Carter Quinn's Blog, page 10

…And We Have Art to Share!

It’s a beautiful morning here in Colorado and not just because The Way Back has finally made it to the Coming Soon list at Dreamspinner. It’s supposed to be 81 and clear most of the week. I’m excited for my two days off from the EDJ! But here’s the really exciting stuff. We’re on the Coming Soon page! That means it’s finally truly real! I’m excited and nervous. Is this what soon-to-be dads feel like when they’re waiting for their first child’s birth?

Anyway, here are the cover and links. The first 20 paperbacks sold on Dreamspinner’s site are autographed copies, by the way. What a trip that was! lol Dreamspinner doesn’t do pre-orders, so remember June 11 is the release date.

Ebook

Paperback

 

Release Date & Cover Art Explanation

Hello, everyone! I know it has been ages since I’ve updated this page. I’ll try to be better about that in future. What can I say? I’m basically an introvert; I rarely think I have anything interesting to share. But right now, I definitely do.

I heard an hour or so ago that The Way Back has been scheduled for release from Dreamspinner Press on June 11. That’s a full eleven months since I completed the first draft. It’s hard to believe it’s actually going to happen. My boys are finally going to be unleashed on the public! Er, I mean, you’ll all finally get to meet Riley and Jason. Gosh, I hope you like them!

Before you get to meet them, though, I thought I’d offer a bit of an explanation for the cover. I don’t have the final art yet, but the mockup I approved is absolutely beautiful. It’s also very emotional for me. Aside from the guys (fully clothed because they’re kinda modest–despite what you’ll read, yikes!), the main feature of the art is a photo of the Campanile on the University of Kansas campus. All of us, Riley, Jason and I, went to KU. (Only one of us had to actually suffer through the lectures and papers and finals, though. Those guys got off easy!)

The Campanile is a memorial to the KU students who died in World War II. As a history major, that fact appeals to me. Plus, it’s remarkably beautiful. There’s a tradition at KU that new graduates Walk down the hill through the Campanile on their way to Memorial Stadium for commencement. Riley tells about how emotional that Walk was for him, so it is fitting that the monument be a part of the cover.

Once I’ve received a copy of the final art, I’ll post it here. Until then, if you’d like more information about the Campanile or to see some truly breath-taking photographs of how it fits in on campus, follow these links.

Carillon

Campanile

In case you can’t tell, I love KU. It was a very special time in my life and I learned so much about, well, life and myself during that time. There’s no doubt in my mind I’ll bleed Blue for the rest of my life. Rock Chalk, Jayhawk!

If you do me the honor of reading The Way Back, I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Thank you. And Happy Mother’s Day!

Carter Is Slow (Revised)

Greetings from snowy Colorado!

I’m a little slow on the uptake most times, so it just now dawned on me to post a link directly to In The Crease: I’m Every Goalie. This is the prequel to In The Crease.

My apologies to those of you who saw this post in its original form. It seems the internet signal I was getting from my new apartment complex’s office wasn’t strong enough long enough to accept this whole post. So, my thanks to Marie Sexton and Heidi Cullinan for letting me be a part of their special Birthday Bash over at cupoporn.net. Here, at long last, is the link to IEG: In the Crease: I’m Every Goalie.

Reminder: Nate and Trick are Back…

…in another quick short story. Check out cupoporn.net after 4:30pm CST today for a glimpse at the guys before In the Crease. Hope you like it!

Really, Trick? Really?

This just goes to show, you go where the characters take you, not the other way around.

I’m excited to announce that Nate and Trick will be making an appearance at the Coffee and Porn in the Morning First Birthday Bash. I’ve just emailed Marie Sexton a new short featuring the guys. Meanwhile, if you haven’t seen Cup o’Porn, go check it out!

Check back soon for more details.

Once-White and the Tongues: A “The Way Back” Excerpt

Because I can’t resist giving you all some little peek into what awaits you in The Way Back, I have selected a scene that–I promise–spoils absolutely nothing. This scene, which took me completely by surprise when it wrote itself, gives you just a glimpse of the way Riley’s mind works. Hope you enjoy.

Friday dawned noticeably cooler than the preceding days, which worked out well for me, since I was planning to take my favorite four-legged guy to the park. I pulled my truck down Jason’s long gravel drive, appreciating, as always, the quiet peace of the country. Ten miles from town there were no sirens, no traffic noises, and no annoyingly nearby neighbors. Jason’s closest neighbor was two miles down the road, close enough to get to in a minor emergency, but far away enough to provide complete privacy. Here, the only sounds were the songs of myriad birds and the gentle rustle of leaves as the breeze passed between them.

