Joy Lynn Fielding's Blog, page 3

A sneak peek of A Star to Sail By

With Crispin and Billy’s adventures coming out on 30th August, it seems a good time to share the moment Crispin first lays eyes on Billy.

A pirate who had been examining one of the deck guns looked up at the pirate captain’s shout, long dark hair falling around his face. He was even more disgraceful than the other pirates, something Crispin had not thought possible. The man was half-naked, his chest and arms filthy with grime and soot. He wore blue knee breeches, tighter than the petticoat breeches most of the pirates favoured, and even they bore dirty stains. At least the crimson sash around his waist looked clean, though Crispin noted uneasily the two pistols thrust into it. The pirate moved towards his captain, his stride long and easy. He was leanly muscled and taller than many of the other pirates. Almost as tall as Crispin himself, he thought.

“Take this and check it against the contents in the hold,” the captain said, thrusting the manifest at him.

Disreputable as this pirate was, he could evidently read. That fact was unexpected enough for Crispin to look more closely at him as he turned away from his captain, and the world seemed to shift around Crispin. His face… He had seen that face before, worn by a marble carving of the Archangel Gabriel. It had been so perfect he had known it to be the sculptor’s attempt to express the ineffable, finding his answer in a beauty this earth could not contain. But it did. That statue’s face was here and alive, if rather dirty. The high cheekbones, clean jawline, straight nose and lips full enough to cause impure thoughts formed a face that transcended the dirt and grime. Crispin almost forgot it belonged to a pirate until the man, perhaps feeling Crispin’s scrutiny, looked at him. His grey eyes were cold and hostile, like the Atlantic before a storm.

Crispin glanced away, no longer caring if doing so was a sign of weakness. The sculptor had mistaken the angel he was carving, for the man standing on the deck of the Eurydice was Lucifer. There could be no other explanation for such beauty to be subverted in the service of evil and vice.

Breeches, ahoy!

Along with so many people, I have an ongoing fascination with breeches. I consider myself something of a connoisseur of Regency-era gentlemen’s nether garments, for which I blame many happy hours reading Georgette Heyer and the way Mr Beaumaris’s grandmother is surprised he can sit down in his skin-tight pantaloons.

I am a big fan of buckskin breeches with top boots. Buckskin breeches were hard-wearing and comfortable to wear, the leather stretching and moving with the gentleman wearing them, and most fashionable, adopted as they were by so many sprigs of fashion. They could also be – and often were – skin-tight,

Ian Kelly, in his biography of Beau Brummell, describes them as highly sensuous to wear. I can’t comment on that, but they certainly look rather wonderful, framing the gentleman’s thighs with top boots and cutaway coats.

And that’s before getting into – so to speak – silk knee-breeches for evening wear (see left). Both Perry and Jack in my Carnevale series spend a lot of their time modelling these in the late eighteenth century. When they’re clothed, that is. Ahem.

Moving swiftly on, before I began working on my pirate book, I was unfamiliar with the fashions of sailors in the early eighteenth century. I’ve ended up quite charmed by petticoat breeches, so named because when the man wearing them is standing still, they truly look as if he’s wearing a petticoat. They were fastened at the knee with ribbon, buttons or a garter. Of course, sailors had a particular need for clothes that didn’t impede them, with all that climbing of the rigging and so on, but in my book, as Billy is the ship’s gunner and rarely has to engage in all the other sailor-type chores, he spends some of his life in tighter knee breeches. It’s the best of both worlds.

Above: the pirate Edward Thatch (also spelled Teach), better known as Blackbeard, modelling what look to be petticoat breeches while fighting Royal Navy lieutenant Robert Maynard.

And some final Regency breeches to share with you, modelled by the rakish Duke of Arden. They may not be a completely accurate historical representation, but I think they’re rather impressive.

The Earl’s Awakening will be published by Extasy Books on 8th September.

A Star to Sail By releases 30th August

I’ve been having far more fun that should be legal messing about with pirates for my next book. And the Royal Navy, a little. A Star to Sail By is set in the Caribbean in 1714, during the Golden Age of Piracy. I was working on it during the heatwave we had in the UK earlier in the summer, which helped enormously in imagining what my characters were going through!

I’m looking forward to sharing Billy and Crispin’s adventures with you as they yo-ho-ho across the seven seas, drinking copious amounts of rum as they go.

Abducted by pirates, a naval officer must choose between duty and desire.

All Crispin Merrick has ever wanted is to be a captain in the Royal Navy. On half-pay after the war, he’s reduced to serving on a merchant ship. When pirates board his ship and force Crispin to join their crew, his dream has never seemed further away.

Billy loves the freedom he has as a pirate. As master gunner aboard the most beautiful ship to sail the seas, he couldn’t be happier. But then his captain tasks him with guarding the naval officer they’ve taken on board. Billy loathes the navy. He hates its officers even more.

Crispin is looking for a way to escape when disaster strikes the ship. Beset by danger, Billy and Crispin have to work together. But how can they trust one another when they detest everything the other stands for?

Please be aware that this book contains material some people may find upsetting. Detailed content warnings can be find on the content warnings page on this site.

