N.R. Walker's Blog, page 21

Good Morning Monday ~ Cover reveal for Taxes and TARDIS re-release!!

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Good Morning Monday!! God, these Mondays just keep coming at me, fast. It also didn’t help that last week I scheduled the post to go out on Sunday and not Monday LOL People who know me shouldn’t be surprised…

Good Morning Monday! Finders Keepers is OUT NOW and a giveaway!

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What an exciting release day it was for Finders Keepers!!  I’m so thrilled that everyone seems to have enjoyed Dane and Griffin’s story, and Wicket too, of course.

Good Morning Monday ~ Finders Keepers, and other exciting news!

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Well, Finders Keepers is almost here! ARCs have gone out and the first reports back to me is that it is incredibly sweet and lovely! So, yay!! And thank God! LOL

Waiting for that first feedback, to say what they think, is terrifying! But I can breathe a little easier now knowing that people have enjoyed it

So, who wants an excerpt??

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Griffin

I got all moved into my new place and had everything unpacked on day one. I’d met my downstairs landlady for the first time as the two bulky removalists were lugging my bed up the stairs. I was at the bottom of the stairs watching them, not entirely ogling, when a tiny, five-foot-tall woman stood beside me.

She didn’t say anything for a while, just stared at the men straining to get the wooden bedhead up the flight of stairs. Still without looking at me, she hummed. “Nice arse.”

I almost choked on my sip of water. “Uh…”

“Don’t tell me you weren’t looking. I might be a little hard of hearing, but I ain’t blind.”

Right then.

I held out my hand. “Name’s Griffin Burke.”

She shook my hand, and her hard, firm grip surprised me. She looked kind of frail at first, but then I noticed her tattoos. Her entire right arm was now a mottled, wrinkled mass of blue and coloured ink on sun-leathered skin. Given she looked to be in her seventies, she must have had a full sleeve done forty or fifty years ago.

Jesus.

“Bernice Warren.”

She was wearing a sleeveless tank top and a flowing skirt. Upon closer inspection, she looked like a hippy that peace, love, and time forgot. Her face had seen too much sun as well, wrinkled and leathered, though I imagined she would have once been stunningly beautiful. Her blue eyes still had spark, her long once-blonde hair now ash grey.

“Come with me,” she said, turning on her heel and walking toward the roller door. When she turned, I noticed her left arm. Old, mottled blue tattoos went to her elbow, as well as two scars that looked like lightning strikes. They looked surgical and my first thought was shoulder reconstruction, but then I noticed one scar ran underneath her shirt and up her neck. She turned the latch on the roller door, and using her right arm only, lifted the door to review a storage space. Inside was a lawnmower, wheelbarrow, and some gardening tools.

Ah, right. I was the resident mower of lawns.

“I’d do it myself,” she said. “But the old arm doesn’t work like it used to.” She lifted her left arm rigidly. It didn’t hang useless but there was definitely restricted movement.

“It’s fine,” I said. “I don’t mind mowing lawns at all. My weekends will be Monday and Tuesday though, not Saturday and Sunday. If that’s okay?”

“It’s fine. Don’t much care what day you do ’em.” She nodded to herself. “Last tenant was a nice girl. Started out with good intentions, and she was gonna do all sorts of things to help me out, but that didn’t last long.” Bernice looked up at me and stared for a good long minute. “You’re not the churchgoing type, are you?”

“Uh…”

“I don’t mind if you are, I just don’t wanna offer you one of my special brownies and for you to totally hash out on me and start mumbling biblical shit at me every time you see me.”

I fought a smile and lost, and I tried not to laugh but couldn’t help that either. “Not biblical. Not in that sense, anyway. Unless you consider my earlier staring at that guy’s arse a religion. As for the special brownies, I haven’t had any for a while. Not since college.”

Bernice grinned and nodded slowly. “So you know what I mean when I say special brownie. Not like the last poor girl who thought it was my grandma’s special recipe or some shit.” She shook her head slowly. “Dunno what she was thinking. Do I look like Betty Fucking Crocker to you?”

My God, I love Bernice!

Finders Keepers will be live on February 2nd, if the Amazon gods are willing.

In other news, I’ve signed contracts for the translations of Cronin’s Key series, Red Dirt Heart series, and Sixty Five Hours into Thai. That’s EIGHT books!! I’m super excited about seeing my books in the Asian market.

When I started this writing thing, I never imagined it would go this far. It’s truly incredible, and I have moments when I’m humbled and honoured and wonder how on earth I ever got so lucky.

And I owe it all to my readers.

I’ve started a new WIP and it’s working title is “Galaxies and Oceans” which will probably change. My working titles usually do. LOL  I’m only 7K words into it but I think these boys might be something special… And I’ve only said that once or twice before. *sigh* Their names are Aubrey Hobbs and Patrick Carney.  Patrick’s 15 years older than Aubrey and both have a tonne of baggage and emotional scars. I just hope hope hope I can do them justice.

A little pic to whet your appetite…

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I’ll have some new covers to show off soon!!  The incredible Reese Dante is working on three for me at the moment: the re-release of Three’s Company and Taxes and TARDIS, and the cover for Evolved.

I do have the cover of Galaxies and Oceans (title pending) but will wait until I have the title confirmed before I show it. It was a pre-made cover from Harper Design (the fabulous artist who made my Imago and Imagines covers) and I’m hoping for a late June / early July release date.

That’s it for now. As always, until next week…

Good Morning Monday!

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The new week brings with it new beginnings! I’ve finished the first round of edits on Finders Keepers, and the first round of revisions on the first draft of Evolved, and I’ve been researching a few things for a story I want to start next week.

Also, this week I found out I won a stack of awards at the Goodreads M/M Group Members’ Choice Awards!

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BEST FAMILY DRAMA SECOND PLACE SWITCHED

BEST WHITE COLLAR THIRD PLACE SWITCHED

BEST FREE STORY FIRST PLACE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS 

BEST CONTEMPORARY/MAINSTREAM THIRD PLACE IMAGO 

BEST KINK/FETISH FIRST PLACE YANNI’S STORY

BEST FRIENDS TO LOVERS FIRST PLACE SWITCHED

BEST COVER ART SECOND PLACE IMAGINES, COVER BY HARBER BY DESIGN

ALL-TIME FAVORITE M/M AUTHOR THIRD PLACE

Don’t forget, Finders Keepers is coming soon! February 2nd to be exact.  ARCs should be going out real soon, and I can NOT wait to share Dane and Griffin’s story with you all! Aussie summer sun, ocean breezes, and new romance loving is just what everyone needs right now, right?

Good Morning Monday ~ 2018 has started with a bang!

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Yes, 2018 has hit the ground running, that’s for sure! This week alone:

I wrote 12K to finish the first draft of Evolved – release will be April
I received edits on Finders Keepers – release 2nd Feb
I edited Sense of Place and formatted for ebook and paperback (re-release is Jan 17th)
Release of the Italian translation of Spencer Cohen Book Three
Beta-read 75K story for a friend
Had The Weight of It All win Audio of the Year at Open Skye Reviews!
Had Imago win 2nd place as Book of the Year at Open Skye Reviews
And The Weight of It All was featured on AudioFile, where Joel won an Earphones Award for the incredible narration, and for a LGBT book – this is kind of HUGE!
Went through a tonne of admin stuff, including meetings with my accountant, organising blitz tours, ARC tours, and super exciting secret squirrel stuff.

I’m sure there is something else I’m forgetting… But as you can see, it’s been quite a week.

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My time at My Fiction Nook as Author of the Month continues!  You can read my latest post HERE and you can enter the draw to win an ebook!

Yes, my current WIP is called Evolved, and should be out in April. It’s 60K long (unedited) and I will be spending this week going through it, fixing/tweaking/adding/deleting before sending it off to beta readers. I’ve kept details of this one close to my chest as it’s quite different, and I’ll wait until I hear back from my betas to see what they think.

I did buy a pre-made cover for this about six months ago, but it’s really not right for the story, so I have asked Reese Dante to conjure up some magic for me

Good Morning Monday! Update and news

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Like every January, I make a new Good Morning Monday banner pic for the year, and for 2018 I thought some rainbows were in order. Also, can you believe this is the third year I’ve been doing GMM posts!

So, to start with I have a cover and blurb for Finders Keepers!

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Blurb:

Needing a change of scene, Griffin Burke moves from Brisbane to Coolum Beach to start a new job. The beautiful white sand, aqua-coloured ocean, blue skies, and summer breezes are everything he longs for. What he finds is a mud-covered dog, lost and hungry, with a nametag and a phone number.

Dane Hughes is stuck in Surfers Paradise at a week-long work conference when he gets a phone call from his distraught mother. His dog, his fur baby, Wicket, has run away. Unable to leave and feeling helpless and miserable, he gets a text from a guy. “I think I found your dog…”

Griffin and Dane start talking, and Griffin agrees to look after Wicket until Dane can collect him. With a few days left before his new job starts, Griffin takes Wicket on some coastal adventures and sends Dane photos of their fun, and so the start of something new and kind of wonderful begins.

Griffin might have moved to Coolum in search of a new life, but what he finds is so much more. What he gets to keep just might take some four-legged help.

Finders Keepers has a new release date of February 2nd. I can’t wait for everyone to read and enjoy some Aussie summer fun!

As I mentioned before, I am the Author of the Month at My Fiction Nook for January 2018!

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And you can read my first post at My Fiction Nook

For those wanting to know what I’m currently working on, my WIP now has a title! I usually have a title before I start writing, but the title I had just wasn’t working. So I left it hoping the right title would come, and thankfully it has.

Evolved is currently at 47K words and should be out early April.  It’s an unusual story, set in a future where androids are in every household. It’s kind of sci-fi but not really – it is hard to explain and I don’t want to say too much about it until I have it finished. But it’s awesome and I’m really loving it! I think there might be around 10K to go and I’d love to finish it this week.

And as per usual with my brain, my next characters have started to get chatty. Well, I have a location, a pre-made cover, and a general plot line. Now if the character’s could just tell me their names, that’d be great. LOL

But first I need to finish Evolved! Fingers crossed I’ll have it done for next week’s post.

Until then…

Good Morning Monday! *sings* And a Happy New Year!

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Welcome to 2018!

Before we look forward, let’s take a quick look back at the year that was 2017. It was a busy, busy year, that was for certain. To highlight the positives, there was:

Eight new releases
Four re-releases
Ten translation releases
Eight audio book releases

No wonder I was busy! LOL   I also had a trip to the US for GRL which was an absolute highlight for me. I also dealt with/am still dealing with some health issues but Australia legalised marriage equality, so I’m considering 2017 a win!

Good Morning Monday! Twas the post before Christmas…

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Actually, given that Christmas Day is next Monday and there won’t be a post, and the following Monday is New Year’s Day, this will be my last Good Morning Monday post of 2017!

Can you believe that? It’s just so utterly crazy how fast this year has gone. And, reflecting back over 2017, I can say it’s been a year of both ups and downs both personally and professionally but at the end of the day, I can say I’m blessed.

My kids are healthy, I travelled overseas to catch up with friends and book-family, marriage equality was passed in Australia, and I still still STILL have the best job in the world.

I get to do what I love every day.

My hairdresser asked me if I was taking time off over the holidays, and I laughed. Why would I want to take time off from writing? Sure, there are days when I don’t/can’t write, but that’s not by choice. If I got to choose, I’d write every single day of the rest of my life.

So let’s hope 2018 brings lots of work my way!

I have a bit of a schedule written up for how I want 2018 to go, writing/release wise, (I’m sure that’ll go out the window by mid-January LOL) but I’ll share that with you next year. I have lots planned, so BRING ON 2018!!

In case you missed it, Clarity of Lines has been re-released!  And it’s just 99c for a limited time!

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You can find it at Amazon, and it’s on KU!

And of course, A Very Henry Christmas is also out now! I was so shocked (and humbled) at how this little story was received! It went straight to #1 and is still currently #1 in short stories!

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You can find it at Amazon, and it’s also on KU.

Oh, and I’ll have some cover reveals coming your way real soon!

Until then, I’ll see you all in 2018!

Good Morning Monday! And a surprise Christmas story!

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You read that correctly! I released a surprise Christmas story!

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A VERY HENRY CHRISTMAS!

Blurb:

A 12,000 word short story about food, fluff, and fornication.

Henry wants to share his and Reed’s first Christmas Eve being engaged by hosting dinner with their closest friends. Henry loves food and he loves to cook—he plans an entire menu and decorates the house to rival a department store, but even though everything’s perfect, something’s not quite right.

As Henry and Reed prepare for a merry Christmas, no matter what happens, you know it will be a very Henry Christmas.

It’s super short (only 12K words long) in which we get to spend Christmas Eve with Henry and Reed, and their friends. It’s fun, sexy, and sweet, and I don’t want to give too much away so you’ll need to read it to find out what happens!

BUY LINKS:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Amazon DE

Amazon AU

Amazon CA

 

And also, the rights to Clarity of Lines return to me this week — on the 13th to be exact! Yay!!  I’ll be re-releasing it ASAP. It’s been re-edited and has a gorgeous new cover. There is no new added content. This is what the paperback cover looks like, and it will be available as soon as approved by Amazon.

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It always takes a day or two for Amazon to approve re-released books (they need to validate the copyright etc) but I will post links as soon as I have them.

That’s all for today! Until next week…

Good Morning Monday! OMG it’s December!

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Wow. Almost another year gone… It’s been a crrrrrraaaazy year, that’s for sure. I’ll do a recap of my 2017 as we get closer to the end of the year, but I just want to say thank you all for still being here as we wind down another year.

I’m posting this from Sydney – it’s a beautiful day here, I’m about to go spend the afternoon doing kids things but just wanted to write this before I go.

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Thank you all for the amazing release of On Davis Row.  Noah and CJ are currently at #1 in all three Gay Romance categories on Amazon (in US, UK, Germany, Australia, Canada, France, and #2 in Netherlands)    I know I’ve said this a thousand times, but I can’t do any of this without you!

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Amazon

A quick WIP update – I’ve started something new and rather different. I decided to write this because I found a premade cover that caught my eye, and now I’ve actually started to write it, I’m thinking that the cover won’t match. LOL So typical…

It will probably be around 40K, romance/erotica, and it delves into artificial intelligence, synthetic androids in a futuristic setting. I’m hoping for a March release.

So this is a super short post because my kids are trying to walk out the door.

Oh, and I’ll be doing some giveaways on Facebook throughout December, so if you don’t follow me there already, I suggest you do