Ari McKay's Blog, page 25

New Release!

Our latest novelette, Caribbean Blues, is now on sale! It is the story of Jon Lawson, a man who is safe, secure, and — according to his ex — stuck in a rut. When his ex breaks up with him just before a planned vacation to the Bahamas, Jon decides to go anyway, just to prove to himself that he can be spontaneous. But he gets more than he bargained for when his private Dolphin Encounter session with sexy marine biologist Derrick Mason leads to a passionate holiday affair. Derrick is everything Jon could possibly want — but when Derricks asks him to risk everything for love, can Jon find it in himself to take a leap of faith?

We had a lot of fun writing this one! The dolphin encounter Jon experiences is actually based on a real place in Port Lucaya, where you can interact with dolphins in a sheltered cove. The dolphins aren’t captive; they are there of their own free will, and it’s incredibly special knowing that they’re almost as fascinated by humans as we are by them.

Anyway, if holiday romances and happily-ever-afters are your thing, check it out!

Coming Next Week!

On January 30th our Color Box story, “Caribbean Blues”, will be released by Torquere. We received the author copies, and it looks great! Both of us have agreed that the cover for it is our favorite so far – it so perfectly captures the pensiveness of Jon, one of the main characters, and the beauty of the sky and sea in the tropics. I have a particular fondness for this one, too, since the location in the story is based on a place I’ve been to, the wonderful UNEXSO (Under Water Explorer’s Society) in Port Lucaya, The Bahamas. I won’t give too much away, but if you love the ocean, and dolphins, and stories about falling in love in beautiful places, I think you’ll really like this story!

Two new stories!

We have two more stories to add to our upcoming publication schedule!  First, on April 22, we will have “The Whole Kit and Kaboodle” published by Dreamspinner Press in the “Closet Capers” anthology. This is a collection of light hearted mystery stories. Our second story, released on May 8 by Torquere, will be “Fennel and Forgiveness”, a semi-sequel to “Bay Leaves and Bachelors”. So stay tuned!  We have something coming up almost every month!

Oh, the waiting…

So we currently have two submissions in and are waiting to hear back about whether they’ve been accepted or not. It’s still hard to fret with anticipation, even with the nearly uniform good news we’ve had over the last few months! You just never know whether something is going to fit the bill the way you anticipate, so it’s still a rather nail-biting experience.

We currently have a just completed story awaiting edits, as well, and I’m about to go off on vacation for a week, and take the novel nearest and dearest to our hearts with me for another round of edits. I’m really hoping that when we submit it we’ll get an acceptance, but again… you never really know!

New and coming!

Now that January is well underway, we should be finding out soon how well our stories have done in the previous quarter — and a big thank you to everyone who has bought our stories and supported our work, it means so much to us! We had 4 stories released last quarter — A Hundred Lonely Halloweens, Bay Leaves and Bachelors, On The Rocks, and Santa’s Naughty Helper — which we are thrilled about. We never dreamed just over a year ago that we’d have so much success (and luck!) when we decided to take the big step to go pro.

For the future, coming up at the end of this month is “Caribbean Blues”, a story about a man who learns that safety and comfort don’t always mean happiness. Then in February will be “Fortune’s Slings and Cupid’s Arrows”, which is a semi-sequel to “Santa’s Naughty Helper”. We are waiting to hear back on a submission to Dreamspinner for their “Closet Capers” collection, and any day now we hope to send off a sequel to “Bay Leaves” to Torquere to see if they like it. So we’re on pace with our plans, although we both have wished for more time to write.

We also have a couple of other short stories either in process or in the queue, and then we’re excitedly waiting for “Heart of Stone”, our first published novel, to be released by Dreamspinner in the summer. This is a Big Thing for us, because it will be in print, and that is something we’ve both been eager for since we started writing!  I know it’s probably silly in this electronic age, but I think in some ways having a book that can be held in your hands makes me, at least, feel more like a “real” author.