Yo ho ho!

It seems no time since I discovered we had a pirate on our family line. Ever since then, I’ve been reading and writing 24/7 about pirates, and am thrilled to say that I have a new novel coming out on 30th August, all about pirates. And a little about the Royal Navy.

I’ll post more details closer to the time. For now, I’ll share the gorgeous art that Getcovers have created featuring one of the characters.

Lone Wolf out on Amazon and chance to win an Amazon voucher

Lone Wolf is now available to buy on Amazon and other third-party sites. To celebrate this, I’m undertaking a book tour organised by the lovely people at Gay Book Promotions and offering a Rafflecopter prize of a $15 Amazon voucher.

I’m thrilled that Love Bytes has given Lone Wolf a 4.5 heart review. If you want to check it out, don’t forget to enter the draw for a voucher while you’re there.

Keep up with stops on the tour at Gay Book Promotions Facebook page.

Rum, sodomy and the lash

A family member has been doing some genealogical research lately. Apparently we have lots of worthy ancestors, including many clerics (some of whom felt strongly enough about theological issues to risk death for these) and more lawyers than any one family should probably possess. But the discovery that has me most intrigued is that of a pirate in our family line, back in the seventeenth century.

I’d been vaguely aware that pirates during the Golden Age of Piracy were more democratic than was the norm at that time, but I hadn’t realised the full extent of it. They elected their captains (and also voted them out again) and, once elected, the captain didn’t have the same god-like status that captains in the Royal Navy possessed. It’s thought that up to a third of pirates were former slaves, some of whom had been freed by pirate crews that encountered slave ships. And, of course, there were female pirates.

While in no way a utopia – some crews were brutal and fully deserved their criminal status – the world of piracy was more nuanced than I had realised. To some extent, their historical reputation for savagery is due to propaganda by the British Government, which was determined to wipe them out due to their interference with trade. Because, of course, everything comes down to money.

I’m now trying to convince myself that I don’t want to write m/m romance set in the world of historical piracy…

Lone Wolf out today!

What happens in the wilderness stays in the wilderness. Until it doesn’t…

When his alpha invites a bunch of cougar-shifters to visit, wolf-shifter Karl Griffin is not happy. All he wants is a quiet life protecting his pack and forgetting his past. Instead, the big cats arrive and disrupt everything.

Leon Fitzroy has never found anywhere he can belong. The only panther in a cougar pride, he’s fought to be accepted, but he doesn’t really fit in. And now he’s expected to spend time with a wolf pack. Wolf-shifters are infuriating. Even worse, the most annoying wolf is also ridiculously hot.

When Leon ambushes a member of Karl’s pack to prove a point, tensions between them threaten to boil over. Sparks continue to fly as they’re forced to work together. But out in the wilderness, they find there are worse dangers than bossy wolves and smug cats. Survival depends on learning to trust one another—if they can.

Exclusive to Bookstrand: https://www.bookstrand.com/book/lone-wolf-mm-1

(Amazon, Kobo etc to follow in a few weeks.)

Lone Wolf now available for pre-order

Lone Wolf is the sixth and final book in the Strength of the Pack series. It focuses on Karl, Mr Competence Porn himself. The book can be read as a standalone although also provides answers to questions raised in earlier books, such as just how good is Jason’s key lime pie.

When his alpha invites a bunch of cougar-shifters to visit, wolf-shifter Karl Griffin is not happy. All he wants is a quiet life protecting his pack and forgetting his past. Instead, the big cats arrive and disrupt everything.

Leon Fitzroy has never found anywhere he can belong. The only panther in a cougar pride, he’s fought to be accepted, but he doesn’t really fit in. And now he’s expected to spend time with a wolf pack. Wolf-shifters are infuriating. Even worse, the most annoying wolf is also ridiculously hot.

When Leon ambushes a member of Karl’s pack to prove a point, tensions between them threaten to boil over. Sparks continue to fly as they’re forced to work together. But out in the wilderness, they find there are worse dangers than bossy wolves and smug cats. Survival depends on learning to trust one another—if they can.

Lone Wolf comes out on 5th May and is available now for pre-order at Bookstrand.com.

Final Strength of the Pack book: Karl’s story

I’m delighted to share that Lone Wolf, the final book in the Strength of the Pack series, will be published by Siren Bookstrand on 10th May. It’s been a lot longer coming than I ever anticipated; unfortunately, I’ve been battling ill-health for a long time and for most of that time, ill-health was winning. I can only apologise to those of you who’ve been waiting so patiently.

I also have another book, The Earl’s Awakening, which is a Regency m/m, coming out with Extasy Books in October but more of that closer to the time. In the meantime, wolves!

A short story featuring the boys from ‘Blowing Off Steam’ and a chance to win a Kindle Fire HD

Today is my day over at the Winter Manlove Fantasies Contest. For my winter-themed short story, I’ve written a follow-up with Sam and Ryan, set approximately six months after the events in Blowing Off Steam.

All you need to do to enter the contest to win a Kindle Fire HD loaded with m/m novels is to leave a comment here and include your email address. Good luck!