Ada Maria Soto's Blog, page 8

MM and the Midsized Fandom

Let’s start with stating that this is all my personal opinion. M’kay?

I recently attended my first writing conference. It was put on by the Romance Writers of New Zealand and it was absolutely lovely. Everyone was nice and supportive and there were lots of great speakers.

I knew going into it that I would be the only one flying the MM flag and was honestly a bit nervous about it. I know other MM romance writers have had pushback or negative reactions from their local groups but I’d just like to say that the RWNZ is full of very lovely people. The first question I got asked after every introduction was ‘what do you write?’. Before any other small talk ‘what do you write?’.

After the nerves of the first day when I didn’t get any negative reaction I got comfortable saying ‘I write gay male contemporary’. If we didn’t move on to other small talk I’d pull out my copy of Empty Nests that I kept in my bag. (Let me say right here that a bright sunny Paul Richmond cover stands out in the sea of half-naked guys and buxom women. I got more comments on that cover than just about anything else all weekend.) I’d go on to explain that Dreamspinner Press did gay romance, pitched their imprints, discussed sales and audience, and generally waved the flag as high as I could.

There were a few things that I heard from multiple people. If I said ‘it’s a niche market’. The response I got more than once was ‘I hear it’s a growing one’. The other comment was ‘how did you get into writing that?’. My answer ‘fanfic’.

By Sunday morning (through a mild hangover) I realized it felt like I was pitching and writing in a mid-sized fandom which is exactly where I’m used to being.

For those of you who’ve never spent a lot of time in fanfic let me explain. There are big fandoms like Supernatural or MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). There are mid-sized fandoms like White Collar or The Walking Dead. And really little fandoms (BoJack Horseman anyone?)

[I’ll be using numbers off of archiveofourown.org (AO3) for this next bit because they keep very accurate stats on their works.]

As of the time I’m writing this Supernatural has 111,570works of fanfiction posted to AO3. MCU has 105,831 works, not counting works tagged by individual movie or TV spinoffs. White Collar is sitting at 5,335 works and The Walking Dead (TV not comics) has 6,698. And little old BoJack has 5.

I think this is nicely paralleling where MM is currently sitting in the overall world of the romance novel. I have faith that it will grow. According to Amazon, Dreamspinner Press has 6,197 works available. If you put Gay Romance into the search bar of Amazon it spits back 38,702 results. Compare that to the 731,819 you get if you just type in Romance.

Now if you write something in the MCU or Supernatural fandom you are going to go up against a hundred thousand other stories on just one website. Yes you might write The Act of Creation Will Be Your Salvation or Twist and Shout and get a half million hits and even actors will have heard about you, but most likely you’ll be buried under the heap and you’ll get a couple hundred hits over the course of several years and maybe a few comments and you’ll be happy about it.

If you write White Collar fic you’ll only be going up against five thousand other stories. Of course a little buddy cop show on USA never had anything close to the viewing figures of The Avengers but in my mind that means when someone finds White Collar fic they went looking for it. They were one of a handful who really liked the show and wanted to see just how much Peter/Neal fic there was out there. (1,020 fics for the record).

Back in the day I used to write Babylon 5 fanfic. It was a midsized to small fandom and it was going up against the Star Trek juggernaut which had Next Generation and Deep Space Nine running at the same time. I spent a lot of time pitching Babylon 5 to the Star Trek diehards. I’d stand there going ‘it is cool and has really different aliens, and politics, and pizza, and space battles in three dimensions, and Hubble photos for the background, and bisexual Russians, and REALLY GOOD WRITING’. I managed to get some people to check it out. Maybe a few converts, but the fact is there was a lot of Star Trek to consume. But the stories I wrote for Babylon 5, as opposed to the occasional ones I wrote for Star Trek or X-Files, always got comments and feedback. People had gone looking for them and were glad to have found them. No one stumbled on them accidently

It feels about the same writing in the MM romance genre. I don’t have giant sales or a million reviews but the direct feedback I am getting has been lovely. And not many seem to have stumbled on my books accidently. They’ve seen recs and reviews and were possibly pre-disposed to go looking.

Out of the 150 other writers at the RWNZ conference (and admittedly I didn’t talk to even half of them) I didn’t encounter one who had stumbled upon an MM romance and read it. But just like back in the Babylon 5 days I pitched as had as I could to any who would listen and maybe with any luck a few will go looking.

Bowerbirds (Nested Hearts #2)-Release, Blog Tour, Giveaway, and New Excerpt!

Welcome to the release day for Bowerbirds (Nested Hearts: Book 2). It’s picking up where Empty Nests left off with James and Gabe developing their relationship but hitting some bumps along the way.

I’ll be starting off an extensive blog tour over at the official Dreamspinner Press Blog where I will be talking about the book, writing in general, and running a few giveaways. I’ll be there nearly all day starting at noon EST so pop around and say hi. I’ll also be checking my Facebook, At Twitter, and Google+ accounts.

Here’s the rest of the tour, all the information on where to get your own copy, and a fresh new excerpt.

26-Aug Prism Book Alliance

26-Aug Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words

2-Sep Happily Ever Chapter

2-Sep Divine Magazine

2-Sep Jessie G. Books

9-Sep Multitasking Mommas

9-Sep Bike Book Reviews

16-Sep Love Bytes

16-Sep Molly Lolly

23-Sep Bayou Book Junkie

23-Sep Mikky’s World of Books

23-Sep Inked Rainbow Reads

30-Sep MM Good Book Reviews

30-Sep Foxylutely Book Reviews

7-Oct Carly’s Book Reviews

7-Oct BFD Book Blog

14-Oct My Fiction Nook

Bowerbirds (Nested Hearts: Book Two)–from Dreamspinner Press

Two very different men have a chance at happiness, but only if they can let go of their painful pasts and allow love to take precedence.

After spending his teens and twenties raising his son, James Maron is now dating Gabriel Juarez, the wealthy and sophisticated CFO of the TechPrim technology empire. But after a life of proudly holding his head above the poverty line with the ethos of work, priorities, responsibility, and thrift, he is not looking for a Sugar Daddy, he does not need to be rescued, and Gabe’s wealth is as terrifying as feeling love for the first time.

Gabe has never been good at balancing his high-pressure job with his relationships. Money usually clears most of the bumps, and when a boyfriend walks away, Gabe figures it’s for a good reason. But James isn’t like other boyfriends. He doesn’t want Gabe’s money for one, and if Gabe wants to keep his relationship together, he will have to finally face the ghosts of his own past and reconsider his priorities.

Paperback: Dreamspinner Press

Ebook: Dreamspinner Press   All Romance   Amazon   Barnes & Nobel   Google Books   Kobo

 

New Excerpt

THE HEAVY fog of sleep was still ghosting around James’s mind, trying to lure him back down, when he opened his eyes to find that he was nose to nose with Gabe. He seemed to do that a lot around Gabe, just doze off. He had thought that it was because of Gabe’s stupidly comfortable bed, but now it seemed it might simply be Gabe. Or it might have been the ten miles he’d put on his feet that day.

Gabe opened his eyes as well. “Hi,” he whispered.

“I fell asleep again,” James said by way of apology.

“I don’t mind.”

“You should. It’s not like this is a short trip for you.”

Gabe brushed his fingers across his face. “I don’t mind. I’ll take all the time with you I can get. Even if you’re asleep. Time with you is time I’m not at work. I almost feel like I’m having a torrid affair. Cheating on TechPrim with you.”

“You shouldn’t neglect anything that’s important,” James said without a thought.

“It’s all important, and I don’t.” Gabe kissed him. He tasted like sweet coffee. Gabe rolled against him slowly. It didn’t feel sexual. More like sitting on the beach and letting the waves roll over your legs while the sun went down. Gabe’s lips slipped from his, and he pulled back. He looked into Gabe’s soft brown eyes. They seemed tired, and maybe even a hair sad, but James felt something change. Something in his head suddenly slid to the side and locked in with something else. Something in his chest squeezed and twisted in an odd way.

Gabe’s fingers trailed across James’s face, brushing aside a stray wisp of hair. James had plans for a haircut but hadn’t found the time. Gabe kissed him again, and James let himself go. It was all so easy to do around Gabe, just take his hands off the wheel. But that was how people crashed and burned. He kissed back and tried to press himself closer. Gabe suddenly grabbed onto him tight and let out a scared little squeak as he started to slide off the bed. James quickly scooted as close to the wall as he could get, pulling Gabe a few inches closer onto the bed.

“Let me guess, you’ve had this bed since you were ten?”

“Fourteen. Dylan used it too, but he got too tall.”

Gabe nodded and gave him a gentle kiss.

