Eli Easton's Blog, page 27
December 17, 2013
Desktop: “The Enlightenment of Daniel”
“The Enlightenment of Daniel” releases on Dec 18th. Per usual, I’m posting a “desktop” for it. These are the images that I used for inspiration while I was writing the story. I hope they can either intrigue you enough to read the story or, if you’ve read it, provide some interesting visual references.
PURCHASE LINK: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4440
Daniel Derenzo:
This story is about Daniel Derenzo, one of the two owners of DRE, a Seattle company which has made a lot of money buying dysfunctional companies, turning them around, and selling them. Daniel is, in a word, the business shark of the two-man team. He is the one who takes over the failing companies, often via hostile take-over. Yet I didn’t want a typical nasty tycoon. The character of Daniel needed humor. He’s an often unintentionally funny Type A who is a bit bumbling in a always-over-thinking-it type way. Sort of Woody Allen meets Gorden Gekko. He also is good-looking and very concerned about his image. I couldn’t figure out who Daniel looked like until my husband suggested Ben Affleck. And, yeah, when Ben does his uptight-bumbling-intellect thing, he is Daniel-esque. Here are a few photos of Ben in more of a ‘Daniel’ persona.
![1365105959ben-affleck-talks-blake-lively-in-details-october-2012-03[1]](http://elieaston.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/1365105959ben-affleck-talks-blake-lively-in-details-october-2012-031.jpg)
Nick Ross:
Nick is the other half of DRE, Daniel’s business partner and best friend ever since they roomed together in college. As Daniel puts it, Nick is the ‘nice’ to Daniel’s ‘mercenary’. Once Daniel has successfully taken over a company, Nick goes in and makes everyone happy, wins over the employees, and makes the company healthy again. Nick needed to be softer, charming, and appealing. He’s a super nice guy who doesn’t necessarily stick up for himself. He’s also scruffier and not as obsessed with his appearance as Daniel (and a bit of a ginger). I picked Ewan McGregor as a physical model for Nick.
Marcia Ross:
Nick’s wife, Marcia, is a woman who is desperately clinging to a marriage that ended a long time ago. She’s concerned with image, yes, but also has been convinced by her mother that divorce will ruin her two kids and that it’s her job to maintain the marriage at any cost. Marcia is not really a villain to me, she is someone who is stuck in a rut and can’t even see how bad things are, nor does she have any idea how to fix them. She’s just determined to hang on to the status quo. If you can imagine a drowning person punching and fighting the person trying to rescue them out of fear–that is Marcia. By the way, she gets an HEA too. I picture Marcia as a sort of blonde, Housewives of Beverly Hills type visually, but she does change by the end of the story.
Jenny Ross:
I’ve always had a soft spot for m/m romances with kids in them, but this is the first time I’ve written one. Nick has two children including Jenny, who is 13. Jenny is a typical teen but she’s struggling to find her own identity separate from her mother. Below was the inspiration for Jenny **post make-over**.
Sylvan Ross:
Sylvan is Nick’s other kid, an 8-year-old boy. He’s all boy, a goof-ball, and just “a love sponge”. Here’s my reference for Sylvan.
Frank Derenzo aka “Iron Man”:
“The Enlightenment of Daniel” has a theme of fatherhood. The entire story begins when Daniel’s father, Frank, calls Daniel to the hospital as he is dying of cancer. He gives Daniel a “Marley’s ghost” lecture, warning him not to spend his life pursuing only business, as Frank has done, but to fall in love, live life, and be happy. Frank is a major character in this book–I love him to death (literally, apparently). He’s sharp-tongued and provides some comic moments.
Expanded Horizons Sex Clinic:
This story is part of my Sex In Seattle series, which are stories which revolve around a sex clinic in Seattle called Expanded Horizons. (This story, however, is completely stand alone). Daniel goes to Expanded Horizons for counselling when he starts having sexual feeling for Nick. This is pretty disturbing to Daniel, because he’s 34 and he always thought he was straight. The building below is a reference for Expanded Horizons.
