Cardeno C.'s Blog, page 56

Random Riley by Riley Hart

First, I owe you guys an apology. I might be known as the worst blogger ever. I'm going to try to get better, okay? I swear, my brain doesn't work right anymore. I seem to be forgetting more and more. My husband teases me because I used to be the girl who didn't forget anything. Now, I'm lucky if I remember to get dressed every day. LOL.

Anyway, I wanted to take a quick moment to give you guys an idea of what you can expect from me in the coming months and some other random odd and ends. As you know, Jumpstart just released at the end of October. It's the last book in the Crossroads series, and it's a novella :)

Jumpstart will also be released on December 20th as part of a 1001 Dark Nights anthology. It will be the same exact story that's available now, so if you've bought it, you won't need to buy it again. Those who haven't and want to read a collection of other novellas with it (the others being m/f), I hope you'll pick it up. There are some FAB authors in the anthology, one of them being Christopher Rice!

I'm currently woking on a new series called West Hollywood Boys. The series involves a group of friends who grew up in LA. They meet in a bar in West Hollywood every Friday night, so the bar and characters will be reoccurring. If you've read DARE YOU TO, in the IT WAS ALWAYS YOU anthology, you'll recognize the bar, Wild Side and occasionally catch a glimpse of Austin and Dare! Also, those of you who have read JUMPSTART and liked Quinn, I have on good authority he'll be showing up in this series :)

As of now, the plan is a three book series, with book one out sometime in January or February. I'll let you know exact dates as I learn them.

There might be a surprise or two coming next year as well, some books with Devon and things like that. You can also expect the third book in the Freefall series next year. It's a Nyrae Dawn series that I write with Christina Lee. I'm so excited to bring you guys Ezra and Daevon's story.

Also, I wanted to remind you all that the anthology, IT WAS ALWAYS YOU will only be available through the end of the year. The novellas will likely be re-released on their own sometime after that but remember, if you buy the anthology, all the royalties go to the LGBTQ youth center One.n.Ten.

That's it from me for now. Hope you're all doing well.

Are You A Playmaker - Andrew Grey

Sometimes we get surprised.  And the Playmaker, releasing on November 18, is a story of just how life can deliver a surprise.  Sometimes those surprises are wonderful and other times they cause hair pulling conflict.  In this story they do both.  Marty has no clue about sports, but he needs a job and manages to talk his way into a position as football player Hunter's personal assistant.  At first the two of them butt heads, but soon Marty makes his way into Hunter's good graces and eventually into his heart.  But there could be a cost to their budding relationship. 

On the field Hunter is the playmaker for his team.  he makes things happen on the field.  But off the field, the playmaker isn't at all who Hunter thinks it is.


Professional football player Hunter Davis is learning that saying he’s gay is very different from actively being in a relationship with another man—especially in the eyes of his teammates and fans. So when Hunter needs a personal assistant to keep him organized, he asks for a woman in order to prevent tongues from wagging.

Montgomery Willis badly needs to find work before he loses everything. There’s just one position at the agency where he applies, but the problem is, he’s not a woman. And he knows nothing about football. Still, Hunter gives him a chance, but only because Monty’s desperate.

Monty soon proves his worth by saving Hunter’s bacon on an important promotional shoot, and Hunter realizes he might have someone special working for him—in more ways than one. Monty’s feelings come to the surface during an outing in the park when Hunter decides to teach Monty a bit about the game, and pictures surface of them in some questionable positions. Hunter is reminded that knowing he’s gay and seeing evidence in the papers are two very different things for the other players, and he might have to choose between two loves: football and Monty.

Check it out:   https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/boo...

Ask Andrew is your chance to ask questions of a gay romance author.  The questions can be about the writing process in general, writing sex scenes, gay men, sex, characters in romance, characters having sex... okay you probably get the picture.    I promise to answer your questions as frankly and with as much humor as I possibly can.

So if you have a question, please send it to andrewgreybooks@comcast.net.  This is different from my usual email so your questions don't get lost.  I will answer one question a week.