That funny squeeze was back, but it felt almost painful this time. He’d never thought about his bed before. Never thought about putting anyone else in it. It was a bed. It kept his body off the floor while he slept. He should get a new one, that was obvious, a larger one, but it was easier to ignore the fact that there was only one person in his bed when it barely fit him. He squeezed his eyes shut. Gabe kissed them.

“What’s wrong?” Gabe whispered.

“Nothing,” James whispered back. The lie must have been obvious, and he could only hope Gabe would ignore it. The more time he spent with Gabe, the harder it was to ignore all the things that were wrong with his life. All the places he’d never gone. Experiences he’d never had. All the wants buried deep and regularly beaten back down, and the knowledge that Gabe could give him so much of what he wanted. And what could Gabe possibly want in return? It was something James still hadn’t worked out. He had marginal skills in bed. His looks were the very definition of average. He thought that maybe Gabe was just looking for a distraction from his job, but that couldn’t last long. And what would all that leave him with? A bed too big for one.

Gabe squeezed him tight. “What’s wrong?” he asked again.

I hope you all give Bowerbirds a chance, I lot of work went into it and I want you all to really enjoy it.

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The One Where I Admit to Never Having Seen an Episode of Friends before Yesterday

Yesterday I watched an episode of Friends all the way through. This is something worth mentioning because despite being on air for a solid decade I never saw it. I wasn’t actively avoiding it. I have nothing against the show or the actors on it. I’ve seen bits and pieces of it. I’ve just never gotten around to watching a whole episode. Never, until last night. Between my mother’s geekiness, my father’s general art sensibilities, and an effort to protect their children from the worst of commercial television I spent my childhood and adolescents in a sort of pop culture void.

My mother was working in the school system when The Simpsons first aired. We were forbidden from watching it since Bart Simpson was an evil influence on children. Remember, at the time the top family comedy was The Cosby Show where all problems were minor and could be solved in a half hour by listening to the wisdom of mom and dad. Somewhere in the mid 90’s my father sat down and turned on The Simpsons and no more was said about it.

But as far as 90’s cultural touchstones I missed Friends was a big one. Also Seinfeld, Ally McBeal, Blossom, Home Improvement, The Wonder Years, Sex and the City (we didn’t have HBO), Roseanne, The Nanny, Married with Children, Just Shoot Me, NewsRadio, Mad About You, Melrose Place, and Murphy Brown. I’ve seen bits and pieces of most of these since. Seinfeld has not aged well. I’ve seen every bit of NewsRadio and it is awesome. I missed a lot of the teen directed shows as well, like Dawson’s Creek and 90210 though that was mainly high school induced refusal to be interested in anything the cool kids were interested in. No, I wasn’t a hipster, just antisocial. Despite graduating the same year as the Scooby Gang I missed all of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Like NewsRadio I’ve since marathoned the whole thing and liked it a lot. Still can’t bring myself to watch Angel. He’s so whiney and mopey. If I’m watching that level of vampire angst I’d rather a Canadian accent be involved.*

I wasn’t completely cut off from the 90’s zeitgeist. My parents let me watch Night Court for some random reason**, and I was allowed to stay up late to watch Northern Exposure, but for the most part I could not have stood around the middle school version of the water cooler and talked about what was on the night before.

My current Work In Progress starts on the main character’s 45th birthday and the love interest is thirty seven. They say you shouldn’t make pop culture references in books because it dates them but we are very much shaped by the media of our youth and we use it to communicate with people our own age.*** Unfortunately do to the pop culture void of my own childhood I have to make these characters at least slightly nerdy. My most viewed shows of the 80’s and 90’s, in no particular order, X-Files, Beauty and the Beast (1987), The Sentinel, Babylon 5, Star Trek:DS9****, Kung Fu:TLC, Ghostbusters, Star Trek:TNG, Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles, He-Man, She-Ra, Alien Nation, Are You Afraid of the Dark, NOVA specials, Quantum Leap, and an occasional episode of MacGyver. So when my main character sat down in front of Netflix to marathon something in order to forget about the state of his life he picked X-Files. Why? Because I’m working my way through X-Files right now and I have no idea what other very long running, marathon worthy shows would appeal to a character of that age. And I have the love interest complaining that his ex won’t give back his Battlestar Galactica box set.

I have a feeling this is going to be a recurring problem. I don’t write many younger characters because I have no idea what young people do these days (and lately I’ve been in a fuck anyone under 30 phase). However I also have no idea what people my own age were into when they were younger. I can easily look up what were the highest rated shows or top 40 hits but unless I take the time to sit down and watch them it’s unlikely I’ll ever be able to make a reference to them feel natural. I guess I can start with Friends‘ reruns at 6:30 five days a week.

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*Be the first to admit to knowing what I’m referencing and win a free copy of Bowerbirds. Seriously

**I still haven’t seen the last episode.

*** The first time we went to the Met in New York my partner keep on saying ‘Nine times’ and ‘Pie’ in a weird voice having no idea that I’d never seen When Harry Met Sally. I thought he’d totally lost it.

**** Yes I was a Lurker and a Niner at the same time. I believe in peace and fandom coexistence.

Bowerbirds Cover Art

Created by the always brilliant Paul Richmond my I present the cover art for Bowerbirds (Nested Hearts, Book Two) Coming soonish from Dreamspinner Press.

Two very different men have a chance at happiness, but only if they can let go of their painful pasts and allow love to take precedence.

After spending his teens and twenties raising his son, James Maron is now dating Gabriel Juarez, the wealthy and sophisticated CFO of the TechPrim technology empire. But after a life of proudly holding his head above the poverty line with the ethos of work, priorities, responsibility, and thrift, he is not looking for a Sugar Daddy, he does not need to be rescued, and Gabe’s wealth is as terrifying as feeling love for the first time.

Gabe has never been good at balancing his high pressure job with his relationships. Money usually clears most of the bumps, and when a boyfriend walks away, Gabe figures it’s for a good reason. But James isn’t like other boyfriends. He doesn’t want Gabe’s money for one, and if Gabe wants to keep his relationship together he will have to finally face the ghosts of his own past and reconsider his priorities.

A Matter of Space: The big thing I miss about writing fanfic.

I used to write a lot of fanfic. It’s how I cut my teeth as a writer. I turned out close to a million words of fic before I tried to sell an original piece. It was after I wrote a 120,000 word piece of fic where several people made the comment that I should be selling original work that I took a deep breath and submitted my first novel.

Now that I’m writing professionally and turning out a good deal less fic I find there are several things I miss. One is the ability to be a bit lazy. No one is paying for my fic so I didn’t feel bad putting out something that’s only had a quick edit that I wrote at three in the morning. I tell people it was written quickly at three in the morning and people just shrug and say ‘we’re reading this quick at three in the morning’.

The big thing I miss though is the feedback and interaction with that feedback. Yes when you write pro you get long detailed reviews, which you’re told not to read. There is amazon which you’re not supposed to reply to. It seems like Goodreads blows up at least once a month when an author responds to a review. I know to ignore the haters but there is this idea going around that you shouldn’t respond to the good reviews either.

I’ve realized it’s a matter of space and audience. Reviews are readers talking to other readers, not the author. Goodreads groups are again places for readers to talk to each other. Even if people are saying nice things about my book it feels like I’m listening in on a private conversation. I know there are some authors who manage to engage with their readership there but that can be risky and I don’t think I could manage it.

When I was writing fic it wasn’t like that. I would post chapters on my LiveJournal or AO3 account, then readers would comment directly to me. I was not just allowed to respond but I was expected to respond. And the feedback was blow by blow. One chapter at a time. Love for new characters, questions and theories on what might happen next, curses for chapter cliffhangers.

Maybe it’s the Gen X desire for instant gratification or some social media fed need to be interacting with someone constantly but I still miss it. I know a lot of people liked my last book, and I love them all for it. Some people on Goodreads have said absolutely glowing things about it. But I was not supposed to read those reviews and if I try to reply to them, to say thank you for their words, Goodreads will try to stop me, and it will be considered weird, like butting in on someone else’s conversation. And that sucks.

But my blog is my space. If you talk to me here I will respond (haters will be ignored). And if you pick up one of my books and have a desire to treat it like fic, giving a chapter by chapter commentary, and possibly even use the word SQUEEE, I would not mind in the slightest.

Empty Nests: DVD Extra – Cut Scenes

I cut a sex scene out of Empty Nests. It wasn’t originally my idea. It was suggested by my editor. I originally balked at the idea. Who cuts a sex scene out of a romance novel? But I gave it a try and it stayed cut. My editor’s thoughts were that if felt like it was there just to be there. It comes in towards the end of Empty Nests when James and Gabe are spending the night in San Francisco. Originally, when Empty Nests and Bowerbirds was one giant mess of a novel the scene came in about halfway through the book.

