Hollis Shiloh's Blog, page 6
October 1, 2018
Love Like A Poem
Love Like A Poemby Hollis Shiloh
John spends his days travelling from town to town, a lonely trader who's accepted his loneliness and expects nothing more from life. Then one day he meets an odd, sweet man wandering the lane, a man who's forgotten who he is but who loves books as much as John. John knows it's a bad idea to get involved, but the gentle, clever man is nearly irresistible—and Harris is attracted to John, too. Soon it doesn't matter who he used to be, or what happened in his past, as long as it can't take Harris away from him.
10,570 words *Previously a Patreon reward
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If you need a review copy please let me know, also what format you prefer. :-)
Note: This month's Patreon short story will be going out shortly. (Ha ha.) After that, there will be some changes to the Patreon...
September 13, 2018
A Husband for Steel and Blood
A Husband for Steel and Blood by Hollis Shiloh
When a young girl implores Edgar Finch to marry her older brother because "Charlie is unhappy," Edgar is at first amused. But Charlie is nephew to the horribly abusive Lord Fitzhannon, whom Edgar has set himself against, and the lad is suffering under Fitzhannon's cruelty.
Marriage is not in Edgar's plans, but he'll save the lad if he can—and marriage may be his one shot. Charlie is nineteen, wild and wounded, and extraordinarily beautiful. The marriage of convenience to Edgar is just what he needs to get free of his awful uncle, and to protect his innocent little sisters.
A rocky alliance between Edgar and Charlie grows into something more companionable, from reluctantly relying on one another to trusting and warm. But Edgar's heart is set on revenge against Fitzhannon, who is responsible for the death of the only man he ever loved. Nothing must get in his way.
He would rather not drag his young husband down with him, much less develop feelings for the brat. Now, if only Charlie would have the good sense not to fall in love with him...
37,500 words
A "Marrying Men" story. These pseudo-historical tales feature men marrying one another in various worlds and ways. Happy ending are to be expected.
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If you need a review copy please let me know, also what format you prefer. :-)
September 6, 2018
A Fox Hunted
August 22, 2018
A Marriage Plot (Marrying Men #2)
A Marriage PlotHollis Shiloh
Prince Jeremy must marry within the month or lose the throne. He would much rather not be king, but if he must, then he will go about it in the least convenient way possible for the council: holding an open call for a man to marry. Not everything is as it seems, and there are plans within plans. But sometimes even princes get caught in their own clever little plots.
15,000 words
A "Marrying Men" story. These pseudo-historical tales feature men marrying one another in various worlds and ways. Happy ending are to be expected.
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I've added a coupon code to Payhip for 30% off anything: F5TXGGEGXP
It's good till the end of October, so no rush.
(Also I'm thinking about making the first of my ESRB books free everywhere, if that works out.)
August 17, 2018
bumps in the road
The last few months have been full of challenges. Illness, depression, writing fatigue, world events, family issues, money issues, struggling to be creative, and general health stuff.
The other day I had a car accident. I am OK (painful bruises, though).
Anyway, life has had some "interesting" curveballs for me this year. I'm doing my best. Through it all, I'm always working on one story or another (or editing).
Taxes are a bit of a burden. The inherent instability of doing something creative as a business has some stress with it. I'm still passionate about writing, and try to get my stories out in a timely manner.
I'm probably going to change the Patreon; a short story a month is taking away from my longer (and better paying) work. I have to consider money; I don't have endless time and energy and creativity. I need to focus where it will be the most valued.
Still figuring it all out. Hanging in there. Not giving up--but there have been some challenges. Now I'm going to shuffle out to the kitchen, drink some cold brew coffee, and look out the window at the sunflowers growing in my garden--and count my blessings.
-Hollis
The other day I had a car accident. I am OK (painful bruises, though).
Anyway, life has had some "interesting" curveballs for me this year. I'm doing my best. Through it all, I'm always working on one story or another (or editing).
Taxes are a bit of a burden. The inherent instability of doing something creative as a business has some stress with it. I'm still passionate about writing, and try to get my stories out in a timely manner.
I'm probably going to change the Patreon; a short story a month is taking away from my longer (and better paying) work. I have to consider money; I don't have endless time and energy and creativity. I need to focus where it will be the most valued.
Still figuring it all out. Hanging in there. Not giving up--but there have been some challenges. Now I'm going to shuffle out to the kitchen, drink some cold brew coffee, and look out the window at the sunflowers growing in my garden--and count my blessings.
-Hollis
August 7, 2018
new releases
Vander and Michael loved one another once. Now, Vander is back from a long time at sea, getting his estate in order, and Michael is on the hunt for a rich husband so he can avoid debtor's prison. But when a severe social faux pas leads to a false engagement between the two, there is a great deal at stake. Desperate and sarcastic Michael and severe, far from wealthy Vander find their options closing in and their time running out. Certainly, falling in love again would be a mistake beyond the pale.
