Kaje Harper's Blog, page 40
May 27, 2012
Memorial Day and a cover
Into Deep Waters got a formal review on a blog today at Mrs. Condit Reads Books. It's a lovely review, but what means the most is when Mrs. Condit says,
"I’m so glad she did this now, because our WWII veterans are slipping away from us so quickly now, and their personal stories, not just the stories of war, need to be told, whether as fiction or non-fiction."
I really like thinking that this story in some way honors those real life veterans who would have shared Jacob's and Daniel's span of time. These men were contemporaries of my father and my uncles, including my Uncle Edward who died in the fields of France in 1944. As I did research for this story I was reminded time and again of how much these men and women gave, how much men and women in the armed forces have continued to give, over all the years. Regardless of how you feel about violence, or any particular war, or the politics behind the conflicts, the men and women in the military put themselves between home and harm's way. They give up comforts, civilian lives, jobs, friends, health and sometimes life itself, in service to others. And that deserves to be honored.
This Memorial day is the first since the September 20th implementation of the repeal of DADT. This is the first time that returning GLBTQ veterans don't have to hide their loves and sometimes their losses. In my story, the two gay veterans create a life together after their war in 1945. It's a good, full life, but it's heavily shadowed at times by the prejudices of the day, and not just the usual turns of fate. The men and women of that era were the pioneers who paved the way for this Memorial day, when a gay American soldier can openly hold his partner at the grave of a mutual friend. We may still have a long way to go, but as I wrote of the physical and legal risks those sailors in WWII took to be together, it was a vivid reminder of how far we have in fact come.
The response to Into Deep Waters has been gratifying - I've even had a couple of Navy veterans tell me they found the story worked for them, without glaring errors. I'm delighted with how many people seem to be reading it. I do hope to get it out on other sites for downloading to what I hope will be a wider audience. The cover is the next step. I tallied up the cover votes from the last few days.
Combining the results from both blogs, the results are :
#3 - 18 votes
#2 - 8 votes
#1 - 7 votes
#4 - 6 votes
#5 - 3 votes
Every cover had its strong supporters but #3 was the clear winner.
#3
- I have to admit I like the idea of having older guys on what is essentially a classic m/m cover. I'll have to give some thought to the rings. I love the way they look on the cover, but as some people pointed out with all those elements in place, the cover kind of tells the whole story before you open the book. I don't want the ending to lose impact...
In any case, I appreciate the help everyone gave me in making the choice between Enny's amazing options.
To those who celebrate it, have a great Memorial day.
And to all those who have served, or currently serve, their country; to all who have lost someone in that service; ... Thank You.
I really like thinking that this story in some way honors those real life veterans who would have shared Jacob's and Daniel's span of time. These men were contemporaries of my father and my uncles, including my Uncle Edward who died in the fields of France in 1944. As I did research for this story I was reminded time and again of how much these men and women gave, how much men and women in the armed forces have continued to give, over all the years. Regardless of how you feel about violence, or any particular war, or the politics behind the conflicts, the men and women in the military put themselves between home and harm's way. They give up comforts, civilian lives, jobs, friends, health and sometimes life itself, in service to others. And that deserves to be honored.
This Memorial day is the first since the September 20th implementation of the repeal of DADT. This is the first time that returning GLBTQ veterans don't have to hide their loves and sometimes their losses. In my story, the two gay veterans create a life together after their war in 1945. It's a good, full life, but it's heavily shadowed at times by the prejudices of the day, and not just the usual turns of fate. The men and women of that era were the pioneers who paved the way for this Memorial day, when a gay American soldier can openly hold his partner at the grave of a mutual friend. We may still have a long way to go, but as I wrote of the physical and legal risks those sailors in WWII took to be together, it was a vivid reminder of how far we have in fact come.
The response to Into Deep Waters has been gratifying - I've even had a couple of Navy veterans tell me they found the story worked for them, without glaring errors. I'm delighted with how many people seem to be reading it. I do hope to get it out on other sites for downloading to what I hope will be a wider audience. The cover is the next step. I tallied up the cover votes from the last few days.
Combining the results from both blogs, the results are :
#3 - 18 votes
#2 - 8 votes
#1 - 7 votes
#4 - 6 votes
#5 - 3 votes
Every cover had its strong supporters but #3 was the clear winner.
#3
- I have to admit I like the idea of having older guys on what is essentially a classic m/m cover. I'll have to give some thought to the rings. I love the way they look on the cover, but as some people pointed out with all those elements in place, the cover kind of tells the whole story before you open the book. I don't want the ending to lose impact...
In any case, I appreciate the help everyone gave me in making the choice between Enny's amazing options.
To those who celebrate it, have a great Memorial day.
And to all those who have served, or currently serve, their country; to all who have lost someone in that service; ... Thank You.
May 24, 2012
Vote for a cover for Into Deep Waters
Some of you have read my recent free story Into Deep Waters
. Right now it has the generic cover for the Love is Always Write event of the M/M Romance Group on Goodreads, for which it was written. As more and more wonderful stories are being released there, it's getting confusing, since the same cover is used for all 140+ stories. So even though I like the group design, I wanted a separate and specific cover, particularly since I hope eventually to make this story available from other book sites. The photo for which the story was written is not public domain and I haven't been able to track down who has the rights. I needed a different cover image, but the inexpensive stock photo sites didn't turn up anything similar so...