Since we now live in the glorious internet age where nothing is really forgotten, as a gift for all of you who have read Empty Nests, and those of you still thinking about it, here is Gabe and James getting it on.

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Gabe slid a key card into a pair of double doors that opened into a foyer. It was a hotel room with its own foyer. He dragged them through, closed the doors, then kissed James deeply.

“Let me take you to bed. It’s been way too long since I’ve seen you naked.”

“I can get behind that.”

Gabe grinned and led them down a hallway. From what James could see, peeking through doors, the suite was at least double the size of his apartment. “You got all this for us?”

“I told them I wanted a suite. Most of them were booked up.” Gabe pulled him to the end of the hall and into a large bedroom.

Gabe slipped out of his shoes and dropped his jacket over a chair before turning to James. James swallowed. On occasion Gabe would get a slightly predatory look in his eyes. It heated James up faster than almost any other look.

Gabe stalked toward him. He toed off his own shoes and started unbuttoning his shirt, more than a little afraid that if he didn’t get it off, it might be torn from his body. Gabe stilled his hands and took over, carefully undoing each button while dragging the tips of his fingers across James’s body.

He pushed it off James’s shoulders and let it fall to the floor. Without looking down he unzipped James’s pants and roughly shoved them off his hips, yanking his underwear down with them. James stood there, half wobbly with lust, as naked as he could get. Gabe was still fully dressed and in control.

He ran his thumb across James’s lips. James darted his tongue out to lick at it. Gabe pushed, slipping it past James’s lips. James sucked at it hard and twirled his tongue.

“Oh my, you are learning some naughty tricks, aren’t you?” Gabe pulled his thumb away.

James didn’t answer. Instead he began unbuttoning Gabe’s shirt, teasing himself with little glimpses of dark skin. Only when the last one was undone did James push Gabe’s shirt from his shoulders. He slid his hands to Gabe’s pants. It was a little trickier than he expected, and he had to look to undo the belt, but he managed to free Gabe from the dark, tailored trousers.

Gabe drew him close as if they were dancing again, skin-to-skin this time. James once closed his eyes and laid his head on Gabe’s shoulder. Gabe swayed to silent music before slowly spinning him toward the bed.

The blankets had already been neatly turned down, but Gabe pulled them nearly off before slipping between the sheets and beckoning James to join him.

James did, feeling the coolness of the sheets ease across his overheated skin. Gabe pulled him close and kissed him. He felt Gabe’s erection pressing against his own, hot and hard. He started to move but James had other ideas. There was something he’d been fantasizing about, and something about being in a hotel room made him feel bold. He pulled away from the kiss, then wriggled his way down under the sheets. Gabe’s scent enveloped him, warm musk, free of any other scent. He took a deep breath through his mouth, trying to taste that smell. As he did he examined Gabe’s cock, contemplating the length and girth. Finally he took one more deep breath and took Gabe into his mouth.

“Oh God,” Gabe moaned above him. James took that as encouragement. He couldn’t get much in—only a few inches before it hit the back of his throat. He tried bobbing his head, and Gabe moaned, but he was pretty sure he was at a bad angle for it.

He pulled away to make another study of the situation. Gabe flicked back the sheets and rolled onto his back. James scrambled between Gabe’s legs and tried again. The angle was better, allowing him to suck in Gabe a little deeper. He wrapped his hands around the rest.

“Jesus,” Gabe breathed and laced his fingers into James’s hair.

James tried sucking harder, noting the way Gabe began to arch off the bed. He started bobbing his head. Gabe’s fingers tightened in his hair. He began working his hands in time with the bobs of his head. Gabe moaned in a way James had never heard and started raising his hips in time with James’s strokes. James tried for just a little more in his mouth, but he choked and coughed for a second before finding his rhythm again.

Suddenly Gabe grabbed his head tight, thrust twice, then yanked James’s head away. James kept stroking though, and just like that first morning in the shower, Gabe pumped himself dry over his fingers.

Gabe took a deep breath as James removed his hands. “Sorry,” Gabe mumbled. “Watching you suck my cock was just too damn sexy. I couldn’t hold out.” James wasn’t sure what to say, but his erection was demanding some attention. Gabe looked him over. “Come up here, and I’ll see about getting my hands dirty too.”

James shuffled his way back up, trying not to rub his fingers all over the sheets. Gabe grabbed his cock and started to stroke. He closed his eyes. Gabe had a very good technique, giving his wrist a little twist as he reached the top and driving in hard on the downstroke. James didn’t try to hold back. He had all night and maybe even the next morning. He’d be able to recharge, he felt sure of that. He let the fire flare, roll up his spine, then back down as he came across Gabe’s fingers.

He closed his eyes and sank into the soft bed. Gabe kissed him. “Want to find out how fancy the bathtub here is?”

“Sure, sounds fun.”

The bathtub and shower were not nearly as nice as Gabe’s, but they did the trick. James followed him back to the bed. It wasn’t late, but he was feeling tired. As he crawled between the cool sheets and into Gabe’s arms, he decided a little nap might not be a bad idea.

WHEN James opened his eyes, he was instantly aware the space next to him was empty. The bedside clock told him it was just after one. He strained his ears to listen for any sound. All he could make out was a very distant siren coming through the window. He got up and pulled on a bathrobe the hotel had provided, then went looking for Gabe. The hallway was dark, but he followed a faint glow coming from under a door down the hall. Pushing it open, he found a dining room that could seat at least ten connected to a large living room illuminated by a single lamp.

 

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Compiled Blog Tour Interviews, Q&A, 10 Things Lists, Play List, and Bowerbirds Excerpt

The Empty Nests blog tour is now wrapped up, (though the Rafflecopter giveaway is still going for a few more days) and it has been a busy few weeks. I did a lot of Q&A, several 10 Things lists, gave my version of writing advice, and produced a pretty cool writing play list. I know most people didn’t read every single blog, which is understandable, so I’ve combined all those blog interviews together. And if you get to the bottom there is the first public except for Bowerbirds, book two in the Nested Hearts series.

Ten things you didn’t know about me

1. I can light a fire by rubbing two sticks together. Insert all manner of juvenile jokes here. We’ll see who’s laughing after the zombie apocalypse when all the matches run out.

2. I have set my own bones and performed minor surgery on myself. I am now a big fan of public healthcare.

3. I took ballet for most of my childhood. I was the least coordinated and inflexible kid ever to squeeze into a leotard.

4. I can knit lace but I can’t crochet to save my soul. I’ve had my sister try to teach me. I’ve read all kinds of books and watched the videos on YouTube but anything past the most basic chain just doesn’t work. My sister is the opposite; she’s great at crochet but just can’t work out knitting.

5. I attended the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. And before you ask, yes it was cold. So very cold.

6. I only graduated high school because my chemistry final was canceled due to a bomb threat. No, I had nothing to do with it. I would have been fine not graduating.

7. I only saw Frozen for the first time last month because my partner was convinced it was about a girl bitten by a radioactive ice spider. Personally I would have preferred the radioactive ice spider plot.

8. The only time I have had proper alcohol poisoning was when I was trying to outdrink some guys who edit reality television for a living.

9. I’m allergic to marijuana.

10. I cannot make a pie crust. I can make breads, cakes, cookies, all kinds of yummy things but I cannot make a pie crust. Every time I try it either disintegrates or comes out rock hard.

 

Ten places I want to go and why

1. Qingdao, China

When I was thirteen I spent a month in China on a special student trip. It was not the greatest experience. My traveling companions were a bunch of teenaged Ugly American I would never have spent time with if I’d been given a choice. They were generally dismissive of everything they saw and picked on me for actually wanting to spend time looking at things. The one city a day pace of the trip was like trying to skim read an epic novel.

One of the few truly bright parts of the trip was Qingdao. Possibly because it rained and knocked the smog out of the air. Or maybe because we got stuck by the seaside for an hour. I just remember it being beautiful and peaceful in the middle of a lot of chaos. It might not be as nice as my memory but I’d like to return and find out.

2. London, England

I have a degree in theatre. I love museums. I grew up on PBS which used a lot of BBC as filler long before BBC America was a thing. I need to go to London for at least a month, preferably while something good is showing at The Globe. I need to spend every day in a different museum and every night at a different play. I need to go at some point in my life and just spend time being a giant, shameless, nerd.

3. Cardiff, Wales

I know it’s a day trip from London, and I have been informed there isn’t really much there, but I’m a nerd on many levels. I want to go to Roald Dahl Plass and get my picture taken standing on the invisible lift for Torchwood Three.

4. Scotland

I like whisky and the Scottish countryside always looks really pretty in the pictures. Due to some strange aspects of my youth which would take a very long time to explain a cold and wet camping trip in the middle of Scotland is actually an appealing idea. Especially if I have a couple bottles of good whisky as a camping companion.

