Harper Fox's Blog, page 8

Out now! All Roads Lead to You, a new short story by Harper Fox

At last! It feels like a long time to me, but really it's only been about a month since I sat down and started plotting this first venture of mine under my own publishing imprint, FoxTales. And today All Roads Lead to You , my M/M short story set in Rome, releases for Kindle on Amazon! There's more information and an excerpt at my website - http://www.harperfox.net/books/all-roads-lead-to-you/

Here are the buy links - for Amazon.com
http://alturl.com/vc3jx

and for Amazon.co.uk
http://alturl.com/ypu6m

Other formats will follow shortly. I know not everyone has/loves Kindle! (I'm taking things one step at a time, preferring that to a nosedive, though you know me and technology - I'm probably scheduled for one disaster or another!) For today, though, fireworks and a nice glass of bubbly with Mrs H, and I promise to keep you posted. I hope you enjoy the story!

I have a wonderful title!

I can't believe how many brilliant suggestions I got for my competition to find a title for my upcoming self-published story. How creative are you lot?! I might just have to carry on writing till I've got enough stories to fit *all* the titles, but there's a clear winner for my Roman tale - All Roads Lead To You, suggested by Helenajust. Helena, thank you so much! This one manages to indicate my location, and is super-romantic too. Contact me by email on harperfox777@yahoo.co.uk to tell me which name you'd like to be credited under on my title page, and a free copy of All Roads will be winging its way to you as soon as the book is released.

Again, thanks to all who took part! 

New Short Story coming soon - and a “Find Me a Title” competition!

I know I’ve been a bit quiet on the writing-news front for a while. Well, comparatively! J Truth is, I’ve been crazy busy, and as well as ongoing projects for publishers, I’ve decided to launch into self-pub.

I’m really excited to announce that I’ll be releasing my first short story under my own imprint very soon. I mean *very* soon – a couple of weeks, if all goes according to plan. The story’s complete, and I’m just in the process of getting sublime guardian-angel-style guidance from people who know so much better than I do – you know who you are, and I can’t believe your generosity – about the nuts and bolts of independent publishing.

And now I need all of *you*, my lovely friends and readers!  For some reason, my brains have melted over the business of finding a title for this one. Would you brilliant and inventive souls care to have a look at the blurb below and tell me if an awesome title leaps into your minds?

I’ll make it worth your while. (Don’t I always? ;) If I can find a suitable title from among your suggestions, the winner will get a free copy of the story *and* a credit on the title page. And I will be able to stop ripping out my hair. I don’t know why I’m having so much trouble here. I think it is because a certain friend of mine (who shall be nameless, but again, you know who you are) took one look at me and said, “Call it The Italian Bl*w Job”, and put me off completely. No, no, no! I need something *serious* here, people! This is a poignant tale of love and loss in the Eternal City, for heaven’s sake!

If you think you can do better than Nameless Friend, leave me a suggestion here or on FB.

Here’s the blurb -

Successful British model Sam was making a big name for himself on the catwalks of Rome when he met and fell head over heels in love with Lauro, a waiter in a pizza restaurant. Lauro, charming and naïve, returned all Sam's affection, and they enjoyed one passionate summer in the vibrant city and the wild campagna countryside beyond. But Sam had big dreams. He accepted a modelling assignment in New York and left his pizza boy behind.

Now Sam is back, older and wiser. But Lauro is older and wiser too. Can the city of  eternal romance work its magic on these two star-crossed lovers? 

I can’t wait to see what you come up with! It can be short and snappy, poetic, sexy, anything that seems appropriate. I've been trying to avoid the word "Roman", tempting though it is, because that's a bit misleading for a contemporary (I instantly think "Spartacus!"), but other than that, go for it!

I have winners!

I'm happy to say that Sara Ball wins a copy of Last Line, and Loveless 3173 wins Driftwood. That's good - one each from my lovely FB and LJ friends. Thanks for playing, all, and helping me celebrate my Galley Festival. Sara, Loveless, email me on harperfox777@yahoo.co.uk and tell me what format you'd like your books in - I've got most of them, including Kindle. Congrats! xxx

Free books for Galley Day!

To celebrate that well-known British festival, "Harper gets a Print Galley for Scrap Metal" Day, I'm giving away an ebook from my backlist to two lucky readers. I know, I know, how bad do my efforts at marketing suck? :-D But I am excited. Print release is scheduled for 5 February 2013. Leave a comment here or on my Facebook telling me which book you'd like - you can find them all at my website, http://www.harperfox.net/books/ and I'll choose two of you on Friday.

Three questions, three prizes - three winners!

Well, as usual I hate this part because I'd like you all to win, but I threw it into the lap of the gods and Random Name Selector, and at least I have the pleasure of giving the good news to three of you. My prizewinners are...

