Rick R. Reed's Blog, page 54

A Little Blue Pitcher and a Mother's Love

So today's Mother's Day. What was once a happy time for me has become bittersweet, since I lost my mom to cancer back in 2007.

But...don't feel bad for me. Although she's no longer with us physically and I miss her every day, the love we shared can never die.

I take comfort in the fact that, although the world irreparably changed in October of 2007 when she passed away, that her love for me and my sisters lives on. I smell it when I make her spaghetti sauce. I see it when I spy a deck of cards and remember her love of penny-ante poker with the Sicilian aunts who raised her. I feel it every night, like a whispered breath, when I go to sleep and find her once again in my dreams.

All I have to remember her by is this 1930s era cobalt blue Shirley Temple pitcher. Back when Mom was spending those last horrible months in the hospital, my sisters and I had to make decisions about her home and its contents. Most of the stuff we gave away to charity or to friends who could use some of her furniture.

I looked around amid the chaos, knowing Mom was in hospice a few miles away and wondered what I should take to remember her by. For some reason, the little blue Shirley Temple pitcher that had always been in our china cabinet called to me. I knew my mom had gotten it as a little girl, perhaps as a gift from her dear Aunt Ethel, and I just knew this, above anything else, was what I wanted to keep.

That little pitcher occupies a place of honor in my home. It's not worth a lot. It might fetch $25 to $50 online. But to me, it's precious.

See, that little blue pitcher represents my mom, Theresa Annette Comparetto Reed, and something about her that I feel extraordinarily blessed to have known: unconditional love . The kind of love she showed for me and my sisters was the most valuable commodity I can think of. And I need only look at the Shirley Temple pitcher to remember it. To remember that she loved her kids above all else. Sure, there were times when we disappointed her, when she didn't approve of what we were doing, but never for a moment did we feel her love withdraw.

That's what I celebrate on this Mother's Day. May you know or have known such love for your mothers today.

COVER REVEAL: A Kind of Romance by Lane Hayes

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Lane Hayes reveals the beautiful cover art of her next book titled A KIND OF ROMANCE coming out from Dreamspinner Press.
It releases on June 06, 2016.
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BLURB
Zeke Gulden is a ruthless Wall Street exec. His hard-edged, no non-sense attitude has served him well in the cutthroat business world, but less so in his personal life. When he finds out his ex-boyfriend cheated on him with a coworker, Zeke can’t let go – not until he finds a way to get even. However, his meddlesome father has other ideas. The new hire at the family-owned bagel store is somewhat colorful, but his dad is sure he’s the perfect man for Zeke.
Benny Ruggieri is a fiercely proud New Yorker who dreams of making it big as a costume designer in the theatre. In the meantime, he’s working two part-time jobs in the food biz. When his new boss sets him up with his successful son, Benny has zero expectations. If nothing else, he figures he can entertain himself by making the uptight businessman squirm. Instead, the two become unlikely friends with an inexplicable attraction they can’t ignore. Benny might be the one to help Zeke set aside his quest for revenge, if he’s willing to let go and forgive what he can’t forget… and give in to an unexpected kind of romance.
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PRESENTING
Cover Art by Aaron Anderson

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EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT
The mischievous spark in his gaze might have been part of the attraction. He looked like he knew the punch line to a hysterical joke and couldn’t wait to share.
Read more exclusive excerpts on –
:: Rick R. Reed :: MM Book Escape :: Gay Book Reviews :: The Land of Make Believe :::: Bayou Book Junkie :: The Purple Rose Tea House :: Diverse Reader :: Sue Brown :::: TTC Books and More :: Cia’s Stories :: BFD Book Blog :: Alpha Book Club :: Man2ManTastic :::: Carly's Book Reviews :: Love Bytes Reviews :: Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents :::: Wicked Faeries Tales And Reviews :: Lea’s Book Blog :: JP Barnaby :: Loving Without Limits :::: The Day Before You Came :: MM Good Book Reviews :: The Kimi Chan Experience :::: Cheekypee Reads and Reviews :: Unquietly Me ::
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PRE-ORDER LINK
Dreamspinner Press (eBook)Dreamspinner Press (Paperback)
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lane Hayes is grateful to finally be doing what she loves best. Writing full time! It’s no secret Lane loves a good romance novel. An avid reader from an early age, she has always been drawn to a well-told love story with beautifully written characters. These days she prefers the leading roles both be men! Lane discovered the M/M genre a few years ago and was instantly hooked. Her first novel was a finalist in the 2013 Rainbow Awards and her third received an Honorable Mention in the 2014 Rainbow Awards. She loves travel, chocolate, and wine (in no particular order). Lane lives in Southern California with her amazing husband and the coolest yellow lab ever in an almost empty nest.
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God's Best for LGBTQ?

