Leta Blake's Blog, page 85

The Light Princess #thelightprincess #toriamos #theater

What things does Leta love?

Tori Amos? CHECK

The Light Princess? CHECK. (In fact, I love it so much that Keira and I based our first m/m fairy tale, Earthly Desires, on the story. One prince floats, the other is bound to the earth.)

Musicals? CHECK

Angsty Love? CHECK

My beloved people, clearly I am meant to travel to London to see this at the National Theater! Clearly. Now, someone just convince my bank account of that!

Once, in opposing kingdoms lived a princess and a prince who had lost their mothers. Althea, unable to cry, became light with grief and floated, and so was locked away. Digby became so heavy-hearted that he could never smile, and so was trained as a warrior.

One day, he declares war. Althea is forced out of hiding and down to ground but, in defiance of her father, she escapes, only to encounter the solemn prince on contested land. Beside a lake the warring heirs begin a passionate and illicit affair. But for Althea to find real love, she must first confront the world’s darkness and face her own deepest fears.

I am truly, ridiculously excited by this! I cannot wait to see it! It’s starring the gorgeous Rosalie Craig! And Clive Rowe! I hear good things about them!

Just found a video of Rosalie singing old skool Tori. Interesting. It gets pretty dang good midway through. Hmmm.

Pat & Billy are GETTING MARRIED! #vlog #gay #marriage

A friend of mine suggested to me that I watch Pat & Billy vlogs on YouTube awhile back when I was having a bad day. She guaranteed that these videos would cheer me up and bring me joy. Oh my gosh, you guys, seriously, these vids have become my absolute go-to videos for feeling good.

So, let me walk you through some highlights so you can also fall in love with them and start to follow them on YouTube (and Twitter and Instagram) like I have. *cough*

1. How they met which is a charming, wonderful, sweet, and awwww-my-heart story. (Though please ignore the one moment of ableism which they at least seemed to catch and cut off quickly.)

2. How they got engaged. Loved it because it was realistic and not some over-the-top story of full-on dance numbers and hot air balloon rides.

3. Their discussion of PDA and if they do PDA and why or why not.

4. Will they take each other’s last name? This one isn’t so much darling as just really interesting. As a woman, I had so many of these same issues when I got married. I liked seeing dudes struggle with this.

5. And they answer with charm and hilarious adorableness the really annoying question of “Who is the bride?”

6. Pat and Billy react to the many outraged reactions to their announcement that they were not going to have a traditional tiered wedding cake. Hilarious! Adorable! Too cute!

Now, admit it! You love them, too! Go forth and follow them on social media far and wide! Do not follow them in person, though, because that’s creepy.

We Need Worlds Free of Prejudice to Play In #trockadero #ballet #fairytales #mmromance #kindle

The beautiful swan.

In June, I was lucky enough to see the male ballet corps, Trockadero de Monte Carlo. To quote a YouTube user named MozartGirl1756: The Trocks are trying to tell the world that you don’t need to have giant sticks up your ass, noses up in the air and serious for it to be this to be wonderful art form. They’re all amazing and talented dancers who are doing what they love, doing it beautifully AND showing us that ballet isn’t a stuffy form of entertainment.

What I found most amazing about seeing them was how, yes, as you’ll hear in the videos below, there was always a bit of laughter and comedy, but there were also times when the audience would go so still and quiet, emotionally absorbed by the beautiful dancing and the story playing out before them.

Here is a beautiful video of Swan Lake as performed by Trockadero de Monte Carlo:

Another video:

Seeing them, I was reminded of the Chorus Line song, “At the Ballet”, because, yes, everyone is beautiful at the ballet, every prince must have his swan, and the fact that the dancers are male and covered in chest and armpit hair make them no less beautiful. It was a real treat and I’d like to thank my friend, Pun, for taking me to the show.

Today I’m OVER HERE talking more about Trockadero de Monte Carlo, ballets, and how fairy tales and certain other stories can provide us with a world free of difficult, realistic baggage so that we can explore emotional touchstones in a more open-minded, open-hearted way.

Wow, that sounds super wanky. Go read and let me know if it’s wanky as it sounds. LOL!