Enny Kraft, who generously gave me a free cover for my story Within Reach, made me a bunch of possible covers. They were all great and I simply couldn't decide on one. So I thought it would be fun to let you all have a look and vote on them.
I've numbered the covers 1-5. (BTW, if you see an odd swirl or circle on a picture - that is a watermark that will be removed when we actually buy the picture for final use. Watermarked free pictures let artists try out different stock photos before paying for their final choices.) Please leave me a comment with the number of your top choice for this story, and any comments or suggestions you have. On Monday the 28th I'll tally up the votes and see where we stand. Which of these covers would make you pick up this book, and would fit the story you'll find inside? You tell me.
#1:
.
#2
.
#3
.
#4
.
#5
.
So what do you think? # 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5? I hope you had fun admiring Enny's beautiful work and choosing a favorite.
***new question*** I love the rings on the covers, but then I know how the story plays out. The prompt will be at the front but... were any of you in doubt about the ending? Are the rings giving too much away for someone who hasn't read this? I love the look, but don't want to be too spoilery.
. Right now it has the generic cover for the Love is Always Write event of the M/M Romance Group on Goodreads, for which it was written. As more and more wonderful stories are being released there, it's getting confusing, since the same cover is used for all 140+ stories. So even though I like the group design, I wanted a separate and specific cover, particularly since I hope eventually to make this story available from other book sites. The photo for which the story was written is not public domain and I haven't been able to track down who has the rights. I needed a different cover image, but the inexpensive stock photo sites didn't turn up anything similar so...Enny Kraft, who generously gave me a free cover for my story Within Reach, made me a bunch of possible covers. They were all great and I simply couldn't decide on one. So I thought it would be fun to let you all have a look and vote on them.
I've numbered the covers 1-5. (BTW, if you see an odd swirl or circle on a picture - that is a watermark that will be removed when we actually buy the picture for final use. Watermarked free pictures let artists try out different stock photos before paying for their final choices.) Please leave me a comment with the number of your top choice for this story, and any comments or suggestions you have. On Monday the 28th I'll tally up the votes and see where we stand. Which of these covers would make you pick up this book, and would fit the story you'll find inside? You tell me.
#1:
.
#2
.
#3
.
#4
.
#5
.
So what do you think? # 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5? I hope you had fun admiring Enny's beautiful work and choosing a favorite.
***new question*** I love the rings on the covers, but then I know how the story plays out. The prompt will be at the front but... were any of you in doubt about the ending? Are the rings giving too much away for someone who hasn't read this? I love the look, but don't want to be too spoilery.
May 21, 2012
Thank You and Book Winners
I wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who came around to my blog on either Wordpress or Goodreads and read my uncle's story. Between the two locations I had over 800 visitors, many of whom left comments of encouragement, determination and hope. You made me feel like my uncle's life had impact and made a contribution far beyond its brief span. You are all wonderful people and I'm honored to be sharing my stories and this effort towards equality with you.
Thanks also to all the other participants in the Hop against Homophobia and Transphobia. As I hopped around I read stories that were sweet and poignant, painful and angry, funny and meaningful. I read thoughtful analyses, determined optimism and helpful advice. I was given links to allies I did not realize we had. And throughout, I was delighted to find so many people participating, commenting and sharing their own stories. Slowly but surely we will move forward to a world of equality and respect for all the variations of human experience.
I selected three winners for my ebooks from the (many!) comments on my two sites, by the time honored method of names in a hat (or in this case a large mixing bowl.) My name-drawer randomly pulled out:
Mary (from Wordpress)
Lana (comment 26 on Goodreads)
Foretta (from Wordpress)
I will be contacting you for the titles and formats you would like. If you don't hear from me, let me know. Thanks to everyone for participating. I know the books were just icing on the hop itself and being part of this wonderful community effort.
Thanks also to all the other participants in the Hop against Homophobia and Transphobia. As I hopped around I read stories that were sweet and poignant, painful and angry, funny and meaningful. I read thoughtful analyses, determined optimism and helpful advice. I was given links to allies I did not realize we had. And throughout, I was delighted to find so many people participating, commenting and sharing their own stories. Slowly but surely we will move forward to a world of equality and respect for all the variations of human experience.
I selected three winners for my ebooks from the (many!) comments on my two sites, by the time honored method of names in a hat (or in this case a large mixing bowl.) My name-drawer randomly pulled out:
Mary (from Wordpress)
Lana (comment 26 on Goodreads)
Foretta (from Wordpress)
I will be contacting you for the titles and formats you would like. If you don't hear from me, let me know. Thanks to everyone for participating. I know the books were just icing on the hop itself and being part of this wonderful community effort.
May 16, 2012
Because I never knew my uncle...
Because I never knew my uncle...
Sometimes people ask me why I support gay rights and marriage equality. Why do I speak up or put the bumper stickers on my car or sign the petitions? After all, I'm straight, I have two girls who also appear to be straight, my siblings are all straight, there's no pressing need to get so involved with that.
Most times I give them chapter and verse. I talk about fairness and equality. I say I want a future with less bigotry in it for my kids. I ask them how they can justify turning their back on love of any kind, in a world that needs more love and less hate.
But sometimes if I'm sad and a little tired of explaining this fight that really should need no explanation, I tell them I'm doing it because I never knew my uncle.
Never met him. Never even heard his name.