Dr. Jack Halloran:
Jack, the star of “The Trouble With Tony,” makes an appearance in “Daniel” as Daniel’s sex therapist. He helps Daniel figure out these new feelings, and if he is actually gay or not.
Michael Lamont:
Michael is the gay sex surrogate at Expanded Horizons. When one of Jack’s patients could benefit from actual sexual contact with a licensed therapist, it is Michael who does it. He’s works with everything from E.D. patients (erectile dysfunction) to those with severe handicaps or fear of intimacy. I LOVE MICHAEL and I’m currently writing his book (Sex in Seattle #3). He has a wonderful scene in “The Enlightenment of Daniel”, though. Daniel goes to Michael to test once and for all the theory that he is gay. Hot! [Note: Michael physically is inspired by model Isaiah Garnica, who is in the photo below.]
Locations:
Here are some places in Seattle that appear in “The Enlightenment of Daniel”
Above: The Metropolitan Grill where Daniel and Nick have lunch
Above: Molly Moon’s ice cream where Daniel takes Nick and the kids
Above: Safeco field from the VIP seats. Daniel takes Nick and his kids to a game here.
The House/Cabin on Bainbridge
A very important part of the story takes place on Bainbridge Island, in a house on the water that Daniel rents. Here’re some inspirational photos for that.
Special Bonus:
Daniel’s John Lobb shoes, which star in the first scene.
And the (hubba hubba) bathing suit Daniel wears at the cabin.
That’s it for this book! I hope you enjoy this story. If you do, drop me a line at eli@elieaston.com or tag me on twitter at @EliEaston
Eli
December 13, 2013
Blog Stops & Giveaways — Mistletoe & Prairie Dog!
It’s December 13th here in Lancaster County, PA (and, er, I guess everywhere else). Christmas is coming and I hope you all have been enjoying this year’s Christmas m/m romance stories as much as I have been. Amy Lane, Heidi Cullinan, Josephine Myles, RJ Scott, Cardeno C… give me some more please!
I’m currently on a blog tour for my two Christmas stories, “Blame It On The Mistletoe” and “A Prairie Dog’s Love Song”. Here are the blog tour stops so far:
Sarah Madison – Author Interview
We Love Kink -- Spotlight with an excerpt from “A Prairie Dog’s Love Song”
Eclectic Passions — Author interview and giveaway of ”Blame It On The Mistletoe”
Iyana’s Rainbow – new excerpt from “Blame It On The Mistletoe”
Sinfully Sexy Book – new excerpt from “A Prairie Dog’s Love Song” and giveaway of both Christmas stories.
Coming up on the blog tour… A post on my favorite Christmas romances.
Eli
December 9, 2013
Interview and Giveaway on Eclectic Passions
For the Mistletoe/Prairie Dog blog tour, I did an interview with Eclectic Passions. They’re also have a giveaway of “Blame It On The Mistletoe”.
Check it out here:
http://eclecticpassionsbc.blogspot.com/2013/12/giveaway-interview-with-blame-it-on.html
Eli
December 6, 2013
Book Rec: Training Season by Leta Blake
This book is truly amazing. Matty is a competitive figure skater who failed in the last Olympics and has dreams of coming back and winning gold at the next one. He’s flamboyant and fabulous, very gay and proud of it. He takes a ranch-sitting job in Montana for six months from a skating patron because it’s easy money and he can focus on his skating without the distractions of friends and the big city. Enter the next door neighbor, Rob, a gorgeous Montana rancher who is openly gay and who falls at first sight for Matty (of course, who wouldn’t).
There’s so much to love and admire about this story. I loved the descriptions of the beautiful Montana scenery. I loved that, despite being a fish out of water, there was no plot wasted here on homophobia and hate. People in the town of Whitefish were very curious about Matty, and there might have been some distant sneers, but there was also Rob, an out rancher, and his friend Bill, who ran the local gay club. This book wasn’t about small town narrow-mindedness and thank God.
