Category: Publishers

Check Out Mythologically Torqued, Volume 1 (anthology) (giveaway)

Mythologically Torqued, Volume 1 (anthology)
Published by Torquere Books

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Release Date: May 13, 2015

 

Author Names: Leigh Ellwood, L.J. Hamlin, Eva Lefoy, V.L. Locey, Jacey Mills, Alisha Monroe, Shiloh Sadler, Alyx Shaw, Delilah Storm, T. Strange, Carol Tierney, Angelique Voison, Max Wilde, Salome Wilde, Logan Zachary

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Love a legend, or myth or more?  Check out this latest anthology from Torquere Books.  It’s huge and has something for everyone.

Blurb(s):

Torquere’s largest anthology to date features a total of 15 authors please to bring you 15 unique tales from when gods and goddesses ruled the world. This collection features both m/m and f/f content for your reading pleasure. Dare you enter this realm of Mythologically Torqued fantasy? Be on the lookout for Volume 2 summer 2015.

Mythologies from around the globe receive a happy little twist in this first volume of Mythologically Torqued. A Scottish kelpie, Greek gods and goddesses, a Japanese princess, and demons delight and intrigue in these stories, each containing LGBT elements.

OR…

Whether it’s Greco-Roman gods and goddesses or heroes from tales around the globe, Mythologically Torqued, volume 1 brings together not-so-classic lovers with a Torquere twist.

OR…

  • Eros finds his soul mate in the arms of a demigod friend in L.J. Hamlin’s In Love with Zeus’ Son.
  • In Shiloh Sadler’s Clipped Wings, two men on a plantation find love under the most unusual circumstances in 1842 Missouri.
  • V.L. Locey’s Back to the Garden, Pan hits up Woodstock with the sun god Apollo—sex, drugs, and rock and roll take on a whole new meaning.
  • In Brísingamen, Carol Tierney offers us the story of a magical necklace, and the payment goddess Freyja delivered to four dwarven sisters for it’s creation.
  • Delphinos, by T. Strange, is a modern-age retelling of Dionysus’ creation of dolphins.
  • In Angelique Voison’s version of the Japanese Moon Princess myth, Reiko is tasked with bringing the Emperor’s future bride, the fabled Moon Princess to court, and complications arise when Reiko falls head over heels for Kaguya.
  • Charged with ensuring Sisyphus fails, Hercules is conflicted by his feelings for the former ruler in Angelique Voison’s How Hercules Got His Bruise.
  • In Leah Ellwood’s Styx and Stone, Ferrying souls across the Styx is a lonely business, but Charon doesn’t mind—newly arrived Stone is more than willing to keep him company.
  • No one believes in the Greek gods anymore, and Apollo is in a rut, Ganymede—cupbearer to the gods— tries to get Apollo to see what’s in front of him in Jacey Mills’ Another Night at the End of the World.
  • Salome Wilde’s Eternal Grind offers a corporate take on Christian Hell, populated with horned and hoofed demons inspired by medieval monks’ fertile imaginations, which follows a pair of lesbian demon baristas, determined to find their own happily-ever-after.
  • In the distant past, Ero was the god of desire, but in present day, he looks for love with Psy—a peerlessly gorgeous mortal man—and needs to keep a secret, in Alisha Monroe’s The Myth of Ero and Psy.
  • Bound by chains and defenseless, Thor is being held captive by Garrick, a young man also forced to service until demands are met in Logan Zachary’s Bound by Desire. Together, attraction ignites between Thor and Garrick—can love grow if it is bound by desire?
  • In Delilah Storm’s The Golden Balls, true love’s kiss is powerful, and Jasper’s sexuality awakens—will Anur be able to keep Jasper in this sleepy little kingdom?
  • A spurned lover, mythical horse, and a public official walk into a pub—murder, mayhem, and everlasting love result in Alyx Shaw’s The Kelpie.

Pages or Words: 106,600 words

Categories: Alternate universe, BDSM, Bisexual, Contemporary, Erotica, Fantasy, Fiction, Gay Fiction, Historical, Humor, Lesbian Romance, M/M Romance, Menage/Poly, Paranormal, Romance, *Trans

*****Please remember: As an anthology, not all stories will use all categories*****

 

Publisher: Torquere Press
Cover Artist: BSClay

Sales Links:  Torquere Books

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Tour Dates & Stops: May 6, 2015
Parker Williams, Elisa – My Reviews and Ramblings, Inked Rainbow Reads, BFD Book Blog, The Hat Party, Dawn’s Reading Nook, Andrew Q. Gordon, MM Good Book Reviews, Bayou Book Junkie, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, Molly Lolly, Mikky’s World of Books, Full Moon Dreaming, Carly’s Book Reviews, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Divine Magazine, Wake Up Your Wild Side, Velvet Panic, Michael Mandrake

Contest:

Contest:  Enter to a Rafflecopter Prize: E-copy of ‘Mythologically Torqued’.  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.  Link and prizes provided by Torquere and Pride Promotions.
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Its all Butts and Cowboys with Kiernan Kelley and Butt Riders on the Range (guest post and giveaway)

 

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Butt Riders On the Range is Here! Cowboys and lots of butts on the Butte! Don’t Miss out on Kiernan Kelly’s guest post “So Many Butts, So LIttle Time”. Check out the blurb and excerpt and don’t forget to enter to contest as well.cowboy hat and boots blkwhite

So Many Butts, So Little Time by Kiernan Kelly

One night long ago in a land far, far away — or it may have been last May in a Marriott hotel on the outskirts of Atlanta — eight authors sat at a table surrounded by rapidly deflating ninja themed balloons, plastic katana blades, oddly penis-shaped nunchucks, and fistfuls of throwing-star erasers, and decided two books did not a series make.

