Anna Butler's Blog, page 30

Links to blog posts on writing – April 2016

 

Almost late, but not quite! I’ve been spending too much time gardening to keep track of where I am, so let me tell you that today being the last of April came as something as a surprise. Still, here we go: this month’s collection of useful links.

 

Deipnosophist – a person skilled in the art of dining and dinner-table conversation

 

 

The Ten Worst Pieces of Writing Advice You Will Ever Hear (and Probably Already Have) – excellent advice from Susan DeFreitas at LitReactor

Writer vs Storyteller – Jo Eberhardt at Writer Unboxed. An interesting article, and I could certainly empathise with the notion that getting hung up on the techniques of writing, searching for the perfect word, gets in the way of good storytelling.

Ten Myths That Sabotage Unsuspecting Novelists Parts One and Two – Larry Brooks at the Kill Zone with essential reading. Seriously. Go and read it now. I’ll wait.

7 Lies Writers Believe (and the Truths You Need to Know Instead) – Ruthanne Reid at Writing Practice. I’ll wait why you read this one, too. Excellent post.

10 Things that Red-Flag a Newbie Novelist – Anne R Allen with the pitfalls to avoid. I admit it – I wavered between giggling and horrified recognition of ‘been there, done that’.

12 Common Writing Errors Even Bestselling Authors Make – Ricardo Fayet at Bookbub. I don’t agree with everything he says regarding things like hyphens and dashes, but I was brought up to believe en-rules and em-rules have different functions, not the same function but a different level of elegance. Sheesh. Otherwise, an interesting post.

A Quick Guide To Beta Reader Etiquette – K M  Weiland with pointers for both writer and their beta.

10 Things Indie Authors Are Doing Wrong (And 7 Things They’re Doing Right) – Derek Murphy at Creative Indie

 

 

Writers: When In Doubt, WWYL – Chuck on writer burnout. “Question is, what do I do about the OCTOPUSES OF ENNUI?” What, indeed.

On The Value Of Your Authorial Platform – great post of Twitters on how even Chuck, with this thousands of followers, doesn’t see that convert to thousands of sales. Solution: the best marketing is ‘write more books’.

What I’d Like To Say To Young Writers, Part Two – “Vitamin C won’t help you.” With a link to part one in the text.

We Have A Problem – last year I collected a lot of links regarding the Hugos being gamed by sad second rates whining that their books were cast aside in favour of those with a ‘liberal agenda’. I don’t think I can bear to do it again, but do go and read Chuck’s thoughtful piece on it.

 

 

What’s the Problem? The Four Classic Conflict Types – Janice Hardy at the Fiction University with a quick analysis of the conflict your protagonist must face.

Writing Boys Who Do Boys – Jane Kindred at the Fiction University on writing m/m romance. “...the first thing I do when writing a M/M romance is to not write “M/M romance.” Instead, I just write a romance. The two lovers in question just both happen to be male.” Sing it, sister.

All You Need To Know About Character Transformation – James Scott Bell at The Kill Zone on mirror moments for characters and what stakes make them change.

Believe It Or Not: How Not To Write Action – Tiffany Lawson Inman at Writers In The Storm with a great, and amusing, how to (and how not to) write action that doesn’t mesh with the character you’ve created.

How to Make Boring Story Parts Exciting  – Alex Limberg guesting at Kristen Lamb’s blog with an excellent, thoughtful post.

 

 

Promote a New Release by Marketing the Entire Book Series – Megg Jensen interviewed at BookBub. I’ll be cribbing from this, I can tell you.

Creating Promotional Copy That Works: Book Descriptions – Marcy Kennedy at the Fiction University.

Marky Marketing: Promoting Your Book – Janice Hardy at the Fiction University reviewing all the elements of a marketing campaign.

 

 

Real Writers Don’t Self-Publish and Real Writers Don’t Self-Publish—Part 2 – Kristen Lamb picking up on last month’s mini brou-ha-ha sparked by a provocative Guardian article decrying indie publishing (For me, traditional publishing means poverty. But self-publish? No way with a spirited discussion at The Passive Voice). Kristen is unimpressed.

Amazon, you hit like a bitch – Amazon’s attempts to crack down on false reviews have hit more than one book blogging reviewer— The Never Ending Book Basket, in this case—who’s found all their reviews deleted because Amazon suspects they’re gaming the system. The killer is that Amazon refuses to respond to emails seeking clarification or offering justification. This is all automated, it appears. No appeal. A fascinating discussion of this post is at The Passive Voice.

KU Scammers on Amazon – What’s Going On? – Fascinating post by Ann Christy on how scammers are gaming Kindle Unlimited, and how Amazon seems powerless to stop it.

 

 

Contract Basics   Fair, Compromise, Clout, and Balls and Know Your Rights – three essential reading posts from Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Excellent discussion of the last post at The Passive Voice (the blog owner there is a contracts lawyer).

Merchandising Rights in Publishing Deals – third in a series of posts by Susan Spann on contracting rights. She has links to the first two in the post. Well worth a read.

 

 

The Ultimate Collection of Book Marketing Examples – compiled by Bookbub. Awesome!

 

 

Interrogating Joe Cosentino about Cozzi Cove

I’ve got Joe Cosentino in the hot seat today, waiting for the thumbscrews while I interrogate him to find out more about him, his new release, and his writing generally.

Hi Joe, Delighted to have you here today and I promise the interrogation won’t hurt. We’ll start out with the horrid question first, though, just to get it over with. What inspires you to write?

My mother says I’ve always told tall tales, so it’s no wonder I’m writing novels. The Cozzi Cove beach series came about as I recalled my family’s annual summer trip to my aunt and uncle’s bungalow on the New Jersey shore. We swam and made sandcastles at the beach, waded in the bay, played miniature golf, ate salt water taffy and jumped up and down on trampolines until we (literally) saw green, and dined at our favorite seafood restaurant with a colorful player piano. One day I discovered a cove. A cove forms when softer rocks are worn away by the sun and salty water faster than the harder rocks surrounding them. This creates a gorgeous bay of turquoise water shielded by large rocks in the distance and smaller rocks near the water’s edge.

All those places and experiences are in the novels set in a fictitious place I call Cozzi Cove, a gay resort of eight bungalows in a private cove on the Jersey Shore. Each bungalow is based on my aunt and uncle’s, and is furnished with hand-carved nautical furnishings, and has a stunning view of the bay and lighthouse in the distance. The main beach and boardwalk are only a mile away. It’s a place I love to visit, and I know you will too. As Cal Cozzi opens his seven guest bungalows in a gay resort on a cove at the New Jersey Shore for the summer, we are treated to four interwoven stories per book about Cal and his guests. The stories are full of romance, humor, drama, and in some cases surprise endings. Nothing is what it seems at Cozzi Cove. After Cozzi Cove: Bouncing Back released, many readers and reviewers praised its romantic, humorous, dramatic, mysterious style, and interwoven captivating stories. Their kind and wonderful praises inspired me to write Cozzi Cove: Moving Froward. As with the first book, romance is everywhere on Cozzi Cove in book two, and nothing is what it seems. So grab your Speedos, suntan lotion, and shades and head to Cozzi Cove. Cal’s welcome mat is out. I hope to see you there!

Why do you write M/M stories?

Go to the mall and look at poster after poster of movies with no gay or lesbian characters in them. I worry about the self-esteem of the young gay teens spending time in those malls with their friends. There are so many untold M/M stories. I’m telling at least some of them in my books.

Great answer, and I couldn’t agree more about how invisible LGBT people are in society. Since there is always another story to tell, what are you working on now?

A third novel in the Cozzi Cove beach series: Cozzi Cove: Stepping Out.

Out of all these lovely characters, who would you most prefer to snog, marry or avoid?

If I weren’t already married to the perfect partner, I’d want to marry my leading character Cal Cozzi. He’s on both book covers. Cal dabbled as a professional football player then restaurant owner, but neither was a good fit. After Cal’s parents died in an automobile accident, he found his calling: managing Cozzi Cove in the New Jersey shore town named after his great-grandfather. Sensing Cal’s sexual orientation as a boy, Cal’s father had turned Cozzi Cove into a gay resort. Cal is honored to follow in his father’s footsteps. Cal is honest, kind, hardworking, and a no nonsense kind of guy. You know where you stand with him. And Cal is a one-man man.

