Rick R. Reed's Blog, page 100

New 4.5 Star Review for TRICKS at Jessewave Reviews

Woke up to this wonderful review by guest reviewer Victor J. Banis for my romance novel, Tricks this morning. Victor says:

"...Not that this novel is without suspense, but while that element adds a bit of frisson to the reading pleasure, it is really the unlikely relationship between his two protagonists that holds the story together and propels it forward, a classic case of opposites attracting. Think Hepburn and Grant in Bringing up Baby. The beautiful Arliss, at age twenty two, is a stripper in a gay bar, Tricks. Sean, whose looks are more average, is thirty seven, and on the nerdy side. A breakup with his boyfriend, Jerome, brings heartbroken Sean into the bar one night, in time to see Arliss perform..."

Blurb:
Tricks can mean many things: sex partners, deceptions, even magic. In Rick R. Reed's searing love story, it means all three. Arliss is a gorgeous young dancer at Tricks, the hottest club in Chicago's Boystown. Sean is the classic nerd, out of place in Tricks but nursing his wounds from a recent break-up. When the two spy each other, magic blooms. But this opposites-attract tale does not run smoothly.

Read the whole review here.

Buy Tricks.

OUT ON THE NET Reviewed by Brief Encounters and Gets a B+

Brief Encounters, the new m/m short m/m romance review site, gave my coming-out story OUT ON THE NET a B+. Jenre said,

"As well as being humorous, this story was also very romantic as Ray looks for the one man with whom he can settle down. His observations on the seedier side of being gay, including his discovery of a glory hole, may have produced most of the comedy, but his relationship with the man of his dreams was one of the highlights for me and left me with the warm fuzzies at the end."

Read the whole review.

Buy OUT ON THE NET.

CRIME SCENE Nominated for a Derringer Award

I was pleased to get the following note from Jay Hartman, my publisher and head of the new e-book publishing company, Untreed Reads, that is making quite a name for itself in the industry, publishing more than 100 titles in its very first year:

"I just wanted you to know that I chose Crime Scene as our submission for the 2011 Derringer Awards, a prize honoring excellence in short mystery and crime. Although I think very highly of everything we publish, I truly feel that Crime Scene goes far and beyond the typical short story and deserves the recognition. It has been submitted in the category of Best Short Story.

Keep your fingers crossed! Finalists will be announced March 1st.
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The Derringer Award was created in 1997 by the Short Mystery Fiction Society to honor excellence in the creative artform of short mystery and crime stories. The name "Derringer," after the palm-sized handgun, was chosen as a metaphor for a mystery or crime short story -- small, but dangerous. 
Although finalists won't be announced until March, I can still be hopeful I'll make the cut. Crime Scene, although short, is one of the works of which I'm proudest. It's very dark, more horrific than anything supernatural because its terror is of the mundane and real-life variety, but ultimately very redemptive.
About Crime SceneI wrote "Crime Scene" when I ran across a book of very disturbing and explicit crime scene photographs in a bookstore many years ago in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. I bought the book, which shows you how twisted my twisted interests are. But there was one image that I simply could not get out of my head: that of a strangled little girl. It gave my nightmares. It broke my heart. To this day, I can still see that stark and horrible image in my mind's eye, even though it's been many years since I actually held the book in my hands.

This brain imprinting was what I had in mind when I started writing "Crime Scene." In the story, I wanted to show how something as simple as a photograph can leave a lasting, indelible impression and how that impression can create a yearning to put things right again.
Excerpt:@font-face { font-family: "Cambria Math";}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }.MsoChpDefault { font-size: 10pt; }div.WordSection1 { page: WordSection1; } There must be a way, she thought, to rid herself of this imagining a dead girl and her mother. Perhaps she could go to a hypnotist and have the memory excised from her brain, like a growth. She knew she couldn't do what she wanted most: turn back time to the day she went into the bookstore and listened to her own voice of reason when it told her not to look inside the book of crime scene photographs. But if we could do that, she thought grimly just before putting out the light next to her bed, everyone would be going back in time to correct his or her mistakes. She let out a whispered snicker in the dark: there would be no one in the present.She wondered if the little girl's mother had rued the day she had strangled her daughter. Had it been some horrible scar she had borne the rest of her life? Was she still alive in prison somewhere, able to see that same picture in Technicolor memory over and over, tormenting her so much she would want to die? Did she too wish she could turn back time and change the one thing on that day that led to her killing her own child? Or was she a sociopath with no feelings, not even for her own little girl? Had she died in the electric chair? What were her last thoughts? Were they of her daughter? Had she been relieved to die?She turned over and closed her eyes, but the image from the book was there: imprinted on a matte of black inside her eyelids.
Purchase Crime Scene.

