Elisa Rolle's Blog, page 318

Blog Tour: Deep by A.L. Bates

Deep by A.L. Bates
Publisher: Wayward Ink Publishing (January 29, 2016)
Amazon Kindle: Deep

Synopsis: Fleeing from a troubled past that left him feeling tarnished and used, Sean finds work as a medic aboard the deep sea mining ship Ariel, on a distant planet.
Under the leader ship of the infuriating, yet charismatic, Captain Joel Riley, Sean settles into his simple, but dangerous, new life. It’s a life he soon comes to love; albeit one in which he conceals his sexuality and avoids intimacy.
But Sean’s new world is turned on its head when an old face threatens to expose him for the man he used to be.
With Joel’s help, will Sean learn to come to terms with his past and become a man he can be proud of?

Don’t miss the Valentine’s Day Sale (February 11-17) 50% off on WIP’s website and 40% off on ARe!

( DEEP EXCERPT 4 )



About the author: A.L. BATES has a keen interest in Sci-fi and adventure novels and enjoys writing stories with strong characters in imaginative backgrounds. Although an avid writer, Deep is the first published novella by A.L. Bates.
A.L. Bates can be found on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authoralbates

Giveaway
Prizes: $10 WIP Gift Card + $4.99 WIP Gift Card
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/disp...


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Blog Tour: Callum’s Fate by Dianne Hartsock

Callum’s Fate by Dianne Hartsock
Publisher: Wayward Ink Publishing (February 4, 2016)
Amazon Kindle: Callum's Fate

Synopsis: In 1780, Scotland, following a harsh year of drought, Callum Mackenzie is forced from his father’s farm in the hopes of finding work.
But as fate would have it, Callum is lured onto the moors by the will-o-the-wisp. Lost in the dark, he falls into enchantment, encountering faeries and nymphs, until he stumbles into the arms of a licentious Barrow-Wight who lays claim to his soul.
Hearing his silent pleas, Donal sends Liam the gruagach (faery) to rescue Callum and bring him to his farm, a place of refuge from the Fae.
Callum is happy working on Donal’s farm, slowly falling in love with the beautiful, silver-haired gruagach.
Yet there's something wrong in the nearby forest….
Despite Donal’s warnings, Callum is lured into the forest and becomes tangled in its magic, easy prey for the Barrow-Wight.
Will Liam be able to strike a deal with the Barrow-Wight to save Callum’s life, or has Callum found his last resting place instead?

( Excerpt )



Don’t miss the Valentine’s Day Sale (February 11-17) 50% off on WIP’s website and 40% off on ARe!

About the author: DIANNE HARTSOCK is the author of m/m erotic romance, both contemporary and fantasy, the psychological thriller, and anything else that comes to mind. Oh, and a floral designer. If she can’t be writing, at least she has the chance to create through the rich colors and textures of flowers and foliage to bring a smile to someone’s face.

Currently, Dianne lives in the Willamette Valley of Oregon with her incredibly patient husband, who puts up with the endless hours she spends hunched over the keyboard letting her characters play.

Social links
Website: https://diannehartsock.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/diannehartsock
Twitter: https://twitter.com/diannehartsock
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/dianneharts...

Giveaway
Prizes: $5 ARe Gift Card & $2.99 WIP Gift Card
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/disp...


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Blog Tour: The Promise by Victoria Sue

The Promise (Sirius Wolves 4) by Victoria Sue
Publisher: Dark Hollows Press
Amazon Kindle: The Promise (Sirius Wolves 4)

Blurb: The time of Anubis is at hand. Working together against him, the goddess Sirius and the god Orion have helped mankind prepare by uniting Blaze, Conner, Darric, and Aden to fight the evil in the world. But in the war to come, the werewolves will need more allies, and this will extend beyond werewolf kind.

Marcus, an ex-Marine who’d lost both his legs in a landmine accident, is now Human Liaison Officer for Blaze's pack. Having lost his lover too when the man couldn’t bear to live with a cripple, the last thing he expected was that he'd fall in love again, let alone with the werewolf Kellan who seemed to be universally hated by the pack.