Please remember this is meant to be all in fun.  (I was going to say good, clean fun, but who wants that.)    So send me your questions and let's see what mischief we can get into.

Visit Andrew on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/andrewgreybooks  and you can join Andrew's fan group All The Way With Andrew Grey.

Follow him on Twitter:  @andrewgreybooks

Desserts for Thanksgiving from BA and Julia and Sean and Kiernan

Boo!

Oh right, Halloween is over.

What's the best part of any holiday dinner? Pie! Or dessert. Ahem. I like pie.

So here are some of our faves, new and old

I had this dessert my first Thanksgiving at BA's and I stole it and have served it ever since and my family all loves it - my father asks me to bring it every holiday.

Sean Michael

Cranberry Salad

Take 1 package of fresh cranberries and crush them in the food processor. put in a bowl with 1/2 to 1 cup of sugar and let sit overnight

The next morning drain it, drain a can of crushed or tidbit pineapple and chop about a cup of pecans, mix all three together.

Whip up some whipping cream, and add 2 cups to the cranberry salad.

Cover and refrigerate to serve for dessert.

It tastes better if it has sat around for at least a few hours and even better the next day.

BA Tortuga

I want to try this new to me pie this year!

Ingredients

1 recipe GOOD BASIC PIE DOUGH, FOOD PROCESSOR PIE DOUGH, or another pie dough of your choosing

FILLING

7 large egg whites

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut

1 1/2 cups finely chopped (by hand) pecans

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Instructions

If you haven't already, prepare the pastry and refrigerate it for 1 1/2 to 2 hours prior to rolling.

On a sheet of lightly floured wax paper, parchment paper, or another surface, roll the pastry into a 13-inch circle. Invert the pastry over the pan, center it, then gently peel off the paper. Tuck the pastry into the pan, without stretching it. Sculpt the edge into an upstanding ridge. Flute if desired. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350°.

Whisk the egg whites, sugars, and vanilla is a large bowl until evenly combined. Add the graham cracker crumbs, coconut, pecans, and salt. Stir gently, until not quite evenly mixed. Add the butter and stir just until evenly combined. Don't overmix.

Transfer the filling to the chilled pie shell and spread it evenly with the back of a spoon. Bake on the center oven rack for 40 to 45 minutes, until the top is crusty and risen. It's fine if the top develops little cracks here and there.

Transfer the pie to a cooling rack and cool for at least 2 hours before serving. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature. Refrigerate leftovers.

Julia Talbot

Julia Talbot

My girl makes this for me as well as pumpkin and pecan pie

1 1/4 c. coconut

1/2 c. milk

2 eggs

1 c. sugar

1 tsp. lemon juice

1/2 stick butter

1 unbaked pie shell

Mix coconut and milk, let set while mixing other ingredients. Mix other ingredients and blend thoroughly all together. Pour into pie shell and bake at 325 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes.

Kiernan Kelly

Since sugar is off the menu for me, I have to be a little creative when it comes to desserts. This is one of my favorites, and easy (which is almost even more important!).

Sugar Free Pistachio Pudding Fluff

1 package sugar free Instant Pistachio pudding mix

1 cup sugar free whipped topping (I prefer Cool Whip).

!/2 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup fresh pitted cherries.

Make the pudding according to box directions. Once set, add whipped topping, coconut, and cherries. Enjoy!

Sean’s website 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

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

Coming Soon! By Christa Tomlinson

I’ve reached the point in my manuscript where I’m ready to share with everyone what I’m working on. I’m writing the sequel to The Sergeant! Logan and Clay are two of my favorite characters and I feel like they have a little more to say in their lives. So I’m giving them a second book. It’s nice to work with them again. I know them so well that their story and dialogue flow very easily for me. That’s a huge bonus when writing! 
But – because of course there’s a but – it also hurts to write this story. As much as I would love to, I can’t write 80,000 words of happy-happy fun time for Logan and Clay. Which means my boys are going to have to have more drama in their lives. Nooooo! But I know they’ll work it out somehow. My goal is to have the conclusion to their story out in mid to late January. I’ll have a more specific date next month. 
In the meantime, you’re welcome to check out the start to Logan and Clay’s relationship in The Sergeant. Or, if you’ve already read The Sergeant, you can stop by my site and read a couple of sexy-sweet one-shots I wrote for Logan and Clay HERE. Just scroll to the bottom of the page.