Writing a Good Back Cover Blurb

The bane of many writers' existence, especially those of us published by small presses, is writing the back cover blurb for our books. How do you instill in just a few words not only the essence of your book, but also what will make a reader say, "I have to read that."?

I just ran across these wonderful tips for writing back cover blurbs on The Creative Penn. Joanna Penn says:

"You pick up a book because the cover or title looks interesting. The next thing you do is read the back blurb, or if you are online, you read the first excerpt which is usually the same thing.

At basics, the back blurb is a sales pitch. It has to be almost an exaggeration of your story that entices the reader to buy, or at least download a sample to their Kindle or iPad. "

Read the whole article here.

Notable New Release from Ali Katz: BROTHER'S KEEPER

His Brother's Keeper
by Ali Katz
Publisher: Loose Id
Cover Art: Justin James
Purchase from the publisher, LooseID
Purchase Kindle version

Intro
What happens to romance when the honeymoon is over? Eventually, real life will interrupt: jobs, finances, sickness, disaster, kids, the age old question of who's turn it is to do the dishes tonight. Few couples lead lives so charmed they never have to deal with these things. The raging heat of passion is reduced to a simmer when family takes over.

His Brother's Keeper , affectionately referred to by my friends and crit partners as HBK, is one family's story.

Sal and Jess are from different worlds. Sal knows how to love. He's watched his parents practice for-better-or-worse his whole life. Jess, who's homelife revolved around taking care of his little brother, is still learning.

But, when disaster strikes, it's Jess in the driver's seat with Sal riding shotgun. Romance, however, is forced into the back seat for a while and love becomes the fuel that keeps them going..

More than a romance, HBK is a love story. I hope it touches you in some way.

Blurb
 After six months, Jess and Sal are still living the honeymoon - sex in the hall, sex on the stairs, sex on the kitchen floor. Life couldn't be more perfect.

Enter Jess's little brother, Teddy.

A kid is the last thing the lovers need, especially a sullen, troubled teen, with far too much baggage, but Teddy needs them, and when life throws a curve, real men swing.
 
A kid in the house, however, means getting together is no longer just a matter of wrestling to see who's going to top, or stashing little bottles of lube in convenient places. It takes innovation - they haven't tried the laundry room in the garage -- and discretion -- hard to be discreet if your lover crows when he comes. Watching Teddy bloom makes the daily challenges worthwhile. They manage.
 
Their little family is just beginning to take on a healthy new shape when Teddy is viciously attacked and Sal comes under suspicion.
 
Now, where and when take second place to if and but. The ultimate test begins as they fight to hold fast to love and family while merciless forces work to rip them apart.

Click here to read a naughty excerpt.

Thanks for reading,

ali
www.a-katz.com
On Facebook: Ali Katz
On Twitter: practicalkatz

Reviews

Ebook Addicts
"His Brother's Keeper by Ali Katz is one of those stories that linger on long past the time youíve read the last words. Part of it is the subject matter, but a bigger part is the depth of the characters and their come-to-life personalities. Dear heaven, Sal and Jess are wonderful, both individually and as a couple. The love that they share, the still-new excitement of their being together rolls off the pages and leave me somewhat enviousÖ I remember those days!" ~~Kathy K, Reviews at Ebook Addict http://www.ebookaddictreviews.com/201...

Michele 'n Jeff Reviews
"... a beautifully told story about a young man who doesnít want to be defined, he simply wants to be. I discovered a book that deals with the evolving and ever broadening concept of a family and what it means to fit in. I experienced the emotional and sometimes tragic exploration of a boy who tried, and often failed, to understand his place in the world, until he found someone to whom he truly wanted to belong.