Both my parents had brothers. My father's oldest brother died young, fighting for Canada, and indirectly for all of us, behind enemy lines in the fields of France. Having known and dearly loved both my father and my remaining paternal uncle, I know what a loss that was. But he was given to his fate, not gladly but proudly and of urgent necessity, to keep us free. I wish I had known him, but he at least was brought to vivid life for me in the loving stories of the family he left behind.
My mother had one older brother and two younger. Growing up, I knew only the two younger ones. My maternal uncles are brilliant, artistic and athletic, with wide-ranging interests. I knew there was another brother, but my mother would only say “My older brother died young.” His name was never spoken; he was not identified on the back of childhood photographs.
When I was a child, I didn't ask questions. As a teen and young adult, I assumed that, like her own mother's death from tuberculosis when Mum was eight, the loss was too painful to talk about. Mum was like that, not putting her emotions out there to be seen.
It was only last year, as the Alzheimer's first began to change her, that my mother told me the story of her oldest brother. In his early twenties, he was newly launched in his profession in a large city in Europe where they grew up. He had graduated, left home and begun an adult life. He was in fact living with a male lover.
His boss found out about it, and in the good-old-boys networking that seems to exist everywhere, consulted with my grandfather. My grandfather was an intelligent, rigidly-honest and somewhat controlling man, who wanted the world for his children, but not necessarily what was best in their own eyes. He brokered a deal, and together those two established men presented it to my uncle. Either he give up his lover and move back home into my grandfather's house, under his father's eagle eye, to continue his professional life. Or he would be fired from his job, blackballed professionally, and forbidden to come home at all. They asked him to choose. They gave him a day.
He chose to step in front of a train.
I never knew my uncle. Judging from the other family members I did know, I imagine he would have been brilliant, introverted, slim and athletic, with a quiet sense of humor. And he would have been gay.
If society back then had allowed him to live the life he chose, I might have had fifty years to come to know the man. The world would have gained whatever contributions some five decades of the work of an agile mind can produce. His lover, whose fate I do not know, would have escaped that moment when you hear that the one you love has chosen death. His three siblings would have had a brother, not a deep unspoken loss. There would have been less pain and more joy in the world.
So when people ask why do I put energy and emotion and time into this cause, when they want to know why someone normally as shy as I am does speak up, even to strangers, when the topic is raised, sometimes I tell them... because I never knew my uncle, but I really wish I had. Because I don't want the children of my daughters' generation to have the same sad reason for an aching, silent, lifelong hole in their family circle.
Today's post, today's participation, has the same goals. I decided to participate in the Hop Against Homophobia because anything I can do is worth the effort. Most readers who move around this hop are not homophobic, or they wouldn't be looking at these websites. But sometimes it's easy to take the low road, to frown at prejudice but hold our tongues and keep ourselves out of the fray. My hope is that this hop will reinforce the message that that's not enough.
North Carolina just voted to forbid gay marriage and enshrine hatred and discrimination in their constitution. My home state of Minnesota will have a referendum trying to do the same in November. It's not enough for those of us who are straight allies to feel complacent in our lack of prejudice. It is vital for us to speak up.
If we who have no visible “agenda” for supporting gay rights step up to the plate and put our vehement support behind equality, we become harder to dismiss and ignore.
As you go through this hop you will see all kinds of stories, meet all kinds of people, with one common theme. Discrimination and hate are not acceptable. We must work together to move out of the darkness. Write, speak, vote. When your neighbor says something about “Those gays have no right...” don't just let it slide. When your pastor claims God's support for oppression and bullying, speak out about God's love for all of his creation. When a college student talks about the hassle of going to vote, remind her that her own rights, and her status as a thinking participant in her own government, are at stake too. Sign the petitions, be vocal, be seen. Bigotry is everyone's problem and everyone's shame. We are better than this.
What part of love don't they understand?
As encouragement to readers moving around this hop, those of us participating are offering some prizes. In my case, three people who comment either here or on my blog before midnight on May 20th will be chosen by the trusty names-in-a-hat method to receive one ebook of their choice from my backlist (or a copy of Home Work when it comes out later this summer.) Your comment can be as short or as long as you like. Then click on this link to get back to HAH home base and find another blog to visit. We're all in this together. Thanks for coming by.
May 8, 2012
Into Deep Waters released
The Goodreads M/M Romance Group is once again doing a Dear-Author story-writing event for the summer. Last year I wrote Like the Taste of Summer for the event. This year I'm contributing two stories. And the first of those, Into Deep Waters
just released.
The "Love is Always Write" event isn't actually scheduled to begin until May 15th. But today the group reached 6000 members and moderator Jen and her colleagues decided to release my story early in celebration. (Yay!!!) If you are a Goodreads member you can download the story in several formats here. If you are a member of the M/M group and want to look at the picture and letter that inspired the story you can find those (and the online version of the story) in the LiAW thread.
This story is a historical to contemporary romance. It follows the lives of two men who met onboard ship in the US Navy during WWII, and who stayed together through life's ups and downs to the end of the story in 2011. Although the short deadline meant I didn't have a lot of time for research, several people helped me try to get the details right and I had a great time writing this. I hope you'll enjoy reading it.
just released.The "Love is Always Write" event isn't actually scheduled to begin until May 15th. But today the group reached 6000 members and moderator Jen and her colleagues decided to release my story early in celebration. (Yay!!!) If you are a Goodreads member you can download the story in several formats here. If you are a member of the M/M group and want to look at the picture and letter that inspired the story you can find those (and the online version of the story) in the LiAW thread.