As a reminder, Love’s Nest is available on Amazon now. Barnes & Noble and Sony are coming soon! It’s also up on Goodreads where you can mark it as “wanna read” or rate it if you’ve read it already! Hooray!

Love’s Nest Now Available on Amazon! #kindle #amreading #gay #mmromance #fairytale

Hooray! We are live on Amazon! Love’s Nest is there waiting to fulfill your Kindle’s sexy fairy tale needs! Because, seriously, who doesn’t need some hot gay fairies on their Kindle?

Cover by Dar Albert.

7/7/7 – Falling

The lovable Skylar M. Cates also tagged me for this game. A few days ago, I answered Amelia’s tag with some paragraphs from the recently released Love’s Nest. Yesterday, I answered Kade’s tag with some paragraphs from a current work in progress called Everything Is Yes. And today, I’ll answer Skylar’s tag with the opening scene of another work in progress currently titled Falling.

The rules: Go to Page 7, 70, or 170 of a current Work in Progress or recently published work and choose either the first complete paragraph or 7 lines of dialogue to share. Paste to FB and tag 7 other authors to do the same.

***

Angel wings aren’t easy to fold into the shape of human scapulae. But Michael is accustomed to the strain and hardly breaks a sweat. He forces the long primaries to bend into the upper wing coverts, and then, in moves like feathered origami, he tucks it all in again, before smoothing them under flawless human skin.

He glances in the modest hotel room’s bathroom mirror and pulls on the dark brown shirt that will set off his eyes, before running a hand through his blond, curly hair. The light of his angelic grace glows from his pores, too bright to escape notice, and with a small exertion of will he tamps it back.

Though human form is confining and uncomfortable, the time has long passed when dropping down in a blaze of angelic righteousness was appropriate. Now covert operations pay the dividends of souls delivered from jeopardy. Even if Michael’s skin feels too tight, and his wings are already aching, protection is his business and discomfort is a small sacrifice.

After tightening the laces on the leather, soft-soled Clarks he keeps for nights of trawling the bars of Mercy Street, he kneels by the sliding glass door of the balcony and looks up at the stars peeking out in the night sky. It’s a fallacy that heaven is up there somewhere. Heaven is everywhere all at once, and yet when Michael dons human skin, he finds his eyes drawn to the sky when he prays.

He rises. Time to go.

***

Cup o’ Porn – Friday Free For All – Love’s Nest Raffle! #free #ebook

At Cup o’ Porn today, Keira and I are offering up a free copy of our latest sexy fairy tale, Love’s Nest, in a random raffle! To participate click HERE!

For more information about Love’s Nest, and to determine if it’s a book you’d be interested in winning, please check out these blog posts:

1. Love’s Nest Release Day! It has a blurb and additional information about this sexy fairy tale. Gotta love hot gay fairies!

2. Love’s Nest 7/7/7 which has a small excerpt from the book.

3. The Next Big Thing which talks about the inspiration for Love’s Nest!

And I’ll include some of that imagery below, too.

So, head on over to Cup o’ Porn and sign in for the raffle to win Love’s Nest!

7/7/7 – Everything Is Yes

The amazing Kade Boehme also tagged me for this game. Yesterday, I answered Amelia’s tag with some paragraphs from the recently released Love’s Nest.  Today, I’ll answer Kade’s tag with some paragraphs from a current work in progress.

The rules:  Go to Page 7, 70, or 170 of a current Work in Progress or recently published work and choose either the first complete paragraph or 7 lines of dialogue to share. Paste to FB and tag 7 other authors to do the same.

Here are ten paragraphs from Everything Is Yes, a short story about diving into risk and fear. (Seven paragraphs didn’t seem to really capture the moment, so I broke the rules.)

***

He’d had the dreams his whole life, and they’d only ever stopped during his brief affair with David. At the time, Alex had thought it was because he’d discovered the truth about sex—it was fun, it was sometimes really good, but it was pedestrian, common, and every day.

He really wanted the kind of sex that transformed him—a phoenix from the flames.

“Yeah, that’s not how sex works,” Mandy said over her vodka tonic.

“Not with David, not with just anybody,” Alex admitted. His mind tumbled back into the dream he’d had the night before—strong arms, bristles from an unshaven face, darkness, and big hands. He’d given himself up to it entirely, body and soul, handing over his life to the hands of his partner, with no clear sense whether or not he’d get it back. “But when he comes for me, it will.”