We were at OutlantaCon, the official birthplace of the Butthology books, where we — Kage Alan, T.c. Blue, Eden Winters, Ally Blue, Shae Connor, J.P. Barnaby, Jevocas Green, and myself — had just finished celebrating the release of Butt Ninjas From Hell.

It was the second book we’d written in what we hoped would be a series. The first, Butt Pirates in Space, was science fiction, and had released May 2013. Butt Ninjas from Hell was paranormal-themed. Both, of course, had a healthy helping of humor thrown in with a side of hot gay sex.

We sat there staring at one another, wondering what to do next. As butt book writers, we needed to feed our addiction. We couldn’t go too long with a fix. What to do, what to do?

The answer was obvious. Write more butts, of course.

We decided to author two more anthologies for the following year. The first was a holiday fantasy issue titled “Butt Babes in Boyland,” which released in time for the 2014 holidays, and the second, due out May 2015, we titled “Butt Riders on the Range.”

It’s a western-themed book, just in case you haven’t guessed, or skipped the first four paragraphs of this blog because your boss/kids/significant other/grandmother kept wandering close enough to read the screen.

What all this goes to prove is simply that there is no genre so sacred we will not Butt-ify it. My story for this go-round is titled, “Squatting with Spurs On.” It’s a fantasy-western crossover involving time travel and ghosts.

Writing a western time-travel gay romance involving a ghost wasn’t as difficult as you’d think. There was really only one thing that stymied me. It’s the same thing that trips me up every time I write a historical set in the old west.

The thing is, I find it decidedly difficult to write a sex scene set in that time period, not because of featherbeds, or condoms made from some sort of sheep intestine, or even the fact that homosexual relations in the time period were often a hanging offense.

It’s the lack of running water that throws me every damn time.

Picture this: Wyoming, 1880. There’s a ranch nestled in a beautiful green valley somewhere in the shadow of the Grand Tetons. Cattle graze placidly on the pastureland, while cowboys in checkered shirts and beaver-fur hats gather around a campfire for a dinner of beans and a night of manly camaraderie and farting.

Two men, let’s call them Zane and Louis, have remained alone back at the ranch house because I said so. There’s a chill in the night air, prompting Zane to kindle a fire in the parlor’s lovely fieldstone fireplace. He takes a seat on the floor, and stares at the flames because it’s the late 1880’s and Monday Night Football hasn’t been invented yet.

Louis, meanwhile, busies himself in the kitchen. He returns and takes a seat on the floor next to Zane, handing over a mug of fresh-brewed coffee.

Zane sniffs, it, and raises an eyebrow, probably because Louis is nothing if not predictable.

More than he dislikes being cold, Louis really, really wants to get laid, and he knows the quickest way to get Zane naked is to pour one or seven shots of rotgut whiskey down Zane’s throat.

Zane doesn’t seem inclined to complain. He drinks the contents in one long, burning gulp, and holds the cup out to Louis with a questioning look in his eyes.

Louis happily refills Zane’s mug. One down, six to go. After the third refill, he no longer makes the pretense of adding coffee to the cup.

The fire, firmly established, crackles musically, and casts dancing shadows across their faces. It’s getting very warm in the room. Too warm for a shirt. Too warm for boots. Or pants for that matter.

With less trouble than you might think, Louis convinces Zane that a dollop of lard smeared on his asshole would certainly cool down the rest of his body.

Having drunk seven or fifteen cups of Louis’s “coffee,” Zane thinks it’s a fine idea. He manages to raise himself onto his elbows and knees to make the cooling process easier for Louis.

Louis, faced with Zane’s bare butt and tight little hole, wasn’t feeling too cool, himself. In fact, his body was burning hotter than the chili Cook dished up on the last cattle drive. He was almost surprised the lard didn’t melt and sizzle when he slicked himself with it.

For his part, Zane was only slightly confused when he felt Louis’s dick slide inside him. He realized that, instead of cooling him down, parts of him were getting warmer. And harder.

It didn’t take long for both men to reach critical mass, each one howling as his orgasm ripped through him. In the process of coming, they made one helluva mess. Seems it’d been a while for both of them, and they’d been storing up their boy batter like Cook put up canned jars of homemade baked beans for winter. It coated their hands, Zane’s back, both their dicks, Louis’s stomach, the floor, and even dotted poor old Champ, Zane’s one-eyed, three-legged hound, who’d had the misfortune to pick the wrong time to wander closer to the fire.

All of which brings me to my problem:

Somebody has to go pump some damn water so they can clean up.

It’s not like Zane or Louis can run into the bathroom and rinse off. The “bathroom” is a wooden, coffin-sized shed set several yards behind the house, that’s probably home to a family of rattlesnakes, several species of poisonous spiders, a stink too powerful even to contemplate, and has no freaking water anyway.

No, if they want to wash that spunk off before anyone comes back and finds them, well…white-handed, somebody needs to go prime the kitchen pump. Unless Louis had the forethought to pour some of the water he’d earlier pumped for coffee into a washbasin for later, that is, which, of course, he hadn’t.

Sadly, Louis isn’t that smart. Handsome, muscled, and extremely well endowed, but about as clever as a stump.

