Cardeno C.'s Blog, page 10

Happy St Patrick's Day! BA, Julia, Kiernan and Sean

Love y'all. Wear green.

XXOO

Julia, BA, Kiernan, Sean

Visit our websites:

Sean's is http://www.seanmichaelwrites.com

Julia’s is http://www.juliatalbot.com

BA’s is http://www.batortuga.com

Kiernan's is www.KiernanKelly.com

Evil Plot Bunny: http://www.evilplotbunny.com/

Julia's Etsy Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TurtlehatSt...

Facebook:

Sean -- https://www.facebook.com/SeanMichaelW...

Julia -- https://www.facebook.com/juliatalbota...

BA -- https://www.facebook.com/batortuga

Kiernan -- https://www.facebook.com/kiernan.kelly

Happy Sunday everyone!This is the first few lines from a ...

Happy Sunday everyone!

This is the first few lines from a holiday story (Hanukkah, in fact) that I'm writing, which currently has no title. This scene take place at an office holiday party.

Matt is an attorney and Ethan is catering the party.

~~~

Matt set his plate down at the far end of a counter so he’d be out of the way, then cut a big bite of latke and scooped up some apple sauce with it, and put it in his mouth. 

“Oh, yum. Mm-mm-mm.” Crunchy, a little garlicky, fried just perfectly. He took another bite. “Oh man.”

“Everything okay, sir?” 

Startled, he turned abruptly with his mouth still full and looked right into a pair of sweet blue eyes. Sweet, familiar blue eyes. 

He quickly finished chewing. “Ethan?”

“Matt? Oh my God!” 

Oh shit. 

“Is this where you work?” Ethan’s sweet eyes got all crinkly with a big grin.

“Yeah…” He put his fork down slowly.


Ethan hovered a little, evidently feeling as awkward as he did about whether they should hug or shake hands. What was the etiquette for running into a one night stand?


~~~~

Have a great Sunday!

Jodi

jodipayne.net
Facebook? HERE
Twitter? HERE

I'm a Lambda Finalist! By S.C. Wynne

Good Morning, all!

I thought I'd share with you some good news. My book, Crashing Upwards, finaled in the Lambda Literary Awards. To say I was shocked would be an understatement, but I certainly was honored.

Lambda Literary nurtures and advocates for LGBTQ writers, elevating the impact of their words to create community, preserve our legacies, and affirm the value of our stories and our lives. To learn more about the Lambda's, click HERE.

I almost didn't enter Crashing Upwards to the Lambdas. I was only going to enter Strange Medicine, a gay mystery series I started last year. But at the last minute, I entered Crashing Upwards because I was so proud of the book. I'm very glad I did too.

I don't expect to win, (of course, I'd love to) but just being nominated validates me in ways all writers yearn for. Writing is a very solitary occupation and it's often hard to gauge whether or not you're connecting with your readers or peers. Receiving a nomination for a respected award such as this goes many miles in making me feel as if maybe I really do know what I'm doing. Odd that after five years of writing, I still need outside influences to make me feel that. Maybe it's because writing for a living has a lot of rejection built into it from publishers, agents and reviewers/readers.

I know people always say just being nominated is an honor, and in this instance, it truly is. I'm thrilled to be included among so many wonderful, talented authors.
Finalist List Here

If you're curious about my book that finaled, I'll link it below so you can check it out.

S.C.
www.scwynne.com

Crashing Upwards on Amazon Click Here

Fight the MonSter

This week is a bit different for us in the cafe.  March has been designated Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month. We support this cause so much, we made an audiobook to help find a cure!  A study published just last month found that nearly one million people in the United States are living with Multiple Sclerosis. That is twice the number reported previously, and I, your friendly cafe blogger, Rayna Cole, am one of them.


The last week of January marked the nineteen-year anniversary of my first symptoms, later diagnosed as MS; I fell over in the lobby at my job. No keeping that one to myself! With the Relapsing Remitting form of the disease that I have, symptoms improve to something like 90% "back to normal" in remission. There are other chronic symptoms that remain, including fatigue.  I personally have experienced relapses involving partial blindness, partial paralysis, muscle spasms, and instances of vertigo lasting several days.  None of it was fun, but one of the hardest parts of dealing with MS is that so little is known about it. Multiple Sclerosis is called an "invisible illness," because symptoms are internal and can vary widely. The word, sclerosis, which I had to learn to spell, means "scars." Multiple scars on the brain that show up on an MRI but are invisible otherwise. Events and outreach this month are aimed at bringing visibility to this invisible illness. You may see a lot of orange this month, the official color for MS awareness.