“When who comes for you?”

“The man who makes me burn for him.” Alex always tried to remember what the man looked like, but he never could—he was just sound and touch. There was no face to search for in a crowded bar.

“You are so drunk,” Mandy replied.

And he was. But he still waited for the man who would set him aflame.

Mandy had never mentioned their conversation again, and Alex suspected she’d been too wasted to remember it. But when she harassed him to get laid, or when Alex pretended to ask himself just what was he waiting for—deep down he knew it was the dream man.

But now someone was reaching out into uncertainty, hoping by chance an answering hand— his hand—would reach back and grab hold.

***

Fanwork Friday: Still

I haven’t been doing Fanfic Friday for awhile because I’ve been on a Tumblr fast for some time now. But a friend of mine sent me this gorgeous video and I had to share. It’s just so dang pretty.

7/7/7 – Love’s Nest by Leta Blake & Keira Andrews

The awesome Amelia Gormley  tagged me for this game.

The rules:  Go to Page 7, 70, or 170 of a current Work in Progress or recently published work and choose either the first complete paragraph or 7 lines of dialogue to share. Paste to FB and tag 7 other authors to do the same.

Here are seven paragraphs from page 70 of Love’s Nest, released yesterday, and soon to be available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sony, and other online stores.

***

Cover by Dar Albert.

“While it’s true that what I do know I’m enamored of, I fear these feelings are based in something not entirely real.”

Ópalo looked queasy. The birds clicked and made barking noises of agitation.

Mateo swallowed against the odd sense that he was telling a lie, even though every word he said was true.

“This is real. And I believe you will choose it. You will choose me.” Ópalo’s hands shook, but he seemed convinced of his own words.

The shimmer of Ópalo’s eyes pulled at Mateo. He felt rather convinced himself, which was deliriously ridiculous and deliciously reassuring all at once. Still, he couldn’t keep his mind from supplying an argument. “For all your talk of choice, telling me not to eat the fairy cakes so I can be completely free to come and go as I like, where is your own choice in all of this?”

“What do you mean?”

“Only that you’ve waited for your ‘bride’ your whole life, and now that I’ve arrived, you’ve accepted me without a second thought. How can you be so certain I’m the man for you? You might not even like me once you’ve known me more than a day or two.”

***

Love’s Nest is inspired by The Twelve Dancing Princesses and explores, in part, the function of destiny in fairy tales, especially when one of the heroes doesn’t believe in fate or love at first sight.

Love’s Nest! Release Day is Here!

Cover by Dar Albert.

Love’s Nest is here! Whoot, whoot! Let’s all dance!!

This third book in the Tempting Tales series is currently available at Ellora’s Cave and coming soon to Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Sony, All Romance eBooks and more. Also, be sure to check it out and add to your Wanna Read list at Goodreads!

***

Love’s Nest is based on the fairy tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses. You can read more about the inspiration for the story here in my The Next Big Thing Blog Hop post.

Also, I’d like to say that somehow we managed to get this thing published without any front material. We shall look into fixing that. In the meantime, we’d like to enthusiastically and publicly thank Alejandra for her awesome help in making sure the Spanish words in the book were used accurately and with all the right accent marks! And for giving additional feedback and help on the book! We’d also like to thank Alice for her feedback on the earlier drafts.

And I’d like to dedicate this book to Jed, who is my bird, my best friend, and who loved this book more than I did, probably. I’d like to thank her for her help, her friendship, and for patiently listening to me babble about books for hours. This book was written  for her. There is another book that is being finished because of her, but this was for her, and so I’m glad she loves it as much as she does.

Cover by Dar Albert.

There’s no greater mystery in the kingdom than how Prince Mateo’s sisters wear out their shoes each night while locked away in their chambers. Using old magic, Mateo discovers their secret and follows them through a portal to an enchanted world of fairies and lusty delights. Ópalo has waited years for his male human, and he knows Mateo is his destiny. Mateo soon succumbs to the pleasures of the flesh, but as their worlds collide, Ópalo has to risk everything to win his man forever.

A Romantica® male/male erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave