Eli Easton's Blog, page 8

ELI’S FAVS: “LOVE, SIMON”

This past weekend, I went to see “Love, Simon” on opening day with a lovely author friend who was visiting, RJ Scott, and her husband. I expected to like the film, but nope. I loved it.

It’s a standard high school film set-up with a theater group, wacky principle, and a group of friends. One of the friends, Simon, is secretly gay. He hasn’t not come out for any profound reason. His family is pretty cool and open-minded. His friends would probably be supportive. But, as Simon says, he just doesn’t want things to change. He has it pretty good, and he wants to just enjoy the rest of high school without drama.

But when a rather wanker-y kid at school blackmails Simon and threatens to out him, Simon does some not-so-cool things to keep him quiet. And then, of course it all blows up.

It’s a fairly simple story, but what makes it so great is the level of diversity and acceptance in the movie. When Simon does come out, it’s the actions he took when blackmailed, and not the fact that he is gay, that upset his friends. There’s a lot of diversity in the cast. And finally, finally, there’s a happy ending and the boy gets the boy.

I love reading gay romance, and I’m often frustrated there aren’t more gay romantic films out there. “Shelter” is my favorite because it has a happy ending. “Latter Days” is good for that reason. But so many times, films with gay protagonists have to end in misery, such as the otherwise fabulous “Free Fall”. Even “Call Me By Your Name” has a sad ending.

Let’s hoping the success of “Love, Simon” brings more great gay romance (HEA included) to the screen.

What was almost as good as the film, though, was the audience reaction. Our five o’clock showing was filled with women, mostly teenagers, and they screamed, sighed, and applauded. I’ve never been to a regular het romance film that got that kind of reaction. I love the open-mindedness of the younger generation. And, yes, I felt proud to be a gay romance author!

So here’s my rec: Go see “Love, Simon!”

Eli

Upcoming Publications

I’ve updated my schedule of what I expect to publish in 2018. Here goes….

UPCOMING PUBLICATIONS

APRIL 2018  — Title TBD (but nearly done). A m/m historical romance set in the old west. Riley Riverton is a rising star on the New York stage. But he witnesses a murder committed by a famous crime boss and is forced to go on the run–all the way to Santa Fe. When he still hasn’t ditched his pursuers, he disguises himself as a mail order bride he met on the wagon train. Caught between gangsters that want to kill him, and the crazy, uncouth family of his “intended”, Riley’s only ally is a lazy, gun-slinging sheriff who sees exactly who Riley is — and can’t resist him.

Summer 2018 — Howl at the Moon #5 (title TBD) – Probably featuring Simon the terrier.

“The Little Matchboy” – free Christmas story for the Rainbow Advent

I wrote a free short story called “The Little Matchboy” for the Rainbow Advent calendar.

CHECK IT OUT HERE.

 

 

“The Little Matchboy” – free Christmas short story

I’ve written a 6000 word Christmas short story that will be offered for free as part of the Rainbow Advent Calendar. The calendar has free fiction by a variety of authors, one story available each day of December. My story will be out Dec 14th.  You can follow the stories on the Facebook group page here.

If you can’t wait, my 2017 Christmas novella, “Desperately Seeking Santa” is available right now on KU here.

 

Rainbow Awards 2017 – “Falling Down” and “How to Save a Life”

I’m very happy to announce that two of my books placed in the 2017 Rainbow Awards. “Falling Down” was runner-up in the “Best Gay Book” and “Best Gay Contemporary Romance” categories. And “How to Save a Life” was a 3rd place winner in the “Best Gay Paranormal Romance” category.

Many thanks to Elisa, who puts so much work into these awards and raises a lot of donations for LGBT charities. You are an angel.  CLICK HERE to visit the Rainbow Awards and see all the winners.

Eli

Guest Post: Gabe & Mack’s First Kiss on Alpha Book Club

Today I’m a guest on Alpha Book Club with a post about Gabe and Mack’s first kiss (with exclusive excerpt and giveaway). This is part of my blog tour for my 2017 Christmas book, “Desperately Seeking Santa”.

CLICK HERE TO SEE POST.

Eli’s Top Five Sports Romances

As part of the “Desperately Seeking Santa” blog tour, I’m on The Novel Approach sharing my top five sports romances. There’s also a giveaway you can enter.

CLICK HERE

Eli

Eli Interview and Giveaway at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

I have an INTERVIEW & GIVEAWAY up on Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words for the “Desperately Seeking Santa” blog tour. Pop over to enter!

Release day for “Desperately Seeking Santa”!

It’s release day for “Desperately Seeking Santa”, my Christmas story for 2017. This year’s story grew longer than I intended. It’s a short novel at 52K words.  I loved writing about Mack, a 6’10”, 285 college wrestler. He a shy and guarded man. The protagonist of the story, Gabe, is a journalism student who falls for Mack after seeing him wrestle, never suspecting Mack might be gay or that a friend might set them up on a date.

Meanwhile, Gabe is trying to summon up his spirit of Christmas to write an article about an Elks charity dinner for a local children’s home, and to uncover the truth about their mystery Santa.

The story features Jordan and Owen from “Superhero” as side characters but can be read as a stand-alone.

You can read more about “Desperately Seeking Santa”, including the first chapter, here.

Here’s the link to Amazon. The book is on KU and the purchase price is $3.99.

Eli

 

Desperately Seeking Santa — now up for pre-order

My 2017 Christmas story, “Desperately Seeking Santa”, is now available for pre-order on Amazon. The release day is Weds, Nov 22nd.

Here’s a link to AMAZON.

Or you can read the first chapter here.

Eli