Eli Easton's Blog, page 34
June 5, 2013
Gay Love in Medieval England: Guest Blog
Thanks to Jamie Fessenden for hosting me as a guest blogger on his site. In celebration of “The Lion and the Crow” release day, I wrote a blog post about my research on gay love in medieval England. Here’s the link!
http://jamiefessenden.com/2013/06/05/guest-blog-gay-love-in-medieval-england-by-eli-easton/
June 4, 2013
Release Day – “The Lion and the Crow”
“The Lion and the Crow” released today! This novella was written for the “Love Has No Boundaries” event sponsored by the m/m romance group on goodreads and it is FREE.
Blurb:
This is a tale about two medieval English knights—Sir William Corbet, aka the Lion, and Sir Christian Brandon, aka The Crow. In a time when duty was everything, personal honor was more valued than life itself, and homosexuality was not tolerated by the church or society, how can these two men reconcile their deepest, most secret yearnings to love another man?
Sir Christian was raised in a household where he was hated for his unusual beauty and for the sake of his parentage. Being smaller than his six brutish half-brothers, he learned to survive by using his wits and developing a gift for strategy. He feels little loyalty to the system that’s abused him since birth.
Sir William, a large and fierce warrior, has pushed his unnatural desires down all his life. He’s determined to live up to his own ideal of a gallant knight. But when he takes up a quest to rescue his sister from her abusive lord of a husband, he’s forced to undertake a journey with Christian. It’s a partnership that will test every strand of his moral fiber, and, eventually, even his understanding of the meaning of duty, honor, and love.
Links:
Read this novella for free right now online for members of the m/m romance group (it’s free to join):
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1354989-the-lion-and-the-crow-by-eli-easton-6-4
In a few weeks the ebooks will be available for download for free to anyone here (and I’ll also put them on this website):
http://www.mmromancegroup.com/
The goodreads page for this book:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17855574-the-lion-and-the-crow
My blog page with an excerpt from this story can be found here.
Eli
"The Lion and the Crow" -- new release
My m/m historical romance story "The Lion and the Crow" is now available for reading online for FREE as part of the "Love Has No Boundaries" event. This novella is s romance between two medieval knights.
You can find the story here:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...
Downloadable ebooks will be available for free in a few weeks here:
http://www.mmromancegroup.com/
And here's the goodreads page:
The Lion and the Crow
June 1, 2013
Author Spotlight: Jamie Fessenden — Reviewed
I’m going to be interviewing author Jamie Fessenden shortly here on my blog. Before I do, I wanted to review a couple of my favorite books of his.
“We’re Both Straight, Right?”
Blurb:
Zack and Larry have been best friends since middle school and are now college roommates. But when Larry hears that other guys they know are getting paid to have gay sex on camera, he convinces Zack that they could pick up some quick, easy cash by being in one of these films… together.
If Zack thinks making a gay porn film with his best friend is disturbing, he is absolutely horrified when Larry proposes they “rehearse” for the film so they won’t be nervous in front of the director. As the they fumble their way through a checklist of sexual positions and acts, Zack finds himself seeing Larry in an entirely new light—a very sexy new light, and possibly a romantic one, as well. But does Larry feel the same? Or is this all for easy money?
Eli’s Review:
This was my first Jamie Fessenden story and I loved it. I’m kind of a sucker for a gay-for-you storyline (when it’s well done) and this one is super cute and sort of a double gfy since initially both characters are supposedly straight. There’s something very sexy about young guys experimenting and testing out their sexuality. Larry and Zach two college age guys who ‘practice’ sex together in preparation for doing some gay-for-pay porn–and find out that maybe their relationship as best friends could turn into something more. The sex scenes are fresh and ‘real’, the characters are funny, and the relationship is sweet. What more could you want?