The Winter Circle is moving, and a psychopathic pastor has abducted Nate, one of the wolves from Hunter's pack. For once the wolves cannot rescue him — it has to be a human — and now Marcus must save the wolves from their biggest threat: one of their own.

If Marcus succeeds, he will bring in a new era in mankind’s battle against the power of evil, starting with a simple promise and ultimately mending four broken hearts.

( Excerpt )



Meet the author: Victoria Sue has loved books for as long as she can remember. Books were always what pocket money went on and what usually Father Christmas brought. When she ran out of her kids' adventure stories, she would go raid her mom's. By the age of eight she was devouring classics like Little Women, and fell in love with love stories.
She especially loves writing gay romance because as far as she’s concerned the only thing better than one hot guy, is two of them.

Pick two characters and tell us a little more about them:

Kellan: Kellan was actually set-up as the baddy in the first three books. He wasn’t actually, but he was a good red herring! He was originally a werewolf in the same close-minded backward werewolf pack that features in the first book.
Gays are an abomination. Everyone knows that, so Kellan couldn’t possibly be gay himself. Then when he finally gets himself out of the first mess and acknowledges his sexuality, he is attracted to the one person present who has to be the least likely to be interested in him.

Marcus: Marcus is the first human to be featured as a main character. He is a combat vet and a bilateral amputee. Marcus found out about werewolves when he was serving in Iraq. His friend actually shifted in front of him when he was injured. Marcus was given the job of helping to integrate werewolves into the US military, and that was how he was originally introduced to the pack.
Marcus, personally, is quite insecure. His douche-bag of a boyfriend left him when he was injured because the man couldn’t cope with living with a “cripple.”
He is surrounded every day by the physical perfection that is werewolves, and when one finds him attractive, he thinks there must be an ulterior motive.
Marcus needs to learn that werewolves don’t view their mates in the same narrow terms that humans do.

Where to find the author:
www.victoriasue.com
@vickysuewrites
Victoriasueauthor (fb)
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...



( Tour Dates & Stops )

Giveaway:
Rafflecopter Prize: Choice of an e-book from Victoria’s backlist.
Rafflecopter Code:
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Blog Tour: Sweet by Alysia Constantine

Sweet by Alysia Constantine
Paperback: 246 pages;
Publisher: Interlude Press (Feb. 4 2016);
Language: English;
ISBN-10: 1941530613;
ISBN-13: 978-1941530610
Amazon: Sweet
Amazon Kindle: Sweet

Blurb: Not every love story is a romance novel.
For Jules Burns, a lonely baker, it is the memory of his deceased husband, Andy. For Teddy Flores, a numbed-to-the-world accountant who accidentally stumbles into his bakery, it is a voyage of discovery into his deep connections to pleasure, to the world, and to his own heart.
Alysia Constantine’s Sweet is also the story of how we tell stories—of what we expect and need from a love story. The narrator is on to you, Reader, and wants to give you a love story that doesn’t always fit the bill. There are ghosts to exorcise, and jobs and money to worry about. Sweet is a love story, but it also reminds us that love is never quite what we expect, nor quite as blissfully easy as we hope.

Praise for ‘Sweet’ by Alysia Constantine from Publisher’s Weekly: http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1...

( Excerpt ) 



Meet the author: Alysia Constantine lives in Brooklyn with her wife, their two dogs, and a cat. When she is not writing, she is a professor at an art college. Before that, she was a baker and cook for a caterer, and before that, she was a poet.

Sweet is her first novel.

1) Was there a basis for you story? A previous experience or something else?
A few. First, there was New York City, what it means to live with this city. There was also my experience of working as a past chef/baker for a caterer, all those long hours in the kitchen, with the ovens blasting. There was the experience of falling in love, and of trying to put away a past love that had been so important in my life, but the memory of which threatened to interfere with my new love.

2) What skills do you think a writer needs?
Is desire a skill? I think that’s the most important one: one has to want to do it. It’s a very solitary life, unless you work to make it not so. It’s a lot of insecurity, a lot of shots in the dark, and it almost always means committing to some other kind of work because there are bills to pay, and writing rarely pays them (unless you’re writing something other than creative writing). I think you need to be able to take criticism and put it to constructive use, but I think you also need to have a clear sense of your own vision as an artist, so that you’re not blown sideways by every single gust of wind. A lot of people blow hot air at you, so you’ve got to be both flexible and rooted really well. I think it’s good to have an attunement to language, but I wish I had a better sense of plot and mastery over larger pictures than I do, so that is probably a great skill for a writer to have. And the ability to survive on ramen noodles or the ability to convince people to give you money to do things you can do.

3) What for you is the perfect book hero?
I’m not really sure there is such a thing as the perfect hero, because every situation warrants a different hero. So the hero would be specific to the situation. I do think people are more interesting when they are flawed, when they struggle, and even when they do things wrong. They tend to have more interesting stories, too.

4) Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
Aside from just doing it? (I mean, really, the discipline of plugging away at something that is hard and often goes unrecognized for months or years or always…that’s hard.) I think what I find most difficult is the global stuff, the larger picture. Plot bedevils me. I’m much more attuned to language, to small moments, to detail, than to the bigger things.

5) Tell us about your favorite childhood book.
I was a pretty voracious reader as a kid, so I’m not sure I could name just one. I can say that Shel Silverstein’s books of poetry inspired me a lot—boy, could I rhyme, thanks to Mr. Silverstein. I loved the whimsical drawings, too. They showed me that writing can be playful, joyful, musical, and about anything. But the books that feel like home to me, the ones I tore through while hiding under the covers with a flashlight as a kid, the ones I reread when I was in college and found them on my mom’s bookshelf upon a holiday at home, were the books in the Wrinkle in Time series by Madeleine L’Engle. There was just something so compelling about those stories for me. The kids were the heros; the parents were sort of well-meaning but absent. And that series had so many really strong girl characters. I needed that. We all needed that, in the 1970s and 1980s.

Where to find the author:
Blog: www.Alysiaconstantine.com
Twitter: @ConstantAlysia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alysia.const...
Tumblr: http://alysia-constantine.tumblr.com
Goodreads Link: http://www.goodreads.com/AlysiaConsta...



( Tour Dates & Stops )

Giveaway:
Rafflecopter Prize: $25 Interlude Press gift card to one winner, e-copies of ‘Sweet’ to five additional winners
Rafflecopter Code:
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Blog Tour: There You Are by CJane Elliott

There You Are (Wild and Precious 2) by CJane Elliott
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press; 1 edition (December 23, 2015)
Amazon Kindle: There You Are (Wild and Precious 2)

Blurb: Bisexual musician Cody Bellstrom is a free spirit, easygoing and unattached. On a cross-country trip, Cody befriends young Sandy Nixon and gets him safely to Portland and his uncle, Phineas MacDonald. Beautiful Phineas turns Cody’s life upside down, and Cody learns he's not as unattached as he aspires to be. With the hard-won knowledge of what lies underneath his need to be free, Cody wins a chance at real freedom and true love.
Ever since his longtime lover Allen died, Phineas MacDonald has lived a circumscribed life. He stopped performing as fierce drag queen Phanny Hill and works part-time in a bookstore. Phineas never expected to find love again. But when sexy and caring Cody Bellstrom turns up, Phineas feels his orderly life slipping out of his control. Cody brings him alive again, but now Phineas must find the courage to let go of his grief over Allen and give love a second chance.

( Excerpt )



Meet the author: After years of hearing characters chatting away in her head, CJane Elliott finally decided to put them on paper and hasn’t looked back since. A psychotherapist by training, CJane enjoys writing sexy, passionate stories that also explore the human psyche. CJane has traveled all over North America for work and her characters are travelers, too, traveling down into their own depths to find what they need to get to the happy ending.
CJane is an ardent supporter of LGBTQ equality and is particularly fond of coming out stories.
In her spare time, CJane can be found dancing, listening to music, or watching old movies. Her husband and son support her writing habit by staying out of the way when they see her hunched over, staring intensely at her laptop.

"Hi there! Thank you for having me on the blog today to share about my new novella, There You Are, which is the second book in the Wild and Precious series. There You Are picks up the story of Cody Bellstrom where we left him in Wild and Precious. He moves to Portland, Oregon to join a funk band and meets the man who is to become the love of his life, Phineas MacDonald. But they both have issues to work through before they can get to their happy ending.
By the way, Wild and Precious just released in audiobook, narrated by the fantastic K.C. Kelly. Here’s the link if you want to check it out: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/stor..."

1) Where did your love of books/storytelling/reading/writing come from?
I grew up in a book-loving family. We all loved to read. I recall times I and my siblings each had our nose in a book at the dinner table! I was an English major in college so I could read more and more books. While my writing had been praised in school, I’d never considered writing fiction as an adult. I’m glad I finally picked up that pen and that yellow pad to scribble my first story.

2) What were your goals when you started this book? Do you think you met them?
To write a story worthy of Cody in which he gets his own happy ending. I believe I did meet that goal!

3) Have you ever co-written with someone before?
No. I’m not sure how that would go, given I’m a control freak. On the other hand, it would be nice to share the writing angst with someone else. Angst meaning those times when I’m blocked, or up against a deadline, or editing.

4) Tell us about your favorite character in a book (yours or someone else’s).
One of my favorite characters is Morocco Ambrose from Sex, Love, and Videogames, my third novel in the Serpentine series. She is a black, transgender female who grew up in a religious family in Virginia. She’s the cousin to Charlie Ambrose, one of the MCs in that book. Morocco transitions to expressing her gender fairly early in her life, and makes her family and her church community deal with it. She’s brave and feisty and a lot of fun.

5) List five foods you can’t live without.
Cheese, rice, chocolate, olives, red wine (I know, wine isn’t a food but I can’t live without it!)

Where to find the author:
E-mail: cjaneelliott@gmail.com
Website: http://www.cjaneelliott.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CJaneElliott
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cjane.elliott
Goodreads Link: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27...



( Tour Dates & Stops )

Giveaway:
Rafflecopter Prize: Any book from CJane’s backlist
Rafflecopter Code:
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Book Blast: Torn and Frayed by Rodd Clark

Torn and Frayed (Gabriel Church Tales 2) by Rodd Clark
Amazon Kindle: Torn and Frayed (Gabriel Church Tales 2)

Blurb: “Conscience isn’t something all people are born with...”
Gabriel Church is a portrait in contrast. It would be easy to get lost in his pale-blue eyes, ache with the need to feel the strength of his masculine frame. He appears to be nothing but animal and instinct. The only people who know the full depth of that truth are dead, murdered, or two thousand miles away.
Gabe is a serial killer. For the first time in his life, he has more on his mind than his own survival. This time he is running from Seattle to protect the only person he thinks innocent in his laundry list of crime and murder: Christian Maxwell, his biographer and unexpected lover. Drawn to a place he never thought to return, Gabe finds new and different realities. Realities that insist he let go of his tragic past, those incredible perceptions of God, and his own divinity. He must open his eyes to what the love of a good man can do to heal a broken soul.
But when the killer is confronted by his own willingness to love and sacrifice, he is forced to ultimately ask the question: Just how far will he go to save a life . . . when all he’s ever done is take them?

( Excerpt )



Meet the author: Rodd lives in Dallas, TX at the moment but hails from the sticks of Oklahoma. Check out his web presence at RODDCLARK.COM. Interested in the M/M Mystery, Romance and Thriller genres but has a varied interest in many books. It has been written that his writing has a very dark and distinctive voice with a need for deep exploration and analysis. “Torn and Frayed” is the sequel to his popular romantic thriller, "Rubble and the Wreckage." The third chapter of the series should be released later in the year and give readers a chance to see how their wicked story is resolved

Where to find the author:
Facebook Author Page: : https://www.facebook.com/rodd.clark.96
Twitter: : https://twitter.com/RODDCLARK
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/roddclark96/
Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/RoddClark/e/B00...
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...