The number one fact I'd like to share is that MS is not contagious! People tend to react strangely to a disease they may have never even heard of before. There may be some hereditary factor involved in the cause, or it may be entirely environmental. Currently, there is no cure for Multiple Sclerosis, but recent research promises advancements in treatment that may have widespread benefits for many illnesses of the immune and nervous systems, as well as other types of nerve damage. 



Fight the Monster is an anthology of horror stories, written by several author friends and narrated by several of our narrator friends.  The authors and narrators all donated their time and their talent to create this audio book. Our portion of proceeds is donated to fighting this disease and finding a cure.

To find out more about MS, visit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's website.

Find Falcon Sound Company on Facebook. We already like you!

Happy Sunday everyone!This is the first few lines from a ...

Happy Sunday everyone!

This is the first few lines from a current WIP I'm working on with BA Tortuga, tentatively titled Wrecked. I'm not going to tell you too much about it for spoiler reasons, but Beckett Adler is an attorney living in Vermont and working in Middlebury. His love interest... isn't. *wink*

~~~

The offices of Walker and Adler, LLP closed early on Fridays. That was one of the perks of practicing law in Vermont, weekends were sacred. There were other perks--it was perfectly acceptable to show up late because there was fresh powder on the mountain, you could bring your dog to the office, and you only had to wear a suit on court days.

Of course, the rules, such as they were, didn’t concern Beckett Adler too much since he was the boss.

Beckett locked up and stepped out into the brisk afternoon, but the chill in the air didn’t keep him from stopping by the hardware store for varnish and a couple of foam brushes. In a month or so he’d get his boat back to Lake Champlain. His weekend plans included refinishing the tiller and the cleats, and maybe starting on the companionway.

~~~~

Have a great Sunday!

Jodi

jodipayne.net
Facebook? HERE
Twitter? HERE

February's New Releases

Hello and good morning! Here's what we've been up to this month.  Eight books released from four different narrators.  This is a combined 53.35 hours of audio for your listening pleasure from narrators Drew Bacca, John Solo, Nick J. Russo, and Colin Darcy.  One of these books born in February could be your new favorite!




Find Falcon Sound Company on Facebook.

Happy Sunday everyone!Today I'm posting a little teaser f...

Happy Sunday everyone!

Today I'm posting a little teaser from my current WIP.Hello again all!

For those of you that don’t know, Rainbow Snippets says it “is a group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week to share six sentences from a work of original fiction. Every story’s main character identifies as LGBTQ+.”

It’s been a while since I posted one of these, and I miss doing them!

This is a snip from my current WIP, tentatively titled Mergers and Acquisitions. Jason is a stripper that goes by Dallas at a club in Hell’s Kitchen (New York City) and Teague is an attorney who is this close to making partner at his high powered law firm. Teague’s had a bad day and ends up at Jason’s (Dallas’) club. It’s a tiny bit more than six lines, but some of the lines are one word, so… forgive me!

~~~

“Gentlemen!”

“Oh, boy.” Dallas winked at him and Teague raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, boy?”

“Straight outta Texas, everyone give it up for the beautiful boy from the Lone Star State, the Wiggle Room’s own yellow rose. It’s Dallas!”

“Kiss me.”

“What?” Had he heard that right?

A spotlight hit the bar as the music started, making Teague squint, and the next thing he knew Dallas had a hand behind his head and was kissing him. Teague was so startled he just kissed the cowboy right back. A shiver shot up his spine and as Dallas pulled away, Teague got a look into the cowboy’s moss green eyes.

Dallas laughed and winked, delighted, and stood right up on the bar as the first verse kicked in.

~~~~

Have a great Sunday!

