Kaje Harper's Blog, page 18

A wedding, at last

In October, I'm going to release a long-awaited moment in a new novella for John and Ryan from The Rebuilding Year.

Building Forever - The Rebuilding Year, book 2.5

Four years ago, Ryan and John decided they'd wait to get married until it came with full legal equality. Now, thanks to the Supreme Court, that historic moment has finally arrived. But two hundred miles separate Ryan's hectic residency from John's busy campus job. With a son in college, a daughter choosing her future, and a rambunctious Irish Setter needing attention, planning a wedding isn't simple.

Of course, even the most perfect ceremony can't solve all their problems. What does it take to build forever?



I hope readers who have enjoyed Ryan and John's journey so far will have fun watching them work on this capstone to their rebuilding.

When fiction exposes real lives

I'm blogging today on Love Bytes Reviews, about putting elements of real life and real people into my fiction.

http://lovebytesreviews.com/2017/09/1...

My first book out in translation

I'm thrilled to see Life Lessons hit the shelves in the Italian translation as Lezioni di vita, and delighted to have Google-translated my way through several very complimentary reviews in Italian. Thanks to Triskell Edizioni for the opportunity, and to Cristina Bruni for what is clearly a skillful translation.

I've had offers over the last six years to do translations of my work into other languages. For me, it's always been an interesting mix of excitement and fear, and before now one that tipped too far into the possessiveness and anxiety to say yes.

My words are my playthings and my tools, chosen with care to create the effects I want from them. Chosen, in particular, to convey emotions, and the complexity of human characters. When I succeed, or sometimes fail, I do so on the merits of each of those choices. Writing books where the romance is front and center (as opposed to books that stand or fall primarily on their plot) is to me a deeper risk in translation. I'm not as worried about how the mystery progression is described, or how the sex is conveyed, as the subtleties between Mac being afraid, nervous, apprehensive, reluctant, guarded, in his coming out. The little shifts of meaning that happen with word choice are part of what make a character sympathetic or not, what lend complexity or simplicity. And in translation, I will never know if that meaning has shifted.

But at some point, I've started finding confidence in my stories, to know they can survive a few odd word choices of my own, and therefore of someone else's. Or perhaps I've come to trust that someone who loves the genre will render my guys in recognizable ways. And to realize that my writing never does stand or fall on one book, or one version of one book, or even several. It helps that Cristina Bruni had read my guys for fun, before becoming their translator. Having an audio book out has also shown me that someone's interpretation of my work may not be identical to mine in every emphasis and detail, and yet can be a wonderful version. (Thanks, Kaleo Griffith.)

So I waited for this release with more excitement than worry, and I'm really thrilled it's out. I'm looking forward to the release of the rest of the series. And potentially other books in other languages to come. I do love the thought that people who have not (and would never) read the originals will meet Mac and Tony, and watch their little family grow.

Lezioni di vita can be found on Triskell Edizioni Rainbow here : http://www.triskellrainbow.it/prodott...

The Rebuilding Year is coming in audiobook

I'm thrilled to say we are working on a release of The Rebuilding Year in audio with narration by the amazing Gomez Pugh. I've previewed the first fifteen minutes and I'm delighted by the voices he has created, especially John's deep warmth. The finished book should be completed before the end of September, and I will post a release date when we are nearing that point. I'm looking forward to seeing people meet my guys in a whole new way.

Life Lessons in Italian

I'm really excited because my first book in translation is coming out August 18th - an Italian translation of Life Lessons from Triskell Edizioni (translated by Cristina Bruni who is an author herself.)

And they created such a lovely new cover for me.

The plan is to release the rest of the Life Lessons series in the future as well. I hope Italian readers can connect with my American cop and teacher, and enjoy watching Mac and Tony figure out how well they fit together.

(FB page link - https://www.facebook.com/TriskellEdiz...)

Rebuilding Year re-releases

My self-pub versions of The Rebuilding Year and Life, Some Assembly Required , are now available on Amazon and Smashwords. Smashwords will distribute to Barnes & Noble and iBooks in the next 2 weeks.

