Carter Quinn's Blog, page 3

Dirty Dozen GRL Blog Hop 2015

You may remember I took part in the Dirty Dozen blog hop last year, even though I wasn't able to make it to GRL. Well, this year we're doing it again--and I will definitely be there! The excitement starts tomorrow. See the full schedule after the cut.



12 authors answer 12 questions. Plus one of you will walk away with one book from each of us! That's right. One lucky commenter will win 12 books! We're all awesome enough you should be following along anyway, but that's another great incentive! :)

September 24th | A.E. VIA is hosting Wade Kelly
September 25th | Aisling Mancy is hosting Tempe O'Riley
September 28th | Alexa Land is hosting T.M. Smith
September 29th | Carter Quinn is hosting Nicole Dennis
September 30th | Jeff Adams is hosting Nic Starr
October 1st | LE Franks is hosting Morticia Knight
October 2nd | Morticia Knight is hosting LE Franks
October 5th | Nic Starr is hosting Jeff Adams
October 6th | Nicole Dennis is hosting Carter Quinn
October 7th | TM Smith is hosting Alexa Land
October 8th | Tempeste O'Riley is hosting Aisling Mancy
October 9th | Wade Kelly is hosting AE Via

Be ready to hop over to AE Via's blog tomorrow to check out the first post!

GRL: Paperbacks

If you're coming to GRL, please know that I will have very limited quantities of paperbacks with me to sell/sign. I wasn't clever enough to figure out how to do a pre-order thing here, so yeah. My fault. I apologize. I will be super thrilled to sign any books you bring with you though!

Vanished 2: The Cover Reveal

Good morning! I hope you're as excited to see this as I am to show it to you. Scott, my cover artist, took my idea and created something that is so menacing and lonely and haunting. It's one of my favorites and it completely captures the tone of the book.


But before I reveal the cover, you want to know what the book is about, right? The blurb (with many thanks to Marie Sexton for helping me fix it):



It's only been three weeks since Henry suffered a psychotic break that made him forget his husband Tom’s death. He's still struggling to come to terms with his new reality when he receives a haunting phone call: “Henry. Help me.” It’s Tom's voice, but Henry is afraid to believe. His world has already come crashing down around him twice in the last six months. Is Tom really alive, or is Henry losing his grip on reality again?
Release date is September 26. I'll get pre-orders situated in the next day or two. Without further ado....ladies and gentlemen, Vanished 2:

Vanished, KU, and Vanished 2

Hey, guys. This is just a reminder that if you're a Kindle Unlimited subscriber and you've been debating about reading Vanished, you need to hurry. I'm removing it from the Kindle Select program effective August 25.

Here's a link: Vanished at Amazon US





Oh! And in other news, the sequel will be out next month. Hm. What should I do about a cover reveal? You don't really want to see it early, do you?

Memorial Day 2015

Today has been Memorial Day in the US, a day dedicated to remembering the fallen and past members of our military. It's the first Memorial Day in memory that I haven't had to work, feeding the consumerism that ruins all of our national holidays. Somewhat fittingly, it's also the first Memorial Day I honor my father's memory.


My dad's two tours of duty in Vietnam and the rest of his four years in the Army formed his personality in ways I've been learning to adapt to and overcome since I was a child. "Don't touch your dad when you wake him up," was one of my first lessons. He always woke ready to take down an enemy if he was touched. I saw it once when my cousin didn't know any better. It was as impressive as it was frightening.

Sometimes he had nightmares. Sometimes he had stories or jokes. But he always had two other things: an everlasting pride in his volunteer service, and a deep wound that remained unhealed even forty-five years after he returned home. You see, my dad and men like him returned home not to a public who him as a war veteran who had been required to see and do horrific things in order to survive and to protect the American Way of Life. No, they returned to a public that was a mix of ungrateful punks who either saw the veterans as a bunch of thugs and baby killers or were too cowed and embarrassed to speak against those who harassed, harangued, and spit upon our fighting men.

It took 30 years for someone to spontaneously thank my father for his service. Thirty years. Every time I think of that I feel shame for all the people who had crossed his path in that time who had been too uncomfortable with the subject to offer their thanks, to put a little bit of respect back in my dad's hands. I remember how moved and astonished he was when he told me the story later that day. It's something I've consciously tried not to let happen to any veteran I've run across since. I make it a point to thank them for their service, for keeping this the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

It's late now and it's no longer Memorial Day in some parts of the country. But it still is here, so let me just say this one thing and I'll close. While you were out at the lake with buddies or partying at home with friends today, cooking up steaks and brats, and enjoying your favorite beer or liquor, I hope you gave a thought to the men and women who have fought and died for this country, the men and women whose sacrifices allowed you a weekend free from worry or oppression. I hope you spared them a thought, and I hope you sent up a silent or spoken thank you. I know I did.