5. New York, New York

I have visited New York a handful of times but never for long enough stretches. Like London I think I need a month to linger in the museums, see all the shows, and eat at a long list of restaurants. As a born and raised Northern Californian I don’t think I could handle more than a month, and it always takes a few days to get into the swing of the city.

The last time I was in New York I was pregnant. I wasn’t very far in but I remember already feeling huge and exhausted. Add in the lingering nausea and pregnancy food restrictions and I did not get nearly as much out of the city as I would have liked.

6. Hong Kong

I’ve been to Hong Kong twice. The first time was at the end of the China trip mentioned above. By that point virtually everyone had some kind of illness due to food, water, or swimming in the South China Sea. This was also in the years leading up to the changeover and there were some protests going on. In the end the whole group got stuck at the hotel missing anything interesting about the city.

The second time I was in Hong Kong was during an 18 hour layover when I was trying to get from San Francisco to New Zealand using Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles. I could have done one of those epic layovers that inspire movie scripts, instead I just walked around a bit, ate some mystery meat dumplings, and went back to the airport not wanting to miss my connecting flight.

I’d like to go back to Hong Kong and actually do something there.

7. Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone is beautiful. It’s filled with amazing views, rare animals, and stunning hydrothermal displays. It is truly the cream of the US national park system. The first and only time I was there I was in the middle of the hardest depressed crash since my teenaged years. I remember looking at this one waterfall, amazed by its intense beauty, and putting serious thought into throwing myself over it.

I want to see all those wonderful things again while in a good headspace so I can have a better layer of memories.

8. Monument Valley, Colorado

You don’t grow up with a father who loves Westerns without knowing about Monument Valley. There is no place like it on Earth. I have seen it from probably every possible angle in the background of dozens of movies and TV shows but I want to see it for myself at least once.

9. St. Petersburg, Russia

In college I had a wonderful professor from Russia who had a profound effect on my life. Another much loved professor was part of the first group of American academics who were let in after the Soviet Union collapsed and wrote on the costuming museums of St. Petersburg. I like old and beautiful things and St. Petersburg as both of those things in quantities. Any trip will of course have to wait until a change in the current political climate of the region.

10. Mars

My high school guidance counselor must have hated me. I was one of those weird, smart but lazy and a little crazy kids. At some point she asked me what I wanted to do with my life and my answer was to start the Martian Repertory Theatre Company. I think this was the point when she just gave up on me.

I know the MRTC is never going to happen. I will never actually step on Mars or visit a hotel on the Moon. But I really hope someone will walk on Mars in my lifetime.

 

Ten moments that stayed with me from any book

1. Sam Vimes under Koom Valley, fighting an ancient evil, screaming ‘Where is my Cow’ in Thud! by Terry Pratchett.

2. The narrator first finding Crumleys garden in Death is a Lonely Business by Ray Bradbury.

3. Arthur Dent in front of the bulldozer in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

4. The shadows burnt onto the side of the house in There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury.

5. The golf game in How Much for Just the Planet by John M. Ford.

6. Spock playing chess for money in Ishmael by Barbara Hambly.

7. The narrator finding the Canary Lady in Death is a Lonely Business.

8. Sam Vimes attempting to arrest two armies to stop a war in Jingo.

9. Garak following the lizard in A Stitch in Time by Andrew Robinson.

10. The Halloween party in My Side of The Mountain by Jean Craighead George.

 

Q&A

(I did a lot of these. Get ready to learn where I stand on Harry Potter v. Twilight)

What did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was quite little I wanted to be an astronaut. Then in the middle of morning cartoons the news cut in to report on the Challenger disaster. That killed that.

I did the brief ‘I want to be a doctor’ thing. Then I saw an eyeball surgery on PBS. I still can’t handle eyeballs. I wear glasses instead of contacts because I don’t like the idea of touching my own eyes.

Through most of elementary and middle school I wanted to be a scientist like my aunt who is internationally known and respected in her field. Somewhere around 8th grade I realized that I like science but I didn’t want to make a career out of it. When my mother asked me what I did want to do I said I wanted to be an actor.

I’m not a very good actor. I’m great at learning lines but I have no stage presence.

I did my undergrad in theater directing but I spent most of those four years stage managing. I considered becoming a professional stage manager since I did enjoy it but the hoops needed to get into the union were a little too daunting.

I did my master’s degree in film and television producing. Probably should have done it in writing. I’d still like to be a TV or movie writer when I grow up. I was supposed to pick up my first Oscar four years ago, so I’m a bit behind schedule, but maybe I can get this novel optioned and get one for best adapted screenplay.

If you were to describe your e-book/book in only one word, what would it be?

Gentle

What would you say inspired you to write it?

I don’t remember. I started writing it in 2010, finished the first draft in 2011, then got distracted by other things until July of 2014 when I got back to it. I’m sure the original idea was something very meaningful to me at the time.

What was the source of inspiration for your protagonist? What about your antagonist?

The protagonist, James, is slightly inspired by my own father. He wasn’t a single parent but he did a lot of the hard yards the first few years of my life while my mother was working three jobs keeping the bills paid.

Have you ever been hit by the infamous “writer’s block”? What did you do to escape it?

All the time. I write in bursts and can lose a lot of momentum if I take too long of a break or start on a different project. It’s mostly a matter of staring at the screen intercut by taking more showers than necessary.

Your all time favorite book?

Death is a Lonely Business by Ray Bradbury

What made you pick that one above all others?

I’ve actually written a whole blog post about that particular book but in short it’s a book about a struggling writer that made me realize that perhaps I could be a writer as well. It’s also one of the few books written in first person that I really like.

What’s the longest time you’ve spent working on a project?

I started Empty Nests in 2010 so this is probably officially the longest. I will confess to having started a never completed a series of fanfic in 2002. I feel a little bad about that.

Was there ever a time, during your work on the e-book/book, when you felt like giving up? What made you change your mind?

Empty Nests and its sequel Bowerbirds was originally one giant 130 thousand word book. It was a mess. I sent it to a friend to edit who was always correct in her comments but not always kind. Every time I went to edit or even reread it I would lose hope. The characters were inconsistent, the plot meandered, it was just too long and unwieldy to handle. I seriously considered deleting it. I sent it to my friend Cooper West who told me not to delete it. She told me that I had two books, not one. She told me where to cut it in half then gifted me a copy of Scrivener which made it possible to fix many of the structural problems in that first draft.

What does your day-to-day life consist of? What else do you do, aside writing?

Five days a week I’m a parent of a very active two year old who has a ‘strong personality’. My days consists of runs around the park, grocery shopping, swim classes, blocks, trikes, yogurt, hugs, giggles, screaming tantrums, flung food, broken crayons, and we’re heading into potty training. Two days a week there is pre-school. I wake up at 6:30, drop the kid off at 7:30, go home, make coffee, write, stop at 5:00, then pick the kid up at 5:15.

How do you deal with bad reviews or acid criticism? What would you advise other authors to that effect?

All you can do is ignore it. I know authors who have tried to respond to bad reviews, especially on places like Goodreads, and it has always ended badly. I might have a rant at my partner or an understanding friend but I can’t/won’t risk taking the reviewer head on. There seems to be no way of winning that. Especially in the internet age.

Is this title part of a series? Without giving us spoilers, of course, what can we expect from the next e-books/books in the series?

This is the first of a two parter (though I have a friend nagging me to do a third). The first book is really about the two characters coming together. The second is more about keeping the relationship going through the stress of their very different lives and backgrounds.

What do you have stored for us in the future? What are you working on/planning on next, aside this title/series?

The sequel to Empty Nests is finished and is currently being edited. As for the project after that there are four I have started but I haven’t fully decided which one I’m going to focus on next. I have an M/M BDSM story, an M/M interoffice romance, a sequel to my western Eden Springs, and a non-romance Urban Fantasy. The BDSM or interoffice romance are the most likely ones to come up next.

If you were stranded on an isolated island, what’s the one book you’d absolutely wish to have with you?

US Army Wilderness Survival Manual.

Name your favorite fruit.

Mango (especially with a little lime).

Coffee or tea?

Yes.

Favorite season?

Spring.

How about fav time of 24 hours?

Whatever hour dawn is in.

Were you a boyscout/girlscout?

I was a member of Camp Fire Boys and Girls for thirteen years.

Favorite food for breakfast?

Toast with butter and parmesan cheese.

Latest book you’ve bought and read?

The Rum Dairy by Hunter S. Thompson.

Do you collect things like stamps, or key chains, or shoes?

There is perhaps a thin line between collecting and hording. I have a lot of books I have yet to read. I have an extensive blu-ray/DVD collection. I have a small but carefully chosen set of comic books. More yarn then I’m ever going to find time to knit. And a couple of thousand dollars worth of Magic the Gathering cards even though I haven’t been able to play since 2005.