In the light of the current events surrounding GLBTQ teens, Teddyís story may be more relevant than ever. Ali Katz tells this story skillfully and with compassion, taking the reader along on an often painful, ultimately uplifting journey that left me wanting to know Teddy better." Lisa, Michele 'n Jeff Reviews  http://michelenjeff-reviews.blogspot.... Brother's Keeper


More reviews

Sample 60 Saturday: DEADLY VISION

Every Saturday, until I run out of books--or decide to go to page 70--I will present an excerpt, page 60, from one of my books. No matter what it says--funny, filthy, scary, dumb, or tantalizing--you'll get it here.

And I'd love to hear what you think. Leave a comment below and let me know if this made you want to read more.

Let's continue the chronological tour and delve into my single-mother psychic thriller, Deadly Vision .

Synopsis
What If You Suddenly Became Psychic and Could Stop Two Cold-Blooded Killers?

What if...No One Believed You?

Small-town single mom Cass D'Angelo's life changes when a thunderstorm sweeps into her small Ohio River town. Cass must venture out in it to hunt for her son, seven-year-old Max. Lightning strikes a tree near her and a branch to the head knocks her unconscious. When Cass awakens a couple days later, she sees into the deepest secrets of those around her. Worse, some teenage girls have gone missing, and Cass sees their grisly fates. The discovery opens the door to a whole new life. The police are suspicious. The press wants to make her a celebrity. And the killers are desperate to know how she found their carefully concealed grave. Cass finds an ally in Dani Westwood, a local reporter. The two women begin to probe into the disappearances/murders and start to forge a romance. When Cass's little boy, Max, disappears, Cass must race against the clock to find him...before it's too late.


Page 60:
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"THIS ISN'T WHAT I ordered!" the old woman called out, the irritation in her little old lady voice heightening her pitch, making her sound like a harpy. "Miss! Miss, I didn't order a grilled cheese. I ordered a..."Cass hurried over to her table, hoping her boss, that prince among men, Mike Bailey, didn't hear the old lady's cries. "Ma'am, I'm very sorry." Cass picked up the plate. "Now, what was it you had?""I shouldn't have to tell you again, young lady. I already placed my order. You wrote it down." The old woman toyed with the paper napkin on the table, not giving Cass the benefit of eye contact. She said, in a much softer voice, "You figure it out."Cass consulted her pad and went back to the kitchen. The old bitch's tuna melt was, fortunately, still waiting under the heat lamps. But who got the grilled cheese?Cass hurried over to the woman and set the plate before her. "Listen, ma'am, I'm very sorry.""Mmm-hmmm." The old woman lifted a slice of bread to peer at the tuna and American cheese underneath. "Don't worry. It'll come out of your tip.""You do what you have to." Cass sighed and hurried away. She glanced up at the clock for what seemed like the fiftieth time tonight. It was ten o'clock, one more hour until the end of her shift. Cass's feet ached. Worse, she was still stinging from her visit to the McKennas'. How could they have been so cruel? She had only been trying to help.The frustration simmered just beneath the surface of her consciousness, a consciousness she needed to devote to her work, however menial it seemed in comparison to what she knew. Sheryl McKenna, she was certain, had been buried on a hilltop, somewhere overlooking the river. She wished there was something she could have done before that fact became reality. And, God, how she wished she could have convinced Janet McKenna to listen. Cass was certain that just knowing what happened to her daughter would give the other woman some closure, a release. At least that's what would have been true for Cass had she been in the other woman's shoes.This line of thinking led Cass to wonder how Max was doing. Buy Deadly Vision in paperback or ebook.

Two Wonderful Reviews: TRICKS and OUT ON THE NET

When it rains, it pours. As a resident of Seattle, I know what I'm talking about. However, I digress. I woke up today to not one, but two, wonderful reviews of my two latest works.

Doug Starr at Dark Diva Reviews gave my coming-out novella Out on the Net , five stars and named it a recommended read. Doug said:

"...one of the most clever stories I have read in quite some time...At once poignant and humorous...a story which pulls at the heart strings, transcends sexuality and gender, and resonates within the hearts of anyone who has discovered something about themselves later in life..."

Read the whole Dark Divas review here.