***drum roll***

Elisethroughthelookingglass
Orianna
Dianne Thies

Yay! Congrats, all. Drop me an email at harperfox777@yahoo.co.uk and tell me what you'd like. Your options are

1 - a copy of Scrap Metal, in your choice of formats
2 - any other two ebooks from my backlist, details of all of which can be found on my website
3 - a bookplate with a dedication to you from me. 

If you choose the bookplate, let me know your land address, and what name you'd like me write on the plate for your dedication.

Thank you again to all those who took part. You really helped me give Scrap Metal a terrific launch!

Scrap Metal - three questions, three winners, three prizes!

It's release day for Scrap Metal! I sometimes don't know how to say thank you to the readers who buy my work and take the time to tell me they've loved the story, or it's been meaningful to them in some way. Every email and comment I get feeds back into my passion to continue writing, and doing that makes me happier than anything else in the world. I wish I could buy you all a big bunch of M/M flowers, though I'm not too sure what that would look like!

Instead I'm going to make you jump through some horrible hoops to win my celebratory release-day prizes. ;-D

Muhahaha! Well, they're not that horrible, and I trust this time that everyone who wants to take part will be able to do so. I've just got three little questions for you, answers to be found at my website, http://www.harperfox.net/
Leave your answers as a comment here or on my Facebook, and I'm going to pick three winners from the people who answer all three correctly. (Take your time - I'll announce the winners on Saturday 31st March, and they can tell me then which prize they'd like.) 

The three winners will all be able to choose one of the following prizes:-
1 - a copy of Scrap Metal, in your choice of formats
2 - any other two ebooks from my backlist, details of all of which can be found on my website
3 - a bookplate with a dedication to you from me. (This one might seem a little bit odd for an ebook giveaway, but I know many of you have bought Driftwood and The Salisbury Key in print, and Scrap Metal will appear in print next year.) The bookplates are very pretty, and a nice way of personalising any print copies you have or might be thinking of buying.

Okay! Here come the questions...

Question 1
Which of Harper's book covers features the megalithic stone circle Stonehenge?
(clue: answer to be found under the "Books" section of my website)

Question 2
In Scrap Metal, Cam is worried that he's missed his chance with Nichol. Who does Cam think Nichol got back together with the night before?
(clue: answer to be found in the Scrap Metal excerpt on my website, http://www.harperfox.net/books/scrap-metal-excerpt/ )

Question 3
One bitter night, Nichol is woken up by what sort of sound?
(clue: answer to be found in one of the captions to the Scrap Metal video trailer on my website, http://www.harperfox.net/books/scrap-metal/ - scroll down to the bottom of this page to see the trailer.) 

Wow. I hope I haven't made that too tough, and I hope all the links work this time. Have fun playing! Thank you again to all you great readers, and to those of you who've already bought Scrap Metal, I hope you love reading the book as much as I did writing it.


Scrap Metal is available direct from Samhain Publishing (normally priced $5.50, today available for $3.85)
http://store.samhainpublishing.com/scrap-metal-p-6707.html

and from Amazon Kindle
http://amzn.to/GURzzN

Scrap Metal trailer

At last, it's the eve of release day for Scrap Metal, my latest M/M novel from Samhain Publishing. Here's my video trailer to give you a taste of the book, with wonderful original score by my composer friend RI Archer. Enjoy!

http://s1190.photobucket.com/albums/z450/HarperFox777/?action=view&current=ScrapMetalpromotrailersoundtrackv5.mp4

Thank-yous and sorries!

Hello, everyone, and happy Sunday - I really hope lots of you are basking in the beautiful rays I'm currently enjoying. I have to say a big shouty THANK YOU  and also a SORRY to the lovely people who tried to join in with my Sammies Award competition last night - some of you couldn't get through to the Samhain Cafe, and I'm really sorry you had probs. To make up to you all, I'm going to run some nice contests on Tuesday to celebrate the release of Scrap Metal. There'll be bookplates to be won (weird for an ebook, but I know some of you have print copies of Driftwood and The Salisbury Key, and Scrap Metal will come out in print early next year), free copies of Scrap Metal and also your choice from my backlist. I'll run that contest directly through my Facebook page and my Livejournal, so there shouldn't be any more disasters. ("She's unsinkable!" said White Star.) Also, if I do any more competitions via Samhain Cafe, I'll run them simultaneously on my FB and LJ too.Yikes! You know I love you all, right? I wouldn't cause you hassles for the world. :-( *Accessible* fun and games on Tuesday, I promise! xxx

Let's just try this again...

Elena's kindly told me the link to Samhain Cafe to enter my giveaway comp isn't working. I hope this is better! 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/samhaincafe/message/362844