I loved Matty’s strength and beauty (as Rob puts it). I take it he’s loosely based on Johnny Weir, who is just adorable. And Rob, the rancher, was a nice surprise. He wasn’t stereotypical at all. He had a lot of depth and maturity. His “toppiness”, his ability to understand Matty, and give him what he needed, was intelligent and exciting.
I loved the imagery of a major world figure skater skating on a little iced over pond on a Montana ranch. It’s very “Ice Castles” and you can feel the impact that Matty has on Rob’s life and heart, as if a beautiful bird landed on the window of a prison cell. (OK, that may be taking it a bit far, but you get the analogy). Rob is not really happy ranching, he’s rather stuck maintaining the family farm. Having a glorious creature like Matty show up next door is just too good to be true. For Matty, having the studly hot next door rancher, “Montana personified”, turn out to be gay is like every sex fantasy made real. Only Rob turns out to be much more than that.
These two are wonderful together and they fall so deeply in love. The author does a wonderful job of building their relationship and she takes the time to do so. And it’s not only Matty and Rob’s relationship, but Matty’s relationship with Rob’s son, Ben, and Rob and Ben’s with Matty’s family. These are built scene by scene until you are totally invested in Matty and Rob as a couple as the only possibly sane way for reality to go on.
The book gets very angsty when it’s time for Matty to go home and go back to the world of figure skating. And he doesn’t have an easy time of it either. As Rob says, Matty’s boyfriend Figure Skating fucks him in the ass without lube. Repeatedly. There was a point at maybe 80% where I thought I couldn’t really take it anymore. But finally we get an HEA and it was worth it.
Besides being a lovely romance, I admired the examination of Matty’s fear of failure on the ice and how Rob helps him overcome it with BDSM. Though this is not really a BDSM book, nor do I really like BDSM, there were scenes in here in which their sex play goes in that direction, but it’s for a very good, real, emotional reason and it totally worked for me.
Highly recommended.
December 5, 2013
Blog Tour for Mistletoe & Prairie Dog - Interview at Sarah Madison
12/5 — First stop is a brief interview with Sarah Madison about holidays and cowboys. You can read it here:
http://www.sarahmadisonfiction.com/20...
12/7 — We Love Kink
12/7 — Eclectic Passions
12/8 — Dawn’s Reading Nook
12/10 — Iyana’s Rainbow
12/13 — Sinfully Sexy Books
12/13 – Foxlutely Book Reviews
Eli’s Blog Tour for “Blame It On the Mistletoe” & “A Prairie Dog’s Love Song”
I’m doing a week long blog tour for my two Christmas Stories “Blame It On The Mistletoe” and “A Prairie Dog’s Love Song”.
12/5 — First stop is a brief interview with Sarah Madison about holidays and cowboys. You can read it here.
12/7 — We Love King
12/7 — Eclectic Passions
12/8 — Dawn’s Reading Nook
12/10 — Iyana’s Rainbow
12/13 — Sinfully Sexy Books
12/13 – Foxlutely Book Reviews
December 1, 2013
A Prairie Dog’s Love Song Desktop
“A Prairie Dog’s Love Song” released today as part of Dreamspinner’s advent calendar. It’s a contemporary Christmas novella with a cowboy theme.
BLURB:
Ben Rivers always was a showman. He won awards in 4-H and rodeo competitions from the time he could walk, and he’s happiest in the spotlight. So when he got the chance to be a star—in porn—he took it. He still loves Montana and everything about being a cowboy, but when news of his alternate identity leaks out, he figures he’s lost the town’s goodwill forever. Clyde’s Corner would never accept an openly gay cowboy, even a hometown boy born and bred.
Joshua Braintree always had the notion that he and his best friend’s kid brother, Ben, would end up together. Ben’s always been a diehard cowboy, just like him: they need the land and its freedom as much as they need air. So when Joshua learns Ben moved away from their small Montana town to be a porn star in Vegas, he can hardly believe it. He’s determined to finally declare himself and bring Ben home.
