB, so that was good, and the lucky recipients of a signed copy of Scrap Metal will be... *drum roll*...

Chrysalis 1975 and Rose Wynne!

Congratulations, both. If you don't mind letting me have your land addresses, I'll get those copies packaged up and into the post to you. Email me at harperfox777@yahoo.co.uk, or you can PM me on FB if you prefer.

This was a fascinating exercise for me. Th Brothers of the Wild North Se cover came out as a clear favourite, wit Half Moon Chamber a close second, and then Scrap Metal, A Midwinter Prince and Nine Lights tying for third. I wasn't too surprised tha Brother was such a hit with you. It's a complete departure for my cover art, more a "scene" than a depiction of the protags, and Kanaxa did such a stunning job with those evocative colours and the background.Half Moon Chamber is very close to my heart, so it was nice to see so many votes for Lou Harper's work there. My own personal favourite so far i A Midwinter Priince. This is in part because the book has been out for a long time, but when I released it through FoxTales, I had a chance at last to work with Lou and finally put faces to Laurie and Sasha. I know everyone has their own vision of the guys I write about - that's part of the charm for me! - and I can see how a cover that avoids direct depiction allows a reader's imagination to have full and uninterrupted play over how they look. But the AMP cover kind of filled a blank i m imagination, which is odd, because (last time I checked) that's where Laurie and Sasha had their beginnings. Still, I rejoiced over it, printed it out, used it as a desktop and was so pleased to have it as the cover for my first FoxTales paperback!

Thank you again for commenting and for the many, many thoughtful things you said. I wish I had time to talk to each one of you personally about the points you raised. This was great fun for me, and again, congrats to Chrysalis and Rose!

Scrap Metal - signed copies to be won!

So excited that one of my favourite projects to date, Scrap Metal, will be released in paperback format on 5th February. As the lucky author, of course, I've had a chance to get my hands on some copies already, and I can tell you that Samhain has done a very handsome job indeed - not only terrific cover art by Angela Waters, but a lovely, silky, tactile matte feel. (Yes, I'm a book fondler! I admit it!)

You can pre-order your copy from Amazon here...
http://tinyurl.com/baq3lr9
 
..or buy direct from Samhain here... 
http://store.samhainpublishing.com/scrap-metal-p-7307.html

..but if you'd like to win your own signed copy, I have two to give away, and I am going to set you a tough, horrible task. Mu-ha. Er, ha. Yes, I'd like you to tell me which of my pieces of cover art you like best so far. You can see them all beautifully set out on my website here.
 
http://www.harperfox.net/books/

Check them out and just leave your answer in a comment, either here on on Facebook, and I'll draw two winners on the day after release day, so 6th February. I'm not just randomly chasing you around the internet - it's very useful to me, especially now I'm releasing some of my own books, to know what kind of cover art you find attractive.

While I have your attention - don't forget that my print backlist is growing. A Midwinter Prince, The Salisbury Key and Driftwood are all available as handsome paperback copies - housetrained, requiring no batteries, and very useful if the Earth's magnetic poles reverse and we're all plunged back into primeval darkness. (Taking the cheerful view of everything, you see. :-) Check out the buy links below, and thanks for playing along with my competition!

A Midwinter Prince
http://tinyurl.com/bzc5k8y

The Salisbury Key 
http://tinyurl.com/a9laoxy
http://store.samhainpublishing.com/the-salisbury-key-p-6684.html

Driftwood
http://tinyurl.com/az6r527
http://store.samhainpublishing.com/driftwood-p-6443.html

Exciting nomination!

I'm so very proud to be nominated for Favourite M/M Author 2012 at Reviews by Jessewave! I suspect I don't stand a chance amongst these great talents, but I'm most honoured to be selected alongside them. If you'd like to vote for me, for Abigail Roux, Amy Lane,Jordan Castillo Price r Kaje Harper, hop on over to the site.

http://www.reviewsbyjessewave.com/2013/01/27/favorite-mm-author-2012-the-voting-is-on/

Voting is open until 3rd February.

Brothers of the Wild North Sea

Blurb and excerpt for *Brothers* now up at my website. Hope you'll enjoy! Also - great news - Samhain has brought the release date forward from 31  July to 11 June. :-D

http://www.harperfox.net/books/brothers-of-the-wild-north-sea/

Brothers of the Wild North Sea - release date!

It's a strange journey from idea to completion, that's for sure. From stumbling around the ruins of a monastery in May (looking pretty spaced out, I have to say) to running miles of red ink through a first-draft manuscript in December, just in time for deadline. Yes, I made it! In fact I made it with four hours to spare GMT, so that's... Well, I was positivel promp by Samhain Publishing's clock Brothers of the Wild North Se has been submitted, and I'm so pleased to say that my wonderful editor has set a release date of 30 July 2013. That seems a long way away but I plan to entertain you in the meanwhile, don't worry. More details of my next project (and it's one quite a few of you have been kind enough to say you've been waiting for) once I've finished running miles of red ink throug anothe huge first draft... :-D