Another Auld Lang Syne…

Well it’s been quite a year for us, writing-wise, and overall I have to say that our first year as “pros” has been far more successful than we ever imagined! Although we’re still waiting to hear back on one story, we’ve managed to sell everything else we’ve submitted this year, which I think is a pretty good start! Some things have been more popular than others, but we achieved far more than we expected to, and we’re looking forward to the year to come!

I personally am very excited about our first novel, Heart of Stone, which will be coming out this summer. It’s different for us, genre-wise, it being a historical Western, but it was a lot of fun to write, and I am pleased with the results. We never set out to write the next “big thing”, just tell good stories that people enjoy, something to make them happy and forget about their troubles for a while. In that, I hope we succeeded.

I wish everyone the most happy and prosperous of New Years, and may love and romance always be a part of your lives.

 

 

 

New story: Santa’s Naughty Helper

Our second holiday story was released by Torquere Press yesterday! Santa’s Naughty Helper is now available in html, Adobe and Sony optimized pdf, prc, epub formats for $3.99.

When shy attorney Kevin Anderson draws Erik Wilson, his hunky co-worker, in their office’s secret gift exchange, he realizes this might be just the opportunity he needs to make Erik notice him. Erik seems to enjoy the game of twelve days of naughty gifts, but can Kevin overcome his fear of rejection enough to go through with his plan and offer himself to Erik on Christmas Eve?

 

Have an excerpt!

When his name was called, Erik smiled with anticipation as he approached the table and Shelley held out his gift. The box was long and narrow, wrapped in an expensive gold foiled paper embossed with tiny Christmas trees. A card was attached to the top by a red ribbon, which was unusual.

“You have to read the card to the rest of us,” Shelley informed him.

“Okay, sure.” Erik untied the ribbon and opened the card, not at all reluctant to share its message. Typed on the plain white card were six lines:

Christmas is the time for giving, and what I have for you,

Is a little mystery, and every gift’s a clue.

For twelve days, just like the song, another gift I’ll send,

Until the night of Christmas Eve, when our game will end.

The challenge that I make is to guess my identity,

And if you do it just might lead to an epiphany.

The crowd responded with laughter and rowdy catcalls about Erik having a secret admirer, and Erik felt his cheeks growing hot. Part of him was wildly curious about who was behind the poem, and part of him was flattered that perhaps he did have an admirer.

“It’s the gift that keeps on giving,” he joked, slipping the card into the pocket of his tailored black jacket. Although everyone’s interest seemed to be more in the card, he opened the box and pulled out a bottle of Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio, his favorite wine. “Thank you, mystery elf! I’ll drink a toast to you when I open this.”

With that, Erik returned to his seat and looked at Kevin, shaking his head in disbelief. “Well, that was a surprise.”

Kevin studied him closely. “I bet it was.” He gestured at the bottle. “Any idea who might have done it?”

“Someone who knows what kind of wine I like, but that doesn’t narrow down the list much.” Erik pulled out the note and studied it in silence for a moment. “I wonder what this means,” he mused. “Twelve gifts for me? Why? And what kind of epiphany is he talking about?”

“Who knows?” Kevin shrugged and drained his glass of champagne. “Sounds like someone is flirting with you.”

“Maybe, but if he wants to flirt, why doesn’t he just talk to me?” Erik frowned slightly, puzzled by this new mystery. “I’m not scary. I don’t bite. Well, not without permission,” he added with a teasing grin, knowing the remark would probably fluster Kevin, who was adorable when he blushed.

As if on cue, Kevin’s cheeks turned pink, and he looked down at his hands. “Maybe he’s afraid of rejection, or maybe he just likes to play games. It could be any number of reasons.”

“I guess you’re right.” Erik put the note aside, since the gift exchange wasn’t over yet. “It’s another case to be solved, right?”

“Apparently so.” Kevin gave him a quick smile, just as his name was called. “Looks like it’s my turn. Bet I don’t get a poem or a secret admirer.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Erik called, and he applauded along with everyone else when Kevin opened his present, but he was distracted, his mind straying back to the cryptic note and its meaning.

If he did have a secret admirer, Erik wished the guy would step forward. But then again, a holiday game like this was a novel approach, and he had to give the guy credit for style. Erik decided to hold off before going to the company grapevine for information, in order to enjoy the game for a while. Maybe he’d end up with someone to share the holidays with after all.