Despite his longtime crush on Joshua, Ben won’t be as easy to tame as Joshua’s “lost cause” horses. It will take a lot of heart and holiday spirit for Joshua to convince Ben that even old prairie dogs can learn new tricks in the name of love.
BUY LINK:
From Dreamspinner: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4491
DESKTOP:
Here are some images that I had up on my computer desktop to inspire me as I wrote this story back in June, when there was nary a spring of holly to be found.
I
Is this Joshua? I dunno, but he sure is inspirational!
This is definitely Ben, and he ended up on the cover.
Townsend, Montana, a model for Clyde’s Corner.
Ben’s apartment building in Vegas.
The rest of these are for mood and a sense of place….
I loved writing in this world. Maybe there’s a sequel here somewhere? I hope you enjoy visiting Clyde’s Corner with Joshua and Ben this Christmas.
Eli
November 28, 2013
Blame It On The Mistletoe hits #1 on Amazon!
This is amazing! ”Blame It On The Mistletoe”, which I self-pubbed on Nov 17th, has been dancing around the 2-4 slots on Amazon for about a week. Thanksgiving morning I wake up to find it #1! What an amazing feeling.
I’ve been publishing m/m romance since April 2013 and this is my first ‘hit’ like this. I guess when a writer has that happen you wonder — Why was this one different? And more importantly, how can I do it again? Was it the fabulous cover by Reese Dante? The fact that it’s a holiday story? The nerd/jock thing? Was the book really written better?
Questions for the for the coming weeks, perhaps. For now it’s Thanksgiving day and I just want to be excited and grateful. I’ve written in other genres before, but I love writing m/m romance and I’m so happy that it seems like I’m doing okay here. We’ll see what 2014 brings.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Here’re some recent reviews on Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18776908-blame-it-on-the-mistletoe
Here’s a link to Amazon’s gay romance bestseller list, in case you want to follow it in the future:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/14044691/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_b_1_5_last
Eli
November 24, 2013
An Interview with Eli and “Mistletoe” giveaway on Hearts On Fire
Hearts On Fire interviewed me about “Blame It On The Mistletoe” and they’re giving away a free copy of it if you leave a comment. Check it out!
http://heartsonfirereviews.com/?p=24057
Eli
November 21, 2013
Feast or Famine — Upcoming Releases
Mid-November through December is a big period for me. I have three stories hitting.
Nov 17 — Blame It On the Mistletoe
This is a Christmas novella featuring uber nerd Fielding Monroe and jock Mick Colman and Fielding’s desire to learn how to kiss. It’s been getting good reviews on goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18776908-blame-it-on-the-mistletoe
Dec 1 (as part of the Dreamspinner advent) — A Prairie Dog’s Love Song
This is a cowboy Christmas story about a rancher, Joshua, who is in the closet and has long been in love with his best friend’s younger brother, Ben. When Ben leaves their small Montana town to make a career in gay-for-pay porn, Joshua decides to go after him and prove to him that old prairie dogs can learn new tricks.
Dec 19 — The Enlightenment of Daniel (Sex in Seattle #2)
Business tycoon Daniel Deronda has always lived for his work until his dying father makes Daniel realize how short life is. Startling revelations follow–like the fact that he’s gay and is in love with his business partner Nick. Unfortunately, Nick is in a loveless marriage for the sake of his kids. Can Daniel’s awakening change all their lives for the better?
FAMINE:
My next release won’t be out until around April 2014. Coming in 2014:
* Stitch (gothika #1) — an anthology of 4 novellas with a Frankenstein theme with Jamie Fessenden, Sue Brown, and Kim Fielding (around April)
* The Mating of Michael (Sex in Seattle #3) (probably May or June)
That’s all that’s on the dock for now, though I’m sure more will appear. 2013 was a big year of releases for me, but 2014 will likely be bigger books and less of them.
Have a wonderful end of 2013!
Eli