This story is a historical to contemporary romance. It follows the lives of two men who met onboard ship in the US Navy during WWII, and who stayed together through life's ups and downs to the end of the story in 2011. Although the short deadline meant I didn't have a lot of time for research, several people helped me try to get the details right and I had a great time writing this. I hope you'll enjoy reading it.
May 1, 2012
About writing werewolves
I have a guest blog up today on Randy's Book Bag Reviews. Stop by and check out my take on writing gay wolf-tails... I mean tales.
April 27, 2012
What's coming next
I haven't blogged for a while - real life caught up with me and I've been busy and preoccupied. But I did want to touch base with what I've been doing.
I'm currently working on the edits for Home Work, the next Life Lessons book. No release date yet, though. And I just finished a short story I'm submitting to a Storm Moon Press anthology. This one is a 20,000 word short that is a swords-and-horses m/m romance fantasy. We'll see what their editor thinks of it. It was one of those ideas that ambushed me when I was supposed to be doing something else.
But the next thing you will get to read from me will be my freebie novella for the Goodreads M/M Romance Group. My story for the Love is Always Write event is a 63,000 word novella about two guys who meet during WWII, and build a life together. Members of the group will get to read it when it releases, sometime after May 15th. The moderators keep the exact date secret, to build suspense. There will be 140+ stories by authors like Z.A. Maxfield, Andrea Speed, Stephani Hecht, Daniel Kaine, Jeff Erno, Kate Sherwood, SJ Frost... and many more. I am so looking forward to reading these over the next couple of months.
I posted a teaser - the opening scene from my novella - in the thread for this event, but I thought I would post it here too, in case folks are interested. Eventually this will be available as a download pdf too, because not everyone will want to read 63,000 words on the computer screen. But it will show up first as part of the upcoming event in the group.
The prompt for the story was a photo, and letter. And even though I really didn't want to take on something historical with all the research involved, these two guys just grabbed me until I wrote them a life:
Two young men stand in the riveted steel doorway of a ship. The one inside the doorway is young and classically handsome, hatless, with wavy dark hair falling over his forehead. His eyes are narrowed against the sunlight and a small smile hovers on his lips as he braces himself in the door frame. The man in front of him is younger still. His attractiveness is more the flush of youth and good health than perfection of features. He grins, squinting in the brightness, dressed in the white hat and shirt of the WWII US Navy. Although the two men stand only casually close together, the sailor in front has one hand raised, over his shoulder, to keep a firm grip on the shirt of the man in the doorway behind him.
Story Request:
Dear Author,
We met onboard, both of us so very young - still in our teens - but we were old enough to serve our country. And against all odds, and the many risks involved, we fell in love and have managed to stay together for the last 60 years. Now, as our time together inevitably gets shorter and shorter, I can’t wait any longer for the right to finally marry the man I’ve loved all these years.
Chapter 1
April 1942.
“Babies,” a deep voice growled in Daniel's ear. “They're sending us babies now.”
Daniel glanced over at George. The older man hawked and spat over the rail, his eyes fixed on the deck below. Daniel turned to see where George was looking. At the top of the gangway a group of new men stood at attention under the eagle eye of Lieutenant Matthews. Daniel sighed. They did look young. Maybe not the barrel-chested man on the end, but the rest of them. That freckle-faced towhead should have been on his bike delivering papers in some town in Iowa, not standing in a painfully clean uniform on the deck of a fighting ship. The guy beside him wasn't much older, maybe eighteen. He had straight dark hair, the winter-white skin of a city kid and the big brown eyes of a startled deer. Daniel had a sudden wish he could ship them all back home. And then go home himself.
He bent back down to his scrubbing. It wasn't like there was a choice for any of them. The Japs had forced this fight on America, and none of her native sons were backing down. At nineteen, Daniel wasn't that much older than those kids with their unstained sea-bags and wide eyes. He felt older though. Years older. Maybe decades. He might only have been on board ship for three weeks before the attack at Pearl, but everyone who'd been there was a veteran, after.
Matthews finished his spiel to the new guys and then handed them over to Chief Brown, who began leading them toward the hatch. Most of them followed along behind the Chief quickly like good little ducklings but the dark-haired guy paused, looking around. Those wide brown eyes swept over the ship like he was seeing something amazing, and then looked straight up at Daniel. Daniel realized he was staring back. The guy wasn't that good looking. He had kind of a big nose, thin lips, was tall and thin and gangly. But there was something so open in that wide-eyed stare Daniel felt a rush of protectiveness. If the guy really was that green, the next few months were going to knock the shine off him in pretty painful ways.
For a long moment their eyes met. Daniel grinned, and then let it shade just a little towards scorn, as befitted a seasoned crewman looking at a new recruit. Even from a distance, Daniel could tell the guy turned bright scarlet, before bending hurriedly to scoop up his seabag. As he rushed to catch up with the Chief, he tripped over something and stumbled. His bag dropped to the deck with a thump but he saved himself from a fall with a jerky stagger and wild windmilling of his arms.
Beside Daniel, George barked a laugh. “Wait till we put to sea. That one's gonna be falling down the hatches and puking his lunch.”