And Bo beagle-barking up a storm as he came from around the back of the house. I eased to a stop and laughed as Bo’s entire body wiggled in excitement as he came to me. I stepped from the truck, patted my thigh and he was immediately on me, his front toes digging into my waist as he stretched contentedly. He let out one of his rare vocal treats, a long guttural greeting, telling me, I supposed, that it had been far too long since I had petted him. I made up for that by giving his neck a good scratch beneath his collars, telling him what a good boy he was. He went crazy with the pressing into my hand thing, trying to get in a good lick here or there. Finally, I laughingly pushed him away and headed for the house, wondering where Jason was and why Bo was outside. He had his very own door built into the back door of the house, but he preferred to be inside most of the time. He’d go out for a couple hours at a time, then collapse onto his bed or the couch as if he’d used his very last ounce of strength to get there.

I was a few steps away when I saw the sticky-note pinned to the door. RJ – Had to run to town for parts. Have a good time with Bo. See ya soon. – J. I felt the frown form. Was he avoiding me or did it just seem that way? It’s déjà vu all over again, my brain screamed. Just as Jason had dodged me for days after Eric and I had hooked up in college, so was he doing it now. I didn’t want to think about what that might mean for a future between us. Jason might occasionally need some space to himself to figure out his thoughts and feelings, but he was not a runner. He didn’t shirk responsibility and he valued his relationships, be they friendships or more. I had learned and accepted that about him in college. Somehow, though, it was unsettling to be reliving the avoidance Eric and I had caused.

Three hours later, I found myself standing again with Bo on Jason’s front porch. My little buddy and I were both exhausted and covered in mud from tip to toe. I’d taken him to the off-leash dog park at Clinton Lake, one of our favorite places. We had run and played—okay, Bo did most of the running—in the groomed field area for a while until Bo got distracted by areas less-well maintained. He’d bounded off down one of the trails bordered on each side by knee-high grass and disappeared. Wanting to explore a little myself, I went after him at a slower pace, knowing he would be fine. Every few minutes, I would see him coming back down the trail looking for me. I swear, each time he was sure I was safe and present, he would give some demonic doggie grin, sound a little yap and take off again.

It wasn’t twenty minutes later that I discovered just how big a fool I’d been to trust the little bugger. I followed the sounds of several dogs playing, stepping around a tree in the heavily-wooded area to see Bo and a once-white mutt running like mad through a muddy tributary, sending clods of the stuff high in the air as they raced at full speed from one dry side to the other. They were both caked in mud. An exhausted black lab cooled himself in the shade, panting heavily, drool puddling in the already-sodden grass.

As Bo reached the top of the other dry side, he spun and spun in crazy circles in what Jason and I had termed his happy dance. He was clearly thrilled with his race victory. So very incredibly stupidly, I walked closer to the mud hole-cum-racetrack and called his name, getting the attention of all three dogs. Bo and his formerly-white friend streaked down the hill toward me and I thought all might be fine until Bo decided the mud was much more fun to jump-and-run through than simply race across. Halfway across, he shifted into his best deer impression and I lost it, laughing at the little bastard. I stepped back, not realizing the lab had lumbered up behind me. I tripped over him, landing square on my back, the air rushing from my lungs in an “Oh shit!”

I will swear on my grave that those three dogs yelled “Dog pile!” at each other in some too-high-for-human-ears pitch, because before I knew it, Once-White was standing on my chest licking my chin as Bo and Tripper, as I thought of the lab, were going after my hands and cheeks. I tried to yell, I tried to move, but with what very little air Once-White was letting in my lungs, I could do little else but giggle at the feel of three nasty dog tongues saying, “Hey there, sailor!” all at once. And then it happened. Once-White sent out the signal for all muddy dogs to shake and, between the three of them, ten tons of mud bombs fell on me, matting my hair, plopping wetly on my face and covering the rest of my body so that I looked like a shorts-clad, mud-dappled freak.

I was finally able to dislodge Once-White and the Tongues and roll to my knees, spitting violently to dislodge the mud pies between my teeth. Sensing they’d perhaps gone too far, the other two dogs scuttled back, leaving only Bo panting up at me around a smile like a beagle on crack. “You’re awfully damn pleased with yourself, aren’t you?” I growled, ruffling the fur on his head. “S’go home.” Like the obedient dog he sometimes pretended to be, he darted off down the trail back to the truck.

All of which was why, thirty slowly-drying minutes later, Jason caught me giving his best boy the evil eye, which I turned on him the instant he started cackling like a school boy. Bo made for the inside, but even in his hyena-like hysteria, Jason caught him. “Oh, no you don’t. Not until you’ve had a bath. That goes for both of you.” Bo just wiggled wildly and tried to lick his way back into Daddy’s good graces.