Thanks for reading!Christa
www.ChristaTomlinson.com
Like my Facebook Author Page Christa Tomlinson
Follow me on Twitter @ShockZ314

I'll Be Honest the Election Erased My Brain by S.C. Wynne

I literally woke up today, Sunday, and almost had a heart attack. I was so depressed, confused and down right muddled by the election Tuesday,
I forgot to write my Saturday post.

I'm so sorry and embarrassed. But to be honest, I've thought of little else other than how terrified I am for our LGBT community and the middle class in this country. I pray that our new president will be far more moderate than he sounded during his campaign.

I don't know how to make it all better, but I promise to do what I can to fight anything that will harm my friends in the LGBT community. I'll oppose anything that will take away equality for everyone in this country. I'll fight bigotry and prejudice until the day I die.

And that's something I won't ever forget.

S.C.

www.sc-wynne.com

New Release!! by Felice Stevens

Happy Veteran's Day and thank you to everyone who serves or who has served. Our veterans are such an important part of our country.

Today I'm excited to share my re-release of A Walk Through Fire. This was my second published book and has one of my favorite characters, Ash Davis. I was so excited to expand his and Drew's story and also to have more of Esther, Drew's grandmother. She is based on my mom, who came from a little village in Ukraine/Poland (the lines were blurred back then).

I have a few fun facts that very few people know about this book and this series. It was originally entitled The House of the Rising Sun, and each book was to be named See No Evil, Speak No Evil, Hear no Evil.

Drew had an additional friend named Dave, who was the one his wife cheated on him with.

And, despite what people think—the ending? Not planned at all. I'm a total pantser and it simply wrote itself. 

So there you have it. I hope you enjoy the beginning of the re-releases of the Hell and Back series. Book 2 will be out in the late winter/early spring


Amazon: getBook.at/AWalkThroughFire
iBooks: http://bit.ly/AshandDrew
B&N: http://bit.ly/NookAshandDrew
Kobo: http://bit.ly/AWalkThroughFire
ARe: http://bit.ly/AllRomanceAshandDrew

Ask Andrew - Easter Eggs - Andrew Grey

Mr. Grey,

I noticed Angus and Kevin from Round and Round are in Rekindled Flame. Also Peter, Darryl and Billy from the Love series make an appearance in the Fire series. Do you have a chart of which characters from which books do crossovers?

Thx, Kendra

Hi Kendra

I don't keep a chart of characters who cross over from one series to another.  However I can tell you some of the books that have Easter Eggs in them.  For those of you who don't know and Easter Egg is a character form one series who makes an appearance in another. 

Rekindled Flame takes place in the same universe as the Bronco's Boys series.  So you will find a number of characters that cross over.  It is the start of its own series, but the various characters make an appearance.

In Burnished by Fire some of the characters from the Taste of Love series make an appearance as secondary characters as you mentioned.

I'll give you one other.  There is a character from the Farm series who transitions to the Range series.

There are also characters from In Search of a Story who appear in A Heart Without Borders. 

I love adding these crossovers to stories.  I'm trying to think of others and there are probably more, but I'm coming up blank at the moment.  So if you know of others that I didn't mention, comment on this post to tell others. 

Hugs and Love
Andrew

Ask Andrew is your chance to ask questions of a gay romance author.  The questions can be about the writing process in general, writing sex scenes, gay men, sex, characters in romance, characters having sex... okay you probably get the picture.    I promise to answer your questions as frankly and with as much humor as I possibly can.

So if you have a question, please send it to andrewgreybooks@comcast.net.  This is different from my usual email so your questions don't get lost.  I will answer one question a week.

