Carter Quinn's Blog, page 5

Say What Now?

You may or may not have heard that I released my latest book (and first novella), Vanished, on September 17. I say you may not have heard about it because I’ve basically done zero promotion for it aside from mentioning it on Twitter and Facebook and my website. It’s an absolute failure of marketing, something that would undoubtedly cause the more seasoned professionals to shake their heads and cross me off their list of semi-intelligent creatures.

Frankly, I wouldn’t blame them. But what I know that they don’t is that Vanished breaks the Cardinal Rule of Romance. I’ll sort of spoil it for you here. The three letters most appropriate for describing the ending are not HEA or HFN. They’re WTH.

So you see my dilemma. How do I market a book that I think has some very romantic moments but doesn’t have the required ending? To which review sites do I submit? I’ve labeled it gay fiction and suspense. I would prefer to call Vanished a romantic suspense novella, but adding that word “romantic” sends tremors of fear down my spine. I can hear the ranting and raving from here. I don’t want to deceive people. That’s just stupid.

I’ve never wanted to conform to expectations. I don’t want to be pigeon-holed. I want to be free to write the story my characters tell me. Hopefully I’ll do it well enough that you’ll follow me into the next adventure, regardless of what it might be.

With Vanished I wanted to do something completely different. I had two main goals to accomplish with this one: write something for my dad to read (i.e., not Riley), and explore what happens when you wake up one morning and your husband isn’t there anymore. I failed at the first, but I hope I succeeded in the second.

So, what do you say? Are you willing to take a chance? Will you go on this adventure with me? Or do you require an HEA/HFN every time? Let me know in the comments.

Say What Now?

You may or may not have heard that I released my latest book (and first novella), Vanished, on September 17. I say you may not have heard about it because I’ve basically done zero promotion for it aside from mentioning it on Twitter and Facebook and my website. It’s an absolute failure of marketing, something that would undoubtedly cause the more seasoned professionals to shake their heads and cross me off their list of semi-intelligent creatures. Frankly, I wouldn’t blame them. But what I know that they don’t is that Vanished breaks the Cardinal Rule of Romance. I’ll sort of spoil it for you here. The three letters most appropriate for describing the ending are not HEA or HFN. They’re WTH.
So you see my dilemma. How do I market a book that I think has some very romantic moments but doesn’t have the required ending? To which review sites do I submit? I’ve labeled it gay fiction and suspense. I would prefer to call Vanished a romantic suspense novella, but adding that word “romantic” sends tremors of fear down my spine. I can hear the ranting and raving from here. I don’t want to deceive people. That’s just stupid. 
I’ve never wanted to conform to expectations. I don’t want to be pigeon-holed. I want to be free to write the story my characters tell me. Hopefully I’ll do it well enough that you’ll follow me into the next adventure, regardless of what it might be.
With Vanished I wanted to do something completely different. I had two main goals to accomplish with this one: write something for my dad to read (i.e., not Riley), and explore what happens when you wake up one morning and your husband isn’t there anymore. I failed at the first, but I hope I succeeded in the second.
So, what do you say? Are you willing to take a chance? Will you go on this adventure with me? Or do you require an HEA/HFN every time? Let me know in the comments. 
If you're ready and willing to take a chance, click the Books button at the top of the page for buy links.

Now Available: Vanished

Ladies and gentlemen, Vanished is now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo. Please take time to read the dedication and Author's Note. They're at least as important as the book (to me, anyway). Also, remember it's not a romance. :)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MRK2PTU
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/vanis...
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/eboo...

Dirty Dozen Blog Tour

Have you heard about us, the Dirty Dozen? No, we're not 12 crazy idiots running around with guns doing...well, whatever that movie was about. We are twelve writers who will be attending Gay Rom Lit 2014 in Chicago as Supporting Authors (and the crowd goes wild!). So, we've decided to band together and do a little bit of promotion, that way you'll all know who we are when the retreat starts.


We're going to kick things off today with yours truly guesting on the blog of the wonderful Max Vos. You'll find that post here. Then we'll meander around the interwebs before returning back here to CQB on September 28, when I'll be hosting the talented Tempeste O'Riley. There will be gifts and prizes to be had along the way, so make sure you follow along with every stop.

I'm excited and honored to get to play with these folks. Can't wait to meet them all in October!

For those of you wondering, here is the schedule of events:

Sept 01 ~ Max Vos hosts Carter Quinn
Sept 04 ~ Diana Copland hosts TM Smith
Sept 07 ~ JC Wallace hosts Max Vos
Sept 10 ~ Jeff Adams hosts Diana Copland
Sept 12 ~ LE Franks hosts JC Wallace
Sept 15 ~ Ethan Stone hosts Jeff Adams
Sept 18 ~ Wade Kelly hosts LE Franks
Sept 21 ~ Morticia Knight hosts Ethan Stone
Sept 23 ~ Tempeste O'Riley hosts Wade Kelly
Sept 25 ~ Rafe Haze hosts Morticia Knight
Sept 28 ~ Carter Quinn hosts Tempeste O’Riley
Sept 30 ~ TM Smith closes things out with Rafe Haze
(I am too lazy to track down links, so you're on your own there. That's why Al Gore invented the Google machine. Just kidding, jeez. No, seriously, you're on your own for the links.)


[Late Breaking News: Due to some unexpected complications stemming from my Dad's death on July 30, I will not be able to attend GRL this year after all. My apologies to the rest of the group and to my friends and readers.]

Coming Soon... Vanished

I'm excited to announce the impending release of my new novella Vanished. It's a departure for me, but one I hope you're willing to take with me. Vanished is more suspense than romance, although Henry clearly loves Tom. I can't wait for you to read it.
Henry Cooley has good friends and a good life. He’s secure in his job and his relationship. He and the love of his life, Tom, are about to celebrate their twenty-first anniversary as a couple. Their son, CJ, is in his second year at Cal Arts. Henry's only problems are his growing dissatisfaction with his job and the fact that Tom's parents still hate him, even after all these years. At least those are his only problems until the morning he wakes up to discover Tom has vanished.
Coming to an ebook store near you on September 17. Pre-orders are now available at Amazon (here) for a special (pre-release) price of $2.99 in the US.

Hello Again

Those of you who have been with me for a while may have noticed that we've basically reset the site. I was hosting it with a company that shall remain nameless. After numerous problems keeping the site accessible, my tech guru and I agreed to migrate it to Blogger. For my purposes, this works just as well. When we did that, I decided not to mess with trying to migrate every post because that sounded like a lot of work and I am no help. Unless it involves diagramming a sentence or selling an appliance, I'm pretty much useless.

So welcome to the new Carter Quinn Books. I won't promise that I'll always update it frequently, but I will try to do some things with it. In fact, coming in September, we'll be part of a blog tour of GRL2014 Supporting Authors. And before that, I'll probably be talking a bit about my upcoming release, Vanished.

If you have suggestions for the site, something you'd like to see here, please let me know in the comments.

Welcome to Carter Quinn Books

About Carter Quinn:Carter Quinn was born and raised in a very small Western Kansas town where cattle vastly outnumber humans. After stints living in places as different as Omaha, Nebraska, and Ft Lauderdale, Florida, he settled in Lawrence, Kansas, and attended the University of Kansas (Rock Chalk!). Although he still bleeds Crimson and Blue, Carter now lives in Colorado where he can be closer to his beloved Colorado Avalanche.
Books: Amazon KindleAmazon PaperbackAll Romance EbooksBarnes & Noble
Amazon KindleAmazon PaperbackAll Romance EbooksBarnes & Noble


Short Stories (Click to Download):      
Thanks for visiting!

Avery's Orange Fluff Recipe

Orange Fluff1 – 3oz pkg. Jell-O Orange Gelatin1 – 3oz pkg. Jell-O Vanilla Pudding or Lemon Instant Pudding1 – 3oz pkg. Jell-O Tapioca Pudding2 c. hot water1 small container Cool Whip1 can Mandarin oranges, drainedCombine pudding and gelatin with hot water in large sauce pan. Cook until tapioca is clear and thickened, stirring constantly. Let cool completely; fold in cool whip and drained mandarin oranges. Chill until set.And there you go, Avery’s very special treat made just for Noah. I usually use the Vanilla pudding, but if you want a little bit more tang, the Lemon would be great.If you make it, let me know how it turns out.And just because there should be some man candy in this post, here is my vision for Noah. Wet Noah! (Billy Kiraly by David Vance)
Billy Kiraly by Andy Armano

The Way Back 2nd Edition

To borrow from Cher, “Ladies and gentlemen and flamboyant gentlemen,” the second edition of The Way Back is now available at Amazon, All-Romance ebooks, Barnes & Noble, and CreateSpace for paperbacks. The Amazon listing for the paperbacks should be live in a few days. I signed up for the Matchlight program for this book just like I did for Out of the Blackness, so if you purchase the paperback at Amazon, you can get the ebook for $1.99.

The rejected cover. Elements may not bleed off the page.

The ebook is priced at $3.99 standalone, and the paperback is $10.49. I tried to make them as affordable as possible for now since you may have already purchased the original version. I have a story planned for Eric, which you’ll get a tiny glimpse of in the bonus short. Once The Way Home, Eric’s book, comes out, the prices of The Way Back will revert to traditional novel pricing across the board.

This second edition contains approximately 10,700 new words. The short story bonus at the end is a little over 6000, which means another 4000 in the original story. I changed a few things around to make it easier to follow, added some clarification and nuance to Riley’s thoughts, and expanded a couple of scenes, but there are no new scenes in the original story. And don’t blame the last scene of the bonus short on me, that was all Jason’s doing!

I am ridiculously happy with how the new paperback looks on the digital proofer, so I hope it comes across as awesome in actual print. I spent a lot of time on it (too much time, truth be told). Also, we went through nine variations of the cover trying to get CreateSpace to accept one. Sadly, I couldn’t cajole them into accepting our first version because of the bleed. The above image is what that would have looked like.

The accepted version. All in focus. Ahhh.

Instead, we ended up following their rules. (Those of you who know me will understand how infuriating that was!) When it’s all said and done, though, I think this might be a stronger cover even if it is lacking the excitement of the first version.

That’s all for now. Be sure to let me know what you think about the new edition, and if you’re so moved, reviews and ratings at Amazon and GoodReads are always appreciated.

Fa-la-la-la-whatever

Welcome to the sixth stop on the Out in Colorado group’s Christmas in Colorado blog hop! In case you missed yesterday’s stop, we were in the wonderful world of Cari Z and tomorrow we’ll be with the amazing Marie Sexton. Remember to keep following the hop because we’ll have prizes along the way and a big one at the end.

I’ve been trying to figure out just what to say in this post and I’ve mostly come up with nothing.  So I’ve decided it’s time for a confession. Are you ready?

I’m not really a Christmas person. I don’t think I’ve never really been a Christmas person. I wish I could find the pictured of bored little 4-or-5-year-old Carter, dressed in striped shirt and plaid pants (it was the 70s and I was little, gimme a break!), sitting on my white Tigger bean bag, elbow on knee, chin on palm, staring without enthusiasm at my brand new electric train. The Christmas tree is light brightly in the background, but the expression on my face indicates I couldn’t have possibly cared less. Also, the posture combined with the expression on my face should have screamed to my parents that their child would some day come bursting out of the closet, but I digress.

I’ve seen an occasional photo of me from my childhood Christmases that might indicate some pleasure derived from ripping apart wrapping paper in a fiendish hurry, but whatever was inside those boxes never seemed to stick with me. I remember getting a radio-controlled Batmobile (the Adam West version) at some point, but you know that thing didn’t work outside in the dirt, so what good was it?

The Batmobile – My controller was different.

Now don’t get me wrong. I think Christmas trees can be very beautiful, so long as I don’t have to decorate or undecorate them (short attention span). And I appreciate houses that have been decorated–with taste and within reason. The ones you always see on the news, all decked out in thousands upon thousands of lights, they just make me wonder about a) the electric bill and b) how pissed off the neighbors get when the lights are still on at 1 a.m. And I’ve received Christmas gifts for which I’ve been exceedingly grateful and enjoyed very much (a paperback of Imajica by Clive Barker from a now-deceased friend, for example). And I’ve given gifts that I hope have brought enjoyment and delight to their receivers. The favorite one I’ve been given? Well, it almost pissed me off at the time, but then I had to laugh. My dad bought me a toolbox and tools for my car. He actually said, “Now I know you don’t know how to use any of these, but at least now I know that if you break down on the side of the road JJ (Jennifer Jo, my best friend and roommate at the time) will have something to work with.” Thanks, Pops, for that testosterone booster! Honestly? He was mostly right. I know how to use hand tools, I just don’t know what to do with them under the hood of a car. Use them as drumsticks???

My family wavered wildly between nonpracticing and fervently religious and I’ve grown out of the need for that, so the “reason for the season” doesn’t mean much to me. Besides, would that little kid literally born in a barn really be impressed that you beat the hell out of someone else to get to that last $29 television or that you spent $600 you couldn’t afford on some video game console you don’t even understand? I kinda doubt it (unless he was raised in the 1990s, then all bets are off).

Nah. To me, Christmas has always been about spending time with the family. My family prefers to do this at Thanksgiving (I think it’s because gifts aren’t required, but I could be wrong). I have more than my share of warm and fuzzy memories of holidays together with The Fam. My sisters (all four of them) loved to play Spoons. Not on their knees, we’re not hillbillies. It’s a card game in which there is one less spoon than the number of people playing. The first person to hit the magic whatever it is (I’m nine years younger, I never got to actually play) tries to sneak a spoon out of the arrangement in the middle. The first person to notice dives to grab his/hers and calamity and hilarity ensue. About the time they put a hole in the dining room wall of my sister’s brand new house, they decided to cool it and we moved on to less physical card games.

Country music videos are almost always playing on the television (until the football game comes on and signals naptime for the older men while the young ones go hunting [neither are for me]). And don’t get me started on the food. Lord have mercy, Lemonade Cake, cherry pies and apple pies and pumpkin pies, miniature cherry cheese cakes if I’m really lucky, Orange Fluff, turkey and ham, more casseroles than you can shake a stick at, etc., etc. And if we’re really having a good time, my …hmm, how to put this delicately… first-born sister will serve up Vodka Slushes and the five of us (and the pain in the ass aunt, if we couldn’t ditch her) will sit around the kitchen table laughing our quickly-inebriated asses off.

Come to think of it, maybe I am a Christmas person after all. I think I’ll go call and see if I can make it back this year.

In the comments below, tell me about your family’s traditions or your favorite/worst gift. I’ll draw a winner at random for a $15 Amazon gift card.

Happy holidays, everyone. And remember to tune in tomorrow at Marie’s place (link above).