Susan Mac Nicol's Blog, page 19

LGBTQ PUSH BACK!

Sarah Madison puts it so eloquently, so my friend, I hope you don’t mind that I copied this bit from your wonderful blog post :) I’m currently in London at the British Book Fair and not near my PC.

Authors Kate Aaron and AJ Rose have teamed up with reader/writer/blogger Meredith King at DiverseReader to host a very special giveaway. They’ve invited over 200 LGBTQ authors to donate books to a massive Rafflecopter giveaway at DiverseReader starting Saturday April 18th at 9 am EST and running through 11:59 pm EST on May 1st. I’ll be joining this list, and offering an e-copy (reader’s choice) of one of my stories. Readers will have a chance to win an ebook if they donate $5 to a deserving LGBT charity or share a charity donation link.

Take a look at the details on the link below…. all help is appreciated. Thank you.

http://diversereader.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/lgbtq-push-back-charity-giveaway.html

Andrew Q. Gordon – The Eye and The Arm – Blog Tour

 

I’m as pleased as punch to welcome Andy back to my blog again. It hasn’t been all that long since he visited me before but he’s always a very welcome visitor. I am thrilled to see he has a new release, which came out on the 14th April, and I’m holding thumbs, fingers and toes that it will do very well for him. He deserves it.

Andy has a wonderful give-away going on and below you can see the hauntingly beautiful cover and read all about the second book in his Champion of the Gods series. I hosted Andy when he had the blog tour for his first book, The Last Grand Master.

So now we have the intriguingly titled, ‘The Eye and The Arm’ with its simply stunning cover

 

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

Title: The Eye And The Arm

Series: Champion of the Gods #2

Author: Andrew Q. Gordon

Length: 99,775 words/296 Pages

Release Date: April 14, 2015

Blurb: Champion of the Gods: Book Two

After defeating Meglar at Belsport, Farrell returns to Haven to recover from his injuries, but Khron, the god of war, has other ideas. He gives Farrell a new mission: free the survivors of the ancient dwarf realm of Trellham from their three-thousand-year banishment. To fulfill Khron’s near impossible task, Farrell will need the help of his distance ancestor, the legendary wizard Kel. But Kel has been dead for a thousand years.

Farrell finds information hinting that Kel is alive, so he moves his search to Dumbarten, Kel’s birthplace. To reach Dumbarten unannounced, Farrell and Miceral disguise themselves as mercenaries on board a merchant vessel. Their journey is disrupted when pirates attack their ship. While attempting to subdue the attack, Farrell is struck down by one of Meglar’s minions.

Unconscious and trapped in his own mind, Farrell’s only chance for survival rests with Miceral and the peregrine king Rothdin entering his thoughts and helping him sort fact from illusion. To reach Farrell, they will need to rely on an untested spell from one of Kel’s spellbooks. If they succeed, Miceral can guide Farrell home safely. If not, Farrell will destroy not only himself, but Miceral, Rothdin, and everyone around him.

Excerpt

Farrell pointed toward a set of massive doors, held shut by several slabs of stone, each wider than a man was tall. Hallways similar to the one they used radiated around each side of the entrance. “Come on, what we really came to see is this way.”

Farrell led them to a wide avenue directly opposite the doors. Flanked by ten-foot statues of heavily armed dwarves, the portal felt anything but welcoming.

“This place is amazing.” Miceral touched the cool stone almost reverently. “My people lived in Northhelm almost three millennia, and we never achieved anything close to this.”

“This?” Farrell’s amusement leeched into his voice. “You haven’t begun to scratch the surface of amazing.”

Their steps echoed around them as they passed dozens of stone sentries carved with such detail, Farrell expected them to leap off their perches and challenge his admittance. The air felt cooler moments before the tunnel opened on all sides. Their path ended a couple of steps beyond the tunnel, leaving them looking down on an open space. Stairs leading up and down stood empty on both sides. The small globe created tiny twinkles as it flickered over Farrell’s shoulder, but otherwise failed to illuminate more than a few feet beyond the pair.

“Give me your hand. It’s easier to fly than walk from here.”

Miceral’s warm hand touched his, and he laced their fingers together. Slowly, Farrell pulled them off the platform and into the emptiness below. They passed a column as wide as their bedroom, drawing a whistle from Miceral.

“Let me light our way a bit better.” Feeding his globe more energy, he sent the rapidly expanding ball higher. Beyond his sphere, a dim point of light appeared, getting brighter as the globe approached. A heartbeat later, an enormous flash blinded the pair.

Farrell felt Miceral’s hand nearly crush his before the pressure eased back. “Honorus’s balls, Farrell, you could have warned me.”

“Sorry. It’s been a while and I forgot how bright the flash is.”

“What just happened?”

Farrell smiled and swept his arm around the now lit cavern. Visible below, a city larger than Belsport sat in eerie silence. Wide boulevards ran straight and true north/south and east/west, creating perfect grids filled with low stone buildings. A hundred feet above the floor, an empty balcony ringed the entire cavern. Rows of windows stretched skyward, reaching at least a third of the way to the ceiling.

Across from them, at the far end of the city, a wide swath of ground sat empty and unused. Above this open space, temples to the gods stood lonely watch over the abandoned city.

“How’s this for amazing?” Farrell asked.

The smile Miceral flashed him said more than words. “Beyond anything I’ve ever imagined. I can’t believe you kept this from me this long.”

“Hey”—he moved the pair westward toward the temples—“I need to keep a few surprises or else you’ll tire of me before long.”

Leaning over, he kissed Farrell’s cheek. “Never happen.”

Fumbling for a comeback, Farrell pointed up. “To answer your earlier question about the light, there’s an incredible crystal in the roof of this chamber. It is massive, easily bigger than our entire suite. The crystal collects and stores light, then amplifies it before releasing it slowly. My little ball of light will fuel the crystal for weeks if I don’t turn it off.”

 

BUY LINKS

DSPP Link  

Amazon Link  

Amazon UK Link  

Are Omnilit Link

 

 

 

TOUR SCHEDULE

April 14: Man2ManTastic || The Purple Rose Tea House

April 15: Anne Barwell

April 16: Cate Ashwood

April 17: Author Susan Mac Nicol

April 20: Divine Magazine || Gay.Guy.Reading and Friends

April 21: Love Bytes Reviews || Elisa – My Reviews and Ramblings

April 22: Nic Starr || Diverse Reader

April 23: Prism Book Alliance || Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents

April 24: BFD Book Blog || MM Good Book Reviews

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andrew Q. Gordon wrote his first story back when yellow legal pads, ball point pens were common and a Smith Corona correctable typewriter was considered high tech. Adapting with technology, he now takes his MacBook somewhere quiet when he wants to write.

He currently lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his partner of eighteen years, their young daughter and dog.  In addition to dodging some very self-important D.C. ‘insiders’, Andrew uses his commute to catch up on his reading. When not working or writing, he enjoys soccer, high fantasy, baseball and seeing how much coffee he can drink in a day and not get the shakes.

Follow Andrew:

On Facebook

On Twitter

Or just email him

GIVEAWAY

FIVE Winners will win one e-copy of ANY book* each from DSP Publication’s backlist.

*Giveaway is of any currently released DSPP book, which excludes the books that are on pre-order and “The Eye And The Arm”.

Rafflecopter Link

 

 

The Fiverr Report on Melissa Foster – Fake Reviews, Fake Awards, Fake Everything

susanmacnicol:

As an author I can’t condone this sort of thing. Either a reader likes reading my books, and buys another one, and hopefully leaves a review, good or bad, or they don’t. I’ll always be poor because I’m honest and trying to make my living as an author on the strength of my writing talent and marketing skills alone. I have a readership and I love each and every one of them. That’s enough for me. Bread and water ? I’ll eat and drink that rather than make thousands unethically :)

Originally posted on Amazon Alert: Your Guide to Unethical Authors:

From five-report.blogger.com Which is worse, a desperate self-published author named Melissa Foster buying reviews “as fast as you can provide them” or a professionally published author named JA Konrath trying to buy 10000-packs of ratings? Because while I worked undercover, I saw it all.

My job was to facilitate. Connect those wanting reviews with those writing reviews. As a former marketing executive, I was a natural for the role, as I facilitated I recorded every dirty detail for Zon Alert.

One of the worst offenders was Melissa Foster who purchased over 250 reviews, as determined by reviews received from for-pay review writers. But that alone doesn’t make Melissa Foster one of the worst. What made her the worst is that her 250 review purchases were only the beginning as many of Fiverr’s paid reviewers also worked for other paid review companies.

By connecting the other Melissa Foster reviews these reviewers…

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Attention all LGBTQ authors out there….

ATTENTION LGBTQ AUTHORS

It sickens me that a pizza place that discriminates against gay couples can actually have money raised for it the way it has. Really ? I understand people have choices but when it comes to actively discriminating against a certain part of the human race, I have a teensy bit of an issue, right or wrong. Call me human. That’s probably not very PC but then that’s something I – am – not

Anyway some of us have decided to fight back and join fellow authors in trying to reverse the trend.This is something that’s happening at the moment….via Kate Aaron and others. There’s no pressure but I thought I’d bring it to every LGBTQ authors attention as in this they do have a choice – to participate or not, completely as they wish.

Beep Beep-message begins

In the wake of the passing of the Indiana Religious Freedom and Restoration Act, a fundraiser set up to support a family who think it’s their “right” to refuse service to LGBT customers has raised almost $1 million.

Unfortunately, a pro-LGBT counter-fundraiser hasn’t got nearly the same traction. It’s one thing to tweet our outrage, or share a link on Facebook to an article. It’s another matter entirely to put our money where our mouths are.

Some of us are gathering up all the authors we know who write about love in whatever form it takes to take a stand as a collective community. Together we can reach hundreds if not thousands of readers, and we’d like to offer them the chance to win an ebook if they donate $5 to a deserving LGBT charity or share charity links across their social networks.

THE REQUEST TO AUTHORS

Can you spare a copy of an ebook (reader’s choice works best, but we know some authors have publisher restrictions) for a worthy winner as incentive for them to donate? We need to hear back by Saturday, April 11th, for a blog post going up on 18th April at

http://diversereader.blogspot.com

announcing the giveaway and the reason behind the fundraiser.

The day of the post, all we ask is that you share the link on your various social media to alert your fans of the opportunity, and when the deadline for the giveaway passes, we’ll email you the name of your winner and their email so you can contact them about their prize. It’s easy, hosted in one place for readers to follow and enter, and will show that we mean business.

LGBT people aren’t going anywhere, and our allies have loud voices. Let’s use them.

Beep Beep- message ends.

Diverse Reader

diversereader.blogspot.com

It’s alive Igor! It’s ALIVE!

susanmacnicol:

My friend Duncan Swallow has a story included in this anthology. Its a quirky, fun, and fascinating collection of tales by some great writers. Love the cover too. Take a look, see if anything tickles your fancy.

Originally posted on nobodysreadingme:

Hot off the press.

For Whom the Bell Trolls: Tales of Terror, Triumph & Trolls

View original

There’s a new LGBT publisher in town….

I am proud to announce that I’m a small part of a new publishing venture that’s about to hit the streets.

This is our mantra…

We include all types of works about gay men,whether it be relationships written by gay men/women or straight, it doesn’t matter. The focus is romance, crime, mystery, paranormal with a gay theme (because after all, it’s perfectly normal right; it shouldn’t be set apart because its about two men together!) rather than gay romance, gay mystery, gay thriller etc…. It means someone buys it for the story it offers. We strive to have this kind of reaction: ‘Oh my God! That’s such a great thriller, and you know what, it’s got two guys in it, but wow! it’s a fab book!’ That way you get the best of both – the hard-core readers who only buy gay romance and perhaps some others who buy it despite the fact it has two gay guys.

I mean, come on, what’s sexier than two men falling in love and having hot, steamy sex and building their relationship the way a relationship should be built- with understanding, a bit of give and take, love and of course, passion :)

The official launch for this venture is today, the 5th January 2015. You can read all about us here on the website and I’ve also included other links for people so they can find us wherever they look. In today’s world of social media being King and Queen, it pays to be everywhere you can.