A new erotic fantasy anthology

Sorry to be spammy today! But I wanted to promote a couple of new publications. A long-time fandom friend of ours has published her first original short story in an erotic fantasy anthology from Circlet Press called What Happens in the Tavern Stays in the Tavern. Her story is “The Place Where Heroes Are Made, by Sarah Ellis, and having read and enjoyed her fandom writing for years, I can vouch for the quality of her work!

I’m also really enjoying the Warriors of Rome collection from Riptide Publishing, which features a story by Sam Starbuck, whose writing (fandom and original) I’ve also enjoyed for years. Sam’s contribution is “The City War”, and you can get that story along with the other stories in the collection individually or bundled together.

These would make excellent reading while bundled up in a cozy chair with a cup of tea.

Holiday baking

Yesterday, Ari and I guest-blogged on Torquere Press’ Romance For the Rest of Us blog, and we both wrote about our holiday traditions. I thought I’d cross-post my contribution here.

***

Hello! I’m the McKay half of “Ari McKay” (with thanks to Ari for posting this on my behalf), here to share my contribution to the blog. Unlike Ari, I don’t have a significant other, children, or siblings, and my extended family isn’t particularly close, so I don’t have family-oriented traditions per se.

My own personal tradition, however, is holiday baking. We don’t have a big family gathering anymore, so I can’t pull out all the stops like I used to, but I still bake bread and cookies to give to friends and colleagues. It gives me an excuse to pore over my cookbooks (some might say I have too many, but I contend there’s no such thing) and select at least one or two new recipes to try in addition to the old favorites.

Last year, I came across a recipe for Red Velvet Whoopie Pies that I made and took to a gathering at work; the minty-sweet cookies earned major kudos from my colleagues, so they’ve been added permanently to the holiday baking roster.

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 1 oz bottle of red food coloring (2 tbsp)

Preheat oven to 375. Beat the 1/2 cup butter with an electric mixer on medium to high for 30 seconds. Add the brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping bowl occasionally. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Alternately add flour and buttermilk, beating on low after each addition just until mixture are combined. Stir in red food coloring.

Place rounded teaspoons of dough 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake 7-9 minutes or until edges are set. Cool on cookie sheet 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Spread peppermint cream cheese frosting on bottom half of half of the cookies; top with the remaining half, flat sides down, pressing lightly together.

Peppermint cream cheese frosting:

Combine 2 three ounce packages of cream cheese (softened) with 3 tbsp butter (softened), and 1/2 tsp peppermint extract. Beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in 3 cups powdered sugar. Add milk if necessary to make it spreading consistency.

However, one of my personal favorites is a recipe that’s been on my holiday baking roster for about five years: Peanut Butter Pumpkin Bread. This bread is ridiculously good, and you can eat a slice by itself with a cup of hot tea or cocoa, or you can slather some Nutella and sliced bananas on it to make a sandwich.

Peanut Butter Pumpkin Bread: 

3 cups sugar

1 can (15 oz) solid-pack pumpkin (not pie filling)

4 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup water

2/3 cup peanut butter

3 1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil, water, and peanut butter; beat well. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Gradually pour into the pumpkin mixture; mix well. Pour into 2 greased 9x5x3 inch loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire rack.

Enjoy!

This year, Ari and I are starting what we hope will become a tradition for us together: writing a holiday story for Torquere Press. “Santa’s Naughty Helper” will be released on December 19, and we had a lot of fun writing it! It’s a light romantic comedy about a man who uses a secret gift exchange as a means of wooing his long-term crush.

Success!!!!

McKay and I just received word that Dreamspinner Press has accepted our novel “Heart of Stone” for publication!  We’re so very, very excited, because this will be our first actual PRINTED BOOK! I know it’s probably old fashioned of me, but there is a part of me that has really, really wanted us to be in print to feel as though we are “real” authors!

Heart of Stone is a little different for us – it is a historical M/M romance, set in 1890s Nevada. I won’t say too much yet, but we were really proud of the work and we’re so happy it will be printed!