“The Christmas Wager”
Blurb:
To discharge a debt to his friend, Andrew Nash, Lord Thomas Barrington returns to the family estate he fled six years earlier after refusing to marry the woman his father had chosen. To Thomas’s dismay, Barrington Hall is no longer the joyful home he remembers from his childhood, and his young niece has no idea what Christmas is.
Determined to bring Christmas back to the gloomy estate, Thomas must confront his tyrannical father, salvage a brother lost in his own misery, and attempt to fight off his father’s machinations. As the holidays near, Thomas and Andrew begin to realize they are more than merely close friends… and those feelings are not only a threat to their social positions but, in Victorian England, to their lives as well
Eli’s Review:
I have this strange dichotomy in romance. When I read het romance I adore regencies. But when I read m/m (which is the bulk of what I read) I prefer contemporaries. Of course, a romance set in regency England between and man and a woman is a much different beast than a romance in the same era with two men. Homosexuality was illegal and regarded as a terrible perversion. That’s not necessarily the sort of angst I want to deal with while enjoying a sexy romantic romp.
But Jamie Fessenden makes it work in The Christmas Wager. It’s a well-written story that has a lot of the things I love about regencies:
* It’s Christmas in a great country house featuring boughs of evergreens, a Christmas dance, dozens of Christmas trees, and a Yule log.
* The romance is between a Lord’s second, estranged son and a wealthy-but-not-titled young friend.
* It has lovely British characters — jolly and loyal servants, the workaholic brother, the brother’s dead wife and neglected child, the belligerent father who walks around with his shotgun and his hounds, the lady of the manor who is externally placid but secretly wise, etc.
* One MC is resisting his long-time desire for the other MC; that MC is clueless.
* Hunky male MC(s).
* Bathtub scenes, adjoining rooms, sex. Say no more.
The author doesn’t shy away from the realities of being gay in this era at all. But the romance still works out in the end and the angst, guilt, and shame levels are never so strong that they overpower the cozy pleasure of the read.
COMING UP:
Stay tuned for a podcast interview with Jamie.
Eli
May 31, 2013
June Heat: “Make a Play” and “Love Has No Boundaries”
I’m so looking forward to June! There are two great collections that will be releasing daily throughout the month.
1. Dreamspinner’s “Make A Play” Daily Dose:
“Make a Play” is a “Daily Dose” from Dreamspinner. Sign up for it and they will send you a m/m romance story every day in June. The theme this year is sports-related stories. Some great authors have stories in this line-up.
2. The “Love Has No Boundaries” event
Throughout June and July, new stories will be released daily as part of the Love Has No Boundaries event. The event is sponsored by the goodreads.com m/m romance reader’s group. These are FREE stories, by both new and established authors.
I can’t wait!
Eli
May 28, 2013
Christmas in May? Two new yuletide romances written
Writers, like store merchandise buyers, must work several seasons ahead. That’s why I find myself writing sexy holiday stories in May.
I’ve just finished two novellas destined for submission to holiday anthologies. Both are m/m romances with some heat and some sweet. Here’s a little teaser of both….
A Prairie Dog’s Love Song –
Joshua always had the notion that he and his best friend’s kid brother, Ben, would end up together. Ben’s a diehard cowboy, just like Joshua. So when Joshua learns that Ben has 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. But Ben may not be as easy to tame as the Joshua’s ‘lost cause’ horses.
Ben Rivers always was a showman. He won awards in 4-H and Rodeo competitions from the time he could walk. When he got the chance to be a star—in porn—he took it. He loves Montana and everything about being a cowboy. But when news of his alternate identity leaks out he figures he’s lost his home town’s goodwill forever. Clyde’s Corner could never accept an openly gay, ex porn star cowboy, could it?
It will take a lot of love and holiday spirit for Joshua to convince Ben that even old prairie dogs can learn a few new tricks.