Thank you for your service, Dad. I love you and miss you. Until we meet again, I hope you know how very proud of you I am.

To all the men and women who have fought and died for this gorgeous country I call home, thank you. Know that your sacrifices were not in vain. 

Into the Light - Excerpt

I shivered violently as I stepped back into the kitchen. The mercury had dropped at least ten degrees after the sun went down. I shrugged off my coat and slung it over a chair. I’d need it again in a few minutes to bring the lamb chops in from the grill, but first I needed to finish setting the table. The dishes and silverware were already in place, but I’d stashed the roses and candles in my brother Luke’s old room so Aves wouldn’t see them.
I arranged them carefully, placing the best looking long-stemmed rose in pride of place across Avery’s plate. I felt almost silly doing that. I should greet him at the door with it, but I wanted him to be surprised. I’d given him a rose when he answered the door last year. This time he’d be coming home to me—to our home—after work. It felt different, so I was embracing it.
Valentine’s Day hadn’t ever been a thing for me before Avery. I’d gone through the motions of the event if I was dating someone at that time of year, but I’d never felt anything special about the day one way or another. I’d mostly agreed with the naysayers who believed it was an artificial holiday created by chocolatiers and card makers. Except now it meant something because Valentine’s Day two years ago was the first time I’d kissed Avery. I could still see the shocked and overwhelmed expression in his eyes. I hadn’t known it at the time, but it was his first kiss. That alone made it special in a way it might not have been otherwise. 
Last year we’d spent the first anniversary of Avery’s first kiss—a much better name than Valentine’s Day—at the same steakhouse with Sam and Kira. It had been fun to recreate the moment, especially considering how far Aves had come in that time.
I wanted to do something different this time. Something quiet and private. Something to celebrate the fact that we had gone from a first kiss to a commitment to living together. The problem was, I wasn’t a cook. I hadn’t pretended when I’d told Avery that in the beginning. I could bake the heck out of my grandmother’s cookies and grill the hell out of a steak, a burger, or some brats, but anything that had to do with a stovetop was not my friend. When I’d told Avery I had Valentine’s Day dinner covered, it had been sixty-five degrees outside. Now there were eight inches of snow on the ground. Proof positive I was an idiot for trusting the February weather. 
I wouldn’t let the snow or the booked-solid restaurants deter me though. I wasn’t going to lose my superhero cape to some transient fluffy rain and a misplaced trust in fickle weather patterns. My man deserved a special second anniversary of his first kiss and that was exactly what he was going to get, even if it meant shoveling eight inches of snow from the back patio to get to the grill.
The silly thing was that Avery wouldn’t care if I brought home kid’s meals from the local fast food joint. The food didn’t mean a thing to either of us. The important thing was that we were together and in love. We were still in that sappy-in-love stage of our relationship where we revered every first we could remember. Our first kiss. The first time I told him I loved him. The first time he said it back. The first time he spent the night. The first time we made love. The first time I spent the night in his apartment. Our first Christmas alone together. The first time we made love in our own home—that was just days ago, but damn it had been fun. And now we were marking another milestone. It didn’t have to be perfect, but I was definitely using the opportunity to show him again how much I loved him.
I poured the salad from the bag into a bowl, tossed it with a little bit of dressing, and carried it to the table. I was reaching for my coat to retrieve the lamb chops and baked potatoes from the grill when I heard Avery open the front door. I left the coat and raced to greet him. My heartbeat stuttered at the light that came into his eyes when he saw me. I’d do everything in my power to make sure he felt that way the rest of his life.
I helped him unwind the scarf from around the lower half of his face. Before he could utter a word, I pressed a lingering kiss to his cold lips. “I missed you today,” I confessed, dragging down the zipper of his coat.
His laugh warmed me. “You just saw me five hours ago.”
I tried for a wounded expression. “It was a long five hours.” Avery rolled his eyes as I slid the heavy coat down his arms. I hung it in the closet and turned back in time for him to pull me down for a longer, much better kiss than the one I’d just given him.
His arms wrapped around my neck as his tongue dueled with mine, exploring, tasting, claiming. The man was a quick study. Once he’d decided we could be friends who kissed, he’d taken to kissing like he meant it. I would never get tired of kissing him.
I cupped his cute butt and lifted, hoisting him until our groins rubbed against each other. Avery wrapped his legs around my waist, securing his position, as he continued the kiss. He thrust his hips against me and I moved forward until he was pressed against the wall. Two could play at that game. I broke the kiss to nibble on his jawline and neck. He leaned his head away to give me better access. Aves had a sweet spot behind his earlobe that revved his engine every time I licked it. Tonight was no exception. As my tongue made contact with his skin, he bucked his hips into mine again. He exhaled my name in a lustful whisper. He twined fingers in my hair and yanked my head back. Our lips crashed together as his tongue licked into my mouth. This time it was my hips that thrust into his. 
I moved us around the wall into the living room to continue this on a soft horizontal surface. Soft wasn’t even a requirement, just horizontal. I dumped us both onto the couch, groins aligned perfectly. Avery laughed into my mouth and swatted my shoulder, breaking the kiss.
“Why do you have the timer on?”
I bit lightly on his neck, licking away the sting as his words made it through the fog of need in my brain. That was sort of strange sex talk, but if he wanted to see how fast and hard we could go, I was game.
Then I heard it. The timer I’d set on the microwave, reminding me to retrieve our dinner from the grill. I groaned in defeat, slumping to allow my full weight to press against my sexy boyfriend. I pressed my forehead against his and pecked his lips. “Dinner will be served in two minutes. Gotta get the chops and potatoes off the grill.” I sighed heavily, feeling my erection retreat in acknowledgment that he’d have to wait until later for fun and games.
Aves chuckled and kissed me chastely. “Poor baby. We’ll get to the good stuff later.”
I smiled at him, meaning every word. “It’s all good stuff with you, little one.”
He smacked my ass. Hard. “You’re such a romantic, big one.”
I laughed and moved off of him, pulling him up with me. “Sorry. I keep forgetting.” 
“I think you just like me calling you big one.”
I grinned. “It is kind of an ego boost.”
He rolled his eyes. “Like you need that.”