Anyway, I suppose they could simply wipe all that ejaculate off on a towel, or on Zane’s shirt (although he hates when Louis does that – makes the shirt all stiff and scratchy), but they’re still going to be freaking sticky, not to mention smell like a mattress from Miss Bluebell’s Cathouse over in Jackson.

Do you see my problem?

The answer I came up with was to make my characters sixty-nine and swallow, or have sex out-of-doors, preferably near a stream or water trough, or make them smart enough to pump water ahead of time.

Still, it’s not easy. So why do I did I agree to do it?

Mostly, because I truly believe that sometimes, as writers, we take ourselves too damn seriously. We need the chance to let loose, to lighten up, to stretch our creative muscles, and the Butthology books give me that opportunity. I know I can speak for the rest of our group when I say we enjoy writing these stories. They’re freeing, and give us a chance to flex our writing muscles in a way our usual stories don’t. They let ignore most of the rules published stories are usually held to, and fly free.

In other words, they let us laugh at ourselves.

And besides, really, are there ever enough butts in romance?

Nope. Didn’t think so.

About Kiernan Kelly…

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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 thirteen novels, two YA novels under her Dakota Chase pseudonym, a plethora of shorter works in print and ebook, and still no cabana boy of her own, although her husband may beg to differ.

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Butt Riders On The Range

Authors:  Kage Alan, JP Barnaby, Ally Blue, TC Blue, Shae Connor , Jevocas Green,Kiernan Kelly , Eden Winters 

PUBLISHER: Wilde City Press
RELEASE DATE: April 29, 2015

About Butt Riders on the Range Anthology…

Do you imagine blazing gun battles, bandits, and saloons with watered-down drinks when you think of cowboys and the West? We don’t. Our minds go right to horse shifters, bull shifters, were-leopards, urban wannabes, an interrupted journey along Route 66, a man of mystery named Dr. Feel-Good, and high noon at the edge of the galaxy! The fourth time’s the charm as the Butt-Thology authors saddle up, ride their men hard, and put ‘em away wet.

Butt Riders on the Range…the bulls aren’t the only ones being grabbed by the horns!
Book Links: Wilde City Press

Book Details:

ebook
Published April 29th 2015 by Wilde City Press
edition languageEnglish

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

One ebook copy of any of the previous Butt-Thologies.  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter. Link and prizes provided by the authors and Indigo Marketing and Design.  

Contest Begins: April 29, 2015
Contest Ends: May 10, 2015

Rafflecopter Code:
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A MelanieM Review: Baby’s On Fire by A. F. Henley

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Babys on Fire CoverIn 1974 Gerry Faun gets the break of his life—an opportunity to meet gorgeous, openly bisexual, glam-rock idol Mark Devon. Mark’s world is new, exciting, and Gerry finally gets to explore the side of his sexuality that he’s kept hidden. But the press is everywhere, and when Gerry’s father gets wind of what’s going on behind his back, Gerry ends up on the street. Mark offers to let Gerry come along with the tour and Gerry jumps at the chance. The tour is a never-ending party—and the start of what seems to be a perfect relationship for him and Mark. Until Mark’s manager decides Gerry isn’t worth the trouble he’s stirring up.

In 1994 Gerry is finally coming out of some tough times—he has a job that pays the bills, a car that hasn’t quite broken down, and a small rental in Jersey City. After a decade of barely getting by, if life was as good as it was going to get, Gerry figures he’ll manage just fine. It would be easier if he wasn’t still haunted by the man the media won’t let him forget, the man who stole his heart and then broke it… the man that’s shown up pleading for a second chance

In Baby’s On Fire by A. F. Henley, the author charts the rocky, troubled path to love for a rock ‘n roll singer and the young man who fell in love with him.  It’s a journey that swings back and forth between eras, the swinging drug-filled raucous years that were the 70’s and then forward to the 90’s, the present time frame for Gerry and Mark.

I have always admired Henley’s ability to capture the mood and character of each era she has chosen to write about, even if sometimes it is embodied only by a car (“Roadtrip“). In Baby’s On Fire, Henley tackles the 70’s, an era of contradictions and overindulgence.  It was the end of the innocence and hope of the 60’s while still continued that decade’s trajectory of drug use and music that pushed known boundaries.  There was soft rock, Hard Rock, Glam Rock which was also called Glitter Rock, personified by glam rocker Gary Glitter who sang Rock and Roll on his album “Glitter“, David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust  (how I still love him) and so many others.  It  was the time of Studio 54 and the out of control New York club life that so many stars and singers got caught up in. Excess thy name is the 70’s!  And its all here inside the page of this often heartbreaking story.

Appropriately enough, the story begins in October 1994 and we’re dumped into the present reality of Gerry Faun.  He’s middle aged, and life hasn’t exactly been very kind to him.  In fact, its been a very real struggle to make ends meet.  He’s alone but finally has a job that will pay his bills and that he is good at.  But all it takes is a song on the radio to turn back time….for Gerry and the reader.

Ever  had a crush on a singer when you were a preteen or teenager?  Remember those times of utter devotion and yes, a little obsession?  Even if you don’t, all you have to do is look at (insert name of any boy band or Justin Bieber) and fans to get an idea. Its along those lines that this story takes hold, when Gerry Faun is taking his sister and friends to a concert by Maxx Starlight and his band.  It’s June 1974, and everyone is giddy over the fact that they will be seeing Maxx in person and listening to him sing.  Especially young Gerry who’s trying to be the cool older brother while being even more ridiculously excited than his younger sis.  Gerry is aware that he is gay but keeping it a secret, a smart move when his conservative father is already calling the rock ‘n roll star slurs (“f…..t”) as the small group walks out the door into a night that will  permanently change them all.

In a scene charged with energy and a drug/alcohol induced wildness, Gerry ends up backstage and meets his idol, Maxx Starlight aka Mark Devon and the dance between them begins as the narrative starts to switch back and forth between the turbulent excesses and confusion that is the life Mark and Gerry live in the 70’s to the discontent and emptiness of Gerry’s life in the 90’s.  I thought Henley’s authentic, “spot on” descriptions of a popular rocker’s lifestyle works at every level.  It’s too bright, too over the top, too much of everything from sex ‘n drugs “living on the edge” as well as the mindless adoration of hundreds of thousands of fans.  And we get to see and feel its impact on the jaded Mark/Maxx and the innocent Gerry, whose Bambi like nature gives him the nickname “The Faun”.

A dramatic scene from Gerry’s youth brings on a change in decade and we move forward to the man he’s become…unhappy, alone and forever caught in the past, no matter how much he denies it.  He’s stored his youth and his ability to love in with all his keepsakes in a box in the back of his closet, likewise his memories and emotions have been shunted to the back of his mind, not to be taken out and examined too carefully.  What happens to break up this stalemate is the arrival of Mark, back after over 20 years absence with the intent of getting back together with Gerry.

The return of Mark brings the 90’s section of the story and Gerry to life.  The 90’s narrative has been one of a certain grayness and enervation.   With the return of Mark, it’s the anger, pain, and emotion that comes roaring back to life in Gerry that starts to be a match for all the action, decadence, overindulgence, and high emotion of the 70’s scenes and events.  That anger, pain, and rage  propels Gerry into action making the connection between the readers and the storyline snap firmly in place for the duration of the story.

I thought Henley’s characterizations worked extremely well,  no matter what time frame they happened to be in at the moment.  Young Gerry aka the Faun’s very youth and actions ooze innocence and new passion, and its that unformed outlook on life that get’s schooled in the most raw, blinding manner possible by the man he loves.  Mark aka Maxx’s character works well as the over indulged rockstar losing himself to the persona he and the manager have created.  The 70’s characterization of Mark works so believably because we see so much of him and his actions through the relationship dynamics with Gerry and the “support/hangers on” that surround them.

Unfortunately, when Mark disappears from Gerry’s story, his lack of presence for most of the 90’s section reduces our knowledge of the older Mark to the detriment of the novel.  We are “told” what happened to him, and that manner of narrative distances the reader from Mark as well as reduces our connection to him and his reunion with Gerry.  To make the love between Mark and Gerry sing with all the vibrancy and passion of their youth, the readers needs more of the grownup Mark and his journey towards adulthood and responsibility for himself and his actions.   We get that with Gerry and for balance  and to make this story feel whole, we needed it for Mark as well.  Telling is never any substitute for “doing” or action and that is demonstrated in Baby’s On Fire.

That issue aside, I thought Baby’s On Fire by A.F. Henley a wonderful story and one I recommend.  The emotional journey to love and a HEA for Gerry and Mark brought back to life an era I lived through, sent me running back to pull up Youtube vids of Ziggy Stardust, glitter, and a sexy rock god in all his glory as well as all the fallout and maturation needed to make it through to the 90’s for so many.

Love a rock’n’roll love story?  Need a little more glitter and glam in your life to go along with the romance?  Pick up Baby’s On Fire by AF Henley and make this lovely indulgence your own.

Cover art by Raphael works but yes, I wanted a little more glitter.  Go here for images of David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust.

Sales Links:      Less Than Three Press      All Romance (ARe)     Amazon     Buy It Here

Book Details:

ebook
Expected publication: May 6th 2015 by Less Than Three Press
original titleBaby’s on Fire
ISBN139781620045398
edition languageEnglish

 

On Tour with Angela Beneditti’s Bits of Magic (excerpt and giveaway)

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Bits of Magic by Angela Benedetti
Release Date: May 6, 2015

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Sales Links: Torquere Press

About Bits of Magic

There’s magic in the world, and its hiding in plain sight. Your friends, your neighbors, the guy who runs your favorite restaurant — any of them could be more than they seem. A man trick-or-treating with his son finds the courage to go after what he wants when he confiscates and eats some unwrapped candy. A park ranger who’s afraid of outing himself in public is reminded that his lover will — and can — protect him, no matter what. An apprentice mage learns that his master never forgets when he has a lesson to finish, and will always come for him when he gets himself lost in magic. And a boy from a mage-gifted family learns that life isn’t over just because the gift has passed him by. Return to the world of Hidden Magic.
Pages or Words: About 27,000 words

Categories: Alternate universe, BDSM, Contemporary, Erotica, Fantasy, Fiction, Gay Fiction, Humor, M/M Romance, Paranormal, Romance, Urban Fantasy

(Note from the author: Note that this is a collection of short stories. All the stories take place in the same fictional universe, but they have different themes and devices. Only one story has BDSM elements, for example. And only one is erotica. One is romantic but has no sex that’s meant to be titillating.)

Goodreads Link 
Publisher: Torquere Press
Cover Artist: BS Clay

Final

Excerpt:

Sebastiano Fiorentelli studied the calendar — a freebie from the Humane Society with photos of puppies and kittens on it — on the wall of his cluttered basement laboratory and observed that it was the thirtieth day of October. Since emigrating to the United States and discovering the Halloween custom of sending children around to beg for treats, he’d made a habit of including something extra in the candy he made for the occasion each year. By the Nineteen-seventies, when hysteria over poison and razor blades swept the population, Mr. Fiorentelli had been living in his San Jose neighborhood long enough that no one fussed about letting their children eat his wax-paper-wrapped candies.

He paced back and forth in front of open cabinets and crowded shelves, pondering what to make this year, until finally he stopped and nodded.

“Courage,” he said. “This year, I think I’ll make courage…”

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About the author:

Angela Benedetti lives in Seattle with her husband, five computers, and thousands of books. She started writing as a teenager, and discovered soon after that romances with two hot guys are twice as good as romances with only one. When she’s not at the computer, she enjoys cooking and baking, going to science fiction conventions, and cruising with her husband. She’s one of the few people in the universe who loses weight on cruises. (Must be all those walking-around shore tours and the lack of free internet access.) Her favorite mainstream fiction genres are science fiction and fantasy, both of which tend to seep into her own writing; the Hidden Magic series is a fun blend of romance and fantasy.
Where to find the author:

Blog: http://www.angiebenedetti.com/blog/
Livejournal: http://angelabenedetti.livejournal.com/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/100361343167913966179/about

Tour Dates & Stops: May 4, 2015

Parker Williams, Havan Fellows, Inked Rainbow Reads, BFD Book Blog, My Fiction Nook, Full Moon Dreaming, Molly Lolly, Carly’s Book Reviews, Velvet Panic, Bayou Book Junkie, Cate Ashwood, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, Multitasking Mommas, MM Good Book Reviews, Divine Magazine, Elisa – My Reviews and Ramblings, Mikky’s World of Books, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents, Kimi-Chan, Vampires, Werewolves, and Fairies, Oh My

Contest: Must be 18 years of age or older to enter. Link and prizes provided by the author and Pride Promotions.

Rafflecopter Prize: An e-copy of the novel that started the series, A Hidden Magic.

Rafflecopter Code:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

It’s Here! Sacrati by Kate Sherwood! (Release Day Giveaway)

Sacrati by Kate Sherwood
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Published by Riptide Publishing
Release Date: Monday, May 4th, 2015

Today is release day for Kate Sherwood’s Sacrati!  The tour begins here, follow the tour for all the interviews and prizes along the way.  All the giveaway information is given at the end of this post, and don’t forget to include an email address where you can be reached!

About Sacrati…

As an elite Sacrati fighter in the mighty Torian military, Theos is blessed with a city full of women who want to bear his children, and a barracks full of men proud to fight at his side and share his bed. He has everything he needs–until he captures Finnvid on a raid.

Finnvid is on a secret mission to prevent the Torian invasion of his homeland Elkat. Being enslaved by Torian soldiers wasn’t in his plans. Neither is his horrified fascination with the casual promiscuity of the Sacrati warriors. Men should not lie with other men–and he should not be so intrigued when they do. He definitely should not be most intrigued by the leader of the soldiers who captured him and plan to invade his home.

For Theos, everything would have been easier if the infuriating, lying, bewildering Elkati had never come into his life, but he can’t stay away. When betrayal and treachery threaten both their nations, they must work together to stop a war that could destroy their homes forever–even as they begin to question everything they’re fighting for.

Available now at Riptide and on Monday where ebooks are sold.

sacrati coverBook Details:

Author: Kate Sherwood
eBook ISBN: 978-1-62649-253-0
eBook release: May 4, 2015
eBook Formats: pdf, mobi, html, epub
Print ISBN: 978-1-62649-254-7
Print release: May 4, 2015
Word count: 114,000,Page count: 407
Type: Standalone
Cover by: Kanaxa

 

About Kate Sherwood…

Kate Sherwood started writing about the same time she got back on a horse after almost twenty years away from riding. She’d like to think she was too young for it to be a midlife crisis, but apparently she was ready for some changes!

Kate grew up near Toronto, Ontario (Canada) and went to school in Montreal, then Vancouver. But for the last decade or so she’s been a country girl. Sure, she misses some of the conveniences of the city, but living close to nature makes up for those lacks. She’s living in Ontario’s “cottage country”–other people save up their time and come to spend their vacations in her neighborhood, but she gets to live there all year round!

Since her first book was published in 2010, she’s kept herself busy with novels, novellas, and short stories in almost all the sub-genres of m/m romance. Contemporary, suspense, scifi or fantasy–the settings are just the backdrop for her characters to answer the important questions. How much can they share, and what do they need to keep? Can they bring themselves to trust someone, after being disappointed so many times? Are they brave enough to take a chance on love?

Kate’s books balance drama with humor, angst with optimism. They feature strong, damaged men who fight themselves harder than they fight anyone else. And, wherever possible, there are animals: horses, dogs, cats ferrets, squirrels… sometimes it’s easier to bond with a non-human, and most of Kate’s men need all the help they can get.

After five years of writing, Kate is still learning, still stretching herself, and still enjoying what she does. She’s looking forward to sharing a lot more stories in the future.

Giveaway

Every comment on this blog tour enters you in a draw for a $15 Riptide gift card. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on April 11. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Don’t forget to add your email so we can contact you if you win!  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter. Prize provided by Riptide Publishing.

In the Spotlight: AF Henley’s Baby’s On Fire (guest blog and giveaway)

Babys on Fire Cover

Baby’s On Fire by A.F. Henley
Published by Less Than Three Press
Release Day: May 6, 2015

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A.F. Henley has stopped by with Baby’s on Fire, her latest release.   The author has a giveaway for all of you but first check out Henley’s guest post on Gram Parsons, a talented musician who died way too young but left an enormous impact on the music world…and a writer as well.   Now I’m off to listen to Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris sing Love Hurts…

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Here’s A.F. Henley on Gram Parsons Stolen Corpse:  The Man, The Myth, and The Legend: 

 

A Giveaway and Blog Tour for my newest release… Baby’s on Fire

Welcome to the Baby’s on Fire blog tour and giveaway! For those of you that have already stopped in on the tour, welcome back! For those of you who are joining for the first time, here’s the background info.

Throughout this tour I’m going to be touching on some of the rumors, gossip, and occasionally actual events that took place in the late sixties and early seventies music world. It was a very interesting time: one of experimentation, and of learning and reinventing not only one’s self, but the world around one at the same time. The music industry exploded with new performers and bands that were daring to do things that no one have had the nerve to try before. Some performers got huge. Others, well, they didn’t have quite so much luck.

However, before I get into that, I want to remind everyone that a rumor is a rumor is a rumor, and gossip will never be truth. Even in the case of the most documented, researched, and investigated story, the only people that will know what really happened are the ones that were there.

** Please note that none of these posts are indicative of the main characters or the instances in my novel Baby’s on Fire. They do, however, give a very clear indication of what the MCs would have been experiencing both time-wise and with the reactions/mindset of the people around them.

And so, with that out of the way, I bring you the interesting and somewhat shocking story of:

Gram Parsons’ Stolen Corpse

The Man:BoF AtG BT Post2 STaRW Gram Parsons

Gram Parsons, an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pianist was born Ingram Cecil Connor III, in Winter Haven, Florida. He developed an interest in music while attending Harvard University and decided to pursue it. In addition to performing as a solo artist, he founded and played with the International Submarine Band (who disbanded before the delayed release of their debut Safe at Home), he performed with The Byrds in 1968 (Sweetheart of the Rodeo album), and then followed fellow Byrd to form The Flying Burrito Brothers in 1969. As a soloist, he popularized what he called “Cosmic American Music”, a blend of country, rhythm and blues, soul, folk, and rock. His career is described by AllMusic as “enormously influential” for the music industry, “blending two genres” (country and rock) “to the point that they became indistinguishable from each other.” Unfortunately, recreational drug abuse culminated in physical weaknesses that resulted in his death in September, 1973 at the young age of twenty-six.

The Myth:

During the early days of his music career, Parsons “fell in love” with the Joshua Tree National Monument (now Joshua Tree National Park) in southeastern California. He spent many weekends in the area with friends, Margaret Fisher and Phil Kaufman. Before the start of his 1973 tour, Parsons decided to go on one more excursion. Accompanying him were Fisher, personal assistant Michael Martin, and Dale McElroy, Martin’s girlfriend. Less than two days after arriving, Parsons was found unresponsive in his bedroom. He had overdosed on morphine and alcohol – revival attempts were unsuccessful.

The story, as sad but predictable as it is, doesn’t end there, though. While Parsons’ body was being readied to be shipped to Louisiana for burial, it disappeared from the Los Angeles International Airport. It seems that before his death, Parsons had said that he wanted his body cremated at Joshua Tree and his ashes spread over Cap Rock. His father, however, had arranged for a private ceremony back in New Orleans and “neglected” to invite any of Parsons’ friends or associates. Apparently, there was an estate involved and his father wasn’t taking any chances.

To fulfill Parsons’ last wishes, Kaufman and a friend stole Gram’s body, borrowed a hearse, and drove it to Joshua Tree. There, they attempted to cremate Parsons’ corpse by pouring five gallons of gasoline into the open coffin and throwing a lit match inside. A huge fireball ensued, police were notified and took chase, and though the two men managed to elude the officers, they were found two days later and charges followed. The site of Parsons’ cremation was marked by a concrete slab, which was overlooked by a large rock flake and is now known to rock climbers as The Gram Parsons Memorial Hand Traverse.

The Legend:

This rumor is, surprisingly enough, completely true. Kaufman and his friend were arrested several days later, and as there was no law against the removal/theft of a dead body, they were merely fined $750 for theft of the coffin.

Parsons’s body was eventually buried in Metairie, Louisiana, although the slab has since been removed by the U.S. National Park Service and relocated to the Joshua Tree Inn. There are no longer any indicators or monuments at Cap Rock to note Parsons’ “cremation,” however dedicated fans regularly assemble their own monuments by way of simple rock structures and passages written on the overhang – which the Park Service, in their infinite consideration, occasionally sandblasts to remove from time to time. Joshua Tree Park Guides are allowed the option of telling Parsons’ story while conducting tours, but there is no official mention in their brochures.

It’s worth mentioning that many of the sites that I researched for this had their own version of this to say with respect to Parsons’ death: Death is a great career move. Mr. Gram Parsons’, Ingram Cecil Connor III, became far more of a legend after his death than he ever did while he lived.

Sad, really. Worst, still, that he didn’t have the rest of his life to see if that would have changed. Gram Parsons’ career truly was one of those stories that were cut way too short. And, at the same time, is one of those stories that we’ve learned from the hard way. Drugs can kill you. And fame is something best enjoyed while one is breathing.

My huge thanks to Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words for having me today, and a special thanks to you, my friend, for joining me. 😀

Until next time!

AF Henley ❤

STRW Author BookSynopsis

Baby’s on Fire

In 1974 Gerry Faun gets the break of his life—an opportunity to meet gorgeous, openly bisexual, glam-rock idol Mark Devon. Mark’s world is new, exciting, and Gerry finally gets to explore the side of his sexuality that he’s kept hidden. But the press is everywhere, and when Gerry’s father gets wind of what’s going on behind his back, Gerry ends up on the street. Mark offers to let Gerry come along with the tour and Gerry jumps at the chance. The tour is a never-ending party—and the start of what seems to be a perfect relationship for him and Mark. Until Mark’s manager decides Gerry isn’t worth the trouble he’s stirring up.

In 1994 Gerry is finally coming out of some tough times—he has a job that pays the bills, a car that hasn’t quite broken down, and a small rental in Jersey City. After a decade of barely getting by, if life was as good as it was going to get, Gerry figures he’ll manage just fine. It would be easier if he wasn’t still haunted by the man the media won’t let him forget, the man who stole his heart and then broke it… the man that’s shown up pleading for a second chance.

Gay Contemporary Romance
Copyright © 2015 by A.F. Henley
Published by Less Than Three Press

Please note: Novel contains explicit sexual content.

Purchase Link:  Less Than Three Press – Amazon

STRW Spotlight Book Excerpt

For what seemed like the hundredth time, the traffic in front of Gerry Faun came to a slow-rolling halt. It was the rain doing the most damage, though the end of the workday was always ugly on the streets of New York City. Not that there were many pretty things on the street, regardless. Giuliani was trying, but the way Gerry had it figured, it was going to take more than a smile and a stand on graffiti and marijuana to clean up their kind of dirt. So while the rest of the city offered the mayor awe-induced stares of appreciation over recollections of Mafia Commission and Boesky trials, Gerry mostly sat back and speculated. When government officials got clever enough to stop assholes from blowing up pregnant secretaries and hard-working fathers, then they might actually get his attention. Until then, Gerry wasn’t putting any more trust in them than he would anybody else. He’d learned a long time ago that not all that glitters is worthy.

He was lost in thought enough not to acknowledge the tunnel. He was, in fact, well into it before he remembered to take off his sunglasses. He forgave himself the digression. It had been a long week. Though Gerry worked in the financial district, he was no more than a glorified yes-man for his boss, a real estate broker that had made a fuck-ton of money in the eighties, and was merely coasting until the inevitable retirement. He ran errands and answered phones. He took messages, and booked flights that he was more than sure did not drop Mr. David Manon in places of business. He made reservations in exclusive restaurants, paid Mr. Manon’s membership fees for a gym the man never went to, and bought Manon’s anniversary and birthday gifts for the wife-of-the-moment. Gerry had a flair for it, or so his boss would tell him whenever the requirement came up, and Gerry was cocky enough to verbally agree with Manon every time. Damn right he was good at it.

Tail lights suddenly flared in front of him and Gerry cursed and slammed his brake pedal down. His eyes flicked between windshield and rearview, assessing space and distance, and he blew a sigh of relief when he confirmed that the guy behind him had been paying more attention than he’d been. Maybe it really was time to give up the car.

He’d heard it a thousand times from friends, family, and casual observers: public transport would not only save him money, but they swore up and down it would save him time. God knew gasoline was getting more expensive by the day, and parking costs in the district were insane. Gerry considered it pretty much every time the numbers went up on the billboards beside the gas stations. One day he would, he’d tell himself. One day for sure. When he could convince himself that walking the six blocks from the bus stop in Jersey’s bitter January winds wouldn’t be as appealing as slitting his own throat with barbed wire. When he got over his control issues.

The side road whereby Gerry’s rental home waited for his return was already jammed with cars, so instead of parking on the street, Gerry carefully worked his 1984 Buick into the tiny concrete pad that served as his driveway. He nudged the car as close to the house as it would go, wincing when the fender butted against the foundation and the ancient bow window above him shook with disapproval. While some of the properties on the street had given up parking for an attempt at a front lawn, Gerry couldn’t see the point of bothering to maintain a six-by-eight square of greenery and have to fight for a place to park every day. Besides, what was the point? In the summer everything got so damn hot that his neighbors’ plants and grass got their lives choked out of them. In the winter, anything that had managed to get a hold on the Earth was quickly destroyed by the cold and the snow.

Looking, he was sure, about as sexy as a maggot trying to escape from a nostril, Gerry inched out from between his car and the base of the entranceway steps. His suit wasn’t worth that much, but it was worth too much to go rubbing it up against rain-mucked concrete or the wet door of a car that hadn’t seen an auto-wash in months. His breath puffed out from between his lips, the rain making October that much colder, and Gerry lifted his eyes to the sky. Dark, ominous clouds roiled in the gray heavens, and Gerry had serious doubts that the light rainfall was all the skies had in store for them.

In the second it took for Gerry to muse, a deep rumble of thunder broke, a distant sheet of lightning answered the call with a flare of brilliance, and the drizzle became a downpour. Without bothering to spit out the curse on his tongue, Gerry ran for the front door. The porch roof did nothing to protect him as the rain whipped against his back and legs, and he had to seat the key twice before it finally dug in and allowed him to open the door.

Dripping, mumbling, Gerry slammed the door behind him with a definitive clunk and flicked the deadbolt. He kicked off his shoes, sighing as small rivers of water raced across the lopsided flooring of the hallway, and he began to peel off of his wet clothes right where he stood. He might as well only drown one part of the house, and at least that particular location was vinyl tile. Most of the house had decades-old carpeting that, when wet, released all kinds of odors. None of them good.

With his wet clothes piled in his arms, Gerry stepped gingerly down the narrow hallway, and ducked into the bathroom. He dumped the armload into the tub, and grabbed a towel off the rack.

He didn’t pause to look in the mirror and fix his hair. The cut was short, short enough in fact that he barely had to brush it, and that always seemed to make his sister chuckle when she saw him. There was a time when God himself wouldn’t have been able to get him to cut his hair—when the arguments with his parents would grow to screaming matches over the bangs in his face and the uneven lengths that fell past his collar. But everybody grew up. Eventually.

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On behalf of the tour, please join the giveaway by taking part in the Rafflecopter below. The prize consists of a set of ‘Crystal and Silver’ Glitter Ball Earrings, a $20 Gift Certificate to the Less Than Three Press book market (free books!), and a signed, print copy of Baby’s on Fire.  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.  Link and prizes provided by the author. Click through for terms and conditions, further details, and your chance to win! See all the details here:

https://afhenley.wordpress.com/2015/04/13/the-babys-on-fire-all-that-glitters-blog-tour/

** Please note that this giveaway is being offered tour-wide and there will be one winner awarded for the entire event.

ENTER RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY HERE:

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STRW Author Bio and Contacts

 

AF Henley_Avatar cropped

Henley was born with a full-blown passion for run-on sentences, a zealous indulgence in all words descriptive, and the endearing tendency to overuse punctuation. Since the early years Henley has been an enthusiastic writer, from the first few I-love-my-dog stories to the current leap into erotica.

A self-professed Google genius, Henley lives for the hours spent digging through the Internet for ‘research purposes’ which, more often than not, lead seven thousand miles away from first intentions but bring Henley to new discoveries and ideas that, once seeded, tend to flourish.

Henley has been proudly working with LT3 since 2012, and has been writing like mad ever since—an indentured servant to the belief that romance and true love can mend the most broken soul. Even when presented in prose.

Find more here:
Website: http://afhenley.com/
Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/A.-F.-Henley/e/B00FIODWSK/
Publisher’s Page: http://www.lessthanthreepress.com/author-a-f-henley/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AFHenley
Twitter: http://twitter.com/AFHenley

A Mika Review: I’m The Guy You Hate by Isa K.

Rating: 3 star out of 5 stars

Im The Guy You Hate coverThirty-eight year old Jonny Ordell is hopelessly in love with his friend Mark Dorsett. There’s just one small problem: Mark Dorsett is insane.

Not a charming, cute, surprisingly insightful kind of insane. The kind of mental illness that rips apart Jonny’s insides and turns otherwise good people into villains. It isn’t Mark’s fault. It’s not like he asked to be sick. At the same time Mark’s erratic behavior and his refusal to get help is destroying everything in his path, including Jonny.

Now Jonny must decide: does he stand by his man and hope loyalty and love are enough to make Mark realize the error of his ways? Or does he abandon Mark to his illness and save himself? Neither choice offers much hope of happiness. As their affair continues Jonny must confront the possibility that his love is not healing Mark, it may actually be making him worse.

There’s no damsel in distress here. The character may be tragic, I’ll give you that, but he’s a willing participant in his own destruction and there’s nothing you can do about that. 

That might the sanest thing said throughout this entire tragedy. It was train wreck from beginning to end. The writing wasn’t bad but it was the way I felt about the characters and plot. Isa K  is a new author to me. The story itself was depressing, sad and just frustrating. I hope that if this was real for anyone, anywhere, that they would have the strength to walk away. The two guys, were bad for each other. Nobody can dispute that. Mark is sick, he’s alcoholic, had mental illness issues that I felt like the author should have told us which disease was involved. He might be the most unstable person I’ve ever read about. He’s selfish, rude, sexist, inappropriate, and sick. First and foremost enabling a sick person with any kind of addiction is wrong. I have no sympathy for Johnny, he put himself in the worst positions ever. I honestly felt like he forced Mark’s hand on the sexuality issue.

I want people to know I’m The Guy You Hate is not romance so don’t go in thinking it’s going to be, a person who is sick then magically gets help and falls in love. 

It’s destruction from page 1. I kept getting so frustrated because Johnny felt the need to validate Mark’s behavior to everyone. I hated it, Mark is a grown ass man who didn’t need anyone to stand up for him. It kept pissing me off because in the novel Johnny keeps making references to Mark being a good guy. When is Mark a good guy? I haven’t seen anything selfless he’s ever done for no one in the entire book. I’m trying to understand what the author wants us to realize while reading it. Honestly if Johnny was supposed to be the sane person in this story, how come no one pointed that out. He’s so pathetic in how he reacts to Mark. For me this element is a slap in the face the entire book involving other relationships.

The author explained that this is more based on the illness than the actual romance, and I’m okay with that. I’m just not happy with what was on the page. The author wrote well enough, and if that’s the case then it’s a 3 for writing, . I want to know Why to everything? The main character that was gay who wasn’t sick almost devoted his life to Mark in a worshipful sense. It was horrible, that the treatment of him.  And no one in this book acknowledged that Mark had any type of mental illness. I guess I’m just upset that I read this, and I might be feeling a certain  way for actual people that go through things like this in real life. It sucks. Honestly I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone. If you can feel my anger at this book, then you’ll understand. Maybe I’ll go email the author and get some questions answered.

Cover Art by Wilde City Press.I don’t get the cover at all. It doesn’t match the tone of the book, as well as where we leave off after reading it.

Sales Links:  Wilde City Press            Buy It Here

Book Details:

ebook
Published March 25th 2015 by Wilde City Press
ISBN139781925313017
edition languageEnglish