Category: Book Giveaways

Get Down and Sexy with Sean Michael and his “Blue Collar”Men! (contest)

✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍

BlueCollar banner large

Time To Get Down and Sexy with Sean Michael on

the Blue Collar Book Blast!

BlueCollarlarge coverBook Name: Blue Collar
Author Name: Sean Michael
Cover Artist: Trace Edward Zaber
Publisher: Amber Quill Press

Sales Links:  Amber Quill Press

Author Bio:

Often referred to as “Space Cowboy” and “Gangsta of Love” while still striving for the moniker of “Maurice,” Sean Michael spends his days surfing, smutting, organizing his immense gourd collection and fantasizing about one day retiring on a small secluded island peopled entirely by horseshoe crabs. While collecting vast amounts of vintage gay pulp novels and mood rings, Sean whiles away the hours between dropping the f-bomb and pursuing the kama sutra by channeling the long lost spirit of John Wayne and singing along with the soundtrack to “Chicago”.

A long-time writer of complicated haiku, currently Sean is attempting to learn the advanced arts of plate spinning and soap carving sex toys.

Barring any of that? He’ll stick with writing his stories, thanks, and rubbing pretty bodies together to see if they spark.

To contact/follow Sean Michael, visit the links below.

Author Links:

Blurb:

Kendall Webber is deep in the closet. Between working in a garage, having been in the army and a fundamentalist preacher step-father who sent him to summer camps to make him straight, he’s learned to hide his sexuality from absolutely everyone.

Still, when Barton Willis the Third roars into the garage with his Mustang, Kendall can’t help but look, just a little. When Barton not only looks back but invites him in, Kendall’s whole world is turned upside down.

Can Barton help Kendall let go of the past and the attitudes he’s had, literally, beaten into him?

Excerpt:

“Are you wanting factory original or an upgrade to a catback?”

One dark eyebrow rose. “Which’ll make it run better?”

“Well, it depends. The cats give a great sound, but the Borlas? They’re loud and I love the look from the rear. It’s a matter of money and taste and sound.”

Kendall headed to the office, rambling on about all the different types and prices and options.

“I like a good-looking rear,” the guy told him when he’d done talking.

“Then you might consider the Borlas. It’s a little pricey, but fine. This is my boss, Pete. He’ll hook you up.”

“Oh, I’d rather you hook me up.”

Was that as suggestive as it sounded?

“I… Okay. Okay, I can help.” He’d done a few custom orders, but Pete would have to approve everything.

The man held out his hand. “Barton Willis, the Third.”

“Kendall. Pleased.” He held out his hand, then pulled it back. He was a grease monkey after all. “I’ve been working, man.”

“I imagine I can wash my hands.”

“Yeah, I tell myself that a lot, but the grime’s pretty deep.” He was not flirting. Not.

“Nothing wrong with a dirty boy.”

 

✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍


BadgeBlueCollarTour Dates: 8/4/14

Tour Stops:
Parker Williams, Decadent Delights, Amanda C. Stone, Havan Fellows, Full Moon Dreaming, SA McAuley, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Tara Lain, Prism Book Alliance, Rainbow Gold Reviews, Jade Crystal, Book Reviews and More by Kathy, Fallen Angel Reviews, Smoocher’s Voice, Redz World, The Hat Party, Emotion in Motion, Wake Up Your Wild Side, Love Bytes, Because Two Men Are Better Than One, Sinfully Sexy, LeAnn’s Book Reviews, Iyana Jenna, Kimi-Chan, Reviews and Ramblings, Michael Mandrake, It’s Raining Men, Boy Meets Boy Reviews, MM Good Book Reviews, Velvet Panic, My Fiction Nook, Cate Ashwood

 

Contest:  Win a $20 Amber Quill Certificate as part of the Blue Collar tour.  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.  For the entry form and more details, visit the Rafflecopter link below.  Good Luck and Happy Reading.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

 

Review: Gale Force (SoulShares #2) by Rory Ni Coileain

Rating:  4.75 stars out of 5

Gale ForceConall Dary is the most powerful mage born to the Fae race since the Realm was parted from the human world, over two thousand years ago. But that very power condemns him to a lifetime of celibacy, because sex calls to power, and he has power enough to drain a world. When he refuses to use his talents for a Noble lady’s petty revenge, he finds himself shanghaied to the human world, his soul torn in half and his magick blocked.

Josh LaFontaine is the beautifully inked owner of Raging Art-On, a Washington, D.C. tattoo and piercing parlor. While taking part in New York City’s Pride march with a former lover’s dance company, his world changes forever when the man of his dreams materializes out of nowhere at his feet . Josh’s sensual and loving touch, the first Conall has ever known, may be enough to give him back the magick he’s lost. But before they can complete their Soulshare, a terrible accident leaves Conall bodiless, lost, and invisible, to everyone except – maybe – the human with whom he shares a soul. But Josh will need to find him before the ancient evil of the Marfach does or everything they have – and more – will be lost.

Hard As Stone, the first in the SoulShares series, pulled me wholeheartedly into Rory Ni Coileain’s amazing collision of fantasy and contemporary urban American society.  I found her world building amazing, her characters complex and compelling and the drama and pain of a soul ripped in two irresistible.  How was she going to top it, I wondered?  Gale Force is the answer and an outstanding one to boot!

