Science Fiction, Double-Feature... picture show....

Anticipaaaaaaaaaaaaa









aaaaaaation....

(sorry, had to)

Title: Theory of Love

Authors: Kayla Bashe, Alain Bell, M.D. Grimm, Asta Idonea, D. C. Juris, Dale Cameron Lowry, Lila Mathews, Charles Payseur, Jessica Payseur, Maia Strong, Lynn Townsend, K.S. Trenten.

Edited by Deelylah Mullin

Publisher: Torquere Press

Cover Artist: Kris Norris

Release Date: May 18, 2016

Heat Level: 5

Pairing: both M/M and F/F stories

Length: 80,000 words

Genre/Tags

Romance - Contemporary, Erotic Romance, F/F Romance, M/M Romance

Science Fiction – Hard Science, Romantic, Futuristic

Synopsis

In Theory of Love, we wave our geek flag high! Tales from deep space, sci-fi realities, technology, academia, and cosplay are brought together in this collection. In Dale Cameron Lowry’s Far From Home, long-distance spouses fan the flames of passion while fighting to save humanity. Meat Space by Lynn Townsend, brings virtual space and the real world crashing into a new reality. Asta Idonea’s Captive shows us that love can form in any manner of situations. Beta Tester by Charles Payseur immerses the reader—and the characters—in a virtual reality that brings a friendship to a whole new level. K.S. Trenten’s A Symposium in Space, love is a different meal to every guest. Unexpected Dilemmas by Jessica Payseur long-distance lovers face hijacking and natural disaster to be together. Kayla Bashe’s Medic to the Hivemind a stranded student is saved by a mysterious voice with secrets. Being Jake by Lila Mathews shows readers that smart is sexy. In D.C. Juris’ Torn Apart, love provides the will to survive. Shattered Space by Alain Bell shows how love can grow from destruction. Maia Strong’s All ‘Ships May Sail connects cosplay, fandoms, and something more. Trash and Treasures by M.D. Grimm gives us a deal made in interstellar space that could be more than either party bargained for. In theory, love is easy.

Excerpt

From Trash and Treasure by M.D. Grimm Some of the coldness left Ronan’s eyes. He seemed confused again. Why did Tucker seem to confuse Ronan so much? Then it happened. Ronan nodded. “Deal.” Tucker barely stopped himself from gaping again. It worked? He was going to have sex? He was going to have sex! He didn’t let himself think about how long it had been since his last partner. It would only depress him. He knew what to do... mostly. Tucker tossed the ball underhand to Ronan, who caught it with a startled expression. “What?” Tucker said. “It’s not like you can go anywhere. Your ship’s caput and even if you tried to hack into my navigation system, you wouldn’t get far. My ma designed it and she was the best there was. Just letting you know in case you had a thought of bashing me over the head and commandeering my ride." Ronan looked insulted. “I would never do such a thing. I am not a thief or vagabond.” “Then what are you?” Ronan’s mouth pulled into a thin line. Tucker shrugged. “Fine. Keep your secrets. Come on, follow me. Let’s both take a well-needed shower.” A blush suddenly crept up his face. “I mean, a shower separately. Let’s take a shower—oh, never mind. Just come on.” He turned his back on Ronan and called himself an idiot. He dearly hoped he wasn’t making a huge mistake. But he wouldn’t go back on it now. He really, really wanted to have sex.

Purchase

Torquere Press

Giveaway

Rafflecopter Prize: One winner will be selected to win an eBook copy of Theory of Love

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

~~~~~

Riverdance

Celibate Cold

So, last night I was sitting around the table with my two best girlfriends, mostly chatting and eating soup and cupcakes (It was Liz's birthday dinner and I made my famous Cream of Reuben Soup) when I got an email...

Celibate Cold, which is the first of the stories for the Torquere line this upcoming year, has been accepted for publication. Celibate Cold will be in the Snowed In anthology, available in January, 2016...

Chase sighed. He tried to concentrate on the falling snow, the faint whistle of wind, but his good mood was shattered again. He needed to leave town. If he could just afford to do so. Or find a reason to stay. But he was stuck, stuck in place, both indecisive and unwilling to take risks. Yeah, that sucked. Big time.

“Fuck it,” he said. His voice was swallowed by the snow and the darkness. “I’m going inside.”

He straightened, tugged his shirt down to clear the wrinkles from crossing his arms over his chest, and took one last glance out at the snowy night. And then he saw something moving out in his yard. Something large and white and staggering right toward him. Like a fucking yeti.

“What the hell?”

Chase squinted. Of course it wasn’t a yeti, he thought. But the creature who was stumbling in his direction was covered in snow from the thighs down and his coat was thick with ice-crystals. He had a hat crammed low down over his ears, but no gloves, and his sleeves were crusted with more snow. He’d probably fallen a few times, to judge by the smears of white down his front.

By the time Chase had identified the intruder as being nothing more than a man, his visitor was nearly to the porch. The man’s teeth were chattering so hard that he couldn’t seem to force intelligible words out. Chase caught a few mumbled syllables.

“Well, you look like three miles of bad road,” Chase said. He helped the man up the stairs and then impartially started brushing snow off his back, not really paying attention to where his hands were until the man startled when Chase’s hands came down on his ass, smacking snow away.

The stranger whirled, his brown eyes wide.

Chase held his hands out to his sides, harmless. “No point in trackin’ that all in m’house, man, and you look a bit chilled to do it yourself.”

The man nodded, stomped off his feet as best he could, which wasn’t very well. Chase sighed. The guy was wearing fucking Oxfords, for Christ’s sweet sake. He’d be lucky if he had any toes left at all. Fool.

“Sex,” the man said.

“What?” Chase had to have misheard that. He stuck a finger--snow covered, and cold--into his ear as if to clear it out. Or wind up his brain. “What did you say?”

“Six. Six miles of bad road.”

“Jesus, fella,” Chase said. “Come in and get warm. There’s a fire at the hearth. Leave your shoes out here.”

Classic Blog Tour

Hello everyone...

You know, it's hilarious that I spend so much time writing short stories, novels, novellas, editing, and otherwise doing my job that I don't seem to have lots of leftover time to write about writing about...

And by funny, I mean slightly annoying...

THAT being said...

I'm doing a little blog hop for Classic, which comes out on Wednesday, so that's awesome, right...

You can pre-order Classic from Torquere, but the links for Amazon aren't up yet, which is both weird and disappointing....

I decided to do something a little different for this tour (Thanks to Nickie Jamison for the fantastic idea) and I wrote a little short story about Beau and Vin that takes place several years after Classic ends.

Classic is (probably. Maybe.) the last novel in the Rainbow Connection series that takes place from Beau and Vin's points of view. The next novel, All that Jazz, is about Hector, and the fifth novel, Punked Up, is about Ann-Marie. Readers will still see Vin and Beau as they go about their lives, but what's going on in their lives won't be central anymore; they'll be side characters. In terms of when, this novel takes place somewhere between All that Jazz and Punked Up, maybe about eight months before Punked Up. And it covers an event that would not, otherwise, be discussed, so this was the opportunity to tell that story.

I wrote the story in five parts, and each blogger on the tour is hosting a 2-3 page segment of the story, along with the various links and promo material for Classic...

I hope you enjoy it. I'll keep this page updated as the tour progresses, and then next Monday, I'll post the entirety (with part five, for those of you who do math) to this page for you to enjoy.


V.L. Locey is the first to host me on her blog, Thoughts from a Yodeling Goat Herder
Em Lynley is hosting me on Wednesday at EM Lynley.com
Delilah Devlin's got me on Thursday at Delilah Devlin.com
and then another lovely Delilah has me on Friday, at Delilah Night.com

So, drop by, give these ladies some love, and I'll see you on the flipside!

More Book Covers

I think I mentioned earlier this year that this summer was going to be very busy for me and publishing, right?

So, I got these covers in my email box recently...

Mythologically Torqued (which I have been mistakenly calling Mythically Torqued, apparently) just got the cover out...

If you're still reading this, or reading it again, the cover's been redacted for a new cover... I don't know when we'll get the new cover, or what was wrong with the old cover, so I'm just weird and grumpy right now. I'll post the new cover when we get it, probably some time over the weekend.

SIGH.

I got a look at the author list, which puts me in good company with Adrik Kemp and BA Tortuga, among others... (Adrik was in my Coming Together: Among the Stars anthology last year with a brilliantly diverse piece called "Of Gods and Men" and if you haven't heard of BA before, you should take some time to check out an enormous backlist of fantastic work...)

This book will also be released in a paperback edition, weighing in at a hefty 100,000+ words (so I could smack someone with the book and it will hurt.)

You will also, if you prefer, be able to order my story, "How 'Bout Them Apples?" as a stand alone volume, like with all the current Torquere anthologies...

Mythologically Torqued, Vol 2 will be available August 19th.

And....

Yesterday I also got this

I gotta say, it's with some sadness that I bid adieu to Beau and Vin, who've been a huge part of my life for the last few years. Don't worry, they're not gone for good (Vin will be a side character in All That Jazz, and Beau will be a side character in Punked Up) but as main characters, I'm saying my temporary farewells. The two boys are well on their way to becoming adults, and while that has its own trials and tribulations, this particular chapter of their story is done.

(An idea has been lingering for a while of a sixth novel, set after Punked Up, called Bad Rap, which may come back to them when they are a little more established as being adults...)

Classic will be available September 2, also in paperback.

Family Time is Out

Buy Links

Cascade Failure - stand alone - Torquere | Amazon

Family Time - Anthology - Torquere | Amazon

Main Book 'Blurb

These twelve stories range from first-time parents, to a couple still trying to conceive, to a ready-made family hoping to make it official, to parents just trying to get from one day to the next.

But it can't all be about the kids. Especially when the kid to parent ratio favors the kids. You might have sneak out of your own house. Or remind your spouse what grown-ups can do when the kids are away.


From veteran and new authors, these families contain several M/M couples, an F/F couple, and an asexual mom who has some explaining to do to her genderfluid teen.

Story 'Blurb

The conflict between work and home life has never been greater for Eric Hopkins -- trying to make a better life for his children, Eric takes a job with high travel, leaving him hundreds of miles away when his family needs him the most. For Temple Richardson, local employment and more time at home means dealing with school officials, toddler mishaps, and sick dogs, all while trying to plan the perfect birthday for his spouse.

When one mishap leads to another and the whole day comes tumbling down, can these two very different men get their lives, and their priorities, straight? Or will cascading failure finally rip them apart?

Excerpt

There was absolutely no reason whatsoever, under any circumstances imaginable, that anyone in this modern day, should be out of contact with their families for more than a few hours.

Eric glared at his phone. Surely, surely, Temple would have called if everything wasn't all right. The last he'd heard from his husband was that A.J. had a mild concussion; a brief text. And then nothing. Temple hadn't logged into Skype for their evening conversation. A dozen e-mails had gone unread. Temple hadn't responded to probably thirty phone calls and the last time Eric attempted to call, the voice mail had reported as full.

Eric waved away the offer of another beer from the bartender. He pulled his phone out again. No messages. No texts. No e-mails. He opened the map program and tapped the screen. It was just closing on midnight. It was an eight-hour drive from Cumberland, Maryland, to Hartford, where Eric had built the house for Temple so many years ago, not knowing that they would, in the end, build a life there. Eric could grab four hours sleep and be on the road by dawn, and home by midafternoon at the latest. Even if there was still maddening construction around Yonkers. He could miss Friday, stay home for the weekend, and get back to the site by Monday afternoon. He'd be dead tired, but... Eric chewed his lip. "Fuck it," he decided.

God, Dennis was going to kill him. Eric punched in the number for the general contractor, explained the situation. Then called Dominick, his lead. The two of them had worked together for almost twenty years now. If anyone would tell him that he should go, it would be Dom.

"Look, can ya hold the crew together for me for the weekend?" Eric asked. "A.J. ended up in the ER, and I cain't get in touch with Temp."

"J'check his Grindr?" Dom asked. Under normal circumstances, Eric would have laughed. He and Temple hadn't exactly met through the dating app, but the story had made the rounds a few times.

Eric sighed. "Yes or no, Dom?"

"Yer really worried," Dom postulated.

"Ya think?"

"My rugrats is all growed up these days," Dom pointed out. "Not like to call their old man if they take a tumble down the stairs. But I'm sure that the professor's taking good care of 'em."

"Maybe it's nothin'," Eric hedged.

"But you'll feel better if you're there. I get it. I do. I'll cover it."

"I owe ya one."

"Yah, yah, you owe me like forty, at this point, Skipper. Get goin'. I'll see you on Tuesday?"

"I'll let you know."

"Hope everything is okay."

Yeah, Eric thought as he disconnected the call, me, too.

Family Time

Honestly, I don't know about y'all, but sometimes, I'm getting book fatigue. Seems like I barely get one project finished before I'm on to the next... My next upcoming publication is Family Time, with Torquere...

You do not need to have read the rest of the stories with these characters, but if you have, Eric and Temple are back!

They were first introduced in the Whetting the Appetite collection, which contains a short story about how the two characters met, Home Inspection. Home Inspection kinda played off a little of what I knew about the Grindr hookup app. One of my friends was telling me about the app, and also his complete disgust for the amount of fat-phobia and racism that went along with the app. 

So, of course, given his complaints, I had to make Temple and Eric an interracial couple. (I also have a short story with a lesbian interracial couple, although that story was accepted for publication, it's also one of the victims of the Cleis-can't-get-its-shit-together issue. The editor for that collection is attempting to publish with a different company, but I don't know the status. We'll see... pretty sure I can find a new home for it if this falls through, but it may be a while before anyone gets to see it.)

I sort of fell in love with Eric and Temple along the way... So last year, I wrote about them again, in Building Us, which was part of the They Do anthology, released by Torquere. When the Family Time call for submissions came out, I knew I had to revisit old friends.

Cascade Failure deals with the issues of "it's never just one thing" which I've found to be really true in life in general, as well as when dealing with children. You just have those days/weeks where nothing goes right... 

Two-Line blurb:

Parenting never even looks easy. When a high-travel job conflicts with raising a family, will Eric and Temple be able to be there, for their kids, or even for each other?

Marketing Blurb: 

The conflict between work and home life has never been greater for Eric Hopkins—trying to make a better life for his children, Eric takes a job with high travel, leaving him hundreds of miles away when his family needs him the most. For Temple Richardson, local employment and more time at home means dealing with school officials, toddler mishaps, and sick dogs, all while trying to plan the perfect birthday for his spouse.

When one mishap leads to another and the whole day comes tumbling down, can these two very different men get their lives, and their priorities, straight? Or will cascading failure finally rip them apart?

Publication Date: June 17th

Blues Release

Buy Links 

Amazon Kindle

Paperback

Torquere Press

Barnes and Noble

All Romance

Don't forget that all Torquere Books are 15% off until Jan 30 with code "winter2015"

Roll is currently 20% off at Torquere books (can combo with code)

So, Blues is out...

Honestly, I feel like this has been a long time coming, even though it was only last year that Roll was published.

It's also sometimes a bit hard to believe that what was supposed to be a 10 page short story ended up being a trilogy of novels and I appreciate every single person who's been with me on this journey to help a couple of troubled young men grow into adults and discover the people they really are.

Classic is currently in second drafts and will be available to round out the trilogy in September of this year, so you only have to wait 9 months...

In the meanwhile, I'm working on a couple of side short-stories; the first one, Crank It Up, takes place near the end of Blues, and if you want to read it, just drop me a note here, or in my email box (lynntownsend (dot) writer (at) gmail (dot) com) and I'll give you the link.

I should be here and there, promoting this week, and I'll keep you posted and links updated as they go live.

Happy reading!

Physics did not actually appear in this film

Today is the last day of Blissemas. Snogs in the Snow is the last stop on our whirlwind tour...

~*~*~*~

Collin laughingly pushed my hands away when I tried to reach for one of the dinner rolls, tearing it into bite sized pieces and feeding them to me like I was a baby bird. I rolled my eyes at him. Naturally, it was the pie that actually got me into trouble. I was laughing at Collin's description of his nephew's Halloween costume when he offered me a bite of pecan pie, covered in whip cream. I snarfed. And he missed. I took a noseful of whip cream, and sticky pecan down the side of my chin.

"Oh, brilliant," I snorted. "You're a terrible nursemaid." Collin scraped the fork along my chin, catching a dollop of pie filling.

"Really? I get all the way to the end of dinner, and you make me miss, and I'm the one who's terrible?" Collin ate the glop of pie himself. "Hmm. That's pretty good." He leaned in. I knew - from the instant that he'd forked a bite of turkey and offered it to me - that this moment was in the offing. A single quiver, a tightening in my belly that snaked down my thighs and coiled there, waiting, in my groin. I could have pulled back, could have turned it, and nothing would have happened. I didn't. I offered him my pie-smeared nose and cheek, and in those precious seconds, offered everything else.

Collin's tongue slid across my cheek, tasting and teasing. He nipped the end of my nose, sending crinkling tingles down my throat. Under my striped uniform shirt, my nipples peaked with sudden, almost painful intensity. I arched my back, pressing toward him. The scrape of his stubbled chin brushed over my skin, a single rasp, before his mouth came down on mine.

Kissing always seemed to me to be perfunctory, a necessary prelude to whatever sexual adventure was coming my way. Like a preview for a movie, something I didn't really mind too much if we were late to the theater and missed. Not this kiss. Instead of rudely thrusting his tongue into my mouth, prodding and probing, Collin's kiss was a sensual onslaught. He licked at my lips, teased the corner of my mouth, sending shivers along my spine. The tickle of his beard against my sensitive upper lip made me gasp. By the time he plundered the inside of my mouth, I was more than willing, more than ready, and decidedly marking the kiss on my must-see summer blockbusters.

He explored and plundered, tasting and touching. His arms came around me, fingers trailing down to the small of my back, pulling me against him. His breath was hot and heavy and he pulled the air out of my lungs in his eagerness. I surrendered, my hands going up to test the silken glide of his hair, the feel the hard muscles of his shoulders. I leaned against his long frame, feeling every inch of his body against mine.

-- From Holiday Hours, currently available in Coming Together: For the Holidays

~*~*~*~

Last night, I went to see Battle of Five Armies and the end of the ridiculously photogenic dwarves.

Physics did not actually appear in the film.

I will say I am not a purist; my enjoyment of both the 1940's Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones's Diary will attest to the fact that even books I love intensely do not need to be 100% in order to make a decent film. (I do not like the Kiera Knightly P&P, but that's a matter of severe dislike for their Mr. Darcy... )

I have been subjected to many a late night rant about elves at Helm's Deep and while I agree that the alterations to Boramir's character were unpleasant and didn't add to the film, I generally enjoy the Jackson editions of all the films.

This one was no exception.

But I did think the film should have been "Thorin, no. Dude! Really?"

~*~*~*~

I'm pretty impressed that I've managed a blog entry most of this month. But I'm getting kinda tired. Let's just pretend there's some interesting content here, okay?

~*~*~*~

Torquere's free reads for today (these free reads are offered from 12am  -11:59pm... US Central Time. If you miss "today's" free reads in my links, check Torquere's twitter account for the latest free reads.)

Aisling Book One: Guardian by Carole Cummings

Constable Dallin Brayden knows who he is, what he's about, and he doesn't believe in Fate. 'Wilfred Calder' has no idea who he is, what he's about, and has been running from Fate for as long as he can remember. When Wil is brought in for questioning as a witness to a brutal murder, and subsequently flees, Dallin is dragged by duty into the chaos of ancient myth, fanatical religion, and the delicate politics of a shaky truce between two perpetually warring countries, all of which seem to hinge on the slender shoulders of the man he knows is not Wilfred Calder.

The eventual capture of Dallin’s quarry only makes matters worse. Wil is prickly and full of rage, rebellious and lethal, and tells an unbelievable tale of magic and betrayal that threatens to rock the carefully cultivated foundations of Dallin's world. Leery and only half-believing, Dallin finds himself questioning not only his own conscience and his half-forgotten past, but the morality and motives of everyone around him, including those who hold the power of his own country’s fate in their hands.

GET FOR FREE

Wild Raspberries by Jane Davit

When Daniel Seaton inadvertently trespasses on Tyler Edward's land, things almost go very, very wrong. It's bad enough that Dan's a runaway, but when Tyler nearly shoots him on sight, Dan knows he's in trouble. Tyler's got a lot of years under his belt, and his past doesn't let him accept strangers easily. Dan's situation is dire enough that Tyler takes him home, at least for a little while, and that turns out to be a good decision when Dan decides to stay on and help out with the chores.

Tyler might be learning to trust, and Dan might be settling in to a new life, but things are not always what they seem. Between interfering friends, injuries, and their attraction to each other, Tyler and Dan have plenty of troubles. More trouble turns up in the form of Tyler's past, which catches up to them with a vengeance, and they decide to start a new life together, one that requires them to leave everything behind. Can they overcome what lies in the past to have a future with each other?

GET FOR FREE

Blissmas 2014

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

A Marked Man and other fascinating gaming stories...

First off, Blissemas! Yay. Kiru Taye has stuff for you. Comment, win, wash, rinse, repeat...

It's really hard for me to maintain a Christmas Spirit for a whole month. Go read her blog post while I have a mimosa.

~*~*~*~

So, A Marked Man is out...

In 1982, I wrote my very first short story as part of a class project... it's horrible and terrible and no, I'm not going to show it to you. But it was the first step in a very long journey...

In 1984, I wrote the following sentence, It might look familiar if you buy A Marked Man.

"The thief known as Mace crouched beneath the table."

The rest of the short story - five ridiculous, painstakingly typed pages - goes on to describe the theft of jellies and jams from a bakery as a gift for the thief's mother's birthday...

That was the first time Mace the Assassin made an appearance in my life. It wouldn't be the last. In 86, while I was at horse camp in New Hampshire for twelve weeks, I handwrote out several short stories about Mace and his girlfriend, Maddie. Those stories are lost. My camp roommate might have deserved getting knocked down a hill falling down the main hill on the way to dinner. Oops.

He went into hiatus for quite a long while after that...

And then he made a big time resurgence when I saw the movie The Three Musketeers

Michael Wincott, with the voice and the sneer and the delicious darkness, became the face of Mace the assassin...

I became obsessed with Wincott, watched as many of his movies as I could get my hands on...

I mean, just listen to that... chilling.... seductive. Perfect.

But then I had to put him away again. I wasn't really writing much during that time from about 1992 - 2001, give or take. I'd gotten some pretty brutal criticism and didn't have the emotional maturity or bandwidth to handle it. My life was every kinds of messed up. I did maybe... 8 short stories in those years (I wrote a very bad portal novel in 1990, which I can't even find a rough draft of, and that's probably a good thing... ) and I have several abortive attempts at other novels... the rough of which became the backbone of W.O.L. and a currently backburnered novel called Rains in Eden.

And then it happened. I dragged Mace out of the closet where he'd been lurking and used him as a role playing character...

Once I gave him a voice, a face, a real name behind the assassin's street-name he was called...

I haven't been able to get him out of my head since...

It's a little unnerving from time to time having a professional assassin hanging out in your head, commenting on your life. Just saying. In case that's ever happened to you...

But finally, I got his voice down on paper and into your hands. Despite that, he's still sitting in my mental living room, his boots up on my coffee table, making the casual observation about my life...

The thief known as Mace crouched under the kitchen table. He balanced precariously between a set of embroidered slippers and a pair of immaculate leather boots, praying to whatever gods might look out for thieves that neither of the people sharing breakfast were particularly clumsy.  

If either Sorcerer Aleck Merril or Knight-Commander Jan Lyze dropped a fork and bent to peer under the tablecloth, Mace would be discovered, destroying what could become a legendary heist. Bad enough that he was trapped under the table, an undignified position at best. He hadn't eaten in at least a day; betrayal by grumbling from his empty stomach would just be humiliating. The smell of bacon and toast and jam above his head tormented him.

His back ached from the weight of his backpack, stuffed with jewelry, coins, and a assorted magical devices swiped from the sorcerer's desk. The main prize, an enchanted gemstone, was tucked inside his shirt pocket. It swung gently with each breath he took, chafing the collar of his shirt against his sweat-damp neck. The thief shifted his balance to ease muscles threatening to cramp. 

I hope you enjoy his adventures as much as I did...

~*~*~*~

And Torquere's still doing their 2 free books per day...

Herc's Mercs: The Bigger they Come by Ari McKay

Cade “Hercules” Thornton is an ex-Marine and soldier of fortune; now he’s the owner of Hercules Security, which provides the best bodyguards in the business. After his leg was crushed and reconstructed, Cade doesn’t do field work anymore - until a challenge is issued to him by wealthy Kate Morgan, who wants her “bookish” grandson protected from a stalker. She insists on having the very best bodyguard available, and that is Cade himself.

But there is nothing laid back or bookish about Dr. Jude Morgan. Having lived under the thumb of his grandmother his entire life, Jude is insistent that he doesn’t need a babysitter. Sparks fly when Cade tries to insinuate himself into Jude’s life, and Cade knocks Jude on his ass - literally.

Yet the danger to Jude is real, and Cade is the only thing standing between him and an increasingly more terrifying stalker. Cade’s protective feelings for his client become something more, while Jude begins to realize that his brawny, neo-Viking protector is a man unlike anyone he’s ever known. Yet as Cade and Jude grow closer, so does the danger.

Cade will stop at nothing to protect Jude, but Jude’s stalker is determined to get his man - even if he has to kill Cade Thornton to do it.


GET FOR FREE

Zirkua Fantastic by Voss Foster

Zirkua Fantastic has been running steadily since 1753, amazing its patrons with acts of otherworldly skill and prowess. But that talent comes at a steep price: each artist must give a year of his or her life to the circus. None of them know why, only that the circus' owners will go to whatever lengths are necessary to ensure it. Toby, the hoop dancer at Zirkua Fantastic and son of one of the owners, is content with his life: he enjoys performing and Zirkua's wandering life, and even has a boyfriend among the circus' hawkers. But when a new artist arrives, bringing with him a strange flask and a number of odd occurrences, Toby falls face-first into the truth behind the circus: Its contracts bind King Jester, the immortal embodiment of chaos.

Zirkua's performances and contracts have held King Jester prisoner for centuries, but now something's amiss. King Jester's sister, Dragon, has escaped her own bonds and is working to free her brother, and his power is growing. If he is loosed on the world, it will mean the worst war in human history and the end of civilization... unless Zirkua Fantastic can find a way to stop him.

GET FOR FREE

Guest Post: Erin McRae and Racheline Maltese (and some more announcements)

Announcements

Hello everyone, your favorite crazy writer here... (I may well be truly losing my mind, it's possible. Come visit me in the mental hospital, would you? It gets boring.)

Today I have... Blissemas with Tabitha Rayne (who I was introduced to recently because she did some lovely portrait work for my dear friend, Malin James... so y'all should definitely go check her out...)

And A Marked Man is out today - I'm having my Facebook release party today as well, so if you haven't signed up, drop by and say hello. I'll be giving away prizes and swag, posting excerpts, taking questions, and generally being "around" for most of the day... 

The Guest Post

Our protagonist in Evergreen, Liam, is a supporting character in Starling, Book One in our Love in Los Angeles series. (Book Two, Doves, comes out January 21, and Book Three is out in June), but this is a standalone story and you don’t have to have read Starling to be able to enjoy Evergreen.

In Evergreen, Liam’s joined by several characters that readers of Starling have already met. These include his fiancee Carly, his asexual boyfriend and also boss Victor, and his costar and ex-lover Alex. Throughout the story, Liam pesters them for help sorting out his woes with his childhood best friend and long-term lover Charles. Unfortunately for Liam, however, they’re all tied up -- figuratively and otherwise -- with their own relationship issues.

Throughout the story we see bits of all of those negotiations. And all of them are kinky in some way to someone. After all, the title of the anthology Evergreen is published in is Santa’s Little Kinksters. But what kink looks like for each couple in the story is different.

Sometimes, that kink is pretty explicit. There’s not much that’s understated about someone being tied to a bed.

Other times, however, the kink is much more subtle. It’s all still kink, though, even if it’s just someone getting excited about the marks his fingernails leave on his boyfriend’s skin.

So here’s to all the kinksters, Christmassy and otherwise, and all the adventures and exploits they get up to at the holidays and year-round.

Blurb:

When bisexual polyamorous TV star Liam Campbell returns home to New York City for the holidays he finds out his his best friend (with benefits) Charles Ortwin has recently acquired a serious boyfriend. Thrown by not being the center of everyone's attention, Liam seeks out advice from three of his chosen family: ex-lover and co-star J. Alex Cook, boss and asexual romantic companion Victor Salcido Santillan, and fiancée Carly Amadahy, each of whom are tied up with their own sensual pleasures.

When a holiday party ends in a series of arguments between Charles, the new boyfriend, and Liam, it takes a snowy Christmas, a bit of honest communication, and some delightful sexual agony to put everything back as it should be.




Bio:

Erin McRae and Racheline Maltese are authors of the gay romance series Love in Los Angeles, set in the film and television industry (Starling (September 10, 2014), Doves (January 21, 2015), and Phoenix (June 10, 2015)), all from Torquere Press. Their gay romance novella Midsummer (Summer 2015), about a summerstock Shakespeare company, is from Dreamspinner Press. Racheline is a NYC-based performer and storyteller; Erin is a writer and blogger based in Washington, D.C. They write stories and scripts about the intersection of private lives, fame, and desire.

Social Media Links:

Joint Blog: http://Avian30.com
Joint Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Erin.and.Racheline
Erin’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/erincmcrae
Racheline’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/racheline_m
Erin’s Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8323893.Erin_McRae
Racheline’s Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1015335.Racheline_Maltese

Buy Links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Evergreen/dp/B00R4XEG6A/

Torquere: http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=76&products_id=4330

More Announcements!

The Sexy Librarian's Big Book of Erotica is out on audible.com... so if you like to listen to your smutty stories, they're now available that way...

Even More Announcements!

Torquere's still giving away two free books every day, so here's today's offerings. You are downloading these, right? I am. Every. single. one. I anticipate reading quite a lot in 2015...

Angel of 13th Street by Eden Winters

The Angel. That’s what the young hustlers call Noah Everett, the man who’ll help them get off the streets. Once a hustler himself, Noah doesn’t take his own good advice, which is, “Don’t let this ruin your life.” Haunted by the past and those he couldn’t save, Noah carefully keeps others at bay until his self-imposed loneliness is shattered by determined, ambitious, but homeless eighteen-year-old Jeremy Kincaid.

A ruthless pimp has targeted Jeremy, but if Noah will fight to get anonymous young men out of the life, he’ll fight harder to keep Jeremy from getting in, even if it means a return to old stomping grounds to make a deal with the devil. To save Jeremy, Noah risks more than just his body. He risks his soul as well, because Willie Carnell, pimp, was once Billy Cordell, Noah’s lover.

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All I Want for Christmas by V.L. Locey

Alexander Dawson thought this Christmas would be a lonely one. He has no way of knowing that his cantankerous cat, Mister Tibbets, will turn a simple online shopping trip into a cataclysmic Christmas conundrum. Alex ends up on a madcap dash to another state during a snow storm to return a painting to dreamy wildlife artist, Cooper Reynolds.  Once he stumbles across Cooper's remote log cabin, he and the sexy but emotionally distant painter end up sharing more than a kiss under the mistletoe.

Things aren't all holly-jolly for the men though. Cooper gets a terrible case of icy feet, and Alex hits the road as soon as the snowplow clears it, feeling hurt and angry. Can Alex, Cooper, and their feline friends find a way to have purrfect holiday together?

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Blessings in Disguise

Coming Together: Among the Stars was released yesterday, and I hope you've had a chance to pick up a copy. If not, please do...

So... Blissemas is still the thing, of course... John (Bawdy Bloke) has a blog thing for you, so go check that out and don't forget to comment every day for your chance to win a kindle paperwhite full of smut.

And Torquere is still giving away one or two books per day, so let me lay those out here for you...

Jumping into Things by Julia Talbot

What are the odds that two different brothers will find the man of their dreams in one summer?

What are the odds that those two brothers will both like men?

The Thatcher brothers will make you forget the odds. In this double novella, each brother tells his own tale. There’s Jed, pilot and all around good old boy, gets more than the one night stand he bargained for with an adrenaline pumped smoke jumper who makes him as horny as he does crazy. And Ross, Airborne jump instructor and man’s man, finds a sweet young thing he can’t resist, and follows in his big brother’s footsteps.

Likeable men, hot sex, and a great sense of detail make these brothers believable, even when you think the odds are against them.

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My Life as a Myth by Huston Piner

It's 1969 and high school freshman Nick Horton has got problems; he's an easy target for bullies, he's a social outcast who dreams of being popular, and he doesn't understand why he's just not attracted to girls. So after a series of misunderstandings label him a troublemaker, he's delighted when Jesse Gaston and his gang befriend him. But while Nick just wants to explore his growing attraction to Bobby Warren, Jesse's campaign to give him a new image soon transforms the shy loser into an anti-establishment student hero and before long, Nick discovers that if it wasn't tough enough just pretending to be straight, now he's got to act cool too! As Nick strives to understand his emerging romance with Bobby he also finds himself besieged by would-be girlfriends. At the same time, he also has to deal with increasingly dangerous goings-on at school and the Vietnam War's destructive impact on his family.

Nick's freshman year is a remarkable journey of ridiculous misadventures, unexpected psychedelic explorations, and tragic turns of fate.  Is a world still reeling from the sexual revolution and the illicit pleasures of marijuana and underage drinking ready to accept two boys in love? Can Nick and Bobby's relationship survive a world where acid rock rules, status is everything, and being gay is the last taboo? My Life as a Myth is an often humorous but ultimately heartbreaking story of a boy's struggle with sexual identity and first love in a violent and hostile world.

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Yesterday, I spent all day working on the galley edits for A Marked Man, which will be available on Thursday. If you haven't already signed up for my Facebook Release Party, please do. (It's not a real event, you just have to check your computer and say hi...)

There will be some fun prizes and contests, and mostly I'll just be hanging out for the day (it's 2 - 11pm EST, so really, you can drop in for most of the day... )

And while I was working on that, I started to write this blog entry, which was supposed to plug Fair Game, my lesbian story... only to find out that once again, the publication date has been pushed off. The publisher was recently bought out, and schedules and staff are all off and crazy...

I probably shouldn't say much more about that because what I'm thinking isn't very nice, even if it is true, and we all know what's been going on with people who say not nice but true things about publishers.

Yeah, just shutting up now...

ANYWAY, it's probably a good thing. I was looking - originally, several weeks ago - at a pretty crazy week... Coming Together: Among the Stars out Monday, Fair Play out on Wednesday, A Marked Man and London Steam out on Thursday....

Now with some shuffles around and movement, I only have two releases this week, although they're both major, and I hope you'll bear with me while I try to get my life on straight...

On the other hand, while I was working on galley edits all day - and I'm going to give a special shout out to my editor, Elizabeth Lance, who tirelessly put up with my nitpicking, my bad dialogue tags, and my horrible inconsistency, and who loves the story nonetheless, and who continued to be encouraging and supportive through the whole messy last run. Thank you, Elizabeth. I don't deserve you, I really don't. - I got two. more. sets. of. edits. in.

So much for getting any actual WRITING done this week...

I have built about 4 weeks of screwing up, screwing around, hating my work and time for story bloat into my schedule for Sins of Angels... technically, since the Demoniac Codex series is coming out once per year (in March) I don't really have to have the book completed until August, maybe? And right now it's slotted to be done by mid-April.

I'm well ahead on the Rainbow Connection series, with Book Three already written and in beta edits right now...  (for comparison, Blues wasn't even written until April this year, so... that project is well ahead...)

The question after I write Sins of Angels is... do I work on All that Jazz (Hector's story), write the YA novel I've been poking around with (Hailey's Comet, a contemporary), or work on my steampunk m/f romance (The Wormwood Trade)... at some point, I'd like to get all these done. Plus I have the series of YA novellas for 2016 (the outline for the first novella is due in March) to work on...

I also have ideas for a couple of short stories that I'd like to work on, including what I hope will be a light-hearted BDSM story called Me, Flailing and another short story/novellette that I stole (with permission, so it's not really stealing) m/m called Next Thursday Night.

Introducing Essemoh Teepee

So, Coming Together: Among the Stars came out yesterday! Wahee! Huzzah! I'm excited...

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Blissemas is still progressing... Stop by to see what lovely surprises Megan Slayer has for you... don't forget to comment on each blog to gain an additional entry into the drawing for a kindle paperwhite...

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So let me introduce Essemoh Teepee, author of Gyozo's Mate, a story about galaxy-wide clairvoyance and soul mates... a lovely piece, I adore it...

When did you find out that you wanted to be a writer? What inspired you to put pen to paper?

Essemoh seeks inspiration in Vegas

I have always read voraciously, SF, SFF, thrillers you name a genre and I have probably read some of it, although erotica and erotic romance didn’t feature. (One can’t count Playboy and Men Only.)
I had never considered writing fiction. My career has been in science education, business management and development, so my writing was usually pure communication, prosaic and to the point!

I was in a senior position in 2000 and took up painting as relaxation. I enjoy the act of creation, paint flowing on one’s brush and the expression of imagination. I am drawn to portraiture, but painting can take a long time; frustrating when you want results.

In 2005 I picked up a copy of ‘Bloody Bones’ by Laurell K Hamilton to see what all the Nouveau Vampire fuss was about. (It had only been Mr Stoker’s Dracula until then.) I quite liked the blend of Crime Noir and erotic sex integral to the workings of the plot and nature of the characters. Exploring a little more made me think I could write something. Possibly SF or SFF putting the sex back in where it had been left out in what I had read. I found I enjoyed creating worlds and populating them from my imagination without having to wait for the paint to dry! It turned out my characters were extremely horny and there was a LOT of sex in my writing.

Tell me about your first publication. Who was it with? How did you feel when you got that acceptance?

I have the writer’s cliché on my study wall. A copy of my first ever cheque for a professionally published story. Circlet Press accepted my 6,000 word story ‘KATT’ for the anthology ‘Kneel to Me’ in 2008. (I met Cecelia Tan of Circlet at an erotica writer’s conference in Las Vegas 2011 and thanked her for the recognition and encouragement the acceptance gave me.) So many people write in hope of some success, to get professionally published. To have someone actually pay you real money ($25 may not be wealth but it is riches!) for something you have created out of your own head is very special. I liked what I wrote and feedback from the free platforms like Literotica had been encouraging, but Circlet gave me affirmation. KATT was first person and it had Space Opera, tentacles, BDSM and even a little D/s romance thrown in.

How much of your life and the people you know end up in your work?

People do ask this don’t they? I would have to have a severe case of Satyriasis or the wealth and connections of a Mr. Grey to match up to just some what is in my work. I would also probably be in jail if I had done some of the things I have written about.

That being said, I have been fortunate to travel extensively and I people watch. Many stories, characters and scenes can explode out of observation and onto the page. The story you have in Under the Stars, ‘Gyozo’s Mate’ came from spotting a well-endowed stripper leaving a seedy night club one morning on the Island of Gran Canaria and letting my imagination off the leash. I usually like to settle on a character’s name first before I fill out the rest of the details and back story. I get a lot of my characters names from peering at tags on shop workers, waiters and bar staff!

What projects are you currently working on? Are you willing to share a small excerpt from a work in progress?

I am collaborating with a colleague at eSensual Books, Genevieve Ash, on a series of full length novels with the thread title ‘Research’. Contemporary erotic romance with a twist. We are taking all the clichés and turning them on their heads, a lot of fun and humour as well as hot sex. The cast of evolving characters run through all the books. They each have problems, needs, emotional issues and angsts to be worked out in couples, trios, and other multiples that may come along for the ride. Each novel takes one of the classic genres and runs with it, wildly tearing of all its clothes along the way. (You really should take the time to meet Chaddie’s Angels!)

Practical Research is an HFN Erotic Romance set in San Francisco, finished and ready to be published.  (Agents, Publishers, and Moviemakers please get in touch!)

Where Essemoh works

Captivating Research is a blockbusting erotic adventure story set in the Arab Peninsula. It is in final draft and nearing completion.

Academic Research, a whodunit is set in the ‘dreaming Spires’ of Oxford University, is in the early stages of preparation, plotting and drafting.

There is an excerpt from Captivating Research that your visitors can access and read here

Tell us three things about you that are interesting.

1. I write and produce Audio Erotic Experiences using a technique I developed called Directed Erotic Visualisation© (if you want to know what that is and try it for yourself, you can find out more and download some free audios here)

2. I am directly responsible for men and women having more than 6.5 million orgasms across the globe since 2008. (see 1 above)

3. I have a beard

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Torquere's Free Books

Ghost's Sight by Morwen Navarre

When Gerry is injured on a hunt, he is taken to the Witch’s home to save his badly broken leg. There he meets and is intrigued by her enigmatic ward. Ghost is equally captivated by Gerry, but all the young man has ever known is a solitary life as a witch’s apprentice. Gerry wants to make a life with Ghost, and he's willing to leave the security of his family to create a family of their own. Now Ghost must decide if that new family is a chance worth taking, and the choice seems clear: Ghost loves Gerry too much already to say no.

But when Ghost disappears on his way to join Gerry, the young hunter will need to hunt a more dangerous prey to find the missing apprentice, and Ghost will need all his skill to survive until Gerry can find him.

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Never Too Early: The Beginning by Chris Owen and Tory Temple

Firefighters Chancellor Shanahan and Tucker McBride have been together for years. They've been through the rough patches and come out the other side, although shift work, misunderstandings, and stubborn personalities can make things interesting. Chance knows that he and Tucker love each other, however, and neither of them have any interest in other people. So what happens when they meet another couple with a similar relationship? An unlikely friendship could take a possible turn.

Jake and Tor are a pair of cowboys who have weathered the storms of a decade together and have finally settled into their lives. They have a ranch, they have family, and they have each other. A rare vacation leads to a friendship, which leads to questions and a revival of long finished conversations. Is moving forward also a step back in time to issues they’ve already put to rest?

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Coming Together....

I've got your regularly scheduled author interview for tomorrow, because I really wanted to take the time to announce the release of Coming Together, so come back tomorrow for Essemoh Teepee's interview!


I've been talking about this collection since I started working on it... back in February was when I put together the proposal...

Hard to believe it was almost a year ago that I had this crazy idea.

To this day, my call for the antho remains one of the most viewed webpages on this blog...  working on an anthology was both harder and more rewarding than I could have imagined... so, I want to take a moment and thank all my writers, who are lovely and wonderful. I've connected in new ways to writers I already knew and loved; I've met some established writers that I didn't know before, and I've brought some new writers into my wonderful, crazy world.

Thank you, all of you, for making this dream a reality. Thank you for trusting me with your stories. Thank you for submitting such excellent work. Thank you for caring about Still's Disease, and about giving me your hard work to help this cause. Without you, none of this would be possible.

Buy Links Kindle | Paperback | Smashwords | All Romance | Create Space | Barnes and Noble

And thank you, dear reader, for caring, and for buying... And please, if you buy, could you please review - it doesn't have to be much, just a sentence or two on Amazon or B&N will help my cause a lot! Appreciate it!

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Still Blissemas... (I'll be up at the end of the week...) and you can see what KD Grace has for you... KD shares table of content space with me for Sexy Librarian's. She wrote Cherries in Season, which is a reader favorite... So go see what she has to say, I'm sure it'll be great!

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Free books from Torquere...

For today only - 24 hours! - Torquere has the following books for free, including something I think you'll find familiar...

Roll by Lynn Townsend

From the farms of Tennessee, Beau Watkins had it all in high school; the cute girl, the popular, jock lifestyle, a loving family. As a rising freshman at an out-of-state college, he's determined to find out who he really is behind the fake it 'til you make it attitude. He joins Rainbow Connection, the gay student alliance, hoping to find himself. Instead, he finds Vin Reyes. Raised by his grandparents and the heir to a prosperous company, Vin has been out of the closet since he figured out what that meant. He has it all: fashionable clothing, fancy cars, huge houses, and a real party lifestyle, even a bodyguard. Most of all, he has a secret.

Uncomfortable with Vin's generosity, Beau fights his growing attraction for the president of Rainbow Connection, chasing instead a series of shallow affairs. Vin's never been denied anything that he wants, though, and now he wants Beau. But it's not until an old rival puts Beau in the hospital that Vin realizes that Beau means more to him than a simple love affair. Can the two of them bridge the gap between their worlds and roll with the all the punches life will throw at them?

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Ruby: Lost and Found by M.D. Grimm

Morgorth is a mage on the planet Karishian. There is little he hates more than the Stones of Power -- gemstones infused with magick by the first seven mages ever born. So when a sorcerer gets hold of a major stone, a ruby, Morgorth has no choice but to go after him. But, to his irritation, he is not alone. Aishe is a dialen whose tribe was massacred by the sorcerer, and is now on a mission of vengeance. The attraction is instant between them, but Morgorth keeps his distance. Because of a traumatic childhood and a deadly destiny, he has no desire for emotional complications. But Aishe's very presence challenges Morgorth's resolve.

Not only does Morgorth begin to admire Aishe's strength and intelligence, but he begins to see Aishe as a friend. As their hunt continues and their time together lengthens, their bond deepens, as does Morgorth's fear. If he becomes the monster that destiny claims he will, will he hurt Aishe? Will he harm the one person who sees right through him? Who accepts him wholeheartedly? Determined to not let that happen, Morgorth keeps Aishe at a distance, but when Aishe is kidnapped by the sorcerer, what will Morgorth do to get him back?

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