I had written a novella loosely based on my life in high school and my ten-year high school reunion, An Infatuation (Dreamspinner Press). It won Second Place in Divine Magazine’s readers’ poll for favorite LGBT romance of 2015. So many readers told me they loved that story, and they wanted more of a minor character in it. So that character, Mario, is the first guest in book one of Cozzi Cove. Mario is tall, muscular, with olive skin, a Roman nose, and dark, dreamy eyes. He’s a college student who is smart, loyal, and caring. If I were younger and single, Mario is someone who would interest me. Chuck Caliber, the porn star in book 1, is captivating for the obvious and some not so obvious reasons. Michael’s study buddy, Carlo, in book 2 is incredibly sexy. The two bodybuilders in book 2, Zeus and Jarek, would also be on my radar. Mysterious Bruce in book 2 is also quite enticing. I could go on and on.

Mario’s brother shares a bungalow with him in book 1. Harold is equally good looking and well built, but he’s the exact opposite of his brother Mario. Harold is conniving, insecure, and quite the player. He’s someone I’d avoid.

Which is your favourite character? Who was a joy to write (and why?) and who were you glad to see the back of (and why!)?

Cal’s sister, Taylor, drops in from Rome, Paris, Wall Street, or Palm Springs in both books. As a tough as nails top one-percenter, the world revolves around her, which makes her hysterically funny. I also admire her devotion to her brother. Taylor gets a huge surprise in the second book. I still laugh out loud when reading Taylor’s scenes, so she’s a favorite character for me who was a joy to write.

Also after my novella A Shooting Star (Dreamspinner Press) was released, many readers wanted more time with two of the leading characters, college theatre majors Jonathan and Barry. So two of the guests at Cozzi Cove in book 2 are loosely based on how Jonathan and Barry might be as middle-aged men. I call them Rodney Maxwell and Dennis O’Halloran. They are a quite funny older theatre couple. Writing their dialogue was tricky since they have a love/hate relationship. I was quite pleased with the result, but happy when they left.

If I were a Hollywood producer about to put your book on the big screen, who would you want me to cast as the leads?

Since I’m also an actor (and a college theatre professor/department head), I’d like to play Sean Guile (a virgin romance author captivated by a porn star) in book 1, and Gil (who sees a vision of his first love at the beach) in book 2. The Rock could play the local bartender, Tommy Malone. Julia Roberts would be a good Taylor. Corbin Bleu could play Michael, Cal’s young boyfriend. I’d want Matt Bomer as Cal. I know he looks nothing like Cal, but who cares? It’s Matt Bomer!

No, seriously. I’m calling dibs on Matt Bomer to play my Shield Captain Bennet.  I suppose it would be bad form to fight over him–we’ll just have to bicker over the shooting schedule!–so instead tell me something about yourself that will surprise me.

After college I was an actor in film, television, and theatre, working opposite stars like Bruce Willis, Nathan Lane, Rosie O’Donnell, Holland Taylor, and Jason Robards. My 1982 ABC-TV movie, My Mother Never a Kid, and NBC’s Another World are still internet favorites.

Wow! Impressive! That’s an amazing life to look back on, and it must have given you some rich experiences to underpin your writing. It seems almost anticlimactic to ask, but tell me about one place you’d love to visit and what you’d do there.

I visited the gorgeous and romantic island of Capri in Italy to write my holiday novella, A Home for the Holidays (Dreamspinner Press) about an American law student who visits and falls in love with his Italian third cousin. I’d love to go back there. It was magical. I would go up on the lift at sunset and look out at the gorgeous views of the water, mountains, rocks, villas, and Italians.

My Nicky and Noah comedy mystery series (Lethe Press) is about a couple of college theatre professors who solve whodunits. The first novel, Drama Queen, won Best LGBT Mystery Novel and Best LGBT Humorous Novel of 2015 in Divine Magazine’s Readers’ Poll. Drama Muscle followed. For the third novel, Drama Cruse (not yet released), Nicky and Noah solve a mystery while doing a murder mystery dinner theatre show on a cruise to Alaska. So I did one as research, which was lots of fun. I’d like to go on a riverboat cruise next, perhaps up the Rhine, and wile away the hours reading and looking at the gorgeous scenery.

So, finally, after that rich and varied life is over, what do you want them to write on your tombstone?

http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com. Check it out!

 

Thank you, Joe! You withstood the thumbscrews very well (but you still can’t have Matt Bomer). Now let’s hear more about your new release!

 

On Cozzi Cove at the New Jersey shore, handsome Cal Cozzi’s seven bungalows are open for summer and love. Mario and Harold are brothers and college students who happen to look alike, but couldn’t be more different: Mario is searching for love, and Harold is searching for lust. Josh and Greg, a wealthy older couple, are matchmakers for their son, Christopher. When it comes to Connor, the maid, packed with muscles and a roving sponge, anything can happen. Opposites attract as wild Tim with the secret past meets shy Mark, and porn star Chuck Caliber connects with Sean, a virgin romance novelist. And what will happen when computer-game designer Arthur has a midnight sea rendezvous with a merman? Even married Cal faces an emotional upheaval when a gay bashing turns into something quite unexpected. What secrets and passions lie in magical Cozzi Cove?

Publisher: Nine Star Press

Release Date: March 21, 2016

Language: English

Cover Design: Arai TanISBN-13: 978-1-911153-35-1

Wordcount: 60,000 words

Praise for COZZI COVE: BOUNCING BACK:

“I loved this story. It carries you through the full range of emotions, from joy to sadness, from happiness to anger.  The characters are beautifully written.” “I look forward to a return visit to the Cove.” TBR Pile

“Heartbreaking and heartwarming, sweet beginnings for some, sour endings for others, emotions jumping off the page as you turn eagerly to read more, welcome to Cozzi Cove. The author measured his scales to perfection in delivering the perfect balance of love, laughter and tears in this sexy, fun filled holiday romance entwined with some sadness. Summer magic waved it’s wand at all who visited and stayed at Cozzi Cove and I was one of those who wanted to stay.” Three Books Over the Rainbow

 

Alone together in the parking lot, the two young men smiled at one another.

Suddenly Chris’s throat tightened. “I’m Julie. I mean, I’m Chris Tyler-Hampton.” He extended a clammy hand.

“Nice to meet you, Chris. I’m Mario Ginnetti.”

“I’m gay.” Chris replayed in his head what he’d just said. “I mean, I’m on college break.” Chris noticed Mario’s bulging pectoral muscles in his polo shirt. Mario returned the favor by openly checking Chris out. Looking into Mario’s dreamy dark eyes, Chris asked, “Are you on college break too?”

Mario nodded. “I go to Princeton. I’m a psych major, and I play football.”

Chris admired Mario’s strapping body. “I’m in engineering at Yale. I know, the whole Asian stereotype thing.” He tried to focus on not sounding like a lunatic as his heart raced like a Saturday-night driver. “Are you staying here with your parents too?”

“I’m parentless in Bungalow One.” Mario unleashed luscious dimples and a row of straight white teeth. In an obvious attempt at seduction, he posed on his car, but slipped on its smooth finish and fell to the ground.

Chris helped him to his feet.

With his face as red as a ripe strawberry, Mario said, “My father’s dead and my mom ran off with a mobster.”

Chris gasped. “I’m sorry.”

“You asked if my parents were here. They’re gone. My mother paid my college tuition first. It happened a while ago.”

Chris understood. “I’m sorry about your folks. I complain about mine, but they’ve always been there for me. We generally spend the summers in Europe, but Dad read about this place. Since I have one week off before my summer internship, they booked us in here for a week before they leave for Switzerland.” Chris hoped he didn’t sound snobby. “Well, I better get back inside and make sure Julie is using her best manners.”

Clutching his grocery bag to his chest, Mario said, “And I should refrigerate this stuff.”

Chris took a step away and then stopped and turned back to face Mario. With a throat drier than the Sahara Desert, he said, “Would you like to visit the main bitch with me tomorrow?”

Mario did a double take.

“I mean, would you like to go to the ocean beach … with me … tomorrow?”

Mario ran a shaky hand through his jet-black hair. “Is tomorrow supposed to be a good beach day?”

Chris replied, “I’m not sure. If there’s a hurricane or something, we can go inside.” Chris wiped the sweat off his neck with his handkerchief. “And if a shark comes along, we can always swim to shore.” Chris made a desperate attempt at swallowing and said, “I’ll knock on your bungalow door at ten a.m. If that’s indeed okay.” He had never said the word indeed before.

Mario nodded. “Ten a.m. is good.”

“I look forward to seeing you then.” Chris couldn’t stop himself from looking back at Mario and smiling as he walked toward his fathers’ bungalow. When he banged into the trash can, he barely felt the pain in his knee or the gash in his calf.