Facebook Page

Twitter

Website

Google+ : CooldudesPublishing MM Romance

Pinterest : http://www.pinterest.com/cdgaypub

You Tube : CooldudesPublishing MM Romance

 

Please pop down and take a look at what we offer and hopefully, we can all be part of something fresh and new and to me, very exciting….

 

 

2014 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 9,400 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

52 First Dates and author A. Lusch

Algenon Lusch is a good, personal friend of mine. We met via Twitter one night when I saw a tweet he was going to visit his boyfriend in Canada, got chatting, found he lived in the UK not far from me and arranged, finally, to meet up. My husband was a bit wary because I have a habit of meeting strange people, either other authors or fans, and I think he’s worried that one day I will end up chopped up as sushi for some needy family. They could do worse – there’s enough of me to feed them for, like, a year. But I have rules. Always meet in public places, buy my own drinks and take a sneaky picture of them and upload to my Google Pictures account so if I do go missing, my family know what they look like and who I was last seen with.

I’d like to think Algernon and I hit it off and we’ve been friends ever since. I went to his wedding this year when he married said boyfriend from Canada. True fairy tale ending. He had this crazy plan about finding a husband by dating different men one week at one a time and it certainly paid off. This plan is contained in his series of books called 52 First Dates. He’s just released the fourth one in the series, and I have just one clicked. I have no doubt I’ll enjoy it as I always do.

 

It got me to thinking about how other gay men found their life partners. I wrote this post about a man called Ted Hayes and his partner Jack a while ago and this really brings home the power of love over all else.

Ted and Jack

It was a beautiful story indeed and transcended all the bigotry and small mindedness to create a relationship that will filled with love until the day it ended.

But I digress. We were talking about Algenon. These are his other books in the series, and I can heartily recommend starting at book 1 and then working your way through them. They are funny, blunt, sexy and truthful account of one’s man plan to find that all elusive partner and having a lot of fun in the process. Do yourself a favour and try them out. They aren’t heavy reading, just a hot, light hearted and truthful romp through a gay man’s sex life and I’m sure they will keep you entertained.

 

Here is the buy link for A. Lusch’s Amazon Author Page where you can buy the series.

A. Lusch – Amazon UK

A.Lusch -Amazon US

I’d like to wish him all the very best for this latest release and if you love me at all, you’ll support him too…*gives everyone big puppy dog blue eyes’. No pressure…unless…substitute me for Elmo and you’ll figure it out.

 

 

 

 

Goodreads M/M Members Choice Awards 2014

I’m really chuffed to announce that all of my M/M releases published from November 2013 to 31 October 2014 have been nominated in various categories in the Goodreads Member Choices Awards. It’s a wonderful thing to simply be nominated and as always, may the best man or woman, based on reader votes, win. There is some incredible competition and I for one am honoured to be in the listing.

Goodreads M/M Group Member Choice Awards

These are the categories and the books -

Worth Keeping   – Best Hurt/Comfort and Best Book of the Year

Waiting for Rain – Best Contemporary/Mainstream and Best Cover Art and Favorite All Time M/M Romance

Double Alchemy – Best Paranormal

Love and Punishment – Best Action/Suspense and Best Mystery/Whodunit

Love You Senseless – Best Contemporary/Mainstream

Favorite All Time M/M Author – ahem. Someone saw fit to add my name and I’m so thrilled.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s some wonderful fan art that readers made for these books…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I said, I’m hugely honoured to have my stories nominated and if you feel like voting for me or any of these titles, you need to be a member of Goodreads and also join the M/M Group which can be located here :

Goodreads M/M Group Member Choice Awards

Happy voting !!

 

 

Sex Positivity Blog Hop 9 November – 22 November

 

This is what Grace had to say on this subject and I completely agree with her…

There is so much negativity surrounding sex. It’s used to sell everything from ice cream to cars and everything in between, but when it comes to discussing it, that’s a huge taboo. And yet, if it’s mentioned in a positive light, that it’s okay to like sex, that you want to have a lot of it (with or without multiple partners), it suddenly becomes the worst thing in the world. This hop is intended to counter that. Whether you write fiction and want to discuss how it works in your writing or if you are a blogger who reads about it. Maybe you’re just a person who’s been on the bad side of slut or kink shaming. Or you’ve been targeted because you like/watch/read/participate in porn. Whatever the case, this hop is meant to help give voice to these things, the problems they cause and what we might want to see different.

http://www.grace-duncan.com/sex-positivity-blog-hop/

The topic for this blog hop is sex positive. Now, there are all sorts of definitions out there as to what this means but I’m going to go with my own. It simply means that sex and having sex should be a positive experience and it should enjoyable. I don’t think it’s any more sinister than this.