This is a beautiful post. If you're #LGBT or love someone who is, you should read it. Here's a sample: 
"Here’s what I do know about “God’s best” for people:God’s best for people is not isolation or denial or exclusion or conditional acceptance.God’s best for people is authenticity; the truest truth about who they are.God’s best for people is being free to love and be loved, to know and be known, to care and be cared for.God’s best for people is them recognizing they bear the very likeness of God.God’s best for people is being allowed to spend a lifetime alongside someone they love.God’s best for people is being able to participate fully in the life of the greater Church and the local church of their choosing.God’s best for people is them realizing that they are inherently good because that is their default condition.God’s best for people is to not have to continually overcome Christians just to get to Jesus.It’s the height of arrogance to assume that the manner in which someone loves is up for another’s debate. I’ll never tell an LGBTQ person that their gender identity or sexual orientation are not God’s best for them, because I simply do not believe that to be at all true.And I trust that the God who made them—already knows what is best for them and speaks more clearly to them on these matters than to anyone else. 
Read the entire post by the amazing and compassionate John Pavlovitz here. 

LOVE STORIES: The Essent Quest by JJ Lore

Welcome to my little exploration of love, how people fall in love, what keeps them together, and what keeps them apart. This week, we have JJ Lore talking about her reaction to Googling a lost love and it's an interesting perspective. And please read on to check out The Essent Quest!

JJ'S LOVE STORY: Googling A Lost Love
I’ve done it, you’ve done it. We’ve all done it: Googled a lost love. I resisted the impulse for years, and I’m not quite sure why I caved, but I did and I’m ashamed to admit it. 
My discomfort with experience is probably due to the fact that I don’t retain much affection for past attractions. Give me some time, some wine and I’m ready to move on. There’s no high school sweetheart out there I’d turn my life inside out to reconnect with, no great and sweeping star-crossed love I secretly crave. That’s probably why I write romance, because there’s not too much in my grocery-shopping, caretaking, commuting, laundry-doing, cooking, actual life. I’m the kind of person who carries a first aid kit everywhere, not a mad passion for ‘the one’.
When I decided to check up on a past crush, it was quite out of character for me. I wasn’t interested in this person any more, hadn’t really cared or thought about him in over a decade, so what did it matter? I must have read an article about it, and thought, why not find out what all the fuss is about. 
So I opened up that trusty Google home page, typed in the name I hadn’t uttered in many years and hit enter. So much had changed in my life since I’d last seen him. I was a different person, from the way I thought about things to the way I interacted with people. Was I going to regress when I looked over the results? Get all fluttery and start fantasizing about some wild chance encounter? The first couple of listings were not applicable, then there he was on Facebook. I hovered over the link for a long time, but finally ordered myself to plunge ahead and click it. I confess, I did read the bio, and I looked at his profile picture. Then I immediately closed the tab and watched some funny cat videos as a way to mentally wash my hands of the episode.

It turns out, my aversion to looking back held true. Yes, I recognized him, but none of the old feelings resurfaced. All that youthful passion and excitement remained a mere memory and for that I am grateful. I like my life and I love the way it’s heading, so it seems I truly have shed that emotional anchor from the past.
THE ESSENT QUESTPlayboy Tellan knows other races consider his people spoiled and arrogant, but he’s determined to put aside fine sheets and elegant meals in order to search for a mythical Domidian elixir for his ailing sister. He’s also smart enough to realize he’ll need help staying alive in the unsettled wastes of the Empty Quadrant.

Enter Jorant, an intimidating Atavaq who’s been genetically modified to be the perfect soldier. On the run from his past, Jorant accepts the task of protecting Tellan as they venture to a planet populated by tentacled monsters and space pirates. As they search for the potion, Jorant realizes his Domidian client isn’t as helpless as he’d assumed, and Tellan is intrigued every time the taciturn bodyguard speaks. Will their unexpected attraction to each other survive the dangers threatening to destroy them?
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ABOUT JJJ. J. Lore has been interested in the dashing men who roam outer space since she was transfixed by Han Solo piloting the Millennium Falcon a long time ago in a theatre far, far away. Sadly, there is no way for her to join in the fun of intergalactic adventures unless she writes them, so that’s what she does whenever she isn’t taking care of the business of life. If you can’t find her typing madly on her sluggish keyboard, she’s probably poking around in a thrift store searching for the perfect pair of worn jeans or a vintage kachina bolo tie. These days she puts her anthropology degree to work when she whips up dishes from many different cultures, most of which benefit from a liberal dose of sriracha or a smear of green curry paste. Her favorite reading topics are costume history, epidemiology, and permaculture, all of which she’d like to work into a story if she’s suddenly overcome with a brilliant idea someday. 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/J-J-Lore/1393971707546734Twitter: @JJLore1Website: www.jjlore.com

Blog Tour: AJ LLewellyn's A WIZARD IN WAIKIKI

TITLE:A Wizard in Waikiki
AUTHOR:A.J. Llewellyn
PUBLISHER: Ai Press
COVER ARTIST: Sid Love
LENGTH:62 Pages
RELEASE DATE: April 25, 2016
BLURB:Summoned from the past, Konu rises naked from the sea to reclaim his power for the freedom to live—and love. If the forces of evil don’t get to him first!
On a hot day in Waikiki, beachgoers are stunned when a tall, handsome man rises from the ocean. Striding naked to a small, ringed enclosure containing four huge stones most tourists never even notice, he becomes visibly upset. These are Wizard Stones, positioned between the beach and the foot traffic on Kalakaua Avenue. Konu, the naked man, is agitated by a young Asian girl draping her beach towel over the stones. He's come a long way, from Tahiti, and is one of the ancient wizards whose power was infused into these sacred stones four hundred years ago.
With the invisible battle between good and evil raging, Konu has been dispatched to help balance the power. Landing in modern-day Waikiki, he's stunned by the changes – and to find he is alone. A cop tries to arrest him for indecent exposure but the young girl's grandfather – who thinks Konu's a homeless lunatic offers him refuge. Will the ancient forces of evil beat this wizard in Waikiki? Or can Konu find his power again, and perhaps…even love?
Publisher’s note: This book was previously published. It has been edited and re-released with Ai Press.


 
In the distance, at the edges of the sand, he saw the flash of large beasts… loud sounds, flickering tiki torches, the flashes of smiles. He heard laughter and the jarring sound of a dozen different languages. Then he saw them. All of the sights and sounds stilled. His heart gave a lurch at the sight of the stones.Hisstones.Konu flushed with anger as a woman draped a thick, brightly colored towel over the iron gate and onto one of the four boulders representing the sacred mana of the ancient, fifteenth century wizards—Kapaemahu, Kahaloa, Kapuni and… Kinohi, Konu's grandfather. Konu had been the fifth wizard, the sacred protector of the stones… until he'd been banished."Hey!" the woman shouted as he pulled her wet towel from the iron gate surrounding the stones and tossed it onto the ground. The word Aloha flashed up at him from the pooled fabric.Konu's narrowed his eyes as his gaze shifted to the woman. Was she the sign he'd been seeking?He reached in through the bars to touch the boulders. It wasn't easy. The gate kept a distance between the stones and prying human hands. He glanced at the white pigeons sitting vigil on the rocks. The tiny bird heads turned in his direction. These miniature keepers of the fire looked as exhausted as he felt. They were dirty, unkempt, very sick birds. Konu read their energies. His mind flashed on mass, migratory deaths. These were the survivors. They had flocked to the stones as creatures in trouble always had. They needed his help. The gate had a small lock that in his normal strength, he could have removed, but he was weakened by the journey. He was relieved that the four wizard stones seemed intact. His heart almost broke at the sight of one very scrawny bird that looked near death as it lay on his grandfather's rock. The bird kept pecking at itself, biting at a raw wound in its wing. Konu held his hand near the bird, unable to reach it. The bird scuttled a little closer. It tucked its head under its wing and Konu worked his magic. He tried to sense if the bird wanted to live or die, but people were jostling him now, and he had to work fast.He gave the creature life and with a flap of his hand, produced a few worms on top of the rock face. The bird gobbled quickly. The stone's supernatural power would restore the bird's fire-core. Konu grappled to touch the rock. He saw now that people had brought offerings. Purple orchid leis dangled along the gateposts. Somebody had left a shell lei, too. He gingerly stroked it. A recent addition.Two bronze plaques stood before them. He scanned the writing. He recognized it as English. He had to retrain his mind to read the words.The voices around him grew loud again as his hand crackled like lightning against the sensing power of the stones. Ah, magic still dwells here.
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A.J. Llewellyn lives in California, but dreams of living in Hawaii. Frequent trips to all the islands, bags of Kona coffee in the fridge and a healthy collection of Hawaiian records keep this writer refueled.
A.J’s passion for the islands led to writing a play about the last ruling monarch of Hawaii, Queen Lili’uokalani as well as a non-erotic novel about the overthrow of her kingdom written in diary form from her maid’s point of view.
A.J. never lacks inspiritation for male/male erotic romances and on the rare occasion this happens, pursues other passions such as collecting books on Hawaiiana, surfing and spending time with friends and animal companions.
A.J. Llewellyn believes that love is a song best sung out loud.
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April 25: Diverse Reader
April 26: My Fiction Nook
April 27: Rainbow Book Reviews
April 28: MM Good Book Reviews :: BFD Book Blog
April 29: The Novel Approach
May 2: Rick R. Reed
May 3: Love Bytes Reviews
May 4: Elisa - My reviews and Ramblings
May 5: Prism Book Alliance
May 6: Loving Without Limits
May 9: Queer Sci-Fi
May 11: Divine Magazine
May 12: Drops of Ink

May 13: Bayou Book Junkie :: TTC Books and More

Friday Flashback: LEGALLY WED in Real Life & In Fiction

Note: This post originally appeared on Dawn's Reading Nook, January 2014.

Why write romance? 

I get asked this question a lot and the answer lies in the little story I’m about to tell you. It’s a story about finding one’s own happy ending—and how, today, even two men in love can end up Legally Wed.

My husband Bruce and I were having dinner at a little French bistro in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle on my birthday last year and, as the wine flowed, we talked. He told me how content he was with his life and that, really, there was nothing else he could wish for. I felt the same way. It's nice when you're on the same page. He said we had something special and that one word summed up what we had. I'll get to that word later.

But it wasn't easy getting to this page in the book of our lives. And thinking about Bruce and me has made me think about my other special love, and that's writing. If any of you out there have followed my career at all, you'll know that, lately, my stories have plotted out the course of love just as much as they have the build-up of suspense or horrifying revelations. I can proudly say I am now just as much a romance writer as I am a horror or dark suspense writer.

You may wonder why my writing has slipped off in this new direction. I certainly have. And I think it has a lot to do with Bruce. See, we're happy. We're content. We're settled and in a love that only continues to grow with the passage of time.

I don't know if this is a leap of logic that makes sense but I think that I am more drawn to writing stories that map out the connections made by the human heart these days because I am not expending as much energy seeking out that connection in my own personal life. Now that I have found my one true love, my soul mate, I can open up and write more freely about what draws people together and what keeps them apart. I find those connections fascinating and I don't believe I could write about them objectively until after I had found, after much searching, a relationship that would work for me, one that would nurture and sustain.

Before Bruce, there was a marriage to a woman and a child. Both of those were—and still are—wonderful in their own ways. But trying to live a life that was not my own was not only emotionally exhausting, it was dangerous in many ways. With a lot of heartache, I had to let that dream, which really was never for me, go. I came out in my early thirties, in a world where gay marriage was not really even being discussed yet and the specter of AIDS loomed large. It was not necessarily a good time for a gay man to be experiencing the world and finding himself. But then, when is it ever a good time? But my point is I went through a lot of searching, a lot of experimenting, a lot of bad choices, always in search of love, and always coming up empty-handed.

A lot of those disappointments occurred because the real love I needed—the love of myself—I had yet to discover. I look at my thirties as my true adolescence, with its attendant growing pains.

It wasn't until I was 43 that I met Bruce. Gone were the hopes that I'd meet a special man in some bar or even a gay social group. The era of the Internet was on us in a big way and I placed an ad with the headline, "What's Your Story?" Bruce was one of several who responded, and the only one with whom I connected. He sent me some pictures of himself. He said things in his very first response to my ad that resonated.

I wrote back. He wrote back and we started a daily correspondence that would last two weeks, two weeks before we even laid eyes on one another, even though we lived less than two miles away from the other. We began to get to know each other and we both liked what we saw, what we read in our lines to each other, and what was between them. We had both reached a stage where we were ready for the other. Timing is everything.

We met in person and it was magic.

I won't say we didn't have some bumps in the road, though, getting to where we are today. Nothing really good ever comes easily. But Bruce and I were always willing to talk--whether it was face to face or through e-mails (and now texts and Facebook updates!). The line of communication has always been open and I think that's what's made the difference with us.

It's also made it possible for me to be able to sit back and be more objective about writing romance because finally, at age 57, I finally, finally, have a handle on what works and what doesn't. Until I had that key, I honestly believe I couldn't have written convincingly or effectively about romantic love.

So you can expect two things from me—one, that I will always be in love with Bruce and two, that you will enjoy many more stories of love and romance between two men—because of Bruce and what he gave to me.

Oh, and that one word I alluded to above? The one Bruce used when he said it summed up what we had?

That word was family.



Legally Wed Blurb (Dreamspinner Press/2014/Contemporary Romance)

Love comes along when you least expect it. That’s what Duncan Taylor’s sister, Scout, tells him. Scout has everything Duncan wants—a happy life with a wonderful husband. Now that Seattle has made gay marriage legal, Duncan knows he can have the same thing. But when he proposes to his boyfriend Tucker, he doesn’t get the answer he hoped for. Tucker’s refusal is another misstep in a long line of failed romances. Despairing, Duncan thinks of all the loving unions in his life—and how every one of them is straight. Maybe he could be happy, if not sexually compatible, with a woman. When zany, gay-man-loving Marilyn Samples waltzes into his life, he thinks he may have found his answer.

Determined to settle, Duncan forgets his sister’s wisdom about love and begins planning a wedding with Marilyn. But life throws Duncan a curveball. When he meets wedding planner Peter Dalrymple, unexpected sparks ignite. Neither man knows how long he can resist his powerful attraction to the other. For sure, there’s a wedding in the future. But whose?

Legally Wed  Excerpt
Same-sex marriage had just become legal in Washington State and Duncan Taylor didn’t plan on wasting any time. He had been dating Tucker McBride for more than three years and, ever since the possibility of marriage had become more than just a pipe dream, it was all Duncan could think of. He had thought of it as he gazed out the windows of his houseboat on Lake Union, on days both sunny and gray (since it was late autumn, there were a lot more of the latter); he had thought of it as he stood before his classroom of fourth graders at Cascade Elementary School. He had thought of it when he woke up in the morning and before he fell asleep at night.

For Duncan, marriage was the peak, the happy ending, the icing on the cake, the culmination of one’s hearts desire, a commitment of a lifetime, the joining of two souls. For Duncan, it was landing among the stars.

And for Duncan, who would turn 38 on his next birthday, it was also something he had never dared dream would be possible for him.

And now, too excited to sleep, he was thinking about it—hard—once again. It was just past midnight on December 6, 2012 and the local TV news had pre-empted its regular programming to take viewers live to Seattle City Hall, where couples were forming a serpentine line to be among the first in the state to be issued their marriage licenses—couples who had also for far too long believed this right would be one they would never be afforded. Many clung close together to ward off the chill, but Duncan knew their reasons for canoodling went far deeper than that.

The mood, in spite of the darkness pressing in all around, was festive. There was a group serenading the couples in line, singing “Going to the Chapel.” Champagne corks popped in the background.

Laughter.

Duncan couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he watched all the male-male and female-female couples in the line, their mood of jubilation, of love, of triumph traveling through to him even here on his houseboat two or three miles north of downtown. Duncan wiped tears from his eyes as he saw not only the couples but also all the supporters, city workers, and volunteers who had crowded together outside City Hall to wish the new couples well, to share in the happiness of the historic moment.

And then Duncan couldn’t help it, he fell into all-out blubbers as the first couple to get their license emerged from City Hall. 85-year-old Pete-e Peterson and her partner and soon-to-be-wife, Jane Abbott Lighty, were all smiles when a reporter asked them how they felt.

“We waited a long time. We’ve been together 35 years, never thinking we’d get a legal marriage. Now I feel so joyous I can hardly stand it,” Pete-e said.

It was such a special moment and it was all Duncan could do not to pick up the phone and call Tucker and casually say something like, “Hey honey, you want to get married?”

Legally Wed  Buy Links
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BLOG TOUR: Grein Murray's HIS FALLEN ANGEL

TITLE: His Fallen Angel 

AUTHOR: Grein Murray 

COVER ARTIST: Kellie Dennis 

LENGTH: 156 Pages 

RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2016 

BLURB: 

New Angels are created to protect mankind on Earth but the Fallen are making this task quite difficult. New Angel, Alexander, is assigned to a rapidly declining area to find out what the Fallen are up to—only he lands in the clutches of a beautiful, yet powerful, Fallen Angel. As help comes from an unlikely ally, Alexander isn’t sure if he should trust Roman or not—but what choice does he have? 


 
I made sure that I ate my ice cream as seductively as I could until it was gone. Roman tossed the rest of his cone into some nearby bushes. “Why’d you….” I didn’t finish. I was dragged off the trail and stopped when Roman abruptly came to a halt. He looked down at me with a playful grin. There, in front of me, was a cropping of fallen trees. Roman pushed me toward them, then he started removing my pants and hoodie.



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When I'm not writing I like going to concerts. Music is a big part of my life, I've played bass guitar since I was a teen. I love nature and enjoy hiking and working with causes that help protect our planet and wild animals.
I have loved books all of my life and have always enjoyed escaping the ordinary world by getting lost in a good book. I read a lot of different genres of books but have fallen in love with MM. I support the gay community and hope one day people will see that love is love and that it is a beautiful thing no matter your gender, race or religion.
I am an avid animal lover and have quite a collection of pets in my home. I love ancient history and have studied Alexander the Great as well as Egypt and it's pharaohs. I also am very interested in angels and have researched them and will put that to use in future books.
I hope that my readers continue to fall in love with my characters and that my stories touch their lives and bring them happiness.
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April 27: Love Bytes Reviews
April 28: Rick R. Reed
April 29: MM Book Escape
May 2: Wicked Faeries Tales & Reviews
May 3: Loving Without Limits :: Drops of Ink
May 4: Bayou Book Junkie :: Alpha Book Club
May 5: The Purple Rose Tea House :: Louise Lyons

May 6: Diverse Reader :: TTC Books and More

LOVE STORIES: Phase Shift by Kelly Jensen (and Jenn Burke)

Welcome to my little exploration of love, how people fall in love, what keeps them together, and what keeps them apart. This week, we have Kelly Jensen talking about first love and it's a sweet story. And please read on to check out her new book (with Jenn Burke), Phase Shift!

KELLY'S LOVE STORY
My first love began and ended rather sweetly. He was someone I knew throughout my childhood, then didn’t see for a handful of years. We caught up again when we were nineteen in a scene that might have been scripted, at a summer party at the house of family friends. I didn’t know he’d be there—he’d been working in a different state, last I heard. Then I saw him standing surrounded by a bunch of the younger kids. This is nearly thirty years ago, but I can remember exactly what he looked like, the angle of the sun, the smell of the flowers and how he looked up and saw me. The whole tingle thing as our eyes met, as we took in our first glimpse of one another as adults—or what we believed was our adult selves at the age of nineteen. 
My sister came along on our first date. My mother insisted. I thought I’d die of embarrassment, but it turned out to be a very nice evening. We went to the movies and wandered around the city for a while before catching separate trains home. As there had been no kissing (dammit), I figured that would be that. He called the next day to ask me out again. I got to go alone to our second date. 
He was my first boyfriend. The first person who told me he loved me. The first person I loved. He used to write me letters, even though we saw each other every week, usually several times a week. He would tuck them into my pockets, or sometimes mail them to my house. I kept every one and reading them still makes me smile. When he wanted to do what grownups do, and I told him I wasn’t ready, he waited. When I was ready, he was so damn sweet about it all. He bought me roses the next day.He became my best friend and over the course of nine months, we did everything together. We never talked about our future, though. We were nineteen, heading toward twenty, and very aware of the fact our lives were as young as we were. Maybe that’s why we parted as friends. 
Our breakup was very undramatic. I remember it almost as clearly as I remember that summer party. We were on a train, heading back to his parents’ place after another day out together. I don’t recall who started the conversation, but I know it was very practical and peaceful. We acknowledged that something had changed. Maybe we’d spent less time together, or we’d begun to pursue separate interests. I was looking into changing colleges and he wanted to change jobs. We were holding hands, and when he said “the magic is gone,” my heart didn’t break. I could only agree with him. Hold his hand a little tighter—and then let go. I didn’t love him any less, but I didn’t need to know him as desperately as I had nine months before. 
Looking back, I’m glad we didn’t cling and try to make it work. If we had, he might not still be one of my oldest, dearest friends. Yes, I still know this person. We’re still in touch. We’re both married to different people now, to our lasting loves. The ones we were able to grow with. But I am forever grateful to still have this guy in my life—for the many firsts we shared and for the friendship we have enjoyed since then.
In the Chaos Station series (co-written with Jenn Burke), Zander is Felix’s first love. He believes Zander is his only love, but life separates them for long enough for Felix to grow into the adult he needs to be in order to properly make that decision. Felix would tell you he didn’t need that time; that he found it painful in the extreme to be parted from Zander for nearly fourteen years. I can’t say they might not have worked through the ups and downs presented by ordinary life, let alone the more drastic consequences of war. What I do know is that the bond these guys form throughout the Chaos Station series is both deepened and tempered by their separate experiences. They learn to love the other for who they are now, rather than who they were, or wanted the other to be. 
Phase Shift (Chaos Station #5) is the final book in the Chaos Station series. To read the whole story, start at the beginning with Chaos Station (Chaos Station #1). Free shorts, extras and excerpts from every book are available on our website at http://chaosstation.com. 
PHASE SHIFT Book five of Chaos StationZander and Felix’s relationship has always pushed boundaries—personal and professional alike—but their love and commitment is stronger than ever. So strong that Zander’s ready to ask commitment-shy Felix the question of a lifetime when he’s interrupted. The Chaos is being hacked, and crucial, top secret information about the project that created Zander—and his fellow super soldiers—has been leaked.
Neither man could have expected the enormity of what’s discovered at the end of the data trail: an entire colony of super soldiers run by the very doctor who changed Zander’s life forever. And now she needs them both—Zander to train her new crop of soldiers, and Felix’s new crystalline arm to stabilize their body chemistry.
With help from the unlikeliest of allies, Zander, Felix and the Chaos crew must destroy the project and all its ill-gotten information. But when the team is split up and Felix is MIA after a dangerous run, galactic disaster is a very real possibility…and Zander may have missed his chance to ask for forever.
Coming May 2, 2016.
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ABOUT KELLYIf aliens ever do land on Earth, Kelly will not be prepared, despite having read over a hundred stories of the apocalypse. Still, she will pack her precious books into a box and carry them with her as she strives to survive. It’s what bibliophiles do.
Kelly is the author of a number of novels, novellas and short stories, including the Chaos Station series, co-written with Jenn Burke. At lot of what she writes is speculative in nature, but sometimes it’s just about a guy losing his socks and/or burning dinner. Because life isn’t all conquering aliens and mountain peaks. Sometimes finding a happy ever after is all the adventure we need.
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Traveling Back to High School

Big Love is the first book I’ve written which I set in a small-town high school. In fact, my fictional high school is very much like the one I attended. Writing about the turbulent emotions of adolescence, first loves, and beginning to come to terms with who you are was a challenging and thought-provoking trip down memory lane.
I thought I’d share a couple pictures and memories of my alma mater, East Liverpool High School in East Liverpool, Ohio (the only high school in town). Like the characters in Big Love , my high school years were a time of struggle, sometimes joy, and often a lot about coming to grips about who that person was looking back at me from within the mirror.
Here’s the small, pottery town of East Liverpool where I grew up, taken from the Ohio River. The town rises up from the river’s banks.
And here is the high school that I mentally traveled back to in order to draw upon the memories and feelings that eventually went into Big Love . The school sits on one of the hills surrounding the town, so there was always a good view of everything. As a personal aside, my eldest niece and her husband still teach at the very same school.

And here are the pictures you may or may not have been waiting for: me as a much younger version of myself. One is my high school graduation photo and the other is from a time when I was just entering the confusing and awkward torture of adolescence. Oh, the innocence of that young man/boy! He had no idea what was in store for him. I suppose that’s true for all of us, right?

BLURBTeacher Dane Bernard is a gentle giant, loved by all at Summitville High School. He has a beautiful wife, two kids, and an easy rapport with staff and students alike. But Dane has a secret, one he expects to keep hidden for the rest of his life—he’s gay.
But when he loses his wife, Dane finally confronts his attraction to men. And a new teacher, Seth Wolcott, immediately catches his eye. Seth himself is starting over, licking his wounds from a breakup. The last thing Seth wants is another relationship—but when he spies Dane on his first day at Summitville High, his attraction is immediate and electric.
As the two men enter into a dance of discovery and new love, they’re called upon to come to the aid of bullied gay student Truman Reid. Truman is out and proud, which not everyone at his small-town high school approves of. As the two men work to help Truman ignore the bullies and love himself without reservation, they all learn life-changing lessons about coming out, coming to terms, acceptance, heartbreak, and falling in love.
BUY Dreamspinner Press ebookDreamspinner Press paperbackAmazon Kindle Amazon paperback (buy the hard copy and get the ebook for .99!)
Note: This post originally appeared on the wonderful blog, Joyfully Jay.

BLOG TOUR: Clare London Stops by to Chat about DOUBLE SCOOP & More!

TITLE: Double Scoop 

SERIES: With a Kick #8 

AUTHOR: Clare London 

PUBLISHER: Jocular Press 

COVER ARTIST: Lou Harper 

LENGTH: 45,000 words 

RELEASE DATE: April 07, 2016


BLURB: A sudden disaster strikes everyone’s favourite ice cream shop, With A Kick. Not only does it threaten the livelihood of its owner, Patrick, but also his loyal assistant Lee. The last thing in the world Patrick would ever want to do is hurt Lee, either physically or emotionally. Why would he? He’s been falling in love with Lee since the day Lee invited himself into the shop’s business and Patrick’s life. But familiar and deeply-held insecurities hold Patrick back – he’s too gruff for Lee, too old, and his labour-of-love business is never going to make him rich.
Lee is weary of trying to make Patrick see how much he admires and cares for him. To Lee, it’s a very straightforward situation. Patrick is sexy, Patrick is smart, Patrick needs Lee’s help – and Lee needs Patrick in his life as more than a boss. All the characteristics Patrick finds inhibiting, Lee finds attractive. However, if Patrick’s apparently never going to make a move on Lee, how long should Lee wait to make his own move? Maybe Patrick thinks Lee is too clingy, too immature. Maybe Lee should give up his romantic hopes completely. If, that is, he can bear to do it.
The disaster at the shop brings them a whole new opportunity to work – and love – together to make a go of things. They’ve both got to look at each other in a whole new way. With the help of all their With A Kick friends, this could be make or break for the reluctant couple!

10 Silly Questions for Clare London, author of DOUBLE SCOOP
1.    If you could invite any famous person, dead or alive, for dinner, what would you eat?   Barbeque chicken and chips (fries, to you US persons!) and ice cream to follow. I reckon that’d cover all nationalities / backgrounds / historical periods. Besides, it’s my favourite, and I’m the hostess!
2.    Who do you think you are? Whatever I can muster up energy for when I get up in the morning LOL.
3.    What’s your problem? Not acknowledging I have one?
4.    If you could have one wish, would you give it to me? No effing way! I’ve waited all my life for that genie to call…
5.    Where you at? Iz here, fam.
6.    If you had to choose only one vice, what would it be? Sloth. I can always use more sleep.
7.    What’s your favorite brand of cereal? Ricicles. They’re twicicles as nicicles, believe me.
8.    When you wake up in the morning, what celebrity do you most resemble? Dolly Parton, but only in height. And chest. And I’m fatter and younger. Make of that what you will :/.
9.    Do you know your ass from a hole in the ground? And if so, how do you tell the difference? Of course I do. I’m more worried that *you* have to ask *me*, and in such a public forum…
10.    Do you have anything you’d like to plug? What sort of a question is that for an author of erotic gay romance??? LOL
Oh… you mean seriously? My new release DOUBLE SCOOP that I know readers and lovers of ice cream will enjoy. And a big smacking KISS to Rick from me



 
Patrick liked this time of morning in London. It was still too cold in February to do without a jacket and scarf, but otherwise he savoured the onset of spring and the pale, bright sun that glistened off the pavements. He took deep, regular breaths, measuring a circular route around Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road, pacing himself slower than he would have done when he was younger. It allowed him to take proper note of life happening around him. His friends preferred to travel to St James Park or Green Park, and run around a greener space, but Patrick lived and belonged here in Soho, and never sought anywhere else. He absorbed the exotic mixture of a new day’s aroma: diesel taxi fumes, the crinkled pages of old books, grocery store spices, lingering pub beer, and fried food being cooked at the fast food venues already awake and serving breakfast. He wasn’t a man to wax lyrical at the best of times, but he loved London with a passion.
Sufficiently exercised and with his appetite now fully awake and clamouring for coffee and food, he cut through the streets towards home. Turning the final corner, he slowed to a brisk walk, then stopped. He leaned on a street lamp, regaining his breath and easing his muscles. The front window of With A Kick was already in view with its stylish red paintwork and matching awning. Patrick took a moment longer just to stand and look at it. Every day was the same: the feelings of pride and excitement just as strong. Only a few years ago, he’d been a teacher, aiming for Assistant Head, and planning out the twenty-odd years to early retirement. Good grief. What a boring life in comparison to now!
He laughed wryly to himself. Amazing how ambition could be kickstarted by the end of a lacklustre romance and a previously secure job slipping away. Eighteen months ago, he’d been saddened but not surprised by his boyfriend Rafe moving on—they’d been drifting more out than into each other’s life for months. He’d also seen the writing on the wall about his school having to make redundancies. It had still surprised him how willingly he accepted his when it was offered. He’d always thought of himself as a man who planned and relied on a steady routine, yet in the space of a couple of months, he found himself single again, out of work and slightly depressed from the culture shock. It was as if the whole bloody world had crashed, as opposed to… what? ‘An opportunity for new adventures and new challenges’, his late dad would have said. His dad had always been a glass-half-full man. Patrick remembered him fondly.
Then things had slowly but steadily fallen into place for him. Now he was an entrepreneur of sorts and, look, his latest ice cream creations were displayed in the window of his own shop, on one of Lee’s brightly coloured posters!
Lee.
That was another thing that never changed: the small lurch of excitement in his gut when he thought of his friend and assistant in With A Kick. Patrick sighed, not at the overall thought of Lee—and Lee’s youth, and good looks, and energy, and cheeky jokes, and slim hips that he swayed outrageously when he was showing off in the shop, and that sexy, sexy grin… anyway, not all that, which Patrick had to admit never ceased to cheer him up every morning in the shop. No, the sigh was for the thoughts that inevitably followed. The ones that reminded him he hadn’t found much success with romance, that he was much older than Lee, much less good looking in a very bear-y type of way, much more tired of life, and with a grin that he couldn’t ever remember anyone saying was sexy…
Good God . Enough self-pity for the morning! Lee had plenty of attention from other guys, he didn’t need his nearly-forty year old boss coming onto him as well like some besotted, horny teenager. Besides, Patrick had his commitment to the business to keep him busy, and that was no hardship now that they were starting to make proper money. Yes, when he thought of With A Kick, he did think of “they”. Lee and he were together in running the shop, at least.
"Patrick! Good morning."
Patrick turned and recognised Mr Amsel from the German café across the way, waving at him. Next to the elderly shopkeeper, a wiry young man straightened up from where he’d been crouching beside a pile of boxes. He was also smiling. Patrick waved back at them both. The community spirit among his fellow traders was one of the best things in his life nowadays. The young man, Curtis, was a regular supplier and odd-job man for all of the businesses around here, and Patrick made a mental note to chat to him about replacement tablecloths. Lee had suggested a funkier design, to match a range of ice cream flavours based on musical styles that Patrick was working on at the moment. And if anyone could get something new and unusual for the shop at a good price, it’d be Curtis. Patrick wasn’t in the mood for negotiation before his morning coffee, but he was sure Curtis would call into With A Kick later on for a mug of tea and a ‘Pluck and Play’, his favourite ice. He’d talk to him then.
He glanced back down the road, where the With A Kick shop-front light had just flickered on. Lee must be in early today. Patrick thought he’d declared it was his turn to open up, but he had to admit the thought of Lee bustling around inside the shop had Patrick happily quickening his step.
An alleyway ran down the side of the shop to the kitchen exit, and by the time he reached it, he’d decided they should talk to Curtis about getting some new shot glasses too. Bookings for adults-only, night time parties at With A Kick were really taking off. Out of the corner of his eye, he registered the kitchen light snapping on as well, and the thought of a hot, strong cup of coffee warmed his thoughts. Maybe Mr A would like to quote Patrick for some hot party snacks as well—
The sudden boom took his breath away: a burst of deep, throaty noise, gusting the air past Patrick’s head like the kick back from a jet. A mini tornado, belching without warning from the kitchen door, and bursting up the alleyway and onto the street.
Rubbish bags, stacked against With A Kick’s outside wall, tumbled and rolled as if tossed by giant hands. Loose packaging swirled up in a murky maelstrom, spinning and spiralling into the sky. A pavement display clattered to the ground across the road, and a passing bicycle swerved sharply in front of Patrick with a screech of brakes. A dog started barking furiously.
Patrick had been thrown backwards into the street, and staggered, trying to keep his balance. Someone behind him screamed; he watched the shocked cyclist’s mouth make the shape of “What the fuck was that?” His eyes stung; his hearing was muffled.  A youngster began to wail loudly. Stunned for those few seconds, Patrick was unable to move, unable to think clearly. Voices reached him, but all the words were garbled.

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Clare took the pen name London from the city where she lives, loves, and writes. A lone, brave female in a frenetic, testosterone-fuelled family home, she juggles her writing with the weekly wash, waiting for the far distant day when she can afford to give up her day job as an accountant. She’s written in many genres and across many settings, with novels and short stories published both online and in print. She says she likes variety in her writing while friends say she’s just fickle, but as long as both theories spawn good fiction, she’s happy.  Most of her work features male/male romance and drama with a healthy serving of physical passion, as she enjoys both reading and writing about strong, sympathetic and sexy characters.
Clare currently has several novels sulking at that tricky chapter 3 stage and plenty of other projects in mind . . . she just has to find out where she left them in that frenetic, testosterone-fuelled family home.
All the details and free fiction are available at her website. Visit her today and say hello!
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Winner’s Prize: 5 e-copies of Double Scoop
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April 11: Because Two Men Are Better Than One :: UK Gay Romance
April 12: RJ Scott :: Diverse Reader
April 13: Rainbow Book Reviews
April 14: MM Good Book Reviews :: Drops of Ink
April 15: Sue Brown :: Loving Without Limits
April 18: Joyfully Jay
April 19: Alpha Book Club :: Hearts on Fire
April 20: Elisa - My reviews and Ramblings :: Bayou Book Junkie :: Love Bytes Reviews
April 21: The Purple Rose Tea House :: Nautical Star Books :: MM Book Escape

April 22: Rick R. Reed :: TTC Books and More :: The Novel Approach