At the end of Hard As Stone, after Fae Tiernan Guaire and human Kevin Almstead have united in the SoulShares bond, we were informed that more were Fae coming and that Tiernan, Kevin and the bar Purgatory had to be ready.  But no one could have been prepared for the next Fae to be hurled through the Pattern, his soul ripped in two.  That would be the most powerful mage ever born, Conall Dary.  If there is a complete opposite of the sexy, sarcastic Tiernan, it would be Conall Dary.  Virginal, lonely, he is so powerful that he has kept everyone at bay and himself isolated because he feared the damage he could inflict.  That isolation has also made him a target and somewhat naive as to what the other Fae are capable of.  That outlook and a refusal to use his power for petty revenge gets him tossed out of the Realm in the worst way possible.

The author’s descriptions of the Fae Realm and its inhabitants are sharp and complete in both the emotions and characters involved.  Their pettiness is on a scale we find horrific as is the manner in which they demand their “requests” be attended to.  That Conall is too good for this Realm is immediately understood, although not by him.  He has internalized the Fae culture’s image of himself and the damage that has caused his self image is acute.  I fell in love with Conall here and that love only deepened once he fell at the feet (literally) of Josh LaFontaine during a Pride parade.

Josh LaFontaine.  Here is another character to love. Covered in his own ink, magic swirls around him.  I loved him for his bravery, compassion, and determination.  Such a remarkable character and those tats of his…well, that’s one of the highlights of this story and I won’t spoil it for you here.  With each new couple and their passage to a SoulShares bond, the series gets better, the evil that is the Marfach becomes more diabolical, and the scope of the plot widens to show that the author’s plan for all her characters is more complicated and delightful than I had anticipated.

Yes, that magnificent monster, the Marfach is back and even more determined to return to the Realm of the Fae.  Rory Ni Coileain’s ability to drive up the suspense and impression of evil is marvelous.  The Marfach is so twisted that you can almost smell the stench.  What a creation!  And now that it resides in the poor reanimated flesh of the bouncer, we get the thoughts of both beings in one.  That aspect of this story only serves to amp up our anticipation of the evil to come.  Love that about this stoy too!

Gale Force is one wild fantasy ride!  It has it all.  A virginal hero (and Fae at that), magic, a monster, and a forever love waiting to be found.  Rory Ni Coileain delivers  it all in a fast paced, vividly described and beautifully detailed story you won’t want to put down.  I am on to the next in the series, Deep Plunge.  Put this book and the other SoulShares stories on your TBR list.  It is one of ScatteredThoughtsandRogueWords Must Reads!

Cover art:  Not credited which is fine because there is nothing that really speaks to the story within on the cover.

Buy Details:          Ravenous Romance                   All Romance eBooks (ARe)                    Amazon    Gale Force

Book Details:

ebook, 230 pages

Published March 12th 2013 by Ravenous Romance (first published March 10th 2013)
edition languageEnglish
url http://www.ravenousromance.com/fantastica/gale-force.php
seriesSoulShares #2

Books in the SoulShares series in the order they were written and should be read are:

Hard As Stone (Soulshares #1)
Gale Force (SoulShares #2)
Deep Plunge (SoulShares #3)
Firestorm (SoulShares #4)

On Tour with Meredith Allard and That You Were There Book Tour (contest)

✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍

VBT_ThatYouAre Here_Banner

 

Meredith Allard has stopped by on her That You Are Here book tour to answer some questions and talk about her book.  In addition she has a contest for you all to enter and a couple of prizes to give away.  One grand prize winner for a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card will be chosen at the end of the tour. And the runner up will receive a ebook of That You Are Here!  Use this Rafflecopter link to enter and for additional  contest details!  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.

✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍

An Interview with Meredith Allard on Inspiration and her latest release, That You Are Here!

 STRW:   What was your inspiration for the story?

Meredith Allard:  I was visiting my cousin in Portland, Oregon when the announcement of the Supreme Court decision overturning DOMA was made. The idea for That You Are Here occurred to me shortly afterward in some random daydream. On the outside, I don’t have much in common with Andrew and Mark since I am most definitely not a gay man. I’m not even a gay woman for that matter, but I believe that people who are in love should be able to get married, and suddenly I saw the characters from the story, Andrew Whittaker and Mark Bryce, so strongly, like they were standing in front of me. I had the idea for the story from beginning to end in a matter of days. I could see Andrew and Mark’s love for each other, and I could see how they struggled. I wrote the first draft as the challenge for National Novel Writing Month. I had 62,000 words written in 30 days, which is super fast for me.

STRW:  Do you work on one project at a time or many?

Meredith Allard:  Just one. My limited brain capacity tops out at one story at a time.

STRW:  Hero or Antihero? Who would you chose and why?

Meredith Allard:  I’ve always preferred the hero. I like to see people rise above their baser nature to become their best selves. I like characters who make brave choices to do the right thing.

STRW:  People say write what you know. Do you think that is right or even important?

Meredith Allard:  This is a really interesting question because “write what you know” can be interpreted in different ways. On the one hand, I never write what I know in the sense that my stories are fiction and the characters and the plot are creations from my imagination. Yet there are aspects of myself in every character, so then I’m using what I know to create someone who is otherwise fictional. On the surface in That You Are Here, I’m not writing about what I know because I’m not a gay man. Yet I know what it’s like to have to learn to feel comfortable in my own skin. Whenever I write I’m trying to find the universal aspect of the story that anyone can relate to, so in a sense it’s something everyone knows. Everyone has to learn how to feel comfortable in their own skin in one way or another. I also don’t think there are any hard and fast rules when it comes to writing, and writers can write about whatever they want. If it’s something they don’t know, then they can use their imagination to fill in the gaps.

STRW:  What is the first book you read that really meant something to you?

Meredith Allard:  This is going back to when I was eight years old, but Charlotte’s Web is the first book I can remember reading that showed me the power of a well written story. I was so touched by Charlotte and Wilbur’s story, and after that I wanted to read every book I could get my hands on.

STRW:  What do you find sexy in a man?

Meredith Allard:  A sense of humor is first and foremost. It’s great if he’s smart, and it certainly doesn’t hurt if he’s cute.

STRW:  What’s next up for you?

Meredith Allard:  I just got back from London where I was researching for my next novel, an historical story set in Victorian London that’s inspired by Downton Abbey.

STRW:  Thanks, Meredith, for stopping by and taking a moment to sit in our  author interview armchair.  That was wonderful!  Here is some That You Are Here details, including where to get your copy:

 

THAT YOU ARE HERE
by Meredith Allard

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cover_That You Are HereBLURB:

On the outside, handsome, successful attorney Andrew Whittaker has everything in life. On the inside, he has everything too, only he doesn’t know it. He hides the love of his life, Mark Bryce, from his family and everyone else where he lives in Portland, Oregon. Soon the weight of the secret becomes too much for Andrew. After wrestling with himself and his place in the world, he must decide how he’s going to live—with or without Mark.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT:

Andrew’s cell phone buzzed in his pocket. He put his lunch bag on the counter, nodding at the message from Lisa Bloom, his secretary. He scanned his e-mails and grimaced at the phone. “I have to go.” He left at a sprint through the kitchen door to his silver Mercedes in the attached one-car garage. He didn’t even like the car, but that’s what the senior partners at his firm drove, so that’s what he drove too. Andrew opened the garage door, got into the driver’s seat, slid the key into the ignition, started the car, and jumped at the knock on his window. He shrugged sheepishly, opened the window, and took his lunch bag.

“Sorry,” he said. “I’m a little distracted today.”

“Today?” A sigh. “That car is such a gas guzzler. You need a hybrid. This is Portland. You’re supposed to be green.”

“Kermit the Frog green?”

“Any kind of green you want to be.”

Andrew looked at the person watching him with such open-hearted love in those soft gold-brown eyes.

“Mark?” Andrew said.

“Yes, Andrew.”

“Thank you.”

Mark Bryce leaned his head through the open window and kissed Andrew’s cheek. “Anything for you, beautiful boy.”

When Andrew stopped at the red light on Bancroft Street he felt his phone vibrate. He pulled his phone from his pocket, saw the screen and cringed, peering at the nearby drivers as though they were reporting his every move to some great eye in the sky. The text was from Mark.

Stop looking at your phone!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author_PhotoAUTHOR Bio and Links:

Meredith Allard is the author of The Loving Husband Trilogy, That You Are Here, Victory Garden, Woman of Stones, and My Brother’s Battle (Copperfield Press). She received her B.A. and M.A. degrees in English from California State University, Northridge. Her short fiction and articles have appeared in journals such as The Paumanok Review, The Maxwell Digest, Wild Mind, Muse Apprentice Guild, Writer’s Weekly, Moondance, CarbLite, and ViewsHound. She has taught writing to students aged ten to sixty, and she has taught creative writing and writing historical fiction seminars at Learning Tree University, UNLV, and the Las Vegas Writers Conference. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Website – http://www.meredithallard.com/
Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/copperfield101
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/authormeredithallard

Buy at Amazon   link

Book Blast: Silvia Violet’s Unexpected Trust Book Tour/Contest

UT Banner - 621

Book Name: Unexpected Trust
Author Name: Silvia Violet

We are a quick stop on Silvia Violet’s Unexpected Trust book tour.  To help promote the release of Unexpected Trust, Silvia Violet and Pride Promotions are giving away a Rafflecopter Prize of a $20 ARe Gift Card,  To enter to win, visit the Rafflecopter link  provided.  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.

 

Author Bio:

Silvia Violet writes erotic romance in a variety of genres including paranormal, contemporary, sci fi, and historical. She can be found haunting coffee shops looking for the darkest, strongest cup of coffee she can find. Once equipped with the needed fuel, she can happily sit for hours pounding away at her laptop. Silvia typically leaves home disguised as a suburban stay-at-home-mom, and other coffee shop patrons tend to ask her hilarious questions like “Do you write children’s books?” She loves watching the looks on their faces when they learn what she’s actually up to. When not writing, Silvia enjoys baking sinfully delicious treats, exploring new styles of cooking, and reading to her incorrigible offspring.

Author Links:

Cover Artist:
Publisher: Self-Published
Unexpected Trust (Unexpected Book 2) by Silvia Violet

Unexpected Trust

Author Bio

Silvia Violet writes erotic romance in a variety of genres including paranormal, contemporary, sci fi, and historical. She can be found haunting coffee shops looking for the darkest, strongest cup of coffee she can find. Once equipped with the needed fuel, she can happily sit for hours pounding away at her laptop. Silvia typically leaves home disguised as a suburban stay-at-home-mom, and other coffee shop patrons tend to ask her hilarious questions like “Do you write children’s books?” She loves watching the looks on their faces when they learn what she’s actually up to. When not writing, Silvia enjoys baking sinfully delicious treats, exploring new styles of cooking, and reading to her incorrigible offspring.

Unexpected Trust coverBlurb:

Special Agent Hugh Cranford, better known as Sport, is conducting an off-the-record investigation. He’s after Danny O’Sullivan, a spy rumored to have assisted in the ambush of Sport’s former SEAL team. Danny claims he and Sport are on the same side, and the real traitor is the man Sport is working for. But Danny is a master manipulator. He’s also the most seductive man Sport has ever met. Sport can’t help being attracted to him, but that doesn’t mean he’s willing to trust him.

In his quest to bring down a few highly-placed traitors in the US government, Danny O’Sullivan has been keeping tabs on Sport. When Sport comes looking for him, Danny decides to bring Sport in on his secret mission and into his bed. Sport may not trust Danny, but he wants him. As the two men risk their lives to complete Danny’s mission, they discover neither is as strong as they like to pretend.

Buy Links:    Smashwords      Amazon     ARe      Barnes and Noble

 

 

Tour Dates: 7/28 – 8/1
UT BadgeTour Stops:

7/28: Prism Book Alliance, Because Two Men Are Better Than One, MM Good Book Reviews
7/29: My Fiction Nook, Amanda C. Stone, Parker Williams
7/30: The Novel Approach, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Emotion in Motion
7/31: The Blogger Girls, Smoocher’s Voice,
8/1: The Hat Party, Love Bytes, Velvet Panic
Rafflecopter Code:
Rafflecopter Prize: $20 ARe Gift Card

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Before you read Unexpected Trust, make sure you know where it all began: Check out Book 1 in the Unexpected series, Unexpected Rescue.

 

 

✍✍✍✍✍✍✍

Excerpt:

He closed the box and reached for another. Then he heard the whoosh of a door opening. No footsteps followed. Someone was trying to be silent. O’Sullivan? A security guard? It might be nothing more than a routine check, but his instincts told him he was about to be discovered. He flattened himself again the wall next to the shelves.

Several seconds of silence. The hall door opened and closed again. Sport started to put his gun away.

Suddenly, the office door swung open and Danny was there, aiming a Glock at his chest. Fuck. He hadn’t heard a thing.

Why hadn’t he waited to come back here? Based on what he’d seen of the security, he could have gotten in easily after hours. He could hear his instructor at Quantico berating him for his impatience. Mr. Invincible. Mr. I’m-Better-Than-Any-Fucking-Spook. Look where that got you.

“Hello there,” O’Sullivan said. “Waiting for me?”

The Irish lilt went straight to Sport’s cock. Damn the man. “Just leaving actually,” Sport said, pushing away from the wall.

Danny shook his head. “Not yet. Get rid of your gun and then we’re going to get to know each other better.”

Continue reading “Book Blast: Silvia Violet’s Unexpected Trust Book Tour/Contest” →

Bottoms Up? On Tour with the Designated Bottoms Anthology – Authors Katey Hawthorne, Kiernan Kelly, Sean Michael, Julia Talbot, BA Tortuga, KC Wells, and Shannon West! (contest)

✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍

DesignatedBottomsBanner300x250Blue-1

 

Top? Bottom?  Let’s find out more with the wonderful group of authors whose stories can be found in the new m/m anthology, Bottoms Up!  

To celebrate the release of Bottoms Up, Pride Promotions and the authors have brought along a $25 Amazon Gift Card to give to one lucky person.  To enter to win, visit HERE for the entry form and all the contest details.  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.   Contest information repeated at the end of the post.  Contest ends 8/6.

Book Name: Designated Bottoms
Author Name: Katey Hawthorne, Kiernan Kelly, Sean Michael, Julia Talbot, BA Tortuga, KC Wells, Shannon West

Author Bios:

Contributors:

BA Tortuga: Texan to the bone and an unrepentant Daddy’s Girl, BA Tortuga spends her days with her basset hounds, getting tattooed, texting her sisters, and eating Mexican food. When she’s not doing that, she’s writing. She spends her days off watching rodeo, knitting and surfing porn sites in the name of research. BA’s personal saviors include her wife, Julia Talbot, her best friend, Sean Michael, and coffee. Lots of coffee. Really good coffee.

Having written everything from fist-fighting rednecks to hard-core cowboys to werewolves, BA does her damnedest to tell the stories of her heart, which was raised in Northeast Texas, but has responded to the call of the high desert mountains. With books ranging from hard-hitting GLBT romance, to fiery menages, to the most traditional of love stories, BA refuses to be pigeon- holed by anyone but the voices in her head. Find her at http://www.batortuga.com

♦Katey Hawthorne is an avid reader and writer of superpowered romance, even though the only degree she holds is in the history of art. (Or, possibly, because the only degree she holds is in the history of art.) Originally from the Appalachian foothills of West Virginia, she currently lives in Ohio. In her spare time she enjoys comic books, B-movies, loud music, Epiphones, and Bushmills. Find Katey at http://www.kateyhawthorne.com/

♦Julia Talbot lives in the great Southwest, where there is hot and cold running rodeo, cowboys, and everything from meat and potatoes to the best Tex-Mex.

A full time author, Julia has been published by Torquere Press, Ellora’s Cave, and Changeling Press. She believes that everyone deserves a happy ending, so she writes about love without limits, where boys love boys, girls love girls, and boys and girls get together to get wild, especially when her crazy paranormal characters are involved. Find Julia at @juliatalbot on Twitter, or at her website  

♦Sean Michael: Often referred to as “Space Cowboy” and “Gangsta of Love” while still striving for the moniker of “Maurice,” Sean Michael spends his days surfing, smutting, organizing his immense gourd collection and fantasizing about one day retiring on a small secluded island peopled entirely by horseshoe crabs. While collecting vast amounts of vintage gay pulp novels and mood rings, Sean whiles away the hours between dropping the f-bomb and persuing the kama sutra by channeling the long lost spirit of John Wayne and singing along with the soundtrack to “Chicago.”

A long-time writer of complicated haiku, currently Sean is attempting to learn the advanced arts of plate spinning and soap carving sex toys.
Barring any of that? He’ll stick with writing his stories, thanks, and rubbing pretty bodies together to see if they spark.

Sean’s available for interviews, by the way. He can always be talked into, well talking about himself. Find Sean at http://www.seanmichaelwrites.com

♦Shannon West: Shannon West currently lives in the South with her husband and family. A lover and avid reader of M/M romances, she began writing them a few years ago and now has over forty short stories, novellas,and novels to her credit. Her series about wolf shifters, the Dark Hollows Series and the sci fi series, Love Slaves of the Alphas, produced sixteen bestsellers with four of them going to number one on the third party sites. She was a finalist in the Rainbow awards for 2013, a nominee for best sci fi series in the Love Romances Café and very honored to be named an All Romance ebooks top ten author for 2013. She writes BDSM and some ménage as well. She loves men and everything about them, and believes that love is love, no matter the gender. She mostly spends her days at the keyboard, trying to elude housework, which stalks her relentlessly.

Links:   Website     
Twitter: @shannonwest8
   Amazon Author Page  Facebook

♦Kiernan Kelly: Kiernan Kelly lives in the wilds of the alligator-infested U.S. Southeast, slathered in SPF 45, drinking colorful tropical, hi-octane concoctions served by thong-clad cabana boys.

All right, the truth is that she spends her time locked in the dark recesses of her office, writing gay erotic romance while chained to a temperamental laptop, drinking coffee, and dreaming of thong-clad cabana boys.

Sigh.

To date, Kiernan has over a dozen novels in print and ebook, and a plethora of short stories in both formats.

Links:   Website      Facebook  email: KiernanKelly@KiernanKelly.com

♦KC Wells: Born and raised in the north-west of England, K.C.Wells always loved writing. Words were important. Full stop. However, when childhood gave way to adulthood, the writing ceased, as life got in the way.

K.C. discovered erotic fiction in 2009, where the purchase of a ménage storyline led to the startling discovery that reading about men in love was damn hot. In 2012, arriving at a really low point in life led to the desperate need to do something creative. An even bigger discovery waited in the wings – writing about men in love was even hotter…

K.C. now writes full-time and is loving every minute of her new career.

The laptop still has no idea of what hit it… it only knows that it wants a rest, please. And it now has to get used to the idea that where K.C goes, it goes.

K.C. can be reached via email (k.c.wells@btinternet.com), on Facebook or through comments at the K.C. Wells website  K.C. loves to hear from readers.

designatedbottoms700How Bottoms Up Came To Be:

So, what happens when you get a bunch of m/m writers together on a panel at a steamy little convention called Authors After Dark in Savannah?

In this case, we all sat around with the readers who came to our panel and chattered and laughed like idiots, and we talked about what we liked to read and write. There was a lot of smutty puns, and it was all fun and games until someone uttered the fateful phrase, “Right, and every story has to have a designated bottom.”

The writer and editor in me both went, “ooooh”. And I said, “Hey, does anyone want in on an anthology for next year with this theme?”

Enough of the writers at that panel, and a few who weren’t, said yes, and Designated Bottoms was born. When I sent out the call, this is what I said.

You’ve heard about Designated Drivers? Well, what about a Designated Bottom? The theme is open to all m/m stories where one man is a designated bottom boy, Whether self-imposed or by the Dom/lover/alpha of the pack or simply (either true or not) by society. Feel free to play with burly bottoms who surprise the deceptively sweet top, or with the too-smart kid who’s the pushy bottom to end all bottoms. BDSM is fine, but not mandatory. A bottom may simply like to catch instead of pitch.

The stories I received delighted me. From a first-time cowboy and his new lover to a hardass Sergeant falling for a determined young soldier, from a hot gamer geek who doesn’t date to a sweet young thing on his first visit to a BDSM club, there’s something for everyone. There are princes and paupers, werekitties and strippers, and skinny twink-looking tops and big, gentle bottoms. They all left me fanning my hot cheeks and smiling at how the end result was two men in love, no matter how they got there.

The authors in Designated Bottoms have all reminded me why I fell in love with m/m as a genre damned near fifteen years ago, and of why I’m still writing, and publishing those stories today.

We’d like to dedicate this book to all the readers at Authors After Dark who thought this collection was a great idea, and to all the readers who keep us going every day by reading our books and letting us know they like them! I hope y’all love these stories as much as I do!

XXOO

Twitter: @torquere
Cover Artist: Anne Squires
Publisher: Torquere Press Inc
Buy Links:      Torquere Press        

Blurb:

Some men are bottoms by birth, others by choice. Whatever the reason, a designated bottom is someone who’s happy to surrender, to submit, or just catch instead of pitch!

In Czech Me Out, by BA Tortuga, Korde discovers what it’s like to fall for someone when food truck owner Josh takes on the cowboy virgin. Katey Hawthorne’s gamer grad student Paul doesn’t date. He keeps things strictly physical. So why is Sammy so important to him in The Mistell? Kitty shifter and stripper Aleks doesn’t mix business with pleasure, but he thinks Rafe might just be the master for him in Julia Talbot’s Faster Bobcat.

Sean Michael’s Peter isn’t sure about the club his friend takes him to, especially when Doms start hitting on him. Experienced Dom Rupert is happy to help, explaining about that Little Square of Cloth. In Sgt. Hardass, by Shannon West, recent ex-Army man Jake meets up with a man he has history with, and Chad isn’t sure he can explain himself and defuse Jake’s anger. In the Prince of Paupers by Kiernan Kelly, Prince Liam and longtime friend Deacon have to go back to Deacon’s Appalachian home, much to the prince’s dismay. And in Switching It Up by KC Wells, Jay knows he looks like a twink, but only hunky Dean understands that looks can be seriously deceptive.

Excerpt:

From Czech Me Out by BA Tortuga:

Josh had texted the fine cowboy as early as he felt comfortable doing it. He’d waited until nine. He figured it was gratifying that he got an immediate response.

“Noon?” he’d sent, and when he got an affirmative, he’d send his address. Then he set about making lunch.

He could tear that sweet body up, turn the Marlboro Man inside out and make Korde like it. He would soften the guy up with a few barbecue-filled potato skins… Barbecue, the redneck aphrodisiac.

Josh grinned. He’d swayed more than one hot little cowboy with his special sauce and some crispy potatoes. Of course, he’d never asked one to come to his house before, and certainly hadn’t gotten so interested so damned fast.

He’d never changed his sheets and made sure he was stocked with lube and rubbers, either. Not on a not-even-a-first-date. Lord. He was hopeful today, for sure.

Hopeful, horny and… oh, man, he needed an ‘h’ word…

The doorbell rang, saving him from having to be too creative. He told his cock to stay down for a bit and went to answer.

Frack and Frick were yapping their damn fool heads off, wagging and bouncing. Silly mutts. “Y’all get down.”

Josh opened the door a few inches. “You’re not afraid of dogs are you?”

“Not even a bit.” Korde leaned down and gave scritches, easy as pie.

Those two beagle-shepherd monstrosities went nuts, yodeling and wagging and begging.

 

 

DesignatedBottoms600x600BannerBlueTour Dates: 7/30/14

Tour Stops: Parker Williams, Cate Ashwood, MM Good Book Reviews, Decadent Delights, Wake Up Your Wild Side, Prism Book Alliance, Regular Guys, Hot Romance, Full Moon Dreaming, The Hat Party, Fallen Angel Reviews, Amanda C. Stone, Rainbow Gold Reviews, Love Bytes, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Havan Fellows, Jade Crystal, Wicked Wolves and Dreaming Dragons, Iyana Jenna

 

Contest:  $25 Amazon Gift Card.  Enter to win below:

Rafflecopter Code:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Home the Hard Way by Z.A. Maxfield Book Tour and Contest

✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍

HomeTheHardWay_TourBanner

 

Z.A. Maxfield has stopped by today on her Home The Hard Way Book Tour.  She’s brought a contest to help celebrate its release that you won’t want to miss out on!  Welcome, Z.A.!

 

Hello and thanks to Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words for letting me be here today!

I’m Z.A. Maxfield, coming at you from lovely sunny southern California where I’m blogging about my latest release,  Home The Hard Way.

***
I’m doing a giveaway and there are a couple different ways to win! At each tour stop, one lucky winner will get to choose any book from my backlist, so if you’re new to Z.A. Maxfield, this is a great way to find out if you want to dive in! At the end of the tour, I’ll be giving away a Riptide gift certificate, so you’re going to want to follow along the whole blog tour  for your best chance at a prize!

HomeTheHardWay_500x750Here’s the blurb for Home the Hard Way:

Dare Buckley has come home—or at least, he’s come back to Palladian, the small town he left as a teenager. After a major lapse in judgment forced him to resign from the Seattle PD, Palladian is the only place that’ll hire him. There’s one benefit to hitting rock bottom, though: the chance to investigate the mystery of his father’s suicide.

Dare also gets to reacquaint himself with Finn Fowler, whose childhood hero worship ended in uncomfortable silence when Dare moved away. But Finn isn’t the same little kid Dare once protected. He’s grown into an attractive, enigmatic stranger who neither wants nor needs what Dare has to offer.

In fact, Dare soon realizes that Finn’s keeping secrets—his own and the town’s. And he doesn’t seem to care that Dare needs answers. The atmosphere in Palladian, like its namesake river, appears placid, but dark currents churn underneath. When danger closes in, Dare must pit his ingenuity against his heart, and find his way home the hard way.

Read more about Home The Hard Way here!
Contest:  There’s two ways to win today! Comment below for a chance to win an ebook from my backlist AND you can also…

Enter the Giveaway!  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the Author – Z. A. Maxfield started writing in 2007 on a dare from her children and never looked back. Pathologically disorganized, and perennially optimistic, she writes as much as she can, reads as much as she dares, and enjoys her time with family and friends. Three things reverberate throughout all her stories: Unconditional love, redemption, and the belief that miracles happen when we least expect them.

If anyone asks her how a wife and mother of four can find time for a writing career, she’ll answer, “It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you give up housework.”

Readers can visit ZAM at her

It’s Release Day for Down the Other Street! Let’s Celebrate with Jennifer Cie on Tour (contest)

✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍

JCBanner300x250G

 

 

It’s Release for Down on the Other Street

by Jennifer Cie!

Let’s Celebrate!

✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍

Book Name: Down On The Other Street

Author Name: Jennifer Cie

Author Bio:

Jennifer Cie is a Tennessee native who loves taking aimless road trips, taste testing whiskey and low grade tequila—for science, and writing about social issues in everyday life. Self-proclaimed writer of “two cups of morning coffee” length books, Cie is the author of the fictional work Memphis Rain, creative non-fiction memoir Burn It, and the upcoming collection of short stories entitled Down On The Other Street.
When she is not getting lost driving across state lines, you can find her rambling about book formatting, poor life decisions, and everything in between on her blog: http://www.journeytopaperback.com.

Author Links:

Blog
Twitter: @JenniferCie1
JC600x600BannerGCover Artist: Najla Qambers
Publisher: Self-published
Blurb:

Long winded, unemployed, and timid, on the first date Brendan Bloom is already in love. Comfortably arched over his body, Ryan contemplates murder. Cold, necklace gleaming against the pale tint of her collarbone, the passenger could have mercy. Not a little black book, but a faded love letter out from under the sheets. Some romances ignite on sight, others flare at the base of waterless tubs soaked in agitation. Rooted in the South, this collection of short stories delivers five electric confessions of love, sexuality, and identity across time

 

Buy Links:    Paperback priced at $5.75 at:  Amazon      Createspace

Ebook ( priced at $0.99) available via: Amazon  Barnes & Noble( Nook)  

 

✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍

Down on the Other Street Excerpt:

““You’re not asking someone studied—you know? I guess the rough kind of good. Like when you floss your teeth till your gums bleed. Hurts a bit, but the taste and feel are good to you.”

My first “real” talk came from you in 1992. I was fourteen sitting on the edge of my father’s leather recliner watching you cut the edges off a peanut butter sandwich. You didn’t have any tattoos back then. You had on this red sweater with blue stripes swishing through it. That pesky string of acne was still running down your right cheek when you offered me half of the sandwich.

“Anna. Why do you want to know about sex—from me?”

I wanted to tell you that the walls in my house had grown thin. Even with the stretches of screeching cars passing by and gargled whispers from the Mississippi River outside, I could hear everything tiptoeing inside. The high pitched turned guttural shrieks the women in my brother’s magazines evoked. The sound of the calluses on his hands attacking flesh like rubberized sandpaper; then, the wheezing attack followed by a hushed “guuu-ah” and tissues sopping up warm ooze. The late-night lullaby to my summers had changed, and I wanted to know the words.” –Excerpt from Intellectuals Are Fools

JCBadgeGTour Date: 7/29/14

Tour Stops: Parker Williams, Cate Ashwood, Smoocher’s Voice, Emotion in Motion, Prism Book Alliance, MM Good Book Reviews, Havan Fellows, My Fiction Nook, LeAnn’s Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Rants, and Raves, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Kimi-Chan, Iyana Jenna, Michael Mandrake, Love Bytes, Velvet Panic

Contest: Rafflecopter Prize: E-copy of the book. Must be 18 years of age or older to enter. Use the Rafflecopter link below to enter and for more contest details.

Rafflecopter Code: a Rafflecopter giveaway

August is Here and the Week’s Schedule at ScatteredThoughts!

✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍

Upcoming Reviews

HomeTheHardWay_500x750Unexpected Trust coverLoving LukiHard as Stone Final

✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍

Where did the summer go?  August is arriving this week so thoughts of Fall is trailing in its wake.   I have seen ads for Back to School already, and even (hides my eyes) a few for Christmas.  Really, people?  Christmas?  Sigh.  I am still working on my gardens and the work progresses with the weather.   Like the tides, the work and I flow in and then out.  Cool weather?  Then I can work outside and still breath.  Hot and humid? The typical Washington,  oh right we are surrounded by water and were built on a swamp, DC summer?  Well, that sees me inside, knitting,reading, writing, and grateful for air-conditioning.

Surprisingly, this summer has been pretty good, better than good, so far.  Yesterday barely made it into 80 degrees.  It was lovely and appreciated by all here, including the terriers.  Today humid and 90’s.  Tomorrow more of the same and then down again.  A rollercoaster approach that I will take over weeks of constant 90 degree heat or higher.

It’s also been a wonderful summer so far for books.  New authors, old favorites,  and a new perspective on authors whose new stories I have really liked.  The Pulp Friction 2014 series, Elemental Connections, is off the charts in terms of great plots and even better characters.  I have been reading lots of  books with Fae in the plots, and guess what?  All terrific!  Angel Martinez’ Semper Fae?  Unbelievable!   Rory Ni Coiliean’s SoulShares has me hooked too! On the contemporary side, Lou Sylvre’s Vasquez and James?  Love, love, love them.   Shira Anthony has a new Blue Notes story coming out, Dissonance!   I have two in line from TJ Klune waiting to be read.  I will need more boxes of tissues for those I am sure.  What a happy reader I am these days!