Jodi

jodipayne.net
Facebook? HERE
Twitter? HERE

Throwback Thursday

Good morning and good day! Here's a throwback Thursday threesome for your enjoyment. Three picks on a theme, inspired by the 3" of snow outside my window, and especially suited for warming up a Winter's day. Happy listening! 




"Alaska Hunt," by Shelter Somerset, narrated by John Solo, is a romance with a murder mystery included! 
For Alaska Wildlife Trooper Zanebono Fusca, it's just another summer in Anchorage until a slew of inexplicable fatal bear attacks sets the city reeling. He's besieged with his own demons, coping with personal loss and an identity crisis.Ten years before, he hoped Alaska would bring him a sense of his manhood. Now the "last frontier" could put him in an early grave.




"Winter Ball," by Amy Lane, narrated by Nick J. Russo; a heart-warming plucky underdog tale wrapped in a romance you'll love. 

One brisk night, a post-practice convo in Richie's car turns into a sexual encounter neither of them expected - nor want to forget. Soon Skip and Richie learn more about each other than they ever dreamed possible. Every new discovery takes them further beyond the boundaries of the soccer field and into the infinite possibilities of the best relationship of Skipper's life.







"Stardust," by Andrew Grey, narrated by Andrew McFerrin, is a romantic travel journal with love written in the stars. 

Duncan is an ocean from home over the holidays and expects to spend them alone. To his pleasant surprise, one of his European co-workers, Georg, befriends him and includes Duncan in the holiday traditions of his homeland. Both men are lonely and realize they have much in common, but with the project they're working on nearing completion, any chance for more than a holiday fling seems as elusive as stardust.




For more listens you'll love, find Falcon Sound Company on Facebook. We like you already!

You Like Me! You Really Like Me! Or Do You? By S.C. Wynne

Morning all!

I thought today I'd share a bit of personal insight into who I am. I've been writing mm romance for over five years, and I don't tend to share a lot about myself.

Since I was a kid I've always felt like if someone liked me it was because they didn't really know me. I didn't really even realize that about myself until I was older, and I'd notice that I felt extreme anxiety if someone seemed to like me. I always felt I'd disappoint them if they got to know the real me. Not that I'm hugely strange or anything, but I just assumed they had to be mistaken if they actually liked me. I feared that if they looked too close, I wouldn't seem funny enough. Smart enough. Good enough.

I guess we all hide parts of ourselves trying to put our best foot forward. But the thing is, we're all odd in our own way. I doubt sincerely there is anyone who isn't at all strange. Maybe I'm kidding myself, lol, but I don't think so. Granted, some are stranger than others.

I've always been drawn to quirky people. I don't think perfect people exist, but I think there are people who are better at faking it than others. I like flawed people. I write about flawed people. I find flawed individuals interesting. Especially in books.

I'm shy until I know you. I think sometimes that makes people think I'm prissy, stuck up, or a goody-two-shoes, when nothing could be farther from the truth. I like a lot of music people would never think I like. I cuss more than people might think, and when I drink, I can drink a lot. But I'm kind, and I'm extremely loyal. If you're my friend or my family, you'll never go into battle alone. I'll have your back even if it makes me unpopular.

Not everyone returns that same loyalty to me. I think I have too idealistic of an idea of the world sometimes, and often people let me down. I'm guarded and stupidly trusting at the same time. I'm only close to a small number of people who I trust. That group is mostly made up of my family, who I trust implicitly, and maybe two friends who I think might have my back if I really needed it.

I think this introspective, untrusting side of me actually suits being an author. When you write, it's useful to be a people watcher, which I am. I may not interact with a ton of people, but I know people. I study people. I love putting those observations down on paper and creating complicated characters.

Well, now you know a bit more about me. Hopefully letting you in isn't a bad thing. Maybe you can let me see a glimpse into you as well. Feel free to comment and tell me something about yourself that other people might be surprised to learn.

S.C.

www.scwynne.com

Happy Valentine's Day

Good Thursday morning to you! Happy Valentine's Day! May your day be filled with romance. We have a few romance NOVELS you might try if you want to love your listen!Check out romances from John Solo, Drew Bacca, Colin Darcy, Nick J, Russo, Andrew McFerrin, Kenneth Obi, Finn Sterling, Rayna Cole, and Simon Ferrar on Audible. Heart-felt happy listening!