“Maybe.” Daniel paused in his scrubbing as the guy down on the deck knelt and ran his hand over the irregular furrow in the decking that had tripped him. He glanced up at Daniel, eyes wide and startled.
Yeah kid, that's what happens when a Jap plane comes in low, out of the sun, at daybreak. Daniel looked back expressionlessly. The young guy's flushed face slowly paled. He looked back down at the deck, and then stood, hefted his bag, and hurried after the Chief.
Daniel realized he'd been staring after the guy's ass as he disappeared down the hatch. Not good. He turned to George and sloshed some grimy water his way. “Hey. Your grapevine tell us when we'd be leaving and for where?” The navy didn't tell ordinary seamen anything, but George had some kind of uncanny nose for secrets. Sometimes he would share.
George gave him a grin that was missing a front tooth. “Why would I tell you?”
“Because you like me. And because you owe me a pack of smokes and I'll cancel the debt if your intel is good.”
“Now Danny-boy, you know what they say; loose lips sink ships.”
“There's nothing loose about me,” Daniel smirked. Then he paused as if reconsidering. “Loose morals, maybe.”
“Yeah. That blonde last night was a peach."
“Wasn't she though?” They had been given a few hours of liberty. Not enough to go home from Frisco to San Diego, but enough to find a bar or a hotel room. And there were always girls available in the bars near the docks. Pretty, fresh-faced All-American girls who would just love to spend some time with a sailor serving his country. It was none of George's business if Daniel had taken the girl for a soda and then escorted her home. “Come on Georgie Porgie. Where are we headed?”
“Well...” George's voice lowered and he leaned closer. “If I did have any advance information, I might bet that we were leaving tonight and heading for the Bismarck Sea.”
“The Bismarck Sea? Never heard of it. What's out there?”
“Japs, for sure.” They looked at each other more soberly. Wasn't that the truth. ...
I'm currently working on the edits for Home Work, the next Life Lessons book. No release date yet, though. And I just finished a short story I'm submitting to a Storm Moon Press anthology. This one is a 20,000 word short that is a swords-and-horses m/m romance fantasy. We'll see what their editor thinks of it. It was one of those ideas that ambushed me when I was supposed to be doing something else.
But the next thing you will get to read from me will be my freebie novella for the Goodreads M/M Romance Group. My story for the Love is Always Write event is a 63,000 word novella about two guys who meet during WWII, and build a life together. Members of the group will get to read it when it releases, sometime after May 15th. The moderators keep the exact date secret, to build suspense. There will be 140+ stories by authors like Z.A. Maxfield, Andrea Speed, Stephani Hecht, Daniel Kaine, Jeff Erno, Kate Sherwood, SJ Frost... and many more. I am so looking forward to reading these over the next couple of months.
I posted a teaser - the opening scene from my novella - in the thread for this event, but I thought I would post it here too, in case folks are interested. Eventually this will be available as a download pdf too, because not everyone will want to read 63,000 words on the computer screen. But it will show up first as part of the upcoming event in the group.
The prompt for the story was a photo, and letter. And even though I really didn't want to take on something historical with all the research involved, these two guys just grabbed me until I wrote them a life:
Two young men stand in the riveted steel doorway of a ship. The one inside the doorway is young and classically handsome, hatless, with wavy dark hair falling over his forehead. His eyes are narrowed against the sunlight and a small smile hovers on his lips as he braces himself in the door frame. The man in front of him is younger still. His attractiveness is more the flush of youth and good health than perfection of features. He grins, squinting in the brightness, dressed in the white hat and shirt of the WWII US Navy. Although the two men stand only casually close together, the sailor in front has one hand raised, over his shoulder, to keep a firm grip on the shirt of the man in the doorway behind him.
Story Request:
Dear Author,
We met onboard, both of us so very young - still in our teens - but we were old enough to serve our country. And against all odds, and the many risks involved, we fell in love and have managed to stay together for the last 60 years. Now, as our time together inevitably gets shorter and shorter, I can’t wait any longer for the right to finally marry the man I’ve loved all these years.
Chapter 1
April 1942.
“Babies,” a deep voice growled in Daniel's ear. “They're sending us babies now.”
Daniel glanced over at George. The older man hawked and spat over the rail, his eyes fixed on the deck below. Daniel turned to see where George was looking. At the top of the gangway a group of new men stood at attention under the eagle eye of Lieutenant Matthews. Daniel sighed. They did look young. Maybe not the barrel-chested man on the end, but the rest of them. That freckle-faced towhead should have been on his bike delivering papers in some town in Iowa, not standing in a painfully clean uniform on the deck of a fighting ship. The guy beside him wasn't much older, maybe eighteen. He had straight dark hair, the winter-white skin of a city kid and the big brown eyes of a startled deer. Daniel had a sudden wish he could ship them all back home. And then go home himself.
He bent back down to his scrubbing. It wasn't like there was a choice for any of them. The Japs had forced this fight on America, and none of her native sons were backing down. At nineteen, Daniel wasn't that much older than those kids with their unstained sea-bags and wide eyes. He felt older though. Years older. Maybe decades. He might only have been on board ship for three weeks before the attack at Pearl, but everyone who'd been there was a veteran, after.
Matthews finished his spiel to the new guys and then handed them over to Chief Brown, who began leading them toward the hatch. Most of them followed along behind the Chief quickly like good little ducklings but the dark-haired guy paused, looking around. Those wide brown eyes swept over the ship like he was seeing something amazing, and then looked straight up at Daniel. Daniel realized he was staring back. The guy wasn't that good looking. He had kind of a big nose, thin lips, was tall and thin and gangly. But there was something so open in that wide-eyed stare Daniel felt a rush of protectiveness. If the guy really was that green, the next few months were going to knock the shine off him in pretty painful ways.
For a long moment their eyes met. Daniel grinned, and then let it shade just a little towards scorn, as befitted a seasoned crewman looking at a new recruit. Even from a distance, Daniel could tell the guy turned bright scarlet, before bending hurriedly to scoop up his seabag. As he rushed to catch up with the Chief, he tripped over something and stumbled. His bag dropped to the deck with a thump but he saved himself from a fall with a jerky stagger and wild windmilling of his arms.
Beside Daniel, George barked a laugh. “Wait till we put to sea. That one's gonna be falling down the hatches and puking his lunch.”
“Maybe.” Daniel paused in his scrubbing as the guy down on the deck knelt and ran his hand over the irregular furrow in the decking that had tripped him. He glanced up at Daniel, eyes wide and startled.
Yeah kid, that's what happens when a Jap plane comes in low, out of the sun, at daybreak. Daniel looked back expressionlessly. The young guy's flushed face slowly paled. He looked back down at the deck, and then stood, hefted his bag, and hurried after the Chief.
Daniel realized he'd been staring after the guy's ass as he disappeared down the hatch. Not good. He turned to George and sloshed some grimy water his way. “Hey. Your grapevine tell us when we'd be leaving and for where?” The navy didn't tell ordinary seamen anything, but George had some kind of uncanny nose for secrets. Sometimes he would share.
George gave him a grin that was missing a front tooth. “Why would I tell you?”
“Because you like me. And because you owe me a pack of smokes and I'll cancel the debt if your intel is good.”
“Now Danny-boy, you know what they say; loose lips sink ships.”
“There's nothing loose about me,” Daniel smirked. Then he paused as if reconsidering. “Loose morals, maybe.”
“Yeah. That blonde last night was a peach."
“Wasn't she though?” They had been given a few hours of liberty. Not enough to go home from Frisco to San Diego, but enough to find a bar or a hotel room. And there were always girls available in the bars near the docks. Pretty, fresh-faced All-American girls who would just love to spend some time with a sailor serving his country. It was none of George's business if Daniel had taken the girl for a soda and then escorted her home. “Come on Georgie Porgie. Where are we headed?”
“Well...” George's voice lowered and he leaned closer. “If I did have any advance information, I might bet that we were leaving tonight and heading for the Bismarck Sea.”
“The Bismarck Sea? Never heard of it. What's out there?”
“Japs, for sure.” They looked at each other more soberly. Wasn't that the truth. ...
April 9, 2012
Book winners
I was truly amazed and honored by how many folks came by my blog on my publishing anniversary and left kind comments. I picked random winners from the posts on my anniversary blog both here and on Goodreads, by the time-honored method of putting names in a hat. The winners of 3 e-books each of their choice are:
Juliana (Ocean...) - 3 books
Michelle (chellebe at comcast dot net) - 3 books
The next name was someone who only has one of mine left to acquire, so I kept going until all 3 remaining books were taken:
Sherry (Goodreads) - Unexpected Demands
Mandy (Doublemom2001(at)googlemail(dot)com) - Unexpected Demands
Lisa (lkbherring64(at)gmail(dot)com) - the last single book, her choice
I will email the winners to confirm and find out titles and formats. Bear with me if it takes a couple of days - I have been laid low by a virus and I'm not getting much done.
Congratulations to the winners, and thanks to everyone who came by and commented.
Juliana (Ocean...) - 3 books
Michelle (chellebe at comcast dot net) - 3 books
The next name was someone who only has one of mine left to acquire, so I kept going until all 3 remaining books were taken:
Sherry (Goodreads) - Unexpected Demands
Mandy (Doublemom2001(at)googlemail(dot)com) - Unexpected Demands
Lisa (lkbherring64(at)gmail(dot)com) - the last single book, her choice
I will email the winners to confirm and find out titles and formats. Bear with me if it takes a couple of days - I have been laid low by a virus and I'm not getting much done.
Congratulations to the winners, and thanks to everyone who came by and commented.
April 4, 2012
What a short strange year it's been.
This time exactly a year ago I took a deep breath, looked at the Smashwords submission page one last time, and clicked “Publish”.
Hours later – because there were a couple of hundred books in the queue – I saw the first version of Lies and Consequences go live for downloading. So I downloaded it to check it (because Smashwords doesn't have a preview function.) Then I swore loudly, because the entire book was centered and not just the title page!
So I worked to redo the formatting and submitted it again. And sat through two hours biting my nails as I watched people downloading the bad version of the book. And then the revision came up, and despite having followed directions it wasn't fixed. So I went down to a plain text file and reformatted and tried again - crap, all the italics are missing. I put all the italics in by hand - more crap, now the title page is all left-justified and the chapter headings are messed up. I re-re-formatted - now the whole book is left justified but at least the chapters work … To freaking hell with it, that's close enough.
By the way, if anyone out there has a copy without any italics or all centered, go get a new one. It's free. Unless of course you like not having my addiction to italics in there.
That was my very first book, before any of my pro work had come out. Back then, Life Lessons had been accepted by MLR and was in editing. But I wanted to get Lies out before DADT was too much of a fading memory. MLR looked at the synopsis and said, “No thanks.” For which I can't blame them. I mean, have you read that book? I think I put three books worth of suspension-of-disbelief plot in there. Even I looked at the synopsis and wondered what the heck I'd been thinking.
However, I decided I didn't want to trim and warp it to professional standards. (I had a sneaking fondness for my OTT plot.) So self pub seemed the logical answer. I figured, as a freebie, no one would complain too much if they didn't like it. I had no beta, no proofreader, just me and the book. And a major anxiety attack as it went live. This was it. No more writing for myself and shelving the book away. People were going to read my book. People were going to *gulp* comment on it. I was an author. Maybe.
Within 24 hours Lies had its first review. A good, well-written and fair review with a four-star rating. The author of that has become disenchanted with me since then, but I will always be grateful to her for that review. It made me feel like I could do this professional writing thing. It was an injection of confidence at a time when I desperately needed one. I was an author. Definitely.
A year ago. Wow. It seems both like yesterday and like forever. Because it did change my life.
Since then I've had a bunch of books come out. Enough that I have to check Goodreads when I list them not to miss any. I've had reviews and interviews, and even been on blog radio. Now when I say I'm a writer there is no hesitation. I am. And the writing has given me so much in return.
The biggest part of this year has been the people. Oh, releasing the books is fun, and I still read the reviews (Well, mostly. I appreciate the good ones, and the bad ones are okay as long as they darned well explain themselves. I've learned a lot from negative reviews.) I'm thrilled and humbled and a little freaked out that people now sometimes buy a book pretty much just because I wrote it. How cool is that?
But the people I have met have been the biggest and most wonderful change in my life.
Following a Googled review of Lies and Consequences led me to Goodreads. I hesitantly signed up, and claimed my book, and got an author page. And people friended me and suggested groups and recommended a wealth of wonderful books. I found a community of folks who read and discussed and shared and were welcoming and supportive. (And who squabbled and acted like drama queens sometimes, but that's a story for another time.)
So many people with shared interests, and some of them generously willing to help me figure out my path. Josh Lanyon's crit and discussion group made me welcome for a season and made me feel like a real author. (And taught me some valuable lessons along the way.) A host of people on the M/M Romance thread joined me in conversations and actually seemed to enjoy my input. Some gay guys shared parts of their lives with me, via their wonderful blogs (Thorny, Matt & Brad) and later even as friends (adding in BJ, Alex, Jordie, Jerry, and more.) They made me feel that my usurpation of their culture for my writing was a good thing and not a presumptuous intrusion. Some of them even read my books.
People offered to beta my work. They invited me to join their chats and commented on my blogs, here and on Goodreads. I was even invited to moderate the Young Adult LGBT Books group, and became a mentor of sorts to other readers. A few people became true close friends, and one is now a friend of the heart (yes, Sammy, that's you.)
What a difference a year makes, from my solitary writer cave to this.
Who knows what next year will bring? I have a novel in editing (Home Work, the third Life Lessons book.) I have a free short story releasing this summer (well, at 61,000 words, make that a free novella.) The plot bunnies in my head are multiplying like there's been a clearance sale on Viagra. The Young Adult group will be having it's own anniversary soon. I have YA writing in progress, including two novels...
All I know is, I am a writer. And while there will never again be anything like this first year, with its ups and downs, I look forward to seeing what I can do with the experience I've gained. I love knowing that there will be a bunch of my friends hanging out with me. And people willing to read what I write.
If you've had the patience to read through my blog this far, there is a reward. Well, a couple of them. In honor of my year as a writer, I'm giving away three ebooks – winner's choice. Leave a comment with your email, here or on my Wordpress blog. The winners will be chosen randomly after midnight Sat April 7th and I'll email you and you can pick your poison.
And I decided I would put out a free story. This is a short story I wrote for an anthology call for Storm Moon Press, way back close to the beginning of The Year That Made My Head Spin. In the end, they returned it because they didn't get enough submissions to do the anthology. So I decided, rather than stuff it in a drawer, why not post it here. This is the link.
An enormous thank-you to everyone for being part of a mind-blowing first year as an author for me. Year two is coming up. I hope you stick around for the ride.
Hours later – because there were a couple of hundred books in the queue – I saw the first version of Lies and Consequences go live for downloading. So I downloaded it to check it (because Smashwords doesn't have a preview function.) Then I swore loudly, because the entire book was centered and not just the title page!
So I worked to redo the formatting and submitted it again. And sat through two hours biting my nails as I watched people downloading the bad version of the book. And then the revision came up, and despite having followed directions it wasn't fixed. So I went down to a plain text file and reformatted and tried again - crap, all the italics are missing. I put all the italics in by hand - more crap, now the title page is all left-justified and the chapter headings are messed up. I re-re-formatted - now the whole book is left justified but at least the chapters work … To freaking hell with it, that's close enough.
By the way, if anyone out there has a copy without any italics or all centered, go get a new one. It's free. Unless of course you like not having my addiction to italics in there.