I decided to put The Rebuilding Year on sale for $0.99 until July 31st, hoping that some new readers may decide to take a chance on it at the sale price. If you already own the Samhain versions, these are minor re-edits and there is no reason to buy the new versions.

On the other hand, re-editing these did make me start the long-promised novella of what happens when Wisconsin finally does have legal gay marriage... I hope to have a little more of John and Ryan, (and Torey and Mark) for you in the not too distant future.

BTW, now that ARe is closed, I'm wondering where people are going to buy pdf, if that's your format of choice? I have pdf on Smashwords, but SW generates them without the covers and without the polish. (If anyone buys a Smashwords pdf version and wants a better one with a cover - email me with a copy of your SW book and I'll send you the one lovingly crafted by Deb McGowan with the pretty cover.)

Anyway, they're out again. Yay!!!!

Sole Support is in final editing, and will be out next month, with a new cover. Thanks to everyone who wrote and asked where they could find these stories. I'm slowly working through the re-releases, and I hope my guys will find new friends.

The Rebuilding Year
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073D52JL7/
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B073D52JL7/
Amazon DE: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B073D52JL7/
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...

Life, Some Assembly Required
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073DGZ6CW/
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B073DGZ6CW/
Amazon DE: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B073DGZ6CW/
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...

Pride 2017

This weekend I did a booth at Twin Cities Pride with four of my fellow local Midwest Gay-Romance Authors - it was great fun and more comfortable weather this year. (I'm sure the leather crowd was grateful to have 60s instead of 90s this year, too.)

<3

We had a little rain each day, but brief enough not to send the crowds home. I met some great people, had fun conversations, and healed my heart a bit, with the sight of so many people just being who they are, and wearing what they liked, and holding whomever they loved.

I gave away 250 more #illgowithyou trans-support buttons, sold some books, got a few people to clean their glasses with new screen cleaners with Nick's pretty face on them. It was a ton of fun.

Big thanks to Melissa Hunter for helping with set-up Friday. It would have been impossible without you. Thanks to Jessa Ryan for the canopy, and to Posy's kid for the company and the help, especially at takedown. My fellow authors Posy Roberts, J R Jen Barten, and Rory Ni Coileain, who shared the booth, and Edmond Manning, who couldn't attend but sent a butterfly to check up on us.

And a huge thank-you and hello to everyone who stopped by to check our stuff out, or browse, or talk books. It was a lovely weekend.

Putting a face on my men

I'm blogging today on Love Bytes Reviews with a few thoughts about about choosing cover guys.

http://lovebytesreviews.com/2017/06/1...

Pride Month 2017

With all that is going on here in the US and around the world, this may be one of the more mixed Pride months in recent years. We take joy in the progress made, from more cities and states banning conversion therapy to the legal decision in favor of equal marriage in Taiwan, from new bans on intersex gender surgery on infants in Portugal, to the issuance of intersex and third-gender/agender identification documents. And we fight against the rise of homophobia and transphobia from Texas to Chechnya.

Reflecting that mix, I'll be walking in the local "March for Equality" June 11th, in a political statement. And then celebrating at Twin Cities Pride in Loring Park June 24-25. (Come by our Midwest Gay Romance Authors booth if you're around, and say hello. Other local authors like Edmond Manning, Posy Roberts, Rory Ni Coileain and JR Barten will be there too.) This was our 2016 booth -

Whatever you are doing this month to celebrate, to support, to protest - may Pride in June be fun, positive in community and broadbased celebration, and a step forward for us all.

Free M/M books

Passing along the word - Don't miss the Big Gay Fiction Giveaway this time around - I don't have a book in it, but there are many 5-star reads of mine that are now free here, from "The Magpie Lord" to "Maps" to the 5th Vin Vanbly book of Edmond Manning's Come Back To Me, to the first PsyCop book from Jordan Castillo Price Among the Living and many more - check it out (books are free in exchange for at least temporarily signing up for an author's newsletter)

http://www.jeffandwill.com/biggayfict...