And George Seaton, at Out in Print Queer Book Reviews, had this to say about my stripper-bar set love story, Tricks :

"This is a love story. This is a story that explores the darkest depths of mendacity and greed that feed off the dreams of a young man yearning for a break against the hard knocks life has handed him. This is a story of two men from disparate realms of experience who, in the end, find their saving graces in the simple gift of love, of caring perhaps more for the other than they do for themselves."

Read the whole Out in Print review here.

My gratitude to the publications and reviewers, George Seaton and Doug Starr. You both made my day!

Buy Out on the Net .

Buy Tricks .

FREE For Your Kindle: The Blood that Bonds by Christopher Buecheler

Whenever I see a good Kindle book for free, I like to share it with you. And a vampire tale about a heroin-addicted prostitute? Say no more. Get it quick, because these titles often do not stay free for long.

Product Description
Two is trapped: hooked on heroin, held as property, forced to sell her body to feed the addiction. Time brings her ever closer to what seems an inevitable death and Two waits, uncaring, longing only for the next fix.

That's when Theroen arrives, beckoning to his Ferrari and grinning his inscrutable grin. He is handsome. Confident. Eager to help lift her out of the life that's grinding her down.

The only problem? Theroen is a vampire.

His blood can cure her addiction, grant her powers she has never had, change her forever into something greater than she was. But when he sinks his teeth into her neck, Theroen also thrusts Two into a world of danger, violence, madness and despair. The powerful, twisted elder Abraham will use her arrival to shatter the uneasy peace that exists in his mansion, bringing an end to the dark game he has been playing for centuries.

New E-Book Release: MOVING TOWARD THE LIGHT

Hope you'll check out my latest e-release! Get your copy here (only $2.69).

Or leave a comment below (with a way to get in touch) and be entered in a random drawing to win a FREE copy.

Moving Toward the Light

By: Rick R. Reed | Other books by Rick R. Reed
Published By: Excessica Publishing
ISBN # 9781609824280
Word Count: 11250
Available in: Adobe Acrobat, Palm DOC/iSolo, Microsoft Reader, Hiebook, HTML, Mobipocket, Rocket, Epub

About the book

Miranda had been through it all in her young life: homelessness, the victim of a crime that made national headlines, and losing those closest to her. Now, she barely gets by in a rat hole apartment in uptown Chicago, drowning her sorrows in alcohol she's too young to buy, and making ends meet by turning tricks.

And, just when she thinks it can get no worse, it does. With the lure of easy cash before her, she blows off her shift at McDonalds and heads home with an older guy she met in a bar. But when she gets there, she finds the guy has a party all set to go, when what Miranda had in mind was one-on-one. After a brutal assault and rape, Miranda winds up in the hospital, clinging to life.

In the half world between life and death, she finds Jimmy Fels, her dearest love, the boy who had died years before to save her. His appearance is enigmatic, but comforting and Miranda is just beginning to discover that he has returned to avenge her.

The men will pay. And Miranda finds, through her connection with a long-lost love, that vengeance is truly sweet.

An excerpt from the book

There is only darkness. She blinks, trying to focus, but the black presses in: a warm presence, engulfing, suffocating. She reaches out, wondering if she is floating in a vast, starless sky...and her hands connect with wood. Reaches up...and her hands connect with wood. Hard wood, she realizes now, supports her back. She takes in a great quivering breath, wondering how much air is left for her. This is too unreal, she tells herself and once more reaches around herself, fingers groping like subterranean insects, sensing only by touch.

The box in which she has been trapped is little bigger than she is. At best, there is only a few inches on either side of her, above her. Before the panic sets in, she touches the holes drilled in the top of the box.

But even with the assurance of an air supply, she is terrified. Bile rises up to lodge and burn in the back of her throat. Although she trembles with cold, her body is covered with a slick veneer of sweat. She swears she hears blood pounding, constricting her temples. Her chest feels tight, as if too great an intake of air might cause her heart to burst.

And then the panic takes over, the adrenaline pumping through her like an electric current and she is slamming herself from side to side, lunging upwards, clawing the box's top with her fingernails. Clawing and clawing until she can feel hot points of pain at her cuticles and the warmth of blood there.

She's screaming, but she might as well be gagged. Her shrill cries carom off the box's interior, bouncing around inside. Her hot breath is sour, leaving a bad taste.
 