To me these are the attributes of having a sex positive lifestyle for anyone -

Know what you want. Whether it’s a man, a woman, and whether you are a man or a woman, you have the right to determine who you want to have sex with or make love with, for yourself, regardless of gender. No one can tell you otherwise. While it might be difficult, it is your choice. Of course sometimes society will tell you otherwise. Family might tell you otherwise. Hell, complete bloody strangers may tell you otherwise! And I would never downplay the prejudice and bigotry that people who want to be different to the norm face every single day. It’s not easy. You have to believe though  in yourself, that you are not tainted, a freak or any other label people might throw your way. You are who you are.

Having sex is healthy but only if you want to. Not having sex is also good for you if that’s the way you feel. Don’t feel pressured into being sexual with anyone until you’re ready. You deserve to be able to decide when this happens.

Sex is not always the way you see in the movies or in porn films, or read about in books. Sex can be disappointing, painful and unfulfilling in the wrong circumstances, or with the wrong person. Even with the right person, it isn’t always ecstatic sex faces and mind blowing orgasms. Don’t believe that every woman gets an orgasm from penetration, that every gay man can give a blow job, that in every relationship there is a top and a bottom. Don’t believe that you should have a six pack, be a size 38DD bra size, or have a dick like an elephant. Sex is what you as a couple, or a threesome, or even a foursome, want it to be without it being idealised and compared to what you might see portrayed in the idealistic world of romance novels and television. If it feels good and you both, or all, enjoy it, that’s what counts. Don’t expect to be perfect.

The things which are definitely not sex positive. I wouldn’t ever condone sex with animals or dead bodies or under age children or a myriad of other illegal and unethical and immoral practices. We have laws in place for a good reason to ensure the protection of others, even if it is a chicken. Having said that….

Consensual = sex positive. Kinks, BDSM, water sports, puppy play, fetishes of all types – whatever you and your consenting other/s want to do- as long as you’re all in agreement, anything could be possible. Keep it safe, consensual and of course, fun. Judging others on how they conduct their lives and in particular, their sex lives and who they have sex with, is what gets this old world of ours into trouble every day.

In short, be comfortable with who you are, respect the people you’re in a relationship with, don’t believe you have to meet the expectations of how sex and love making is portrayed in the media of books and film and above all – have fun, enjoy yourself and let your bodies, and your emotions, do all the talking. Life is too short for regrets and we only have one of them. Life I mean- we’re all realistic enough to know we’ll have more than a few regrets.

To check out what the other bloggers have to say, follow the link below

Blogger Sites

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GIVEAWAY !!

To celebrate this blog hop, I’m giving away an e-book copies to two lucky participants –  one of my M/M books – Stripped Bare, Saving Alexander,  Worth Keeping, Double Alchemy, Double Alchemy-Climax, Waiting for Rain, Love and Punishment or Love You Senseless. Two lucky winners, drawn at random, will win their choice of a book.

You only have to leave a comment with your choice of villain to enter this giveaway. If you wanted to follow me around on my travels and book writing endeavours, then my links are below. It’s entirely up to you :)

Follow my blog at http://susanmacnicol.wordpress.com

Follow me on Twitter @SusanMacNicol7

Connect with me on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/susiemax77

You can find me here too – http://www.susanmacnicol.com/

Check out all my books on Amazon – Susan Mac Nicol’s Books

Once the blog hop is over, the random winners will be drawn and announced here on my blog. I’ll also contact you via email. In your comment, leave me the following -

Your email address -Very Important!

Preference for which one of my books you fancy if you have one

If you want to tell me what e-book format you’d prefer if you win, feel free.

And most of all – thanks for stopping by, participating and making contact. I really appreciate you all taking the time to pop in.

Oh and you might like to check out my Man Candy section on the right. I’m sure you’ll find something there to take your fancy :)