♦If you have noticed, I have started to display current and future book tours to the right hand side of the page.  You can click on those and it will take you to the  entry forms associated with those tours!  Also I have joined the ranks of the Amazon,All Romance Affiliates and Totally Bound Affiliates, so if you buy it through the links at the bottom of each post, it will help support ScatteredThoughtsandRogueWords and my efforts to continue to upgrade this website.

♦Now, one last thing.  I have been thinking about this for some time and have decided that I need to add another reviewer to help me cover more books coming out and the review requests I am receiving.  I have a standard format and requirements.  If you are interested, contact me at melaniem54@msn.com and we can talk!

Now on to the week ahead at ScatteredThoughtsandRogueWords:

Monday, July 28:

  • Review: Hard as Stone by Rory Ni Coileain

Tuesday, July 29:

  • Riptide’s and Z.A. Maxfield’s Home the Hard Way Book Tour/Contest
  • Book Blast:  Jennifer Cie’s Down the Other Street Book Tour/Contest
  • Review:  Home the Hard Way by Z.A. Maxfield

Wednesday, July 30:

  • Book Blast Book Tour:  Silvia Violet’s Unexpected Trust
  • Review:  Unexpected Trust by Silvia Violet

Thursday, July 31:

  • Virtual Book Tour: That You Are Here by Meredith Allard
  • July Summary of Reviews and Best Covers of the Month

Friday, August 1:

  • Review:  Hero by Heidi Cullinan
  • Review: Gale Force by Rory Ni Coileain

Saturday, August 2:

  • Ink and Flowers by J.K. Pendragon (removed)
  • The Choosing by Annabelle Jacobs

 

Now stay cool, everyone.  Hope you are enjoying your weekend.  Here’s a summer cocktail to try out!

Cucumber Lemonade Mocktail. A111206 Food & Wine March 2012Cucumber Lemonade Mocktail (no alcohol)

Ingredients:
1 paper-thin, lengthwise slice of European cucumber, for garnish
Ice
1/4 teaspoon finely chopped dill, plus 1 dill sprig, for garnish
1 tablespoon agave syrup
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 cup fresh cucumber juice (see Note)
1/4 cup chilled club soda

Directions:

Press the cucumber slice against the inside of a chilled highball glass and add ice. In a cocktail shaker, muddle the chopped dill, agave syrup, lemon and lime juices and 1 tablespoon of water until the syrup is dissolved. Add ice, then add the cucumber juice and shake well. Strain into the prepared glass and stir in the club soda. Garnish with the dill sprig.
NOTES Cucumber juice is available at juice counters. You can also make it by pureeing peeled cucumber chunks in a blender and then straining the puree through a fine sieve. One large cucumber yields about 3/4 cup of strained juice.

Take a Closer Look: L.A. Somerton’s Picturing Lysander Book Tour/Contest!

✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍

WHP_LM Somerton_Book Tour_final banner

 

L.M Somerton has a new story out!  It’s Picturing Lysander, one of Totally Bound’s new What’s His Passion? Imprint line.  To help celebrate its launch, Totally Bound and L.M. Somerton have brought a terrific contest to enter, a few musings from the author about the story and book details below.  Happy Reading and Good luck on the contest!

 

Contest:   To celebrate the launch of What’s his Passion? Totally Bound Publishing are giving away a bundle of great prizes. Enter HERE for your chance to win.  Must be 18 years of age to enter.  Contest open world wide.

Testing Limits by L.M. Somerton

The strapline for Picturing Lysander is “Photography, like love, should have no limits.” This is really a combination of the philosophies of the two main characters. Lysander Brock treats photography like an extreme sport. His profession is an adventure fuelled by passion. Kyle Dawson is a dominant and he wants to push Brock to a different kind of limit.

It was interesting to explore the connection between characters that in some ways are very similar – they both thrive on adventure and can’t resist a challenge; they both initially have doubts about whether a relationship would work for them. Physical attraction is not in question. It’s the psychological dilemma that makes the dynamics between them interesting. Brock is submissive but has great strength of character. Kyle is dominant but cautious of Brock’s indecision. I wanted to draw a parallel between the dangerous mission they face and the risks they accept by being together.

Of course, you’ll have to read the full novel next year to find out if either side of the story has a HEA!

picturinglysander_800Blurb for Picturing Lysander:

Photography, like love, should have no limits.

Lysander Brock is a talented photographer and capturing the perfect picture is his passion. His work takes him all over the world and he is famous for his willingness to take risks for the perfect image.

Kyle Dawson is tasked by his mysterious employer to obtain Brock’s services for a dangerous job and he’s prepared to use any method to ensure that the young photographer does as he’s told. Breaking and entering and blackmail are just tools of his trade.

Despite the circumstances, the spark of attraction between Brock and Kyle is strong. Brock’s addiction to adrenaline-fuelled adventure holds him captive, just as much as Kyle’s brooding dominant appeal. As a fragile trust builds between them, Kyle takes a gamble and tells Brock the truth about his mission. Can Brock accept the challenges ahead—as a photographer and as a man?

 

✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍

Buy Picturing Lysander here!
Author Bio:
Lucinda 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.

Author link at Totally Bound.

Totally Bound Logo