Tour Dates & Stops:
Parker Williams, Elisa - My Reviews and Ramblings, Decadent Delights, MM Good Book Reviews, The Hat Party, Bayou Book Junkie, Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents, BFD Book Blog, Happily Ever Chapter, Gay Media Reviews, Dawn’s Reading Nook, Book Lovers 4Ever, Up All Night, Read All Day, Charley Descoteaux, Wicked Faerie's Tales and Reviews, Alpha Book Club, the Twins: Talon ps & Princess so, Lee Brazil, Divine Magazine, Book Reviews, Rants, and Raves, Velvet Panic, Let's Get Ready To Romance

Giveaway:
Rafflecopter Prize: Paperback copy of ‘Torn and Frayed’ by Rodd Clark
Rafflecopter Code:
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Blog Tour: Whippersnapper by Michael Rupured

Whippersnapper by Michael Rupured
Paperback: 220 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (29 Jan. 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1613729340
ISBN-13: 978-1613729342
Amazon: Whippersnapper
Amazon Kindle: Whippersnapper

BLURB: Tellumo Magnamater is a fresh-out-of-college, first-year English teacher at Salt Lick County High School in Kentucky. He rides the bus to and from work, and every day he walks to the gym behind his small efficiency apartment to exercise. Perhaps because of being raised by two lesbians, Tellumo is attracted to older men. He sets his sights on fifty-something available bachelor Oliver Crumbly. But Tellumo isn’t the only resident interested in Oliver.

Peggy Tucker, a widow approaching her sixtieth birthday, is determined to marry again, and she thinks Oliver is her perfect match. Despite Tellumo and Peggy striking up a friendship at the gym, neither realizes they are interested in the same man. But the joke might be on both of them. Oliver, a retired history teacher, is the original crotchety old man who hates everything and everybody—especially young people.

( EXCERPT )




ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael Rupured loves to write. Before learning the alphabet, he filled page after page with rows of tiny circles he now believes were his first novels, and has been writing ever since. He lives in Athens, Georgia, grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, came out as a gay man at the age of twenty-one in the late 1970s, and considers surviving his wild and reckless twenties to have been a miracle. To find out what Michael’s up to now, visit his blog (rupured.com), follow him on Twitter (@crotchetyman) or send an e-mail message to mrupured@gmail.com.
:: Website & Blog :: Facebook :: Twitter :: Google+ ::

GIVEAWAY:
Winner’s Prize: $25 Amazon Gift Card
a Rafflecopter giveaway

( TOUR SCHEDULE )



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Blog Tour: Hell to Pay & 21t Century Demon by Asta Idonea

Hell To Pay & 21st Century Demon (Souls For Sale) by Asta Idonea
Publisher: Wayward Ink Publishing (February 5, 2016)
Amazon Kindle: Souls For Sale

Blurb:

21st Century Demon
It should have been an easy job: a contract signed and a new soul earmarked for Hell. But when suave demon deal-maker Saul chooses nerdy Thomas Ives as his next target, events take an unexpected turn. The lines between business transaction and pleasure blur, and Saul must decide whether he cares more for his professional reputation or the soul he just condemned to eternal damnation.

Hell To Pay
The contract was destroyed and Tom's soul saved from Hell.

Or so they thought.

Demon deal-maker, Saul, and his mortal lover, Thomas Ives, find themselves on the run when the other demons take none too kindly to Saul's bending of the rules. With the denizens of Hell on their heels, Saul and Tom must fight to stay one step ahead, knowing that if they're caught there's only one direction they're headed: down.
When Heaven decides to get involved, Saul's actions are no longer a mere bureaucratic misdemeanour but the basis of a factional confrontation. And now only one question remains: to whom does Tom's soul truly belong?

Don’t miss the Amazon Sale – 30% off for the first 48 hours after release.

( Excerpt - Hell to Pay )



About the author: NICKI J. MARKUS was born in England in 1982, but now lives in Adelaide, South Australia with her husband. She has loved both reading and writing from a young age and is also a keen linguist, having studied several foreign languages.
Nicki launched her writing career in 2011. She published works through Wicked Nights Publishing and Silver Publishing before both companies closed their doors. She is now self-publishing some of her works, including the novella Time Keepers and the fantasy novel The Ragnarök Chronicles.
Nicki also writes M/M fiction under the alternate pen name of ASTA IDONEA and has had several short stories published by Wayward Ink Publishing. She is currently working on her first M/M novella.
Nicki works as a freelance editor and proofreader, and in her spare time she enjoys: music, theatre, cinema, photography, sketching, and cross stitch. She also loves history, folklore and mythology, pen-palling, and travel.

Social links:
Website: http://www.nickijmarkus.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NickiJMarkus
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NickiJMarkus

Giveaway
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Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/disp...


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Book Blast: Whistle Blower by Dev Bentham

Whistle Blower by Dev Bentham
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press; 1 edition (February 5, 2016)
Amazon Kindle: Whistle Blower

Blurb: Money can’t buy happiness. Jacob Nussbaum knows this better than anyone. He's a corporate lawyer deep inside a huge New York firm, where he works overtime, sacrifices any chance at a personal life, and has been selling his soul for years. With a secretary as his only friend, he trudges on, until his whole world is blown apart by a manila envelope of photos—evidence that one of the firm’s partners is the dirtiest lawyer in one hell of a filthy business.
In search of the truth, Jacob travels to a small northern Wisconsin fishing resort. There he meets Ben Anderson, a brutally lonely man, who knocks him off his feet. Ben prompts Jacob to reevaluate his life. He’s a dozen years older than Jacob, still recovering from the death of his long time love, and doesn’t want to leave anyone a widower. But a jaded New Yorker on a soul-searching mission might be just the man to convince the grieving Ben that it's never too late to begin again.

( Excerpt )



Meet the author: Dev Bentham writes soulful m/m romance. Her characters are flawed and damaged adult men who may not even know what they are missing, but whose lives are transformed by true love.

Where to find the author:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dev.bentham
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/Dev-Bentham-...
Twitter: @DevBentham
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...



Tour Dates & Stops:
Parker Williams, BFD Book Blog, KathyMac Reviews, Bayou Book Junkie, Happily Ever Chapter, Elisa - My Reviews and Ramblings, Book Lovers 4Ever, A.M. Leibowitz, The Hat Party, Dawn’s Reading Nook, The Jena Wade, Andrew Q. Gordon, Wicked Faerie's Tales and Reviews, Louise Lyons, Velvet Panic, Inked Rainbow Reads, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, MM Good Book Reviews, Unquietly Me, Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents, Making It Happen, Book Reviews and More by Kathy, Molly Lolly, 3 Chicks After Dark, Alpha Book Club,
Jessie G. Books, My Fiction Nook, Havan Fellows, V's Reads, Kiki's Kinky Picks, Divine Magazine, Two Chicks Obsessed With Books and Eye Candy, Kirsty Loves Books

Giveaway:
Rafflecopter Prize: A signed paperback copy of Nobody’s Home OR an ebook, reader’s choice, from Dev’s backlist which can be found at www.devbentham.com
Rafflecopter Code:
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Blog Tour: The Naked Prince and Other Tales from Fairyland

The Naked Prince and Other Tales from Fairyland by Joe Cosentino
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press; 1 edition (January 27, 2016)
Amazon Kindle: The Naked Prince and Other Tales from Fairyland

Blurb: Cinder, a poor and beautiful young man who designs clothing, makeup, and hair for his stepmother and stepsisters, offers his clothing and slippers to a naked stranger in the woods, who turns out to be none other than Prince Charming. Follow Cinder and Prince Charming in this twist on the classic Cinderella tale as they discover their inner strengths and find their very own happily ever after.

Enjoy The Naked Prince and three other reimagined tales from Fairyland, each with a unique spin on stories we all know and love, including The Golden Rule, where eighteen-year-old Gideon Golden, after being thrown out of his home in Fairyland by his homophobic parents, breaks into the cottage of three burly men on Bear Mountain.

In Whatever Happened To…?, friction ensues between a celebrity with a growing appendage and a reporter who has a thing for giants.

And in Ice Cold, young Gaelen must save his love, Kieran, after a handsome but evil prince freezes Kieran’s heart and bewitches him into being the prince’s slave.

( Excerpts from THE NAKED PRINCE AND OTHER TALES FROM FAIRYLAND By Joe Cosentino, published by Dreamspinner Press )

About the Author: Like so many people in our community, I’ve always loved fairytales. (No pun intended) You can’t beat a story about a girl who lives with seven dwarves, a boy who won’t grow up, a frog who is really a prince, or an emperor who is convinced his birthday suit is chic beyond belief. As a kid, my older sister read me fairytales in bed each night before sleep. Once I learned to read, I read them myself, continuing long after everyone had fallen asleep. I was entranced by the beautiful stories of peasants becoming princes and princesses and finding true love. I wanted to live in those palaces, meet the charming princes, and bring financial equality to those kingdoms. Later as an adult I wrote musical plays for professional theatre companies mostly based on fairytales like Princess and the Pea, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, Aladdin, The Emperor’s New Clothes, and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. More recently I read them again and was saddened to see, as in the movies based on fairytales, no openly gay characters in any of them! I asked myself, ‘Why aren’t there any gay people in fairyland? Why couldn’t a peasant boy fall in love with a prince? Wouldn’t a tired, hungry, homeless blond boy seek refuge in a house with three bears? What was Pinocchio’s growing appendage trying to tell him? Did Jack enjoy his time with the Giant more than he let on? Could the Snow Queen be a handsome, frigid prince?’

Having written three successful novellas published by Dreamspinner Press, I knew it was time to write a fourth. Unlike my three contemporary romances (AN INFATUATION—Divine Magazine Readers’ Poll Award for 2nd Place Favorite MM Novel of 2015, A SHOOTING STAR, A HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS), this one would be a fantasy featuring my favorite fairytales turned into rainbows. So I wrote four humorous, romantic, adventurous, touching, and magically gay tales from Fairyland. “The Naked Prince” is a different take on the Cinderella story. Cinder, a poor and beautiful young man who designs clothing, makeup, and hair for his stepmother and stepsisters, offers his clothing and slippers to a naked stranger in the woods who turns out to be none other than Prince Charming. Will Cinder and Prince Charming confront their manipulative mothers, bring equality to the kingdom, find themselves, and find one another? In “The Golden Rule,” when he is caught with nimble Jack, eighteen-year-old Gideon Golden is thrown out of his home in Fairyland by his homophobic parents. With nowhere else to go, he breaks into the home of three men living on Bear Mountain. Bo and Butch enjoy having a young roommate, but Ben isn’t convinced. Will Gideon and Ben make vinegar or honey? “Whatever Happened To … ?” takes place on Christmas Eve. A reporter living on Andersen Lane interviews a celebrity for the Queen Newspaper series, “What Ever Happened To … .” Friction ensues between the celebrity with the growing appendage who can’t tell fact from fiction, and the reporter who has a thing for giants. Eventually a romantic spark is lit between the two as Christmas Day arrives, and they realize they have more in common than living in Fairyland. Finally in “Ice Cold,” after losing their families during the great ice storm in the northernmost kingdom of Fairyland, young Gaelen and Kieran pledged their love for one another. When Isidore rides into Frost Village on his elaborate sleigh, Kieran follows the handsome prince to his castle in Arctic Kingdom, where Kieran becomes Isidore’s bewitched slave. This leads Gaelen on an amazing adventure to find his true love and melt his frozen heart.

I hope everyone reads these amazing tales. They will no doubt bring you back to the fun and fantasy of your youth!

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