"Please!" she shrieks. "Please, you have to let me out! I can't stand this!" She kicks until her breath is ragged, until it's coming so fast she begins to hyperventilate and it's not just the box that's closing in on her, but her own lungs.

And then, and then (and this is the part where everything goes cold), she hears a key being fitted into a padlock above her. The soft clicking of the key as it turns suddenly becomes the only sound. No more cries. No more pounding heart. No more blood rushing in her ears.

Just a key being turned in a lock and then the rush of cold air as the box is slowly opened.

She scrunches up her eyes and wills her body to disappear into the wood.

No...

She will not look at him. Will not. Cannot. Look.

But her eyelids flutter anyway.

A dark hand draws closer, above her, closer, until nothing exists but that hand pressing down on her face.

****

Miranda awakened sweating, the sheets twisted in a ball next to her. The striped ticking of the mattress, with its topography of stains, looked dull in the gray light pouring in from the bedroom window.

Miranda sat up and ran a hand through her spiky red hair, another trembling hand across her cold, sweat-slicked face. Her temples throbbed, her throat was dry.

Outside, the el train rumbled by, carrying commuters south, to their jobs in the Loop: downtown Chicago.

She recalled the date: just a couple days before Christmas and the scattering images of her nightmare and the simple chronology make her tremble. Miranda reached out to the milk crate beside the mattress and shakes a Marlboro out of the pack, lights it with trembling fingers.

It had been four years. Miranda stood and walked to the window. Outside, Lawrence Avenue was already bustling, the cars like insects, busy and hurrying, the buses roaring and throwing plumes of dark exhaust into a cloud-choked sky.

Four years ago. Miranda had made the papers then, so had Jimmy, War Zone and Little T, a girl she never knew, a runaway called Julie Soldano. They had all been kidnapped by a sicko called Dwight Morris. Kidnapped and imprisoned in his basement on the west side. The dream was already growing murky, but not the memory: how she had been kept, like the rest of them, in a coffin-shaped box crafted of plywood. It had been Dwight Morris's intention to rid the world of street kids, mere children who kept his passion for them alive. By eliminating them with the cleansing tool of fire, he must have thought he could rid himself of his own personal demons.

Whatever hell Dwight Morris now rested in, she hoped, was filled with demons.

Get your copy here

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On Challenges: A Guest Post by Author Jadette Paige

Author Jadette Paige has a few things to say about challenges...and how they put her on the road to publication. Check out Jadette's website here and her new book, Blue Heaven, here. 


Leave a comment below and Jadette will randomly pick a winner for a free copy of her debut novel,  Blue Heaven.

I love challenges.  You know the ones where you feel dared to complete a goal in a limited amount of time. I guess, you could say I'm very competitive where my writing is concerned. I used to belong to a critique group that loved to issue writing challenges.  My favorite was the one where  Blue Heaven , my debut novel, was conceived. We were instructed to write approximately 1500 words using a song (our choice) and a picture that was assigned to us. I was given a painting of a knight kneeling before a lady. Easy, right, especially since I love writing fantasy and paranormal stories. The piece started with a mercenary entering a holy center to kidnap the land's holiest of men, the Godchild.  It was natural for the characters to be both male. I found their love story—yes, that is exactly what their story is all about—was endearing and enchanting. The more I wrote about them, the more they came to life until I ended up with a finished novel.



With this particular challenge, I learned one important aspect about my writing. I love writing in the male point of view. For some reason it feels natural.  It makes me wonder if in a distant past I wasn't a man. You never know.  All this makes me think about how challenges bring out the truth of one's abilities.  For me, it opened the door to an entirely new genre, one I'd never considered writing in. Several of my old critique partners were surprised at the path I decided to travel on. I normally wrote sweet romances. I still consider my romances sweet only they are gay romances and (grins) they are a bit hotter. So now with each day, I compose pages in my works in progress with an ease that surprises me, and it's all because of a simple challenge issued in the past.

If you take the time to check  Blue Heaven  out, please let me know. I would love to hear if I succeeded with their love story. Stryver and Blue would greatly appreciate it!


 How do challenges affect you and your life? Share some of the moments which led you to a realization about you and/or some part of your life.


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