I leaned down and grabbed Bo’s collar. “I’ll do it if you bring the tub out,” I offered—generously considering Jason still hadn’t completely stopped laughing. At a garage sale a few weeks back, he had picked up an old fashioned hand-washing clothes tub to bathe Bo in if situations not at all like this occurred. Normally, he just took him in the shower with him.

“That’s real nice of you, mudly. I mean, studly,” he cackled.

“Don’t push it, Walker,” I grated, trying to hide my own amusement.

He pecked a quick kiss to my mud-smeared lips. “Sorry, baby. I’ll be out in a sec.”

A few minutes later, I was lifting 40 pounds of squirming beagle into a tub of too-cold water, with Jason supervising from a few feet away, standing guard against jailbreak attempts. I soaped up Bo thoroughly, using a glove/brush combo to make sure I got all the clumps out while giving Jason a play-by-play of his naughty boy’s exploits at the park. Jason, being the proud papa he was, never stopped laughing or praising Bo for kicking ass in his races.

Reaching for the hose to rinse the dog, I suddenly couldn’t resist turning it on Sir Laughs-a-Lot over there. I probably didn’t mean to catch him full force in the mouth. I know I didn’t anticipate him charging me. And I sure as hell didn’t plan for Bo to make a break for it. But all of it happened. Before my reject brain could process any of them, I was once again flat on my back, but this time I was pinned beneath 200 pounds of sopping wet, insanely sexy man. Definitely my preference.

Jason and I struggled for control of the hose, rolling like idiots in the wet grass, laughing our fool heads off. Water sprayed everywhere, drenching us completely as Bo sprinted figure-eights around us, being so cheeky as to springboard off Jason’s back once. We yelled threats and promises at each other as we fought for dominance. Finally, Jason showed his true colors by resorting to tickling—why didn’t I think of that?—and I shrieked my submission. His wet blond hair dripped on my face as he came close, the sadistic gleam of victory lighting his eyes.

“Remember, I always win,” he whispered before shocking me with the gentlest of kisses, his tongue barely grazing my lips. I gasped at the very light touch, ready to give him anything if he would just deepen the kiss, press his lips harder against mine. Instead, he drew away and smiled down at me, looking far too pleased for my liking.

I sat up, tingling in all the right places. Catching sight of the very enticing bulge in Jason’s painted-on jeans, I hurriedly looked around for Bo, who was, of course giving himself a back rub in the grass. We both yelled at the same time, but nothing fazed Bo. He just stopped and looked at us upside down for a few seconds before bolting back over to us for attention. Fifteen minutes later, he was clean and blow-dried and pouting on the couch, casting baleful, piteous looks at us as Jason and I prepared to get ourselves clean.

I traced the sexy vertical line bisecting Jason’s naked pecs and abs, leaning close to whisper in his ear. “Can I trust you to take advantage of me if we shower together?”

He captured my errant finger as it swirled around his navel. “Don’t start something you’re not willing to finish, Riley Joe,” he growled in my ear.

“Oh, I’m definitely willing.”

Chuckling, he smacked my ass. “Get in the shower, mudly.”

The Way Back – an unofficial blurb

Riley Evans has spent the last six years refusing to let any man get close to his heart. He’s been slowly recovering from his first “real” relationship, an intense three-month affair with his college best friend Eric. Now Riley is embarking on a new relationship with his old friend Jason.

Just when Riley is getting comfortable thinking of Jason as his boyfriend, everything blows up in his face. He and Jason are about to spend their first romantic weekend away when Eric calls, saying he wants Riley back. Although it’s the phone call Riley has dreamed about for six years, his first thoughts turn to Jason. Is Eric calling just to disrupt Riley’s new relationship with Jason or does he really want Riley back?

Contract Talks and a Question

Hello, everyone. I’m so glad you’ve made it to my little corner of the world. As I mentioned on Facebook last night, I signed a contract with Dreamspinner Press to bring you my very first novel, The Way Back. I can’t begin to express how relieved and excited I am that you’ll finally, eventually, have a chance to meet Riley and the gang. The expected release date is far off in the future, approximately May or June, 2012. So here’s a question: Would you like to read a wee excerpt or see a music video that kind of gets right to the root of the story? Let me know in the comments.

Again, my heart-felt thanks to you for coming by. Before you leave, please check out my free read, In the Crease, which you will find below.

Blow by Blow with Carter Quinn and Ethan Stone

Carter is once again going head to head with Ethan Stone over at this blog. Today’s topic is all about getting the goodies first. Head on over to http://ethanjstone.com/blog to weigh in.

Check out Carter on Ethan Stone’s Blog

You can check out Carter on Ethan Stone’s blog today in a new feature called Blow by Blow.  See Ethan and Carter go head to head at http://ethanjstone.com/blog