 

Nine Star Press: 

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All Romance eBooks

 

Amazon Bestselling author Joe Cosentino wrote Cozzi Cove: Bouncing Back (NineStar Press), Drama Queen and Drama Muscle Nicky and Noah mysteries (Lethe Press), An Infatuation, A Shooting Star, A Home for the Holidays, The Naked Prince and Other Tales from Fairyland (Dreamspinner Press), Paper Doll and Porcelain Doll (Wild Rose Press) Jana Lane mysteries, and The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (Eldridge Plays and Musicals).

He has appeared in principal acting roles in film, television, and theatre, opposite stars such as Bruce Willis, Rosie O’Donnell, Nathan Lane, Holland Taylor, and Jason Robards. His one-act plays, Infatuation and Neighbor, were performed in New York City. He wrote The Perils of Pauline educational film (Prentice Hall Publishers).

Joe is currently Head of the Department/Professor at a college in upstate New York, and is happily married. His upcoming novels are Cozzi Cove: Moving Forward (Nine Star Press), Drama Cruise Nicky and Noah mystery (Lethe Press), and Satin Doll and China Doll Jana Lane mysteries (Wild Rose Press). Joe was voted 2nd Place for Best MM Author of the Year in Divine Magazine’s Readers’ Choice Awards for 2015!

Web site: http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JoeCosentinoauthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoeCosen

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4071647.Joe_Cosentino

Amazon: Author.to/JoeCosentino

 

Book Blast and Giveaway: A. M. Arthur’s ‘The Heart As He Hears It’

 

Love can slip through the smallest crack in the door.

While most of his friends have moved on to “real” careers, Jon Buchanan is content skating through life as a part-time waiter and gay porn star. Firmly single thanks to a previous relationship disaster, he focuses his spare time on Henry, a dear friend dying of cancer.

And with Henry’s happiness paramount, Jon is on a mission to help Henry meet his recently discovered grandson.

Isaac Gregory hasn’t set foot outside for the past year. He has everything he needs delivered, and his remaining family knows better than to visit. When a complete stranger shows up claiming to be his grandfather—with a distractingly handsome younger man in tow—his carefully structured routines are shaken.

Despite his instant attraction, Jon senses Isaac is too fragile for a relationship. Yet tentative friendship grows into genuine companionship. And when Henry’s health begins to fail, they realize Fate brought them together for a reason.

Book title: The Heart As He Hears It\

Series: Perspectives,  Book 3

Publisher: Samhain Publishing

Cover Artist: Lyn Taylor

 

 

Jon studied him, his gaze taking in…something. “May I ask you something?”

“Of course.” His chest flushed with anticipation.

“How do you feel when you’re with me?”

Isaac tried to push aside the anxiety still attempting to blur his thoughts, an old friend that wanted to be part of the conversation. Only anxiety wasn’t allowed in, not this time. He shuffled through different words, emotions and adjectives, searching for the one that best described how he felt about Jon. How Jon made him feel, despite being a near-stranger, bigger, stronger and far more experienced in pretty much everything. Jon still made him feel… “Safe,” Isaac said.

Jon’s eyebrows crept up. The corners of his mouth quirked into something not quite a smile. “Really?”

“Yes. The first time I saw you on my security feed, I noticed how beautiful you were.” His cheeks warmed.

Jon flat out grinned. “Yeah?”

“You’re kind and patient, and I feel safe because you don’t try to fix me, and you don’t act like I’m broken. My family thinks I’m broken, and I don’t want them to fix me. I just…” Something in Isaac shifted, accepting this new truth. “I need to feel safe, Jon. That’s why I hide. But you make me not want to hide.”

Jon’s eyes glittered. His expression melted into something so warm, so sweet, that it burned in Isaac’s blood in a way he didn’t understand at all. The strange sensation urged him to reach out, to initiate contact of some kind. Deep-rooted fear kept Isaac still, unable to make that first move. Unable to do anything except soak in the wonderment on Jon’s face.

“I think that’s the greatest compliment I’ve ever gotten,” Jon said. His voice was hoarse, strange. Almost difficult to hear, so Isaac paid more attention to his lips. “Is it cheesy to say your strength makes me want to be better too?”

Isaac shook his head. “I’m not strong.”

“You’re stronger than you think. You proved that by letting me and Henry in two weeks ago. You proved it again by going out to rescue a kitten. Twice, by the way. You told me you want to get better, get into the world, and that takes a fuck-ton of courage when you’ve lost as much as you have. I know it won’t be easy, but I still want to help you do that.”

“I know you do. I want that too.”

 

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A.M. Arthur was born and raised in the same kind of small town that she likes to write about, a stone’s throw from both beach resorts and generational farmland.  She’s been creating stories in her head since she was a child and scribbling them down nearly as long, in a losing battle to make the fictional voices stop.  She credits an early fascination with male friendships (bromance hadn’t been coined yet back then) with her later discovery of and subsequent love affair with m/m romance stories. A.M. Arthur’s work is available from Samhain Publishing, Carina Press, Dreamspinner Press, and SMP Swerve.

When not exorcising the voices in her head, she toils away in a retail job that tests her patience and gives her lots of story fodder.  She can also be found in her kitchen, pretending she’s an amateur chef and trying to not poison herself or others with her cuisine experiments.

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/A.M.Arthur.M.A

Twitter: http://twitter.com/am_arthur

Website: http://amarthur.blogspot.com/

Tumblr: http://www.tumblr.com/blog/am-arthur

 

Parker Williams, Divine Magazine, Oh My Shelves, Unquietly Me, The Jena Wade, Full Moon Dreaming, Making It Happen, Book Lovers 4Ever, BFD Book Blog, The Hat Party, Alpha Book Club, V’s Reads, Two Chicks Obsessed With Books and Eye Candy, Bayou Book Junkie, My Fiction Nook, Happily Ever Chapter, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, Sinfully Addicted to All Male Romance, A.M. Leibowitz, Outrageous Heroes, Elisa – My Reviews and Ramblings, Nephy Hart, Boys on the Brink Reviews, MM Good Book Reviews, Molly Lolly, Gay Media Reviews, Kirsty Loves Books, Jessie G. Books, Havan Fellows, Anna Butler Fiction, Dawn’s Reading Nook, Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents, Mikky’s World of Books, Inked Rainbow Reads, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words

 

Review and Book Blast for “Myths Untold: Faery” – an anthology of golden withered leaves

I’ve never grown out of my love for myth and faery stories. In their purest forms, they’re primeval, subversive, eldritch, enlightening, sinister, unsafe and ultimately unknowable. When I graduated up from Grimm, it was to Warner Townsend and Dunsany both of whom have moulded my views of what Faerie is, or may be: minutely detailed, threatening worlds with their cold, inhuman and amoral peoples. Get some of that into a modern day take of faery, and I will be satisfied.

Four very different authors. Four very different takes on faery. In three of the stories, Faery intersects with this world, to the danger and discomfort of mortals and fae alike. The variety of approaches is quite fascinating: Gus Li with a tale of homeless youth in present day Cardiff, Skye Hegyes with a story of  changeling set in a timeless village any Grimm reader would recognise, and J. Scott Coatsworth in a post-Apocalyptic world half-drowned in irreversible climate change and seen through the eyes of a trans man.

Faery tales depend on world building. Not getting us to suspend our disbelief (a dreadfully limiting idea, I think) but *to believe* something fantastical or impossible, like the Red Queen in Alice. But at the same time, we have to realise that the fantastic is there. So while the point of intersection with Faery is about difference, discrepancy even between the MC’s life/character/actions and what is normally ‘expected’, we have to see and understand that discrepancy in order to see and understand the wonder the MC must accept and assimilate. If we’re going to be disturbed by the clash of mortal and magic, then we need the reminders of our mortality.

This anthology achieves that exceptionally well, I think. All three ‘intersectional’ stories have either human protagonists or in Hegyes’ case, a changeling who is culturally impressed with ‘human’ because of his upbringing with a human mother. That initial comfortable sense of “I recognise this!”  is what gives the stories their jolt when the MCs are jerked into the shadow-lands of myth. The reader gets to empathise with the MCs first and the stories turn the familiar, even if it’s only faintly familiar, on its head. And it’s all very well done.

You’ll notice I haven’t mentioned the fourth story, yet. That’s because it doesn’t intersect with the human world at all. Brandon Witt’s story is set fully in Faery with Fae characters. This story, more than the others, reminds me of the perverse, amoral societies that Warner Townsend wrote about; a place where casual cruelty is the norm, where the denizens of the world are so… well, cold. Grotesque. Inhuman. A society where you can well imagine the national sport is watching a cat torment a mouse. Witt evokes this quite brilliantly. This is a disturbing story of disturbing creatures, and the world building, achieved in just a few words, is epic. You’ll have no familiar starting off point, gentle reader. You’ll be plunged straight in. Hold onto your hat.

All in all, a highly enjoyable anthology, and I’m delighted to have had the chance to read it.

When it comes to myth and magic, Tolkien (as ever) said it best:

“The Land of Fairy Story is wide and deep and high…. In that land a man may (perhaps) count himself fortunate to have wandered, but its very mystery and wealth make dumb the traveler who would report…. The fairy gold (too often) turns to withered leaves when it is brought away. All that I can ask is that you, knowing all these things, will receive my withered leaves, as a token at least that my hand once held a little of the gold.”

I’m delighted today that Gus Li, Brandon Witt, Skye Hegyes and J. Scott Coatsworth are here to tell us a little about the gold they held.

 

 

Did you base your universe on any established traditions, such as Irish, Nordic, etc.? How is it incorporated into your world?

Gus: Mine is fairly generic European/English in that the faerie world exists somewhere else, overlaps with our own here and there, and poses dangers to mortals who wander into it. Since the story is set in Cardiff, I chose some Welsh names for some of the faeries.

Brandon:  Oh, goodness.  I’m going to sound so self-absorbed, but here goes!  I based this short story on the fairy culture I’d already created in my Men of Myth series.  That’s the world it’s set in.  However, I stole the idea of fairies being obsessed with beauty, which is how my fairies set up the royal hierarchy.

Skye: Umm… I’m probably going to be ripped a new one for this, but I’ll be the first to admit the only thing I know about fairies and Faery comes from the fairy tales I’ve read. There was a poem I read while attempting to do research for this that I added to that small collection of knowledge (and of course, I can’t remember its name), but even that only influenced what happened when the fairies gathered.

Scott: I did draw a little on Irish/Celtic myths and used/abused the language terribly when writing through the veil. But any elaborations, mistakes, or outright lies are purely my own.

 

What about that particular tradition appealed to you?

Gus: I didn’t want to adhere to anything too strictly, so I used the mix-and-match approach. There’s a wealth of traditions and stories to draw from, and while there are similarities, there is also variety—sometimes even from one region of Britain to the next.

Brandon:  I really enjoy playing with beauty and darkness in the same story.  I wanted to explore how dark an obsession with beauty could go.

Skye: I’ve always heard that the main rule of fairies is that you don’t eat or drink anything they offer to you. It’s like a drug—the strongest you’ll ever find—and once you’ve had a taste, you’ll go mad without it. How powerful does fairy magic have to be to cause madness?

Scott: I’ve always loved the sound and the look of Irish/Celtic words. And for me, they just go with Faery and fairies or the fae. Yes, I know many cultural traditions have the fair folk, but these are the ones that appealed to me, even as a child. And I guess that never went away.

 

What about your world sets it apart from the worlds of myth and legend? How did you make it your own?

Gus: Aside from the aforementioned—the Otherworld overlapping with ours and being dangerous—I constructed my world completely from imagination. The characters, while loosely based on creatures from myth, are also original.

Brandon:  Honestly, I threw nearly everything I knew about fairies away and made them how I wanted them, with the exception of their connection to nature.  I love that aspect.

Skye: Once again, I feel like I might be staked for my answer, but I honestly don’t know. I took a mish-mash of everything I’d ever been told and combined it with my own takes on Faery and fairies, and turned it into a tale. Isn’t that what all storytellers do? Wrap you up in a story that mixes imagination with myths and legends?

Scott: I like to mix genres, so I set my story in a future San Francisco partly swamped by climate change. I liked bringing a little magic and mystery into this future setting, and it also features one of my first trans characters, which was a big leap for me as a cis guy. But I did my homework and got some of my trans friends to beta me out of a few issues I might otherwise have had.

 

Does your story contain any folklore or legends, such as the faerie ring, faerie music, or the faerie repulsion to iron?

Gus: I used the superstition that if a mortal eats or drinks anything in faerie, they will have to go back. I also used the idea of glamour—people seeing a beautiful illusion rather than what’s actually there—and the idea of the faerie race dwindling due to problems with reproduction plays a fairly large role in the story.

Brandon: Mine doesn’t. I’m not a traditionalist in many ways.

Skye: I mentioned above that mortals shouldn’t eat or drink fairy consumables, but I also used the adage of milk and honey being favorable to fairies and the fairy rings. I rather like the idea of those bits of myth and legend.

Scott: Hmmm… not per se. There’s a legend of the faery vs. demonkind, which I drew out of some Celtic legends, and the trope about time passing differently on Earth than in Faery…

 

Many fairy tales and legends follow a classic arc, whether it’s to teach a moral lesson or explain a natural phenomenon. Does your story resemble an archetype like the hero’s journey or the mortal who paid the price for messing with things beyond his understanding? How so?

Gus: Only in that mine is a story of someone who is outcast and on the fringes of society “finding his people.” Though in this case, it might not be a positive thing for everyone involved.

Brandon:  I wouldn’t call it a lesson or moral, though it does highlight the danger of obsession with beauty and power.  Still, I’d say it’s more of a story of sacrifice for brotherly love.

Skye: Maybe not a moral per-say, but a large part of the lesson I wanted to be taken from Tyler’s story was that it’s OK to be different, and you must learn to accept your differences and be who you truly are.

Scott: Mine’s a quest, as many stories that I write tend to be. It’s actually a couple quests in one. Tris is on a quest to find his brother. Colton is on a quest at first to find himself, and then to find Tris… but you’ll just have to read it to see what that’s all about. *grin*.

 

Faeries are part of mythology the world over, past, present, and future. Called elves, brownies, the fae, and more, they evoke a sense of wonder and a little danger. Faery has its own rules, and humans enter at their peril.

In this spirit, we bring you the first book in the Myths Untold anthology series—four stories from the land of the Fae: a homeless man in Cardiff and the luck that could destroy him; the trans man in future San Francisco who falls for an elf; the village boy who has always been a little different; and a faery prince whose birthright was stolen from him.

Welcome to Faery.

The Pwcca and the Persian Boy, by Gus Li

Despite beauty and luck, something about Glyn makes everyone uncomfortable. Homeless on the streets of Cardiff, he has nothing to keep him going but his friendship with Farrokh. Through stealing and fortune’s occasional favor, Glyn keeps them alive. But then homeless youths begin to disappear, and when Farrokh goes missing, Glyn begins to discover the reasons behind both his luck and the way people react to him. Determined to save his friend from a danger he never imagined, he enlists the help of Lleu, who might be an ally, or might be manipulating Glyn to achieve his own goals.

The Other Side of the Chrysalis, by Brandon Witt

In a species that values beauty above all else, Quay looses both his freedom and his birthright as prince of the fairies.  Lower than an outcast, he watches over his younger brother, hoping against hope that Xenith’s rebirth will provide safety and positions that has slipped through Quay’s grasp.  Though he expected kindness from no one, Quay gradually starts to trust that there is more to life, even for the likes of him, as sexual encounters with Flesser, a fairy barely accepted himself, turn from lust to love.  Quay knows having forbidden relationships will be his undoing,  but he is powerless to turn away.

Changeling, by Skye Hegyes

With his pointed ears and a tail, Tyler’s always been different than the other children, but until Marsh, a brownie tells him he’s a changeling, he never thought he wasn’t human. Now he will discover what faery life is like, and just how being a changeling could change his life. On the way, his ties with his mother will be pushed and prodded even as his friendships grow and his love life blossoms.  However, in a village of God-fearing people, those who are different are spurned and Tyler will discover how much trouble a fledgling changeling can get into.

Through the Veil, by J. Scott Coatsworth

In the not-too-distant future, San Francisco has been swamped by rising sea levels caused by global warming, and has only survived by building a wall to keep the water out of the heart of the City. Colton is a trans man barely getting by on the canals outside the wall. Tris is an elf who has come to the human world on his journey to become a man. Fate brings them together, and everything changes for Colton when he sets out with Tris to find the elf’s missing brother, taking Colton behind the Wall for the first time.

 

Publisher: Wilde City Press

Authors: August Li, Brandon Witt, JScott Coatsworth, Skye Hegyes

Cover Artist: August Li

Length: 79K

Format: eBook, Paperback

Release Date: 4/13/16

Pairing: MM

 

 

Available at the Wilde City website from 13 April; other sites one week later.

Price: eBook $5.99, paperback TBD

 

 

Gus Li

August (Gus) Li is a creator of fantasy worlds. When not writing, he enjoys drawing, illustration, costuming and cosplay, and making things in general. He lives near Philadelphia with two cats and too many ball-jointed dolls.

He loves to travel and is trying to see as much of the world as possible. Other hobbies include reading (of course), tattoos, and playing video games.

 

Brandon Witt

Brandon Witt’s outlook on life is greatly impacted by his first eighteen years of growing up gay in a small town in the Ozarks, as well as fifteen years as a counselor and special education teacher for students with severe emotional disabilities.

Add to that his obsession with corgis and mermaids, then factor in an unhealthy love affair with cheeseburgers, and you realize that with all those issues, he’s got plenty to write about…

 

Skye Hegyes

Dragons, wolves, and sharp objects are commonplace in Skye Hegyes’s home in North Carolina. She spends most of her time between writing and working. When not doing either of these things, you may find her making crafts or adventuring with her family, which consists of her husband, two daughters, two birds, and three cats… and a partridge in a pear tree…

 

J. Scott Coatsworth

Scott has been writing since elementary school, when he and won a University of Arizona writing contest in 4th grade for his first sci fi story (with illustrations!). He finished his first novel in his mid twenties, but after seeing it rejected by ten publishers, he gave up on writing for a while.

Over the ensuing years, he came back to it periodically, but it never stuck. Then one day, he was complaining to Mark, his husband, early last year about how he had been derailed yet again by the death of a family member, and Mark said to him “the only one stopping you from writing is you.”

Since then, Scott has gone back to writing in a big way, finishing more than a dozen short stories – some new, some that he had started years before – and seeing his first sale. He’s embarking on a new trilogy, and also runs the Queer Sci Fi site, a support group for writers of gay sci fi, fantasy, and supernatural fiction.

He Who Is Upon His Mountain

I have finally started the second in the series I’m calling Lancaster’s Luck – the m/m romantic steampunk adventure that’s the follow up to the Gilded Scarab. I’ve been thinking about the title and what that says about me and the way I write.

Sometimes, I’m too hidebound for my own good. I find it very hard to write anything if it doesn’t have a title. Oh, and pictures to inspire me. I can’t just call the file  “WIP” or “DRAFT” or “FRED” and just crack on with the story. I have to have a proper title first, and that means a lot of sitting about and frowning while I think about it, or researching, or looking up literary quotations that might (even if only tangentially) touch on what the novel is going to be about and that might give me an idea for a title for the book. Add to that, an unhealthy attachment to Pinterest and pretty pictures that will help inspire plot or how I see the characters, and it’s a wonder I ever get around to writing anything at all.

Wiki Commons: Anubis Mask from Harrogate Museum

However, I have made a start. The second book is set in Aegypt, with Rafe and Ned off on an archaeological dig over the winter of 1900-1901. As with the first book, there will be scarabs everywhere, and a couple of personal experiences with scarabs from years ago, when my husband and I spent our first anniversary on a Nile tour, will find their way into the novel when Rafe arrives in Cairo. Did you know their feet tickle?

But scarabs aren’t the focus of this book. Instead, one of the more equivocal and frightening Egyptian creatures will stalk his way through the story: the jackal-headed god of the dead, the Embalmer in chief, Anubis.

Public domain: Anubis tending to the mummy of Sennedjem

Anubis isn’t his real name, of course. That’s a Greek version of the hieroglyphics associated with the Egyptian god who oversaw the embalming of the dead, and who was instrumental in dealing with the soul in the afterlife: ı͗npw (apparently pronounced as Anapa). 

 

 

The standard way of writing his name in hieroglyphs was composed of the sound ı͗npw followed by a “jackal” — now believed, rather more excitingly, to be an African Golden Wolf. Later in the Old Kingdom, the jackal was shown lying on top of a tomb. 

 

Of course, the likelihood is that invoking inpw as a god was a form of sympathetic, protective magic. Wild dogs and jackals abounded, and they were all carrion eaters. There’s little doubt they haunted the cemeteries looking to have a quick snack off a recent burial. Little wonder that a jackal god became associated with death.

As with most gods, he has a wonderful array of titles. Believe me, the ancient Egyptians were poets who loved to come up with epithets to describe their gods, with titles that rolled off the tongue with fierce, evocative imagery: He Who Is Upon His Mountain, Lord of the Necropolis, He Who Counts The Hearts, Jackal Ruler of the Bows… and countless others.

And there was my inspiration for the title of the next Rafe and Ned book. Jackals play a big part in the story, it was only fitting that one of Anubis’s titles be used. Most of them are lovely, euphonious… but only one leapt off the page at me. So the next Rafe and Ned book, gentle people, will be:

The Dog Who Swallows Millions

Copyrighted Free Use: Jackal from Tutankhamun’s tomb

Links To Blog Posts on Writing – March 2016

 

 It seems that nary a month can go by without some huge flap going on in the m/m genre. I’ve thought long and hard about linking to the various posts concerned with the latest one, which is a whole explosion of feelings around the ‘gay for you’ trope. It’s a horribly complex issue with a lot of differing points of view, but it seems to me to boil down to another instance of bisexuality erasure and in the end, I’ve opted to showcase those posts I found thoughtful, helpful, calm.

For you – ’Nathan Burgoine

How to Like Bad Things – K J  Charles

On problems and messes – Alexis Hall

But there are a few things I’m personally taking from it. If you’re straight and writing books about LGBT characters and you claim to be an ally, then it behoves you to do your damndest to get things right, to listen to what LGBT people (people, not characters, dammit) tell you. If you get it wrong and they tell you so, don’t take it as a personal attack. Don’t be defensive, be analytical and work out what’s problematic. If someone tells you that you’ve hurt them or misrepresented them or (even) erased their entire identity, you damn well apologise unreservedly and try to do better. It’s not about being a decent author. It’s about being a decent fucking human being.

 

Getting Inspired to Write – James Scott Bell at the Kill Zone on inspiration and perspiration. Good post. “The best cure for not writing is writing. The best antidote for the writing blues is writing.”

Break Yourself Out (or how to start your book) – James R Tuck guesting at The Fiction University. “Start anywhere! Do it any way you feel comfortable! Color outside the lines! Be a rebel!”

The Difference Between a Writer and a Storyteller – a short post at The Write Practice. Perhaps too short a post—I found it quite thought provoking and would have liked more. Gives me something to think about for a post of my own, I suppose…

Two Essential Words for Writers – Ruthanne Reid at The Write Practice, on not giving up. Loved this quote she uses: Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying ‘I will try again tomorrow.’—Mary Anne Radmacher

Joe Hart: Five Things I Learned Writing The Last Girl

E.J. Wenstrom: Five Things I Learned Writing Mud

 

Please Let Me Motivate You With My Gesticulations And Screams – only Chuck could write this. Seriously. “MAKE / CREATE / DO. WRITE / REWRITE / WEEP / WAIL / REPAIR. ART HARDER, MOTHERFUCKER” Oh, the caps are all his. Chuck is screaming his writing advice at you.

How Much Should Writers Pay To Be Published? Ha. Trick question of course. Chuck analyses what A&M Publishers offer new writers who must pay for their services. Summing up? “Pass the bullshit repellent, indeed.”

 

Introducing Deep POV—WTH IS It? Can We Buy Some on Amazon?  /  Getting in Character—Deep POV Part Two  /  Want a Page-Turner? You Need Deep POV – links to three posts re Kristen Lamb’s advice on deep PoV. Funny, readable and useful. Recommended.

6 Reasons “Show Don’t Tell” Can Be Terrible Advice For New Writers – Interesting post from Anne Allen (and that’s a Tell, not a Show).

How to Make EVERY Page of Your Story Interesting – Alex Limburg guesting at Kirsten Lamb’s blog with advice on how to avoid the boring bits.

Liar, Liar! Pants on Fire! Writing the Unreliable Narrator – excellent Kill Zone post from P J Parrish. She gives a list of the various types of unreliable narrator, but my point would be to ask if we can *ever* trust the narrator? Nothing comes to us unfiltered.

The Shocking Truth About Info Dumps – Lisa Cron at Writer Unboxed, on a topic very dear to my heart at the moment, as I’m wrestling with backstory in the second Rafe book. Hard to get right, my dears.