Favorite color, you know you want to tell us!

Green but everyone assumes purple because I have so much stuff in purple. It’s just really hard to find stuff in a properly attractive shade of green.

Drama or comedy?

Comedy, but I’m picky about comedy to the point where some people think I don’t like it.

Have a fav quote or personal motto?

My father swears the family motto is ‘It’s not rocket science’. That’s funnier if you know my family.

Cats or dogs?

Cats.

Dinner by candlelight or a night out clubbing?

Candlelight dinner. I’m not good in high energy crowds or social situations in general. I find them very stressful and draining.

What song have you listened to most recently?

Nights Become Days from England Keep My Bones by Frank Turner

Your top secret, uber guilty pleasure is…

One particular piece of incredibly trashy, purple prose, completely absurd fanfic, which I reread at least once a year when I need a smile.

Your oldest memory is…

My grandfather helping me pick tomatoes and playing with his train set. He died when I was two so these are very early and a bit hazy.

If everyone would receive a prize for being best at something, you’d be no. 1 at…

Telling people things will be okay in a calm and comforting manner even when things are going completely to shit.

The one thing you’d do anything to avoid/get out of is…

Unloading dishes from the dishwasher. I don’t mind loading the dirty dishes but something about unloading the clean ones I just hate.

If a character from any book could become real and you could spend a day with them, it would be… from the book…

Nanny Ogg from the Discworld books.

You were/are a hardcore fan of…

I couldn’t even begin to list the number of fandoms I have be part of over the years. I will say one of my earliest fandoms was Red Dwarf.

If you could have any one superpower, it would be…

Flying.

The one thing that always brightens your day is…

When my kid smiles at me because she’s happy but not about to do something she shouldn’t.

The most awkward moment in your life happened when…

I’m bipolar. I’m honest about this and pretty self-aware. Even before I was on medication I could usually step back and ask myself if what I was about to do was rational. One summer when I was much younger I got a job away from home in [redacted] doing [redacted]. I spent almost that entire summer in one giant manic high with some minor disassociation thrown in. There was also a lot of drinking involved. What I can remember from that summer is painfully embarrassing to the point where if I ever see someone from that job I will run.

The awesomest thing in your life is…

My life. My life is pretty awesome right now as a whole.

Tell us something no one else knows about your characters.

It’s touched on a little in the sequel to Empty Nests, Bowerbirds, but James has panic attacks that he manages to hide, but not as well as he thinks he does.

Have you ever written something that made you cry?

The sequel to Empty Nests has two parts that make me cry. One is in the second chapter the other is in the last chapter. I’m not sure if the scene in chapter two will make anyone else cry, it’s certainly not the intent of the scene but for some reason I cried when I wrote it.

Have you ever co-written with someone before?

No. I do have a couple of close friends that I’ll let put ideas into my head. I’d like to co-write at some point but I don’t know if I have the personality type for it.

What is the most difficult part of writing for you?

I have phonological dyslexia so I can’t sound words out or even be sure if I’m saying them correctly, making text to speech software useless. I can know a word, use it in a sentence, but have no idea how to pronounce or spell it. It has led to some severely embarrassing moments.

Lately I have been forcing myself to use these words in my writing, no matter how disheartening the little red squiggle in Word still is.

Name your four most important food groups.

Caffeine, chocolate (dark), avocados, BCB (Burnt Crunchy Bits).

Please tell us a little about how Empty Nests came about.

Several people have recently asked me where Empty Nests came from and the honest truth is I don’t remember. I started writing it somewhere around 2010. I got a first draft finished then put it aside for a few years to work on other projects then pop out a kid. I got back to it in July of 2014 to find a giant mess that I very nearly deleted. With the length of time and everything that has happened in between whatever spark that started out this story has been long forgotten.

Are the characters based on anyone you know?

The individual characters aren’t based on anyone I know but some of their experiences are. Due to a change in my parent’s situation just before my birth my mother had to go back to work when I was six weeks old. My father ended up primary caregiver for the first few years of my life. He was the youngest of his family with no experience when it came to babies or small children. He had very little support from friends or family and this was well before the internet was a thing. A lot of stories the character of James tells about parenting come from or are inspired by my father’s experiences.

How long have you been an author? How did you start writing M/M?

Define an author? I wrote my first short story for English class in the sixth grade. It paid loving homage to Dashell Hammett’s Sam Spade stories. The first time I got paid money for writing was for a short story called Through the Dark Clouds which was part of the Dreamspinner Press 2011 Christmas anthology.

As for M/M you can blame Nicholas Lea deciding that Alex Krycek should plant one on Fox Mulder in The Red and the Black. I won’t for one second claim that fanfic I wrote at seventeen was any good but I shipped Mulder/Krycek hard.

Are you a planner or a pantser?

A planner. I have to plan. A step outline, preferably with a three act structure, is a must before I start. If I don’t the story is pretty much guaranteed to die a painful death relegated to a never touched WiP folder.

Tell us about the first thing you ever wrote.

Samantha Sage, Private Ear – The Case of the Calico Cat. I was eleven and I think the title sums it up pretty clearly. My mother swears she has a copy somewhere. I fear this. She would find it amusing to pass it around a release party or if I ever win an award.

In your mind, what is the difference between erotica and romance?

You can have romance with or without sex but you need sex for erotica. I think erotica has a reputation for being light on plot or character and is relegated as ‘porn’ but I have read erotica with far stronger story structure and character development than many proper ‘romance novels’. I think a lot comes from how you market it.

What is something about yourself that would surprise people?

I have set my own bones and conducted minor surgery on myself. You really don’t want details and I love now living in a country with free public healthcare.

Tell us what you have upcoming?

That is a difficult question. I lose a lot of momentum between projects. I currently have four works outlined with a couple of scenes written for each and I think it’ll be a matter of staring at them until I can get up the energy to give one of them a real push. The current four are an M/M BDSM story, an M/M interoffice romance, a sequel to my western Eden Springs, and a non-romance Urban Fantasy. The BDSM and interoffice romance are the most likely contenders at this point.

What is for you the perfect book hero?

I’m a fan of the unlikely or reluctant hero. The common person placed into a hero’s role full of all the doubts and worries that everyone else has. Bilbo, Talia, those characters. One of my favourite comic book heroes is Clint Barton/Hawkeye, especially in the current Matt Fraction storyline. He has no superpowers. He’s just a guy with a bow. I’m also a great fan of the sidekicks. I have a rough story sketched out about a group of sidekicks without any heroes. One day I’ll actually write it.

When you start a book, do you already have the whole story in your head or is it built progressively ?

I studied script writing and have found that if I don’t have at least a solid step outline and a three act structure worked out the story dies before I can get very far. This doesn’t mean there isn’t room to change things as I go, or discover new things about the characters. My stories have a bad habit of running longer than I expect because what looks like an easy step in a bullet list turns out to be 3000 words of prose.

What inspired you to write Empty Nest?

I have no idea. I started writing Empty Nests five years ago. There were a couple of years off in the middle because I got distracted by other projects. Then my brain absolutely melted while I was pregnant, and then I just didn’t have the time or energy for the first year and a bit after. I honestly can’t remember the inception of this. I wish I could. I do know that one of the first scenes written was James ranting at a co-worker about the difficulties of parenting. I wrote it at a point when I was still swearing up, down, and sideways that I would never have kids of my own. Since then I’ve discovered that nearly everything in that scene has been accurate to my own experience.

How excited are you to see your debut novel released?

There are few things I’ve been more excited about but it’s mixed with a good dose of first novel fear. Will anyone like this? Will anyone read this?

If you could be any fantasy or fairy-tale creature what would it be?

I’d probably go with elf but a little old school, a bit kind, a bit cruel, old but looking young.

If you could be a super hero what power would you want?

Flight. Absolutely flight.

Tell us something that people would be surprised you know how to do.

I can light a fire by rubbing two sticks together. It takes a long time and isn’t easy. I prefer flint and steal. Or better yet a match.

If you could time travel would you visit the past or the future?

The past, especially if I could change things.

Bird or reptile?

Hard to say. On a lazy day probably reptile so I’d have a biological imperative to sit in the sun and not move. Then there are days when I want to fly.

Harry Potter or Twilight?

Harry Potter all the way. I had a bit of a falling out with the HP fandom a while back but I grew up on Anne Rice vampires; blood, sex, and homoerotic undertones. Twilight vamps just feel wrong to me.

Slow and gentle or up against the wall?

Before kids, slow and gentle. After kids, sleep and maybe I’ll have a nice dream about sex.

What are your ambitions for your writing career?