Please remember this is meant to be all in fun.  (I was going to say good, clean fun, but who wants that.)    So send me your questions and let's see what mischief we can get into.

Visit Andrew on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/andrewgreybooks  and you can join Andrew's fan group All The Way With Andrew Grey.

Follow him on Twitter:  @andrewgreybooks

Writing POC Characters by Christa Tomlinson

Today I want to talk about People of Color characters because there was a big to-do this week about a YA book that appears to paint POC characters in an unflattering light. (I say appears because I haven’t read the book. But going by the blurb, I can understand why people aren’t loving the story’s premise.) I’m not going to talk about the specifics of that book or the arguments taking place around it. It’s not in the genre I write and there are already multiple posts and tweet threads on the topic. What I do want to talk about is writing POC characters in general. 
There are two issues here. Some writers don’t want / are afraid to write a POC character because they aren’t sure they will do it right. And then there are writers who write POC characters without considering that their portrayal might be offensive or hurtful to a member of that race or ethnicity. This post is to help with both of those issues. I don’t want anyone to avoid writing an amazing story featuring a gorgeous POC MC. I want to see those men!  
First and foremost, please don’t use stereotypes, especially those that are harmful. For example, if you’re writing Black or Hispanic MCs, think long and hard before you make him a prisoner or a gangster. If you’re writing a Black woman, she doesn’t have to be loud and sassy, or worse angry. If you’re writing an Asian man, he doesn’t have to be a submissive bottom who is really good at math. Your readers don’t want to open your book and see the most negative thing about their cultural group when they just read ten other books that also mentioned that exact same negative thing. It hurts. It makes us tired. And it makes us decide not to give you any more of our book budget. Think outside those stereotypical boxes. How do you do this? WRITE POC CHARACTERS LIKE ANY OTHER CHARACTER. 
I read and enjoyed Morticia Knight’s Building Bonds . She mentions that he’s an attractive Black man who is a Dom. She doesn’t really get too much into any other details. And that’s a-ok. Seriously. Just think of it as describing what hair or eye color a non-POC character would have. He doesn’t need to have a dozen other identifiers to drive the point home that he’s Black or Southeast Asian or Hispanic. When I’m writing a book and my characters are white I don’t think of stereotypes like he must like country music, watch NASCAR and eat green bean casserole. I think of what makes thatcharacter who he is. Do the same thing when writing someone who is Asian or Middle Eastern or Canadian First Peoples. Now, if you do want to write a story that delves into the culture of a specific group DO YOUR RESEARCH. 
If you were writing a story where Greek gods found themselves living as pioneers on the old Western frontier, what would you do? You’d research the Greek pantheon of gods, look up what it was like to live in the old West, and then you’d write your story. Do the same thing when writing a story featuring minority characters. And just like you wouldn’t throw every fact you read about Greek gods and the old West in your story without determining why you’re using that fact, do the same thing when writing cultures besides your own. For example, yes it’s true, many Black women don’t like when people touch our hair. But unless there’s a reason for making that point that is integral to the story, leave it out. Don’t write POC characters who are cardboard cutout representatives. Cardboard characters are always boring. 
And oh god, the dialogue in stories featuring minorities, especially urban minorities. Two things come to mind here. There was a book that made a brew-ha-ha last year because the author had the characters speaking in some hilariously strange and overly complicated version of Ebonics. No. Just no. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to read an accent throughout an entire book.
If I were to read a Highland romance where everything the MC said was written in dialect I would toss that sucker in the trash. That’s too much for the brain to decipher without losing the flow of the story. Just give me a couple of lasses, drop the occasional ‘G’ at the end of a word and move on. If you’re writing an urban MC, mention that he has an accent. Maybe even toss in a slang word or two. That’s all that’s necessary to get the point across. 
You might also consider if your POC character even needs to use slang. If you’re writing an older Hispanic man who is a school teacher, he may not have slang words in his vocabulary. Again, think about what makes that character who he is, instead of going for that cookie cutter stereotype.  
But if you’re going to use slang, for the love of mocking reviews, please make sure you’re getting the spelling and usage correct. Last week, a journalist wrote coat-switching instead of code-switching* and I laughed so hard at the tweets about his goof that I had tears in my eyes. So ask. Start with Google. Hell, you can even try Urban Dictionary. Ask a friend. If they say no, they don’t want to help you, don’t get mad. Maybe they don’t know a lot of slang (I admit that I don’t) or they just don’t want to be “the ethnic girl that always has to explain ethnic culture to everyone” and that’s okay. Ask someone else. Post in the MM Romance Writers Group for help. I’m sure someone there will be able to answer your questions, or point you to someone who can. You can even reach out to me for African American culture information if you’d like. 
And then when you’ve got that beautiful book with your beautiful POC MCs ready to go, pass it off to a beta reader or two who is a member of whatever group you wrote about. Ask them for honest feedback and LISTEN to that feedback. If they tell you a plot point or description made them uncomfortable, really consider if it’s something you might want to delete or rewrite. Don’t just perch on that “it’s my story and I have to tell the story within me” high horse. Is it worth alienating a group of readers for writing a Black man who has kids he doesn’t support? If you want to die on that stereotype hill and get dragged on Twitter, go ahead. But if you want to write a story featuring characters that multiple groups can love and make their book boyfriends, take that feedback into consideration. 
The goal of this post isn’t to make anyone feel bad for anything they may have already written or deter a writer from creating a POC character. Far from it. Some people may think non-POC can’t write POC characters, but I’m not one of them. I think we need to have more minority characters. And yes, I do believe they can be written by authors who aren’t minorities. Because let’s be honest, the majority of m/m romance authors are women. So that means we had to do research to write about gay men and make sure we’re presenting their stories with compassionate consideration, yeah? That’s all us ethnic/POC/minority readers are asking for, a little bit of consideration.
Thanks for reading! And if you're looking for m/m stories with POC characters, check out my Bad Boys Need Love Too Series.