Rethinking the Mentor – Donald Maas at The Writer Unboxed, with a post on the role of the mentor figure in literature and some challenging questions about the relationship between mentor and mentee. Ignore the awful grammatical howler in the last sentence.

First Drafts (Excerpt #1)—Launch Week Festivities*  The Magic of Fiction was launched at the Editor’s Blog this month, and posts included this interesting post about first drafts. They produced a plethora of great posts – listed here – all of which are worth a look. You’ll find at least one or two that speak loud.

Thoughts On Writing a Scene – Janice Hardy at the Fiction University.

Past Tense Or Present Tense? Which One Tells A Better Story? – Amanda Patterson at Writers Write, with a run through of the pros and cons of choosing a verb tense. Also links to her post on which PoV to use – I, you or he/she, which is also worth a read

 

Does Your Website’s First Impression Sell Books? – June Stevens Westfield at Writers in the Storm with a very thought provoking post on web design. I’m a bit lumbered with WordPress’s limitations, but I must try and incorporate some of her ideas.

 

A Marketing Tool That’s FUN! – Laura Drake at Writers in the Storm on a tool called Canva. It appears to produce the sort of memes that populate (infest?) Facebook, but I can see that with a compelling image and a line from your books, you can create some fun composite meme. Whether anyone will pick up on it is another matter, and you could be spending lots of time diverted from writing.

Six Ways You Are Ruining Your Book Marketing Campaign – Cate Baum at Self-Publishing Review with a depressing post. There’s never a ‘how to do it right’ post, is there? Note: there’s a sales pitch at the end.

 

Amazon Takes Aim At Scammers But Hits Authors – if you self-publish or are thinking about it, read David Gaughran’s post about how Amazon’s robotic, unthinking approach to dealing with Kindle Unlimited scammers is seriously affecting genuine authors. Don’t ever think Amazon is on your side. It isn’t. Authors a commodity in its business. Which makes the next link all the more interesting…

Top 10 Reasons to Publish Through Amazon – Diana Hurwitz at The Blood Red Pencil.

Amazon Self-Publishing on a Budget – Dos and Don’ts – Morgan Mandel at The Blood Red Pencil.

My Book’s Been Orphaned–Now What? – considerations when a press goes under and you’re trying to get your rights back. Main article at the delightfully named Evil League of Evil Writers (Can I join? Is there a uniform? Does it involve spandex?) with an interesting additional comment at The Passive Voice

For me, traditional publishing means poverty. But self-publish? No way – a provocative article by Ros Barber at The Guardian, rehashing yet again the old guard’s disdain for self publishing. Am resisting the temptation to describe her as a numpty. No wait… I’m not resisting at all. Also a long discussion of this at The Passive Voice, where the majority of the commentators think she’s male. I’m not sure if that’s because Ros as a name may not be common outside of the UK, or whether it’s gender bias in glorious action. No wait… I’m completely sure.

Subsidiary Rights – the second of Susan Spann’s essential reading posts on rights and contracts (she gives a link to the first in the post). Bookmark these.

 

Top 10 Productivity Books For Ambitious Writers – Veronica Sicoe with her list of the books self-publishers should read, because “The self-publishing business is all about speed of delivery and consistent quality.”

 

 

Book Blast: L M Somerton’s Elemental Love

 

An untrained warlock is a dangerous man to love.

On his twenty-first birthday, Evrain Brookes discovers he is an elemental warlock. The spell suppressing his talent lifts and he has to get used to a whole new existence. The protection that kept him safe during his childhood is gone, his skills are wild and uncontrolled and there are those that seek to use him for their own gain.

Evrain’s grandmother is a witch, his godfather another warlock. Between them they do their best to keep Evrain on the right path. He learns that in order to gain control of his formidable powers, he will need to ‘channel’ through a life partner, a process that happens only with consent and through love. But how will he ever find a man prepared to put up with a Dominant warlock for a boyfriend?

Dominic Castine has no idea that Evrain’s grandmother sees him as a prospective partner for Evrain. He tends her garden and she teaches him about herbs—a trade-off they both enjoy. He is drawn to Evrain’s charismatic presence but doesn’t understand why he wants to drop to his knees and submit to him.

When Agatha is murdered, Evrain and Dominic are thrown together as she manipulates them from beyond the grave. Dominic becomes the pawn in a terrifying game between warlocks whose powers he barely comprehends.

In the end, lives will depend on his courage, his willingness to grant Evrain control and the power of love.

 

Book Name: Elemental Love

Release Date: March 29, 2016

Publisher: Pride Publishing

Cover Artist: Emmy Ellis

Goodreads Link

Wordcount: 59,472 words

Categories: BDSM, Contemporary, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy

Reader Advisory: This book contains scenes of kidnap and a reference to attempted sexual assault.

 

Twenty-one years ago…

“Closed doors, I hate closed doors. Why don’t I have the power to see through them? That, at least, would be a useful ability.” Three-hundred-year-old floorboards creaked as Gregory Thanet paced the galleried landing of Wenlock House. He walked up and down past three doors, each fashioned from heavy oak and furnished with black iron hinges and handles. Two stood ajar, revealing hints of unoccupied bedrooms, but the third was firmly closed, a solid barrier to unwanted intrusion and the cause of Gregory’s current frustration.

“For goodness’ sake, Gregory, you’re wearing out the carpet. Be still.” Gregory’s companion leaned against the gallery rail and gave him an exasperated look.

Gregory paused his march briefly, shot a glare at the woman but then resumed his pacing with a grunt. “Leave me be, woman, I’ll be still when we know that everything is as it should be.”

“Nature moves at her own pace, you know that. There’s no changing it—nor should we. What will be will be.”

“Stop trying to sound like some wise and ancient soothsayer, Agatha. You’re not helping and it doesn’t suit you. The kid is a week late already—you’d think he would be keen to greet the world by now. When he’s grown I’ll remember that he kept me up half the night. I’m sure I’ll get plenty of opportunities for revenge when he’s older.” Gregory stopped and folded his arms across his chest.

“I might not be able to see the future, Gregory Thanet, but even a complete idiot could have predicted that my grandson would arrive today.”

Gregory examined his companion. Agatha looked tired. Her skin was quite smooth, marred only by a few laughter lines around her hazel eyes, eyes that still sparkled with warmth and intelligence. Her silver hair was swept smoothly back and fastened with a comb, intricately fashioned from beaten copper. She remained an attractive woman, who must have possessed great beauty in her youth, but she looked paler than usual and she rested her weight against the banister rather than standing in her usual ramrod-straight stance.

Gregory experienced a rare pang of guilt that he might be adding to his friend’s worries. “All Hallows’ Eve. There’s a lot of power in the air right now.”

Agatha cocked her head to one side and closed her eyes as if listening to sounds that only she could hear. “My grandson will be with us soon and there is little that you or I can do to change the course of his destiny.” For a moment, a worried frown creased her forehead. “It is not certain that he will inherit the gift.”

Gregory sighed. “In this, you deceive yourself, Agatha. The calling has skipped a generation. History dictates that the next born will be unusually powerful and that power will be magnified even further in a male child.”

“There has been no warlock in my family line for over five hundred years, only witches. Why are you so convinced that it will change now? We know of only three others living, Gregory. You, Symeon Malus and Constantine De Vries. It would be a chance in a billion.”

Gregory scratched the tip of his long nose. “I should have bought a lottery ticket then. All the portents point to it, the date alone… It is time. Time the triangle became a square.”

“I’m not sure Symeon Malus will ever be part of that square,” Agatha said. “I don’t see him as the cornerstone of anything with value or integrity.”

“True, and if the child is born with the power, you and I will need to ensure that Symeon’s gaze remains elsewhere.” Gregory shivered. “I swear to the goddess, this country is the dampest place on earth. It’s all right for you, Agatha, you live in the second dampest place on the planet. You’re used to groping through fog. I want to get back to Florida. I need to—before I develop trench foot.”

“Pah. What you really want is to get back to Coryn. You’re a ship without an anchor when the two of you are apart. He could have come to see the child too, you know.” Agatha grabbed a stray hair and pushed it back into a restraining grip.

“Coryn hates airplanes, you know that. I would never ask him to fly across the pond unless it was a life or death situation.”

“If it were, you wouldn’t have to ask him.”

“He reckons that if men were designed to fly through the air, then human cannonball would be a much more popular career choice.”

Agatha snorted. “I think his phobia is a myth. He just uses it as an excuse to get a few days’ break from your—” She whistled and twiddled her fingers in the air.