My ambition for my writing career is to have a writing career. I want to be able to write five days a week and comfortably contribute to the household finances with the sales.

How many published books do you have? Can you tell us something about them?

Currently for sale I just have a novella called Eden Springs. It’s a school teacher/lawman western. It could have probably been a novel, and several people commented that if felt like the start of something longer, but I had never submitted anything for publication at that point and didn’t have the self-confidence to put out anything longer.

Give us an insight into your main character. What does he do that is so special?

James can truly stick with a decision and accept the consequences. At age 14 he decided to raise a kid and he has never let himself waver or regret that decision despite the cost he paid in having his own life.

What are you working on at the moment?

Right now I’m working on getting the sequel to Empty Nests up and ready for print. After that I’m not sure. There are a few projects on the books, it’ll be a matter of finding which one will grab me first.

Do you aim for a set amount of words/pages per day?

I have so little time set aside for writing, that also has to be used for editing, publicity, and social media, that my goal is to write as much as I possibly can as fast as I can.

Someone asks you for advice about writing. What do you tell them?

Write fanfic. I know that sounds weird but hear me out. Someone, not sure who, said that you should write a million words before trying to get published. It is good advice but it’s also one hell of a word count and it can take years to get through. And if you are writing in a vacuum of just yourself and maybe a couple of friends your writing isn’t likely to improve all that much, even over a million words. It can also be hard to scrape of a million words from scratch.

Fanfic can give you a rough skeleton of an idea to work with, preexisting characters that you can take off in completely insane directions but you’ll still have a little tether to hold you in line. In the right fandom people will give you feedback, sometimes helpful, sometimes not, but it’ll get you used to people reading your work. You can learn story structure, dialog, character development, pacing, and working with an editor or beta reader if you’re smart.

It can create some bad habits, like not describing characters, everyone knows what Thor or Castiel looks like so there’s no need. It’s a dirty little secret that a lot of newer authors, especially in the M/M genre, trained up in fanfic but it’s a good way of getting through that million words.

And for the record I got through about 800,000 before getting up the guts to submit my first work for publication.

How do you feel about e-books vs print books?

As a writer I think e-books really changed the game, especially when it comes in self-publishing. Up until very recently self-publishing really just meant vanity publishing or you were rejected by everyone else because you sucked. Now, for better or worse, it can just mean you didn’t want to deal with a traditional publisher and you don’t end up with 5000 copies of an unsold book sitting in your garage. Just an ego hit when you look at your Amazon ranking.

It has of course also allowed for the rise of the independent publisher. E-books combined with print on demand have allowed for publishers like Dreamspinner press to target a small selection of the market that a larger publisher might ignore because of the overhead.

As a reader I’m not picky. I like proper print books in my hands and filling my shelves but I also live in New Zealand. Books are bloody expensive here because of the shipping costs. The selection is smaller because if the shipping costs, and even if you buy a book online the shipping costs a lot. Last time I went to the states my partner and I spent about 400$ on books which would have easily been a solid grand in NZ. Sometimes e-books are just more efficient and cost effective.

What process did you go through to get your first book published?

I wrote a book, I freaked out about it, almost deleted it, rewrote it and freaked out some more until a friend slapped me upside the head and told me to just submit it. I got lucky and it was accepted. After that it was a matter of signing the contract and getting taken through the editorial process.

How do you find or make time to write?

Daycare. Two days a week the kid is in daycare and these are my work days. I don’t have any other ‘job’. Writing is my job and I have a very short work week so I just make the best of it. If I’m lucky I can squeeze in an hour during a nap time but usually I have other stuff to do.

Name one person who you feel supported you outside of your family members?

Cooper West. She is my primary evil enabler. She kept me from deleting Empty Nests and will cheer me on no matter how absurd a goal I set. So much of what I write is completely her fault.

Tell us about a book you’re reading now.

I’m currently flipping between Tortilla Flat and Hell & High Water. I usually have several books on the go at once until this year when I realized I had over 20 started and not finished. I’m going through them two at a time. One in print and one in digital. I’m not starting any new books until I get through those twenty.

Is there a character in your books that you can’t stand? (Antagonist for example) And what makes them someone you don’t like?

I like most all of my characters. There isn’t really an antagonist except self-doubt and fear. There is one character called Simon who gets mentioned in Empty Nests but doesn’t show up until Bowerbirds. He was written to be a rich asshole but at the same time he was kinda fun to write.

Are there misconceptions people have about your genre?

It’s romance. People assume it’s all nineteen year olds locked in towers with heaving bosoms and sex in the first thirty pages. There is some of that around but I don’t think as much as people think. I’ve taken to telling people I write Relationship Novels instead of Romance Novels. No nineteen year olds falling in love at first sight. More overworked thirty year olds making awkward conversation at parties they don’t really want to be at.

Is there message in your novel that you hope readers grasp?

That being a parent is hard. Being a single parent is worse. Being poor sucks. But no matter how dedicated you are to someone or something else you need to take a moment to consider your own happiness and health.

How has your writing evolved since your first book? (If this is your first book, how do you hope it evolves?)

I hope it gets better. I hope I’m able to bring a more visual style and greater poetry to it.

One food you don’t care if you never eat it again.

Broccoli. There’s nothing wrong with it it’s just not interesting and always gets cold so fast.

 

My Writing Play List

I’m one of those people who has to sing along to just about any piece of music with words. I’m sure I will be a giant embarrassment to my kid in a couple of years because of this. It also means when I’m writing anything I listen to has to be strictly instrumental or opera in a language I don’t understand. I usually just keep tuned into Radio New Zealand Concert.

There are particular pieces of music I do listen to when I’m working on a specific kind of scene or need to get into a certain head space. I think of them as musical vitamin combos. There are also songs or albums I will listen to on loop before I start writing, again in order to get into a particular head space.

1. Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23 – Tchaikovsky (Played when I’m coming into a writing day low on energy. Tchaikovsky is good for this all around, except for his ballets. His ballets can fuck off.)

2. Rhapsody in Blue – George Gershwin (When I’m writing scenes with lots of little details I’ll put this on loop.)

3. Star Wars Episode IV Soundtrack – John Williams (For when I’m writing romantic scenes. No I’m not kidding but I might be a little weird.)

4. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Battle of the Pelennor Fields – Howard Shore (For writing sex scenes)

5. Pacific Rim Soundtrack – Ramin Djawadi (For writing Really Epic sex scenes.)

6. Paint it Black – Rolling Stones (Five times on loop before writing Middle Aged Angst.)

7. Jagged Little Pill – Alanis Morissette (A listen through before writing teen angst. And I am really dating myself with that one.)

8. Summertime Dream – Gordon Lightfoot (For sad/sweet and nostalgia)

9. Albums to keep up general motivation and energy on off days.

a. England Keep My Bones – Frank Turner

b. Recurring Dream – Crowded House

c. The King Is Dead – The Decemberists

d. Passenger – Lisa Hannigan

e. California Bloodlines – John Stewart

 

Say something to your fans.

I love you all so very much it’s hard to explain. The idea that I even have fans is in a strange one to me. I’ve been in the arts since I was a teenager but always behind the scenes. I was always the stage manager or a tech person. Stage managers don’t get fans.

That I am now creating something myself and that people like it makes me so happy. Thank you for reading my work and I hope I can keep putting out stories of quality that you all enjoy.

 

Bowerbirds

Coming from Dreamspinner press in late August or Early September

They headed to the practice putting area so a family of six could get a few holes ahead of them. Dylan dropped the red ball he’d picked onto the green and with hardly a pause, knocked the ball into the hole. James took the time to adjust his grip and set his feet but managed to get his in as well. Gabe took a deep breath, adjusted his grip, tried to remember what a dozen pros had attempted to teach him over the years, and proceeded to knock his ball from one side of the green to the other, passing by the cup by at least a foot.

He looked to James. “Told you I was bad at this.”

Before James could answer, a phone rang. Gabe reached for his, only to find it quiet.

“Oh!” James fished his phone from his pocket. “Hello?” He took a few steps away from the green while Gabe gave the simple practice putt another try. He only missed the cup by a half foot this time. Dylan was leaning on his club, a smirk on his face.

James finished his call and rejoined them, his brows pulled together. “Um…. Mister McFeely died.”

“Who?”

“Our primary mail server crashed. It’s called Mister McFeely. Apparently there was actual smoke coming from the box and no one on campus can get their e-mails. I… um….” James gestured back to the parking lot. “I laid out half the server room as it stands now, and I’ve got the admin passwords for the backup, and—”

“It’s okay. Work happens.” Gabe had never been the one to say those words to a date. It felt odd.

“I’m really sorry. This has never…. You know, you two should stay. Not waste the round. I mean, it’s your night out.”