Genres: m/m romance, contemporary, light humor, cowboy, holiday
Blame it on the Mistletoe –
When super nerd Fielding Monroe and skirt-chaser Mick Colman become college housemates, they’re both in for a whole new education. Mick is good at looking out for the absent-minded genius, and he helps Fielding discover all the childhood pleasures his strict upbringing denied him. They become best friends. It’s all well and good until they run into a cheerleader who calls Mick the ‘best kisser on campus’. Fielding has never been kissed, and he decides Mick and only Mick can teach him how its done. After all, the physics department’s Christmas party is coming up with its dreaded mistletoe. Fielding wants to impress his peers and look cool for once in his life.
Can Fielding convince his straight roommate to give him lessons in love? Anything can happen at Christmas.
Genres: m/m romance, contemporary, light humor, college, holiday
These stories will be out Christmas of 2013. I’ll post publication info when I have it.
Eli
May 24, 2013
Sex and Mystery: the Chocolate and Peanut Butter of Romance
Are sex and mystery the chocolate and peanut butter of romance? Read my guest blog today at top2bottomreviews!
Eli
May 22, 2013
And Interview with me today on Romance Reviews Today
Check it out:
http://www.romrevtoday.blogspot.com/2013/05/q-and-book-giveaway-with-eli-easton.html
You can comment under the interview to get a chance to win a free copy of “Before I Wake”.
Eli
May 18, 2013
Books I Love: The Art of Touch by Dominique Frost
It’s not often I find a new author that I immediately fan/follow, but I knew within 10 pages that I was going to be slavishly loyal to Dominique Frost. This is her only publication to date, alas, but hopefully there will be more.
Jared is a high-powered CEO who does nothing but work. He’s a total grump (aka asshole) and his domineering secretary schedules a massage to chill him out before he scares away all their clients. The masseur is Kyle, a cute young twink. Jared doesn’t want to be there and tries to run all over Kyle but Kyle handles him like a pro and soon has Jared a puddle of relaxed goo. Jared is determine it won’t happen again, but it does. Kyle can always put him in his place. Needless to say, since this is a romance, the two eventually become a couple.
This is is a short novella (79 pages) but a fully satisfying story, great for a quick read with lots of humor and UST.
So why did I immediately fan the author? She weaves a solid, delightful, super fun character and prose voice in this story. I don’t typically like “jerk” characters but Jared grabbed my interest from page one because the writing is FUNNY and sly. Yes, he is a jerk at the start but in the way the Sherlock or House are jerks–fascinating and funny and genuine. I loved the story all the way through.
Please write more, Ms. Frost!
May 9, 2013
Almost 1 million words of m/m romance — FREE
The m/m romance group on goodreads.com is sponsoring a free fiction event called “Love Has No Boundaries”. Over 90 authors, some new and some well-known, are submitting stories for this event. The stories will be available to group members throughout the month of June. So far 60 stories have been turned in and they total almost a million words.
Here’s a sneak peek at some of the stories:
Historical- 32,000
some violence,
knights spies/secret agents, action suspense, adventure, explicit sex, first time, twinks, cross dressing, abduction/kidnapping, domestic abuse, friends to lovers, revenge, road trip, europe
Urban Fantasy- 34,600
husky shifters, family drama, humourous, sweet, men with children, fugly spiders
Fantasy- 39,500
dub-con, sorcerer, angels, demons, gods magic-users, soulmates or bonded, dubious consent, snarky banter
Paranormal- 40,600
fantasy, fae/fey/fairies, vampire, disabilities
Dystopia- 46,900
master/slave, bdsm, menage m/m/m, explicit sex, three some, cross dressing, bondage/discipline, acrobat, contortionist
Contemporary- 52,300
bdsm, bears, blue collar, fetsih-toys, grief
Fantasy- 103,800
History of past abuse, self harm
mage/sorcerer, first time, hurt/comfort, friends to lovers, magic users, ptsd
To get in on the free story flow, join the m/m romance group on goodreads. It’s free to join and they have all kinds of snazzy challenges and events like this one.
I have a story coming out during this event called “The Lion and the Crow”.
Eli