Gregory rolled his eyes. “Twiddling your fingers that way will get you turned into an aardvark. It takes practice to bend your digits into shapes imbued with power. After thirty-two years together, Coryn is more than capable of dealing with my—” He whistled. “As you so delicately put it.”

Agatha snorted. “Men with magic! Whoever the hell thought that would be a good idea was seriously damaged.” She shook her head slowly.

Gregory grinned and waggled a silver eyebrow.

The mewling cry of a newborn sounded from behind the closed bedroom door, and Agatha allowed her lips to curve into a smile.

“Well, it seems the waiting is over. I have a grandchild—and, from the sound of that bellowing, he’s a fine, healthy boy.”

“About damned time.” Gregory grouched. He still smiled right along with Agatha.

Agatha crossed the landing and knocked softly on the door, which soon swung open to admit her. Gregory followed her inside, pushing down his excitement.

The bedroom was bathed in the cool light of a new dawn. The soft green of the walls seemed to shimmer and the wooden floor was burnished with gold. Gregory looked around in wonder, then dragged his gaze back to the bed.

“Lyssa, James—congratulations, my dears!” Agatha clapped her hands together in delight as she walked over to the bed.

Gregory hung back a little, giving her the privilege of first viewing.

Agatha’s daughter, Lyssa, sat up in bed propped against a mound of pillows. She was pale, her eyes shadowed in the purple of exhaustion, but still she glowed with radiant happiness. A small bundle wrapped in a pale blue blanket rested in her arms. Her husband, James, sat nervously on the edge of the mattress, looking utterly shell-shocked but delighted as the midwife fussed around them.

Lyssa held the baby out to her mother with a smile. “His name is Evrain. Evrain James Brookes. Hold him, Mum, isn’t he beautiful?”

Gregory held his breath as Agatha reached for the small bundle and cradled the child in her arms. She pushed the blanket back from the baby’s head, and a mop of thick black hair was revealed, sticking out in all directions.

“He is absolutely gorgeous, darling. Didn’t you both do well!” Agatha stroked the child’s hair.

Gregory moved in closer. Tiny fists punched at the air, so Gregory offered the boy his own hand. Immediately, the baby grabbed hold, wrapping his fingers around Gregory’s offering with surprising strength. Gregory grinned at Agatha in delight, then looked back to the baby. His eyes were the dark blue of every newborn but, as Gregory focused his senses on the child, he could see that they would become dark green. Just a shade deeper than his own.

Cooing softly, Agatha muttered a lilting incantation and rocked the baby gently. To Lyssa and James, the song probably sounded like a lullaby, but Gregory knew a spell when he heard one. Tiny eyelids closed and the baby slept. Gregory’s finger was released. After a few more minutes of cuddling, Agatha reluctantly returned the baby to his parents.

 

Pride Publishing

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

 

Rafflecopter giveaway – click HERE 

 

L M lives in a small village in the English countryside, surrounded by rolling hills, cows and sheep. She started writing to fill time between jobs and is now firmly and unashamedly addicted.

She loves the English weather, especially the rain, and adores a thunderstorm. She loves good food, warm company and a crackling fire. She’s fascinated by the psychology of relationships, especially between men, and her stories contain some subtle (and not so subtle) leanings towards BDSM.

Where to find the author:

Pride Publishing page: https://www.pride-publishing.com/author/lm-somerton

Website: www.lmsomerton.com

Blog: http://www.lmsomerton.com/#!blog/c112v

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lmsomertonwrites/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lmsomerton

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lmsomerton

Pinterest: https://uk.pinterest.com/lmsomerton/

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/L.M.-Somerton/e/B00AV9XRW8

 

Parker Williams, Divine Magazine, Outrageous Heroes, Alpha Book Club, Boys on the Brink Reviews, Anna Butler Fiction, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, A.M. Leibowitz, Making It Happen, Bayou Book Junkie, Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents, Full Moon Dreaming, Gay Media Reviews, 3 Chicks After Dark MM Good Book Reviews, Molly Lolly, BFD Book Blog, Man2ManTastic, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, The Fuzzy, Fluffy World of Chris T. Kat, Carly’s Book Reviews, Up All Night, Read All Day, Decadent Delights, Book Lovers 4Ever, The Hat Party, Three Books Over The Rainbow, Velvet Panic, Foxylutely Book Reviews, Inked Rainbow Reads

 

An Aussie on the US – Kevin Klehr guest blogs here today

I’m beginning to see how clever it is to turn your blog over to friends every now and again, and invite them along to do a post for you. All the enchantment and enjoyment of reading a good blog post done for you, in this case by Kevin Klehr, a fellow writer at Wilde City. I’m delighted that Kevin agreed to come along to talk about his first trip to the US, the cultural disconnect that hits all travellers (and yes, I sympathise there!) and how that’s shaped his latest release, Nate And The New Yorker. Over to Kevin…

 

AN AUSTRALIAN IN THE US

Kevin Klehr

I’ve been blessed by the god of travel, and during those journeys I have stepped on American soil three times.

My first visit was at the tail end of last century, where entering LA airport was like walking onto the Holodeck from Star Trek. You see, a yellow cab or a black and white police car, or even the design of a US security uniform, are only ever seen as elements of Hollywood art design. Your mind associates them with works of fiction.

So it was hard to take this airport as real. I expected the guards to have fake guns and for the windows to suddenly smash as a stuntman dived through. It was one big movie set on display for visitors to America.

During that trip I decided to cook for friends we were staying with in Olympia. Going to the supermarket was a case of ‘you say tomay-to, I say toma-toe’. Fortunately, I had a very helpful staff member translate my shopping list.

Slowly we worked out that my chilli con carne recipe was simply called a bowl of chilli by the locals. A capsicum was a bell pepper. But then that chilli word became a problem again. Explaining minced chilli became fruitless to my confused shop assistant. Finally I found what I was after. A tube of minced peppers. Ironically that tube came from down-under and was labelled minced chilli.

It’s small stuff like this that made me want to write a tale of a relationship between an American and an Australian. To explore those odd mismatches you stumble on when you bring characters from those two cultures together.

Like me, my Australian character, Nathan, believes an entrée is an appetizer. Like me, Nate can’t think in Fahrenheit. He’s also someone who jumps into the passenger seat in a taxi, so he can enjoy conversation with the driver face to face. And he’s someone who has to remember that the price of an item in a shop is not the final price of that item at the cash register.

We learn to change into ‘America mode’ when visiting the land where zed is pronounced zee and chips are French fries. Where when you shop for fabric to bring back home, you recall that a yard is the same length as a long playing record.

During one of our travels we took the plunge and hired a car, getting used to sitting in the wrong seat to drive on the opposite side of the road. All was okay when we were following traffic. It was when we were at the front of the pack about to turn into a street, that we had to fight our natural inclination to move to the left. Often it was a case of checking which way the parked cars were facing to guide us to the correct side of the road. Our fear of a head-on collision was averted many times. And, naturally, we chose the kilometre option on the GPS.

On my first visit I needed to use directory assistance from a payphone, and the operator asked me to place a dime in the slot. When I asked which currency was a dime, he told me which president was on the coin instead of simply telling me it was ten cents, making me none-the-wiser.

It’s these weird twists that you remember about travelling. About your first impression of New York where you feel you’ve entered a large scale version of Sesame Street. About tasting biscuits and gravy and knowing you never want to eat them again. About remembering not to visit the Empire State Building on a foggy day. About the weather turning cold at Christmas.

Of course there are some major differences when taking in the American way of life, but these don’t touch a reader when throwing an Australian into the New York landscape. My character Nate is negotiating all these minor changes to his life on top of a relationship. And fortunately I have those experiences to help guide him.

 

Cameron has it all. He’s rich, lives in Manhattan, and even has a cross-dressing butler. But then he meets Nate, an Australian who’s bitter about love. Cameron is determined to turn this realist into a dreamer by sharing his world of classy restaurants, Broadway shows and fabulous parties. And while Nate’s friends see the makings of a fantasy romance, it’s Nate who has to learn that in order to open his heart, he has to face a painful secret.

Category: Gay Romance

Sub-Genre: Contemporary

Wordcount: 22,156

Formats available: ebook only

Heat Level: 2

 

Available from Wilde City Press

Coming to an Amazon near you shortly!

 

Kevin lives with his long-term partner in their humble apartment (affectionately named Sabrina), in Australia’s own ‘Emerald City,’ Sydney.