22,000 words
A "Marrying Men" story. These pseudo-historical tales feature men marrying one another in various worlds and ways. Happy ending are to be expected.
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~~~
Taylor is glad to help the cute guy with his cat rescue. But is he imagining these sparks between himself and Marcus?
8,300 wordsheat level: sweet
This short story was previously a Patreon reward.
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Let me know if you need a review copy of either!
June 28, 2018
Starring Role
Starring Roleby Hollis ShilohShifters and Partners #20
It's his dream job—if he can survive it.
Cooper Hayes has finally landed a great role as the main character on a TV show about wolf shifters working with the police. The only problem? He's not a wolf—and the character he's playing is.
Some people aren't happy about that, including the showrunner, Sahil Singh, who's looking for an excuse to get rid of him. Between that, issues with his unfriendly costar, and his own fragile sense of self-worth, this is no time for Coop to be falling for a hot security guard—who just happens to be a wolf.
~67,000 words – very low heatA Shifters and Partners story
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PlaysterGoodreads
Let me know if you need a review copy!
Also-Boughts and Amazon Destroying Customer Trust
Amazon used to be good for helping you find stuff. That, good deals, and Prime shipping were major game changers and brought Amazon a level of store power not seen since Wal-Mart.
Lately, Amazon seems to be trying to destroy the first thing they were ever good at: helping people find stuff they want. The ebook bestseller lists have been manipulated a lot, as we all know, but that's not what I'm talking about today.
Also-Boughts; you know, the links on Amazon to "things other customers bought." The place where I and likely you, and thousands of other customers, have browsed, bought, and gone down the shopping rabbit hole.
Well, Amazon has been testing removing them and replacing them with ads, or moving them around on the page so they're hard to find. All so you'll click on the endless ads they've been pushing lately.
There is no way that throwing away this first, best thing Amazon has been good at (helping people find what they want to buy, and instead forcing more and more glut of ads on them), will not end up impacting the entire store. The trust of customers, and perhaps even whether they go to Amazon to shop for items at all. There will always be some sales through Amazon for steady customers--habits, ease of use (like subscribe and save items).
But impulse spending, and "fun shopping," will be affected by making the site more difficult to use.
I don't think that Prime and good deals will be enough to compete so impressively in the marketplace forever--and the things Amazon does now WILL have an impact in the future as customers stop associating Amazon with good deals and good shipping and being able to find what they want--and instead think of it as a frustrating, basically useless for discovery, ad-infested site that is difficult to use the way they want to. A site it's easier to avoid, except for a few things you can get easily, without having to hassle with search engines clogged by ads, or product pages with carousel after carousel of poorly targeted, useless ads.
The Amazon disruption that the company is so proud of can't disrupt the tech they've used to build themselves, or the tools they've given customers that customers actually like, without consequences.
They need to fix the store, or get ready for the impact, which could last for much longer than they think. When the tech you're disrupting is your own, the customers are, too. There WILL be other options someday, even for the things Amazon is still good at.
Maybe it's time. Maybe Amazon has gotten too big to succeed, if common sense is so far lost.
##
On a more personal note, I want to say a couple of things. I used to love Amazon. When it was a small site and I was younger, I sold used books there for some spending cash. Years later, basically housebound and struggling to make a trip anywhere to get things I needed, I was able to use Amazon for necessities and niceties that I simply couldn't get easily another way. It helped.
I love my Kindles. I love ebooks. I love them as a reader, and an author: they've changed the game for me. Now I can buy books without having to store them! I can read instantly! I can read constantly without overloading my shelves to the point of groaning! I'm even saving trees by reading and writing digitally! I can sell books without a publisher or printing costs, and Amazon is a big part of that. It's changed my life in so many ways.
There are still things I like about Amazon. (It's true, perhaps to my detriment!) But I don't really trust Amazon anymore.
The changes I've seen trouble and sometimes anger me. Amazon used to be my favorite store and I believed in them--more than I should, probably. For a while now, I've been disillusioned and growing more so. I don't trust them--and I don't spend hours a week browsing the store and discovering new, cool things I'm interested in (and may end up buying). Instead I find myself wondering when Amazon's ascendancy will end...and what complicity I share in its current power hungry state. These aren't comfortable feelings, but they're probably more honest than my previous untarnished Amazon love.
I still love my Kindles. I still love selling ebooks, and buying them, and there are things I can buy on Amazon that I can't get easily elsewhere. But...things are changing, and maybe faster than they think.
Lately, Amazon seems to be trying to destroy the first thing they were ever good at: helping people find stuff they want. The ebook bestseller lists have been manipulated a lot, as we all know, but that's not what I'm talking about today.
Also-Boughts; you know, the links on Amazon to "things other customers bought." The place where I and likely you, and thousands of other customers, have browsed, bought, and gone down the shopping rabbit hole.
Well, Amazon has been testing removing them and replacing them with ads, or moving them around on the page so they're hard to find. All so you'll click on the endless ads they've been pushing lately.
There is no way that throwing away this first, best thing Amazon has been good at (helping people find what they want to buy, and instead forcing more and more glut of ads on them), will not end up impacting the entire store. The trust of customers, and perhaps even whether they go to Amazon to shop for items at all. There will always be some sales through Amazon for steady customers--habits, ease of use (like subscribe and save items).
But impulse spending, and "fun shopping," will be affected by making the site more difficult to use.
I don't think that Prime and good deals will be enough to compete so impressively in the marketplace forever--and the things Amazon does now WILL have an impact in the future as customers stop associating Amazon with good deals and good shipping and being able to find what they want--and instead think of it as a frustrating, basically useless for discovery, ad-infested site that is difficult to use the way they want to. A site it's easier to avoid, except for a few things you can get easily, without having to hassle with search engines clogged by ads, or product pages with carousel after carousel of poorly targeted, useless ads.
The Amazon disruption that the company is so proud of can't disrupt the tech they've used to build themselves, or the tools they've given customers that customers actually like, without consequences.
They need to fix the store, or get ready for the impact, which could last for much longer than they think. When the tech you're disrupting is your own, the customers are, too. There WILL be other options someday, even for the things Amazon is still good at.
Maybe it's time. Maybe Amazon has gotten too big to succeed, if common sense is so far lost.
##
On a more personal note, I want to say a couple of things. I used to love Amazon. When it was a small site and I was younger, I sold used books there for some spending cash. Years later, basically housebound and struggling to make a trip anywhere to get things I needed, I was able to use Amazon for necessities and niceties that I simply couldn't get easily another way. It helped.
I love my Kindles. I love ebooks. I love them as a reader, and an author: they've changed the game for me. Now I can buy books without having to store them! I can read instantly! I can read constantly without overloading my shelves to the point of groaning! I'm even saving trees by reading and writing digitally! I can sell books without a publisher or printing costs, and Amazon is a big part of that. It's changed my life in so many ways.
There are still things I like about Amazon. (It's true, perhaps to my detriment!) But I don't really trust Amazon anymore.
The changes I've seen trouble and sometimes anger me. Amazon used to be my favorite store and I believed in them--more than I should, probably. For a while now, I've been disillusioned and growing more so. I don't trust them--and I don't spend hours a week browsing the store and discovering new, cool things I'm interested in (and may end up buying). Instead I find myself wondering when Amazon's ascendancy will end...and what complicity I share in its current power hungry state. These aren't comfortable feelings, but they're probably more honest than my previous untarnished Amazon love.
I still love my Kindles. I still love selling ebooks, and buying them, and there are things I can buy on Amazon that I can't get easily elsewhere. But...things are changing, and maybe faster than they think.
June 15, 2018
A Marriage of Friends
Allen would do anything for his best friend Neal—including marrying him so he can get health insurance. But things are complicated. He has feelings for Neal that he's tried to repress...and Neal has enough on his plate, battling chronic depression and anxiety. He doesn't need friendship to become something more...does he?
Heat level: sweet17,600 words
Note: This was a previous Patreon reward.
AmazonPayhipGoogle PlayITunesBarnes & NobleKoboAmazon UKAmazon DE ScribdPlayster
Let me know if you need a review copy!
Books2ReadGoodreads
May 4, 2018
A Quiet Man
A Quiet Manby Hollis Shiloh
Tomas Quiróz is a quiet guy. He's content with his books and his job as a cop, and working with his wolf shifter friend, Riley. But lately, Tomas is lonely — and he starts feeling strangely drawn to a cute guy. Between discovering new things about himself and trying to navigate a possible relationship, Tomas has to deal with Riley's jealous husband, the new guy at the precinct who wants to be friends (or more than friends?), and finding the best way to be himself.
60,700 words – very low heat
A Shifters and Partners story
Takes place after "LOYAL" and contains characters from that story
AmazonPayhipApple/IBooksBarnes & NobleKoboAmazon UKAmazon DE ScribdPlayster
Let me know if you need a review copy!
Books2ReadGoodreads
Patreon members who pledged $5/month or more will be getting this story thru email...no need to buy it!
P.S. The May Patreon short story for all patrons will go out soon. Thanks.