“It’s our night out and—”

Dylan pulled his keys from his pocket and tossed them at James. “Here, take the Lemon Drop. Gabe can give me a lift back. We can bond.”

A cold thread of fear slinked up Gabe’s spine, but he still smiled. “Sure, no problem.”

James nodded, then gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you. I don’t know how long—”

“It’s fine. Go.” James hurried off. “Well, now I know how my dates feel,” Gabe mumbled once James was out of earshot. He could not even begin to guess how many dates he’d left due to work (sometimes made-up work), but it had never gone the other way.

“Don’t worry about it.” Dylan gave him a slap on the back. “It won’t happen often. Besides, this way we can chat.”

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Free Read: Gathered Here This Night

This was originally published as part of Just One Bite, Volume Four, a short vampire romance anthology, put out by All Romance.  The anthology is no longer available and rights to individual stories have reverted back to the authors.  It was written in 2011.  Just keep that in mind.

Gathered Here This Night

By

Ada Maria Soto

Simon leaned against the balustrade and looked out at the city lights. He wondered how they would look in a week. Would they be darker, brighter, would they sparkle in the same way, or would they be dull and flat? He let himself sway slightly to the music coming through the bay doors. Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. Not that Simon could have told you that just a few years earlier but it was one of Anne’s favorites. The big hit of 1901. Simon always told her she was showing her age. She’d give him a shove and tease him about his Nirvana albums.

He heard her bare feet on the rough tile of the balcony. She was telling him she was there. Her arms slid around his waist and her cheek rested against his shoulder. “What are you thinking about?” she asked.

“Nothing.”

“Second thoughts?”

“No.”

“Liar.”

Simon turned around and pulled her close. He placed a kiss on the side of her head. She’d cut her hair short again. She said it was the same bob she’d had in 1922. He took a breath and wondered how she’d smell in the morning. He hoped that it wouldn’t change too much. To him she always smelled sweet. She sighed contently against his neck. With her breath he felt himself filled with certainty and knew it was time. “I was thinking…”

“Be careful.”

“I was thinking, we should get married.”

Anne pulled away and levelled a look at him. Simon tried to hide the fear of her refusal even though he knew it was useless.

“You do know what’s happening tonight, right?” she asked.

“I mean after you turn me into an undead, bloodsucking, creature of the night. I think we should get married. You know, have our friends there, my family.”

She raised a single perfectly arched eyebrow. He was sure she’d been practicing that move since 1966. “And you just thought of this?”

Simon slipped his hand into his pocket. He’d first thought about it about five minutes after they met. If it weren’t for the whole vampire thing he would have proposed years ago. Possibly on their first date.

“You get to put permanent claim on my ass in a few hours, I think I’m within my rights to ask to stick a ring on your finger and give dirty looks to all the men who are going to be eyeing you up for the rest of eternity.

“Within your rights?” She gave a ballsy little head shake she’d probably picked up in the 70s.

He grinned then pulled a velvet box from his pocket and dropped to one knee.

“Anne DeLay, fairest thing under the moon light whom I love, quite literally, more than life itself, will you do me the honour of allowing me to marry you?”

He opened the box. Anne gave a little squeak and put her hands to her mouth. He’d spent a year looking for the right ring. He found one that had a large opal surrounded by emeralds and diamonds and held in place by sculpted gold flowers and the hands of two beautiful women. The dealer assured him it was made in 1890, the year Anne was born.

“You really want to marry me?” There was a tiny quiver in her voice.

“More than anything. I was thinking the rose garden in the park just after sunset. We can get a judge or maybe one of our friends could get one of those Universal Life Church things. I’m going to have the rest of eternity to spend with you and I want…” Simon swallowed hard. “I want to do it as your husband.”

Anne blinked away a couple of tears then nodded and held out her hand.

Simon could feel his own pulse begin to calm and knew Anne could hear it. He wasn’t actually sure what he would have done if she’d said no. He slipped the ring on her finger. Her hands were cold but they’d be warm soon enough. She’d glut herself on prepacked blood so she could control herself when the time came. Simon had laid in the stock himself, type AB and a bit of O.

Early on he’d been told of changes gone bad, of souls that fought too hard and bodies that didn’t survive the change. To Simon the stories sounded less supernatural and more like immediate hemolytic transfusion reaction complicated by hypovolemia and shock. So along with making sure she’d be a blood type match to him he’d also subtly set aside plasma, adrenalin, some extra type AB, abacavir, type III Interferon, and a defibrillation cart that was due for retirement. He knew it wasn’t particularly romantic or ritualistic but he was a doctor first and initiate vampire second. He wanted to get through the night some flavor of alive.

Anne pulled him roughly to his feet and he stumbled, trying to keep his balance. Soon that wouldn’t be a problem either. He’d be able to match her strength for strength. She kissed him, driving him into their loft. He ran his tongue along the points of her fangs which had already dropped. He loved the way it made her moan and heat up. He wondered if his own fangs would be as sensitive.

They collapsed onto their bed, her hands slipping under his shirt and his working their way under her dress. He rolled over pinning her beneath him. There was a knock on the door.

Simon closed his eyes. “It’s Meg,” he mumbled.

“I know.”

“Maybe if we ignore her she’ll go away.”

“I can hear you two in there,” Marguerite d’Anduza called from the other side of the door. “And I can smell the two of you down the hall.”

Simon groaned as Anne wiggle out from under him to open the door. “You two should be saving it for later,” Meg admonished as she swooped in.

“How ya’ doing, Meg?” Simon asked.

Meg smiled at him. “It’s not 1349.” That was her standard greeting. Simon could only assume that 1349 had been one bitch of a year. He wondered if in seven centuries he’d be standing in front of some terrified mortal and saying ‘Hey, it’s not 1994’ (Cobain died, his dad split, and Jenny Thompson kicked his ass so hard he cried in front of his class).

Meg shrugged off her coat revealing a flowing black dress that was moulded to her figure and pooled around her feet. Simon blinked a few times. It was the first time he’d seen Meg in anything but jeans.

Simon was still trying to unrumple himself when Anne decided to show off her ring. Meg turned a sharp eye towards him. “Young man, you and I need to have a little chat.”

Simon didn’t try to hide his fear. He’d learned that you can’t hide emotions from people who can hear your heart race and smell your sweat. And he was afraid. Meg might have only been five foot two but she had seven centuries and royal blood behind her. And as leader of Anne’s undead coffee club if she decided not to like him things could get tricky.

Officially they called themselves a coven. Simon called them the coffee club. They got together every week or so, poured themselves blood, wine, or occasionally coffee and proceeded to gossip about what was in the news or bitch about how things were so much better when they were young (except for Meg who’d been through a couple rounds of the black plague).

Before Meg could start the interrogation there was another knock on the door and Roderick let himself in. Simon relaxed a little. Roderick was the only male in the coven and easily the least blood thirsty of the lot. If anyone could keep Meg from killing him outright it was Roderick. He was dressed in skin tight black everything with black eyeliner and black nail polish, which meant he hadn’t dressed up at all.

He looked around. “Okay, who did what?”

Anne held out her hand. Roderick gave a squeak possibly an octave higher than Anne’s then turned to Simon. “Oh sweetie, we need to talk.”

“That’s just what I was saying.” Meg pointed towards the kitchen door and Simon went where pointed.

“You two are not allowed to hurt him in any permanent fashion,” Anne called out just as the door swung shut.

Simon turned to face the jury.

“You proposed to her.”

Simon could feel the cold radiating from Meg’s stare. “Yes, I did.”

“And being bound by immortal blood isn’t enough?”

Simon took a very deep breath. “No. It’s not. I love her. As important as this is, it is, at the end of the day, a biological exercise. I want to stand up in front of people I care about and let them know that I love her.”

Roderick all but melted. Meg squinted at him. “Love fades. Passion, lust, most of these things do not make it through even one mortal lifetime. What makes you think you won’t be begging for a divorce in 50 years?”

Simon had the answer to that question ready. He’d assumed Anne would be the one asking it. “Because I like her too. She’s my best friend. She makes me happy. She makes me laugh. Even if there wasn’t lust or love I’d want to go through tonight because I want her in my life. But there is lust and love and that just makes it better. Makes it special. Makes her special.”

Roderick was making little cooing noises. Meg still looked like she wasn’t buying it even if Simon’s heart rate was telling her the truth.

“Special?”

Simon wasn’t sure how to explain. He stared up at the kitchen ceiling still smudged black from Anne’s last cooking attempt. “When I was about three months into my residency I was going to drop out. I was miserable. I couldn’t do anything right, I couldn’t answer any questions right, the nurses hated me, the other residents hated me, the patients didn’t like me, I’d just lost all mojo. I didn’t know how to be a doctor and I didn’t know how to be me anymore. Then one night I’m down in the ER at about three in the morning, the place is filled with drunks and I turn around an Anne is standing there and she is wearing this little black dress and I mean little. You could have stuck the whole thing in a standard sized envelope. She looked like a goddess. And if that wasn’t stunning enough in each hand she had a pizza. She walked over to me, dropped the pizzas on the nurses’ station, gave me the dirtiest kiss possible and walked out, right in front of everyone. And after that…” Simon gave a little shrug. “After that the mojo came back, I got good at being me again. Now any woman who’ll show up at your work dressed like a sex goddess is special and worth keeping, and any woman who will bring you double pepperoni to work at 3 AM is special and worth keeping. One that will do both and offer immortality? I am many things but I’m not an idiot. Anne is one in a century and then some and I truly, honestly love her. I just hope she loves me or at least doesn’t get tired of me too quickly.”

Roderick yanked him into a hug. Simon struggled for breath. “Oh, sweetie of course she loves you.” Roderick let him go but still held him at arm length. “I have known Annie since she was breaking in her first fangs and believe me she has crushed more men under her stilettos than I have and in half the time. She never once said one word about putting someone through the big makeover until she met you.”

Simon hadn’t known that. He knew she hadn’t made another vampire but not that she’d never even considered it.

Meg sighed. “I am afraid he’s right. Anne has always shied away from the idea of offering the change to anyone. At least until you showed up.”

Simon knew that couldn’t just be a matter of romance. While Anne had never shared the details he knew she hadn’t been given the option of becoming what she was. The knowledge that he was the first person she was willing to go down this road with puffed up his ego just that little bit more.

“I will do my best to make sure she never regrets it.”

“Damn right you will.” With that parting comment Meg left and Roderick pulled him into another hug.

^^^^^^^^

Simon was sure the coven was screwing with him, that this was some sort of hazing. They were standing around chatting, sipping wine and mostly ignoring him. He felt like he’d wandered into someone else’s cocktail party.

He took another sip of his orange juice and tried to keep calm. He could feel his heart pounding so hard that he was sure the completely mortal couple across the hall could hear it.

Simon heard a throat clear. He turned and saw Anne standing behind him. He could have died from just the sight. She was wrapped in the same dress as the first night they’d met. It was dark blue like a summer sky at dusk. It hugged her body and flowed around her knees. It had been at a jazz concert in the park and she had been standing there by herself, just moving to the music. Simon watched her move for an hour before getting up the courage to go to her and say hello.

The room got quiet.

Meg approached and Anne went to her. Simon put down his drink and stood up straight.

“Doctor Simon Anderson, we have all gathered here this night to ask a question of you. Tonight you will, if you agree, be killed and, with luck, resurrected into a new and extended life where you may see the stars in a thousand years but you will never again see the sun. Do you accept this offer?”

“Yes.” Simon didn’t even hesitate. His eyes were locked on Anne but what he saw was forever stretched out in front of him with her by his side.

Meg turned to Anne. “Anne DeLay, do you agree to give of your blood to bring this man to the other side and then guide him with the wisdom of your greater years.”

Anne smiled. Simon’s heart swelled. “Yes,” she answered her sweet voice ringing through the room.

“Then so it shall be.”

A heavy chair was brought over and Simon sat. He felt Roderick’s hands on his shoulders. He knew at some point his body would panic and he would fight and it would be Roderick’s job to hold him in place.

Anne stood in front of him. “Are you sure?” she asked one last time.

“Yes.” Simon reached up and brushed her cheek. “I love you. No matter what happens tonight.”

“I love you too.”

Simon’s heart gave an extra thump in the middle of its racing. He started to pray to anyone listening that he would get to hear those four words again. He was aware of the audience as Anne’s fingers went to the buttons of his shirt. Her fingers were warm and felt so delicate as she caressed his chest.

She pulled the shirt over his head then straddled his thighs. She gave a wicked little smirk and Simon just knew she wasn’t wearing underwear. He pushed down the sudden desired to call a halt to the bloodletting and just drag her back to bed.

She kissed him. Her lips tasted of blood and her mouth was hot. Simon knew it could be their last kiss or the first of millions. He closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her waist. He breathed deep trying to pull in her sent and flavor. She pulled away from the kiss and rested her cheek against his before placing small gentle kisses along the line of his jaw.

Finally her lips started to work their way down his neck. Simon held her tight.

“I love you,” Anne whispered against his throat. He felt more than heard the words and then her fangs slipped in.

Magic Writer Juice AKA the Best Coffee You Will Ever Make

There is this idea going around that a writer’s blog, like this one, should have something in it about writing. This one seems to be a bit more of the ‘random thoughts that pop into my head every other week’ type of blog. But here is a blog post about an important aspect of writing. At least for me. Coffee.

This is the recipe for civilians. Double it for writers.

This started as the Cold Brewed Coffee from Thug Kitchen but I’ve amped it up a bit. You will need.

1 cup ground coffee

3 ½ cups cold water

1 tsp quality vanilla extract or paste (you should be able to see the seeds)

1 stick cinnamon (NOT powdered cinnamon)

Put the coffee, vanilla, and cinnamon into a large jug.

Add the water and stir well so that all the grounds get wet and don’t clump.

Put in fridge for a minimum of 24 hours.

Filter into a clean jug and enjoy hot or cold.

If you like your coffee sweeter only use maybe half the sweetener you normally would. Your brain will be tricked by the smell of vanilla and cinnamon into thinking it’s already sweet.

Now go write a novel.

Empty Nests (Nested Hearts #1)-Release, Blog Tour, Giveaway, and New Excerpt!

Five years in the making, here it is, Empty Nests (Nested Hearts #1)

Neither James nor Gabe has ever had a real relationship. They might make a connection if they can get past their differences—and their fears.

At age fourteen, James Maron decided to prove he wasn’t gay despite vast evidence to the contrary. Now at thirty-two, he’s getting ready to send his son to college and wondering what he’s supposed to do next. Outside his son, his life consists of an IT job he hates and watching telenovelas with the women in his apartment building.

Gabriel Juarez is the CFO of a technology giant. He has looks, charm, fantastic wealth, a workaholic personality, and a string of boyfriends who only stick around because he’s too busy to tell them to leave.

A bad laptop/projector interface causes James and Gabe’s paths to cross. Friends, family, and coworkers jump to match Gabe with a nice guy, and James with anyone. But are they too different? Everyone will have to tread very carefully to keep things from ending before they start.

Paperback: Dreamspinner Press

Ebook: Dreamspinner Press   Amazon   Kobo   Barnes & Noble   Google Play Books   All Romance

 

 

Today I’m going to be everywhere I can be if you want to pop in and chat with me about anything. I’ll be here on my blog, Twitter, my Facebook author page, Google+, Goodreads, and I’ll even check tumblr and ello though god knows I’m no good with those.

 

Today also starts the Empty Nests blog tour arranged by the lovely Will at Pride Promotions

Our first stop is Carly’s Book Reviews. Go take a look and find out ten things you didn’t know about it.

As part of the blog tour we are also having a Rafflecopter giveaway where you can win a copy of Empty Nests AND the sequel Bowerbirds which is set to be released in late August. The chance for two books with one click.

 

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I hope all of you who take a chance on this book enjoy it and come back for the sequel. And now, a never before seen sample.

 

GABE CHECKED the time. It was nearly an hour to Berkeley in good traffic, which on the 880 was never a given. He’d been looking forward to the evening and did not want to be late. The idea of sitting in a theater with someone normal, listening to acoustic music, had settled into his mind as possibly the best idea ever. Certainly infinitely better than most of his meetings and far better than listening to a pretty airhead talk about reality TV. He even had plans to put his phone on silent.

He was reaching for his jacket when Tamyra came in, dropping a bunch of files on his desk.

“Have fun on your date.”

“It’s not a date.” They’d been arguing about it since she’d seen the event in his calendar.

“Then why are you wearing your first date shirt?”

Gabe looked at the comfortable dark-blue shirt he was wearing. “I do not have a first date shirt.”

“You have two, that one and the dark red one, which you wear on first dates.”

“It’s not a date. It’s an open mic night. He wants to expand my musical horizons.”

“Yeah, that’s the only thing he wants to expand.”

Gabe’s jaw dropped. Tamyra was sarcastic, snarky, and generally ruled his life with an iron fist, but she was rarely flat-out crude. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

“I saw the way he was looking you over in that lecture hall. If he invites you back to his place for a cup of coffee, don’t be surprised.”

“It’s not a date, and even it was, it would be the first ‘coffee’ I’ve gotten in a while.”

“I won’t wait up then.”

Gabe headed for the door with plans to make a grand exit before a thought pulled him up short. “Do I have a second date shirt?”

“If you do, I’ve never seen it.”