That was my very first book, before any of my pro work had come out. Back then, Life Lessons had been accepted by MLR and was in editing. But I wanted to get Lies out before DADT was too much of a fading memory. MLR looked at the synopsis and said, “No thanks.” For which I can't blame them. I mean, have you read that book? I think I put three books worth of suspension-of-disbelief plot in there. Even I looked at the synopsis and wondered what the heck I'd been thinking.
However, I decided I didn't want to trim and warp it to professional standards. (I had a sneaking fondness for my OTT plot.) So self pub seemed the logical answer. I figured, as a freebie, no one would complain too much if they didn't like it. I had no beta, no proofreader, just me and the book. And a major anxiety attack as it went live. This was it. No more writing for myself and shelving the book away. People were going to read my book. People were going to *gulp* comment on it. I was an author. Maybe.
Within 24 hours Lies had its first review. A good, well-written and fair review with a four-star rating. The author of that has become disenchanted with me since then, but I will always be grateful to her for that review. It made me feel like I could do this professional writing thing. It was an injection of confidence at a time when I desperately needed one. I was an author. Definitely.
A year ago. Wow. It seems both like yesterday and like forever. Because it did change my life.
Since then I've had a bunch of books come out. Enough that I have to check Goodreads when I list them not to miss any. I've had reviews and interviews, and even been on blog radio. Now when I say I'm a writer there is no hesitation. I am. And the writing has given me so much in return.
The biggest part of this year has been the people. Oh, releasing the books is fun, and I still read the reviews (Well, mostly. I appreciate the good ones, and the bad ones are okay as long as they darned well explain themselves. I've learned a lot from negative reviews.) I'm thrilled and humbled and a little freaked out that people now sometimes buy a book pretty much just because I wrote it. How cool is that?
But the people I have met have been the biggest and most wonderful change in my life.
Following a Googled review of Lies and Consequences led me to Goodreads. I hesitantly signed up, and claimed my book, and got an author page. And people friended me and suggested groups and recommended a wealth of wonderful books. I found a community of folks who read and discussed and shared and were welcoming and supportive. (And who squabbled and acted like drama queens sometimes, but that's a story for another time.)
So many people with shared interests, and some of them generously willing to help me figure out my path. Josh Lanyon's crit and discussion group made me welcome for a season and made me feel like a real author. (And taught me some valuable lessons along the way.) A host of people on the M/M Romance thread joined me in conversations and actually seemed to enjoy my input. Some gay guys shared parts of their lives with me, via their wonderful blogs (Thorny, Matt & Brad) and later even as friends (adding in BJ, Alex, Jordie, Jerry, and more.) They made me feel that my usurpation of their culture for my writing was a good thing and not a presumptuous intrusion. Some of them even read my books.
People offered to beta my work. They invited me to join their chats and commented on my blogs, here and on Goodreads. I was even invited to moderate the Young Adult LGBT Books group, and became a mentor of sorts to other readers. A few people became true close friends, and one is now a friend of the heart (yes, Sammy, that's you.)
What a difference a year makes, from my solitary writer cave to this.
Who knows what next year will bring? I have a novel in editing (Home Work, the third Life Lessons book.) I have a free short story releasing this summer (well, at 61,000 words, make that a free novella.) The plot bunnies in my head are multiplying like there's been a clearance sale on Viagra. The Young Adult group will be having it's own anniversary soon. I have YA writing in progress, including two novels...
All I know is, I am a writer. And while there will never again be anything like this first year, with its ups and downs, I look forward to seeing what I can do with the experience I've gained. I love knowing that there will be a bunch of my friends hanging out with me. And people willing to read what I write.
If you've had the patience to read through my blog this far, there is a reward. Well, a couple of them. In honor of my year as a writer, I'm giving away three ebooks – winner's choice. Leave a comment with your email, here or on my Wordpress blog. The winners will be chosen randomly after midnight Sat April 7th and I'll email you and you can pick your poison.
And I decided I would put out a free story. This is a short story I wrote for an anthology call for Storm Moon Press, way back close to the beginning of The Year That Made My Head Spin. In the end, they returned it because they didn't get enough submissions to do the anthology. So I decided, rather than stuff it in a drawer, why not post it here. This is the link.
An enormous thank-you to everyone for being part of a mind-blowing first year as an author for me. Year two is coming up. I hope you stick around for the ride.
It starts with that look in his eyes...
GFY - Gay For You - ah, yes... *Happy sigh.* That moment when a man who always thought he was straight looks into the eyes of another man and falls head over heels in love. And in lust. I love to write those moments.
But is GFY just a figment of my author's imagination? A fantasy like vampires, as unlikely as zombie love? Or is there a chance that a straight man might find the love of his life in another man's arms? During the month of April, both coming Out For You and being Gay For You will be debated on Chicks & Dicks. Thorny Sterling started the discussion off yesterday with a hilarious account of a young gay writer's take on the topic. Today you can find my viewpoint over there. Come on by and let me know what you think. Am I writing pure fantasy or is there room in this world for a man to actually be Gay For You?
But is GFY just a figment of my author's imagination? A fantasy like vampires, as unlikely as zombie love? Or is there a chance that a straight man might find the love of his life in another man's arms? During the month of April, both coming Out For You and being Gay For You will be debated on Chicks & Dicks. Thorny Sterling started the discussion off yesterday with a hilarious account of a young gay writer's take on the topic. Today you can find my viewpoint over there. Come on by and let me know what you think. Am I writing pure fantasy or is there room in this world for a man to actually be Gay For You?