From an early age Kevin had a passion for writing, jotting down stories and plays until it came time to confront puberty. After dealing with pimple creams and facial hair, Kevin didn’t pick up a pen again until he was in his thirties.

His handwritten manuscript was being committed to paper when his social circumstances changed, giving him no time to write. Concerned, his partner, Warren, snuck the notebook out to a friend who in turn came back and demanded Kevin finish his novel. It wasn’t long before Kevin’s active imagination was let loose again.

Find Kevin at his website or on Twitter @kevinkleh

Interview and Giveaway: F. T. Lukens — The Star Host

 

I’n delighted to be hosting – aka interrogating –  F.T. Lukens today. F.T is the author of The Star Host, published earlier this month.

As ever, we start these things off easy, to lull victims into a false sense of security. Hi F.T., thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.

Hi, everyone. This is F.T. and I’m excited to share with you my debut young adult novel, The Star Host. It is a science fiction adventure which features a bisexual main character and a diverse cast of characters. The story follows Ren as he is taken from his home, discovers he may be a being out of myth, and attempts to save his family and friends.

What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said about your writing?

The nicest thing anyone has ever said came from my husband. When he was reading the final version of The Star Host, he came out of our bedroom and said, “While I was reading this, I forgot you wrote it.” I know this doesn’t seem like glowing praise but it is. The way he explained it was that when he began reading, the fact that his wife wrote it was always present in the back of his mind. However, a few pages in, he got wrapped up in the story, and that thought dropped away. About halfway through, he stopped and thought “Oh wow, my wife wrote this.” It really made my day.

There has to be a good reason we keep them around. Good for him! So, are you a full-time or part-time writer? How does that impact your writing?

I am a part-time writer. I have a full-time day job and I have three kids. I would love to write full-time but it’s not possible for me right now. It does impact my writing. Instead of having an eight hour day to do a writer’s job, I only have about two hours a day and the time is either very early in the morning or very late at night. So I’m not as prolific as I’d like to be. And don’t forget that a writer’s job isn’t just writing. It’s managing social media, making blog posts, scheduling appearances, etc etc.

On to The Star Host. What interested you about the theme of this book?

I wanted to give an LGBTQ teen an adventure. I wanted to show that LGBTQ kids can be heroes. Their stories don’t always have to be centered on their sexuality. And while those stories are important and necessary, I wanted to give a bisexual teen an adventure.

What is the most difficult part of writing for you?

The most difficult part of writing for me, as mentioned above, is finding time to do it. It’s difficult to try and write a story when I’m not fully caffeinated, or when I’ve been at work all day and I’m tired. I do have to mention though that when I’m invested in what I’m working on, the words usually pour out very quickly. I wrote The Star Host in only four months.

And just for a bit of fun, what are your four most important food groups?

Caffeine (coffee and soda), pizza, sweets (cookies!), steak

Funny, but whenever I have to answer that last question, it always features four types of chocolate!

Thank you, F.T. Good luck with the book! And for the rest of us, here’s more about it:

 

Ren grew up listening to his mother tell stories about the Star Hosts – a mythical group of people possessed by the power of the stars. The stories were the most exciting part of Ren’s life, and he often dreamed about leaving his backwater planet and finding his place among the neighboring drifts. When Ren is captured by soldiers and taken from his home, he must remain inconspicuous while plotting his escape. It’s a challenge since the general of the Baron’s army is convinced Ren is something out of one of his mother’s stories.

He finds companionship in the occupant of the cell next to his, a drifter named Asher. A member of the Phoenix Corps, Asher is mysterious, charming, and exactly the person Ren needs to anchor him as his sudden technopathic ability threatens to consume him. Ren doesn’t mean to become attached, but after a daring escape, a trek across the planet, and an eventful ride on a merchant ship, Asher is the only thing that reminds Ren of home. Together, they must warn the drifts of the Baron’s plans, master Ren’s growing power, and try to save their friends while navigating the growing attraction between them.

Book Name: The Star Host

Series: Broken Moon, Book 1

Publisher: Duet Books, the Young Adult imprint of Interlude Press

Cover Artist: C.B. Messer

Release Date: March 3, 2016

 

Once at the hangar, Ren broke away from the two guards and entered the lancer, walking up the stairs, irritation a heavy feeling in his chest.

“Reporting for work,” Ren said, his tone heavily laced with annoyance.

Janus popped up from a console she had been working under, goggles on her face, gray hair sticking up everywhere. “You!” she snapped. “I told you not to come back.”

Ren rolled his eyes. “It’s not my choice. I don’t want to be here anymore than you want me here.”

“Where are your guards? I told the dumb one not to bring you back, Abiathar’s orders be damned. I don’t want your kind working on these ships.”

She poked a finger hard into Ren’s chest and he staggered back, and rubbed his hand over the spot.

“What the stars do you mean by my kind?”

Her eyes grew comically large behind the goggles. “You don’t know?” She laughed, bordering on hysterical. “You’re more dangerous than I thought. You can’t try to control it if you don’t even know what you are.”

Ren frowned. His tolerance for the cryptic nonsense everyone had spouted since he arrived was gone. He took a step toward the hull and Janus stiffened.

“Don’t,” she barked.

“Don’t what? Touch it? What will happen, huh?”

Her face paled and her chest heaved with panicked breaths. “You don’t know what you’re capable of.”

Ren laughed. “I’m capable of nothing. I’m a duster, planet-born with very limited experience with tech. You have no reason to be frightened of me.”

He moved closer to the hull, hand outstretched, fingers splayed.

She whimpered. “Please, don’t.”

Ren slammed his hand against the hull, his fingertips leaving greasy marks on the shiny surface. As he predicted, nothing happened.

He turned back to Janus. “See? Nothing–”

His word tangled in his throat, cut off, because suddenly, Ren was consumed with power, rushing from his toes to his fingertips. A blue tint clouded his vision, and his body suffused with golden warmth. And then he was floating amongst the wires, connected to the ship, to the energy source, to everything. The lancer pulsed under his skin, tangling in his veins, its systems integrated with his senses.

It was freeing and frightening.

His consciousness raced along the circuits and he could fix it. He could fix everything. He found the tangle of wires in the artificial gravity system and bypassed it. He found the broken circuits in the air recyclers and with a pulse of power, refurbished them. He saw the static in the com system, a physical entity, and he cleared it away with a brush of his metaphysical hand.

The longer Ren floated through the ship, the less connected he was to his physical body. And if he thought about it, he didn’t need his body. Why would he need his body? He was free here. He moved around with ease, the wires and the systems his route, and the more he pushed, the more he felt the other ships too. They were nearby, on the edge of his perception, and he could go to those, he could jump to the other ones and repair them too.

He could.

He could.

 

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F.T. wrote her first short story when she was in third grade and her love of writing continued from there. After placing in the top five out of ten thousand entries in a writing contest, she knew it was time to dive in and try her hand at writing a novel.

A wife and mother of three, F.T. holds degrees in psychology and English literature, and is a long-time member of her college’s science-fiction club. F.T. has a love of cheesy television shows, superhero movies, and science-fiction novels—especially anything by Douglas Adams.

Connect with F.T. at authorftlukens.wordpress.com on Twitter @ftlukens, on Tumblr at ftlukens.tumblr.com and on Goodreads at goodreads.com/ftlukens.

 

 

3-Mar: Hearts on Fire, Happily Ever Chapter, Kirsty Loves Books, Velvet Panic

4-Mar: Full Moon Dreaming, Havan Fellows, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words

7-Mar: Jessie G. Books, Divine Magazine, Boys on the Brink Reviews

8-Mar: V’s Reads, Butterfly-O-Meter, Love Bytes

9-Mar: Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, Nephy Hart, KathyMac Reviews

10-Mar: Bonkers About Books, Inked Rainbow Reads, Prism Book Alliance, Attention is Arbitrary

11-Mar: A.M. Leibowitz, The Novel Approach

14-Mar: Man2ManTastic, Anna Butler Fiction

15-Mar: Molly Lolly, Bayou Book Junkie

16-Mar: BFD Book Blog, My Fiction Nook

 

Editing Words Out

As if it weren’t bad enough that authors have to come up with words to write down, we then have to winnow through them to take out the words that don’t add anything.

These are the words to put into ‘Find’, and on each and every occasion they pop up, look at rewording and tightening your story. Don’t be fooled into thinking this is a quick job. It will take you days of hard work and thinking, for the average novel. But it will be worth it. Really worth it.

Ask your editor.

 

 

That’s my list. What would you add to it?