Christa
www.ChristaTomlinson.com
Like my Facebook Author Page Christa Tomlinson
Follow me on Twitter @ShockZ314











 *Code-switching is when a person switches back and forth between urban/casual vernacular and “proper” speech. Think of it as the difference in the way you’d talk with your friends versus the way you talk with your boss. Most people who code-switch do it so quickly and naturally we’re not even aware of it.

Hello and allow myself to introduce... myself! (Austin Powers reference) By S.C. Wynne

Good morning all!
I'm one of the newest contributors to Cafe Risqué and I'm honored to be here. I started writing in 2013 with my first book Hard-Ass is here. That acceptance letter from Loose Id was probably one of the most exciting emails I've ever received. Nothing will ever come close. Well maybe if I got an email from Publisher Clearing House telling me I won a bazillion dollars that would be slightly more exciting!!!  But I took to writing MM like a duck to water. I love reading and writing MM and can't imagine ever writing anything different. I've dabbled in writing MF mysteries, but oddly enough I find the words flow so much easier with my MM characters.
Well, I look forward to getting to know all of you who follow this blog, and, again, I'm thrilled to be a part of this wonderful group.
Have an amazing Saturday, and now I'm going to go drink an enormous cup of coffee!
SC

www.sc-wynne.com

Hello and allow myself to introduce... myself! (Austin Powers reference)

Good morning all!
I'm one of the newest contributors to Cafe Risqué and I'm honored to be here. I started writing in 2013 with my first book Hard-Ass is here. That acceptance letter from Loose Id was probably one of the most exciting emails I've ever received. Nothing will ever come close. Well maybe if I got an email from Publisher Clearing House telling me I won a bazillion dollars that would be slightly more exciting!!!  But I took to writing MM like a duck to water. I love reading and writing MM and can't imagine ever writing anything different. I've dabbled in writing MF mysteries, but oddly enough I find the words flow so much easier with my MM characters.
Well, I look forward to getting to know all of you who follow this blog, and, again, I'm thrilled to be a part of this wonderful group.
Have an amazing Saturday, and now I'm going to go drink an enormous cup of coffee!
SC