Pre-Sequel Release Sale

To celebrate the release of Into the Light on May 26, today until then you can get Out of the Blackness (regular price $6.99) on sale for $3.99 (or your local equivalent) at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and All Romance eBook. Use coupon code CH26T to get that price at Smashwords.

Remember, Into the Light is available for pre-order at Amazon, Kobo, and ARe.

I can't wait for you all to see how far Avery has come since we last checked in on him. I hope you're as happy for him as he and I are.



Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/Carter-Quinn/e/B008JGF9NU/Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Carter-Quinn/e/B008JGF9NU/Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/cqbcarterKobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/search?Query=carter+quinnB&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/carter-quinnARe: http://tinyurl.com/lbyzbcs

We Have Art!

I've been debating doing a whole blog tour and cover reveal and yadda yadda. Honestly, though, I'm not in the mood for all that falderal. The longer I hide the cover, the longer it is until release date. And, frankly, I want to get the book in your hot little hands. I want you to know what happens with Avery and company.

I shared the blurb in the previous post, so I'm not going to do that again. Click the "see more" button to see the gorgeous new cover.



Special thanks to the amazing JK Hogan for creating this.

I hope you're as excited about the next step in Avery's journey as I am.

Amazon US pre-order link. Amazon UK pre-order link.
Release date is May 26!

Coming soon... Into the Light (Avery 2)

Avery spent years in the Blackness, fighting memories of abuse and feelings of self-loathing. His only sanctuary used to be his brother Sam, but after two years of intensive therapy and a long-term relationship with Noah, his world is a much brighter place. Things have changed in the year and a half since Avery and Noah confessed their love for each other. Noah’s mother and brother have moved East. Sam and Kira are married. And Avery and Noah are moving in together at long last. Family dynamics strain in uncomfortable new ways, especially when Avery’s past reappears.
What will this mean for Avery’s recovery? Will he surrender to the Blackness or is he strong enough to continue his journey Into the Light?_____________
Into the Light should be available for preorders next week. I'll let you know. Also, be on the lookout for a cover reveal. I think it's fabulous.

LGBT Push Back Giveaway

Hey, guys. You may remember the policy disaster in Indiana a few weeks ago when their bigot governor signed into law a "Religious Freedom" act that basically allowed businesses to refuse their services to anyone in the LGBT community simply because that prospective patron is (or is perceived to be) LGBT.

If that wasn't bad enough, there was the fundraiser for the cranks who own something called Memories Pizza. Those people said they'd refuse to cater a same-sex wedding if someone asked them to. I know. It's a ridiculous assumption. What self-respecting member of the Community would have their wedding catered by a pizza place? So it's purely academic, except to the hate-filled religio-thugs. And that brings me to my point. There's an expression, "A fool and his money are soon parted." Some LGBT-hating individual set up a fund-raising page to "assist" this family in their time of hatred. They managed to net $842,000 from fellow bigots in just a few days.


I invite you to check out the post, the rules, and the giveaway at DiverseReader for details.

Let's get busy raising money and giving stuff away! Push Back!

Meet the participants: