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Memories of Down Under from Guest Blogger Jim Provenzano

DownUnder_January Is Banner

Reading Down Under: Scattered Thoughts’ Aussie Special!

from author Jim Provenzano

Longtime followers know that I got some great reviews for my last two books from independent reviewers. Their prolific blogs continue to amaze me by the sheer number of books they promote, and the reviews are often thorough and heartfelt. You can click on the “Reviews” links on this blog on the right column to read them all.

But one of the most outstanding sites is Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words. Not only did I enjoy expansive praise-filled reviews for both Every Time I Think of You and its sequel Message of Love; I was also honored with a guest author spotlight, where I rambled on about why I decided to write the sequel. Every Time I Think of You was also among those chosen as one of the Best Books of 2014!

So it was without hesitation that I decided to help promote Melanie M.’s latest endeavor, a January special all about Australian and New Zealand authors!

OnWingsofSongAnne Barwell, one of the featured authors
Here’s the deal. More than two dozen Aussie and Kiwi authors will get a special post about their latest works. Look for the clues in the text, (it’s a web-based scavenger hunt) and you could win books and other Aussie and Kiwi-themed prizes. Look for posts about (and guest-written by) these Australian authors, each day in January. There are even a few New Zealand authors as well:

Christian Baines, N.R. Walker, Anne Barwell, Nic Starr, Meredith Shayne, Renae Kaye, John Wiltshire, John Terry Moore, Lily Veldon, Barry Rowe, L. J. LaBarthe, Beany Sparks, Nicki J. Markus, Michelle Rae, A. B. Gayle, Lisa Harris and Isabelle Rowan.

British diversdive2
American readers owe it to themselves to read Australian and kikiw authors. their slight differences in language and syntax are fascinating, and their perspectives on life are just a little bit different, but yet familiar.
My love for the Land Down Under extends beyond this fun promotion. Back in 2002, I had the thrill of attending the sixth quadrennial Gay Games. Since I didn’t compete that time, I had the freedom to travel to nearly every sporting event, from the rugby fields near downtown, to the Olympic stadiums for track and field, and across the campus to the volleyball and aquatics centers, or centres, as they spell it.

With more than 100 interviews conducted (including a few funny stilted ones in my limited French and Italian) on old-fashioned cassette tapes, and about 40 rolls of film – yes, film, my last pre-digital project- I put together dozens of articles about every sport, and the ceremonies and spectacles as well. You can enjoy the archived articles on my Sports Complex website. But please forgive the dated HTML formatting. I haven’t been there in a while.

Joel
Figure skating rocked!
My host was a generous fellow with a fabulous downtown apartment, who also was on one of Sydneys toughest basketball teams (they made it to the finals, as I recall). He welcomed my “frequent overnight guest” and even hosted a dinner party where (yes!) we enjoyed shrimp on the barbie!
But I also participated in a reading at an art gallery, and Graeme at Bookshop Darlinghurst bought some copies of my first novel, PINS. That later led to a nice consignment deal with an Australian wholesaler. It all gave me a fun thrill to know that more than 100 folks got print copies of that novel, without the middleman of Amazon.com (or Amazon.au).

rug-tattoos
Aussie and Samoan ruggers

This was at the the peak of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, and while I longed to spend more time on the other side of the planet, I did not get a chance to see the New Zealand hobbit houses or the beautiful expanse of either country. I did get a few Lord of the Rings souvenirs, however!

But the pleasures of Australia were often more subtle than a blockbuster movie. The wildlife was just different enough to beguile. Odd geese with long bills puttered about in downtown public parks, and by night, across from my scenic guest room balcony, the brightly lit spires of a skyscraper were surrounded by a massive flock of bats. My host told me the bats scooped up thousands of moths attracted to the lights.
hockMontreal ice hockey
But what really charmed me were the people. Their musical accents, their way of turning a phrase with an upward lilt, and their enthusiasm in welcoming guests from around the world was amazing. I met Samoan rugby players, French cyclists, Croatian volleyball players, and got to soak in the shared joy of being in that wonderful land.

Some highlights:poloflowers

Los Angeles water polo team
SydneyVolleyGals– singing “Happy Birthday” to performer k.d. lang along with thousands of others at Opening Ceremonies,

– frolicking in the kids’ rec pool with two water polo teams at the official Olympic aquatics centre,

– hoisting beers in a large gay bar with three softball teams while singing along to an ABBA medley,

– getting directions to the ice hockey arena from a friendly shopkeeper in the far off suburbs, who asked, as easy as “Bob’s your uncle,” “Oh, you here for the Gay Games?”
Sydney volleyball team
Anyway, certainly you can read more diverse perspectives from the array of LGBT authors in Scattered Thoughts’ January author showcase. So check out the website and get reading!

 

Jim Provenzano

You can find/follow Jim at his website:  http://www.myrmidude.org  and his Goodreads page.  Don’t forget to check out Jim’s marvelous books, Every  Time I Think of You and Message of Love.

A Mika Review: Run With the Moon by Bailey Bradford

Rating: 3 star out of 5 stars

Two species that have always kept themselves separated are about to collide and create a new world.

Run With the Moon coverTwo species that have always kept themselves separated are about to collide and create a new world.

  Humanity almost managed to do itself in.  Ravaged by wars and plagues, the human population on earth has been bordering on extinction, although pockets of people have been forging on over the past few hundred years. It’s a hard life, and one Aaron Olsen fears he doesn’t fit into. As a son of a village leader, there are pressures on him he can’t manage, and things he keeps hidden, desires he doesn’t know how to express that keep him up many nights as he worries over them.

Valen is an alpha, born with the crescent moon mark on his chest. It means he’ll have to leave the pack he was born and raised in. It is the way of the wolf, and the only way to prevent it is to fight his father. Valen has no intention of doing such a dishonorable thing. He leaves as he’s supposed to, only to find himself the victim of thievery. When he hunts down the party responsible for stealing his belongings, Valen finds himself attracted to the human Aaron Olsen. 

Now, if they can only survive their own pride and insecurities, and an attack that threatens everything they love, they just might have a chance at happiness in Valen’s Pack.

I’m on the fence about this story. I can say the one person who made me finish it was Rivvie. I liked his energy, positivity and just him in the story. It was suppose to be a futuristic setting shifter story, and I didn’t get it. If anything I felt like this could be almost a caveman story. Valen in the beginning seemed overwhelmed, sweet, and humble.

When the story starts progressing alone we get this caveman instead. I didn’t follow. It was simple things he did or said. His actions with Aaron were definitely caveman style it seemed. I’m not saying it was bad, but it was really. I liked that Aaron’s family were respectful to him, even though in his mind something else was happening. I do feel like it was holes in the story about the epidemics, and the shifter’s staying away from humans. I didn’t believe that village with both humans and shifters allowed some humans to come and destroy them. If this was the future, you are telling me they don’t know anything about a Molotov cocktail used as an accelerant.. I didn’t find that believable at all. My only other issue is that I wanted to see some sort of future for Aaron & Valen. What happened when both tribes intertwine? I would have loved the epilogue to be about them as mates. It fail short in that part.

Cover Artist by Posh Gosh, I’m a little on the fence about the cover too. I thought it was nice cover don’t really know if it goes with the story in my mind. I don’t see this guy as Valen. To me Valen, was this big guy almost caveman like because that’s how he is portrayed in the story.

Sales Links:  Totally Bound

Book Details:

ebook, 144 pages
Expected publication: February 6th 2015 by Totally Bound
ISBN139781784303945
edition languageEnglish

Down Under Author Showcase: Ellen Cross

STRW down Under Banner sm Hearts

Meet Ellen Cross!

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Ellen Cross is the author of  Delta Blues and other books listed below.

To get to know Ellen Cross a little better, the author agreed to an interview. Look for the interview below and the Down Under Scavenger Hunt word found somewhere within.

✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍Author Bio 1

I love the underdog in a fight. Always have, always will. My books reflect that love, and you will always find someone who thinks they are either unworthy, or undeserving of love in my stories. I soon prove them wrong.

I live in a little beachside slice of paradise on the north-eastern coast of NSW, Australia, and along with my passion of writing is my passion for my family. I have five boys, a hubby, and a completely loopy dog. With all these males under one roof—apart from our dog who is the only other female in the house—writing gives me a chance to channel all that daily frustration into something I love doing. Instead of shaking my head for the hundredth time when someone forgets to pick up their dirty socks or neglects to replace the empty toilet roll (a long lasting argument in my household hehe) I pour it all out into my books.

Author Contacts
Contacts/Follow at :

Twitter  https://twitter.com/Ellen__Cross
Pinterest  http://www.pinterest.com/ellencrossbooks/
Goodreads   https://www.goodreads.com/Ellen_Cross
Website  http://ellen-cross.webs.com/
Blog  http://ellencross.blogspot.com.au/
Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/EllenCrossAuthor
********************Author Books Stories Down Under1 copy

Cole in his Stocking coverControlling His Illusion coverDelta Blues coverFractured Cover

 

 

 

Books:

Last Chances – MF contemporary romance
Holly’s Healing – MFM contemporary romance
Cupid’s Revenge – MM paranormal romance
Wolf Sanctuary – MM paranormal romance
Paws, Claws, and their Triple-F – MMM paranormal romance

Preternatural Rescue Center series:
Delta Blues(Preternatural Rescue Centre #1) – MM paranormal romance at eXtasy Press

In a World where the Alpha are the law, Beta the order, and Omega the knowledge…the Delta have become the oppressed.

The night of Samhain is fast approaching, and for that one night a year, Gray and the last remaining Dire Wolves—amongst others—are entrusted with the protection of the veil between worlds, while it’s at its thinnest. Add in the threat of a new drug on the market, and they’ll have to work twice as hard to keep everyone safe. The last thing he needs is a sexy little Delta to save.

As a lowly Delta, Red Wolf shifter Ryan has never known peace. Cast away and unwanted, he is quickly taken captive and trained as a dancer at The Howling, a strip club in the worst part of Praeter. Hungry, abused, and kept in a drug-induced fog, his life is nothing. He is nothing but the orders and twisted demands of his captor. All that changes when he catches the scent of a wolf in the crowd.

Long ebony hair, eyes that can’t decide if they’re green or blue as they follow him on stage. Unable to stop himself, Ryan does the one thing guaranteed to earn him punishment. He touches the other wolf. Peace. For those few brief moments, the hunger, the pain, the torment…all gone. The price to feel that respite again, though, could very well be his life.

Cole in his Stocking (Preternatural Rescue Centre, #2) – MM paranormal romance at eXtasy Press

It doesn’t matter if he’s been naughty or nice all year. Adam’s stocking is still getting stuffed full of Cole, this Christmas.

The coming of age for any vampire is cause for celebration, a time when they first taste blood. For Cole, however, his twenty-fifth birthday brings a terrible choice from his father—either he takes the life of another to prove his worth, or he forfeits his own life. Cole chooses the only way his heart will allow, and pays the price with both his fangs and the rapidly mounting blood starvation that will slowly end his life, now that his body needs to feed, but cannot. He escapes, bleeding, barefoot, and wearing nothing more than a simple cotton sleep-shirt. With his father’s sentinels in pursuit, Cole soon finds himself half-frozen and unable to run anymore. The last thing he expects when he crawls into a dumpster to hide away for the last few hours of his life is to be rescued by a temperamental black cat and…aww hell…his cherished one, Adam. How is Cole meant to blood-bond to the wolf hybrid when his time is fast running out, and he has no fangs to even try? He quickly learns his cherished is far more than he appears, though, and Adam’s friends at the Delta Rehabilitation Centre have even higher friends, with a score to settle with his father, of their own. It’s just a shame he won’t be around long enough to witness their payback.

Fractured (Preternatural Rescue Centre, #3)  – MM paranormal romance
Controlling His Illusion (Preternatural Rescue Centre, #4) – MM paranormal romance
Beyond the Scars (Preternatural Rescue Centre #5) – MMM paranormal romance
Silent Secrets, #6 – MM paranormal romance
Stealing Enchantments (Preternatural Rescue Centre, #7)  – MM paranormal romance
Soothing his Tempest, #8 – MM paranormal romance
Shifting the Veil, #9 – MMM paranormal romance
Wings of Exile, #10 – MM paranormal romance
Sacrificing it All – MM paranormal romance
Genre(s):  Contemporary, paranormal, fantasy

Paws Claws and the Triple F coverWolf Sanctuary coverCupid's Revenge cover

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Contests and Giveaways:

1. Today’s Giveaway (thank you, Ellen Cross) is an eBook copy of Copy of Delta Blues. Enter using this Rafflecopter link here. Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

2. Down Under Scavenger Hunt – find the Hunt “word or phrase” in bold green . Collect all the words from each author and submit the list in writing no later than midnight on February 1st. Make sure you include an email address where you can be reached. Prizes will be given to 5 people selected, from 1st place to 5th! Happy Hunting.

**********************Author Qand A

When did you start writing?

I have always been writing it seems, ever since I could. Having much older brothers, there wasn’t much to do to occupy my spare time while growing up on our family’s farm, so I wrote, or read.

• Were you a reader as a child?

Very much so. I would save all my birthday and pocket money to buy books, instead of sweets. By the age of seven there was very little I could not read by myself.

• What books as a child has the most impact on you?

I adored Enyd Blyton’s books. The tales of the Faraway Tree and My Pennywhistle were among my fictional childhood companions.

• Did that impression carry over into adulthood when you started writing?

In a way. I have always loved the fantastic, finding anything realistic too boring to hold my interest. Even as an adult, I cannot sit through a true story. I would much rather live my life with my head in the clouds 🙂

• Where do you draw inspiration from?

Anything. It could be a song lyric, a picture, or even just a feeling that sparks a rush of inspiration, and I have learned to quickly write everything about that rush down, before time and real life demands make the details fade away. My phone has so many notes for scene ideas it has become my invaluable writing companion.

• Favorite genres to write in and why?

I simply adore paranormal gay romance. It is what I read, so it is only natural that it is what I also write. Why write about stuffy businessmen and their boring days, when vampires, wolves, warlocks and elementals are begging to have their stories heard?

• Title or characters or plot?  Which comes first?

Plot, or more specifically, a scene will come to me first. The characters work themselves into that scene, and gradually the whole book will unfold. The title is the last thing I come up with.

• Do you have a favorite character that you have written?

I have no favourites. I adore them all. They are all as individual as their race/breed, and for that, I cannot favour one over another, as they all have their quirks, their habits, and personalities.

• Favorite quote (doesn’t matter the source)?

“If it doesn’t kill you, it only makes you stronger”.

• Favorite book/story you have read as an adult:

The New Species series by Laurann Dohner. I absolutely love her series.

• Do you have a certain regimen that you follow as a writer?

No. I try to write at least an hour a day, but with five boys and a husband I am a carer for, that is not always possible. In fact, I usually find myself getting very little sleep in the week leading up to a deadline hehe.

• What inspired you to write your first book?

I had read one too many books from Amazon that were filled with so many editing mistakes it was obvious they hadn’t even had a basic spell check performed on them, and as with many other authors, I thought that if they could publish a book this poorly, I could do better.

• Do you have a specific writing style?

I tend to fly by the seat of my pants when I write. I might know a basic structure of the plot, but even I don’t know the details until they are on the page.

• What’s the hardest part of writing your books?

Arguing with my muse when I need to write for a deadline, and he is nowhere in sight hehe

• If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your first book?

I would. I think most authors who have written a few would look back, knowing what they do now, and know of a few changes they would make.

• If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor or has the biggest influence on you?

I have a few MM writers who have influenced me, as they were my starting points in reading gay romance, and gave me the courage to take the step into writing it myself. RJ.Scott’s Christmas Throwaway was the very first MM book I read, and after her, I found Amber Kell, Stephani Hecht, Jackie Nacht, and Lynn Hagen.

• What book are you reading now?

Actually, I haven’t had time to read for a little while now, with deadlines, but the book I am reading between writing is the print galley of the first half of my own Preternatural Rescue Centre series.

• How do you think books written from authors in Australia or New Zealand differ in style, language, and culture?

We seem to get straight to the point over English or American writers. Our more laid back language shines through. There are times when I am reminded by my editor that a saying or word I have used won’t be recognised the way it was written to be, and I need to make changes. When I find myself reading a book by an Australian author, I can usually tell without being told what their nationality is.

• What is your favorite AUS/NZ stories and favourite Australian/New Zealand movies?

I still have memories of snuggling into the front bench seat of my cousin’s car while watching The Man from Snowy River, at the drive-in movies theatre. I think for that memory, as it was my only experience with the drive-in’s before they closed, it will always be my favourite.

• If you were a tour guide, what would you like a visitor to see and what impression would you want them to take away with them when they leave?

I would like them to see the extremes Australia has to offer, from the snow-topped mountains, crystal blue waters of the barrier reef, to the blistering red heart, and tropical paradise of the north-eastern top end. Australia has it all.

• What are your current projects?

I am currently working on the final instalment of the Preternatural Rescue Centre. It has been an eleven book long series, taken over a year, and is now ending. It has been a wonderful year bringing all the guardians and their stories to life.

• What’s your favorite spot to visit in your own country?And what makes it so special to you?

The most special place is home. I haven’t travelled much, but home is where my family is, and that makes it the most special place in the world to me.

• What’s next up for you?

After I finish this book, I have a Valentine’s Day book to finish, before I take a few weeks to relax and enjoy a break, before bringing out my folder of ideas and lightening it a little.

• Are you going to any events that we can see you at?

I will be attending the ARRA2015 conference in Canberra in March.

Down Under Showcase Day 29: Meet Ellen Cross, AUZ and NZ Facts of the Day

DownUnder_badge

Down Under Author Showcase Day 29

Welcome, Ellen Cross

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Only a few days left and a couple more authors to welcome!  Today our featured writer is author Ellen Cross from north eastern Australia.   I don’t know where she finds the time to write…why?  Check out her bio along with her books and lovely giveaway!  Ellen Cross’ contest ends February 6 instead of the  31st to give more people time to enter.

 

Now on to our facts of the  day.

Australia Fact of the Day – The Wave Rock of Hyden!

‘Wave Rock of Hyden’ is a natural rock formation resembles a tall breaking Ocean wave which is 46 ft in height and around 360 ft long. It lies about 3 kilometers east of the small town of Hyden and 296 km (184 mi) east-southeast of Perth, Western Australia. It is a part of 395 acre natural reserve of Hyden Wildlife Park.

About Wave Rock of Hyden…Wave Rock AUS

It consists of 2.63 billion year old Biotite K feldspar.

Wave Rock of Hyden is a perfect example of ‘Flared Slope’,
Wave rock of Hyden has become a tourist spot with over 140,000 visitors per year.

wave rock 2What is Flared slope?

Flared slopes like Wave Rock are particularly well developed in granitic landforms of south-western and southern Australia.

Do you know where our own US rock formation called The Wave is located?

 

New Zealand Facts of the Day!

Split Apple Rock of The Tasman Bay!_Split-Apple-Rock NZ

Split Apple Rock is a geological rock formation in The Tasman Bay off the northern coast of the South Island of New Zealand.

Made of granite, it is in the shape of an apple which has been cut in half. It is a popular tourist attraction in the waters of the Tasman Sea approximately 50 metres off the coast between Kaiteriteri and Marahau.

The rock sits in shallow water at low tide and is accessible by wading. It is also a point of interest for the many tourist boats and pleasure craft which operate along the shores of the Abel Tasman National Park.

The cleft to produce two sides of the ‘apple’ was a natural occurrence. It is unknown when this happened and therefore the cleaving of the rock has attracted mythological explanations

A Stella Review: Defying Conventions by Cecil Wilde

RATING: 4 stars out of 5

DefyingConventionDanny and AJ have been online friends for years, and secretly in love with each other. When the opportunity to attend a comics convention comes up, they decide to go and share a room. But friendship online does not always translate to friendship offline, and both are anxious about how the meeting will go, and the friendship change, when faced with challenges easily avoided behind the safety of computer screens…

“You’re perfect.” AJ smiled up at him as they walked.

Danny smiled shyly and looked down at their joined hands.”I’m not.” He squeezed AJ’s hand. “But it’s awesome that you’d say that.”

“You’re not literally perfect, but you’re perfect to me,”AJ clarified. “Perfect in all your imperfections.”

Defying Convention is the first Cecil Wilde’s book and the first book with a transgender MCs I read. I’m so glad I got a chance at review it. It was an unexpected surprise.

AJ is a non binary, they don’t want to define themselves as female or male gender. They’re a funny and affectionate geek with pink hair and pink bunny slippers.

Danny is a transman, an insecure young man that suffers from panic attacks.

They’ve been best friends online for five years and this is the first time they meet in real life. The occasion is a comics convention and at the same time their five years anniversary. Most of all they’ve been in love with each other but just haven’t realized they already were in a love relationship, even if they haven’t met before.

I think they are perfect together cause they keep each other safe. Especially AJ is so protective and respectful of Danny’s issues, they understand him like no other can. While the cute Danny still can’t believe AJ is real, sometimes he thought he made them up in his mind. Having bad issues with physical contacts, it is so sweet to see him open up with AJ, who are so touchy feely.

In some ways this book was instructive too. I wasn’t aware of the meaning and use of specific terms in the transgender world.
First of all, the author chose to use they/them/their when they referred to AJ and I admit it wasn’t easy to read. I was ready for the use of it/its but I looked out and I understand why they chose them. Still, sometimes it diverted my attention from the story. Nevertheless, as you can see, I chose to follow the author’s lead and so I used the same pronouns in my review too. I want to respect their choice.

I also appreciated how the author addressed some transgender issue. Reading about Aj being so resigned in their everyday challenges, made me want to hug them. I totally understand it’s a serious subject but this is a light and funny book so I was glad it was handled lightly.

Of course this is not an m/m romance, so you need to be ready to read about sex between a transman and a Non Binary friend (with women’s parts). There isn’t a lot of sex, just one scene and really hot(LOL). Reading only m/m books, I can say I usually am very strict and don’t want woman parts in my books. In this one I was well aware of what I was going to read but it didn’t bother me, cause of course AJ has a vagina but I didn’t think of them as a woman. I was pretty good to try to be neutral as they wished.

I realized in Defying Convention the author chose to tell us not much about how AJ and Danny met online and became best friend, perhaps showing us some particular moments in their online time. They gave us just this brief time frame, these five days needful for them to finally be physically together and maybe try to be a couple. I usually am so greedy I always want to know more about everything. In this case I believe focus on “the now” was the perfect choice, at the end we’re talking about a book of just 65 pages.

I’m a sucker for sweet characters, AJ and Danny were so cute together it was impossible not fall in love with them. Add a good writing and a funny story, I can totally say this book was a winner to me. Highly recommended.

Cover designed by Aisha Akeju: I really like it and it totally fit the book.

Sales Links:   Less Than Three Press      All Romance (ARe)    Amazon    Buy it here

Book details:
kindle 65 pages
Expected publication: January 28th 2015 by Less Than Three Press
ISBN 9781620044773
edition languageEnglish

Down Under Showcase Author: Cecil Wilde

STRW down Under Banner sm Hearts

Meet Cecil Wilde!

Cecil Wilde is the author of No Straight Boys, The Wish Auger and other listed below.

To get to know Cecil Wilde a little better, the author agreed to an interview. Look for the interview below and the Down Under Scavenger Hunt word found somewhere within.

✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍

Author Bio 1

Cecil Wilde resides in Australia, accompanied by a cat who takes up most of the bed, a family of possums in the roof space, and more spiders than they’re entirely comfortable with. They write altogether cuter queer romance than their image as a grumpy cynic might suggest.

 

Author Contacts

Author Books Stories Down Under1 copy

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HRnostraightboysWishAugurDefyingConvention

Dawg Days Anthology

 

 

 

 

 

Out now:

No Straight Boys (Liquid Silver Books):

 Blurb:  Not dating straight boys is a pretty good strategy for long-term relationships if you’re a gay man, but what happens when one particular straight boy turns out to be the man of your dreams?

Cute, funny, and sometimes borderline philosophical, No Straight Boys is about what happens when perfection isn’t what you think it is, and love is best found via late-night text message.

The Wish Augur (Less Than Three Press)

[this is not actually out RIGHT now but it will be by January]:

Blurb: Gabriel Juarez has only one wish for Christmas, uttered moments before midnight on Christmas Eve: a hug. He wakes up the next morning to find his wish being haphazardly granted in the form of an insecure elf called Felix, who works as a wish augur and couldn’t bring himself to let Gabe’s wish go unfulfilled.

First Guy Kiss from Missed Connections Anthology from Less Than Three Press

Blurb: A fleeting glance across a crowded space. Trains passing by in the night. Paths that once split unexpectedly cross again. Old friends reunited. Sometimes rediscovering a person and having new feelings can be just as intense as an initial spark. Less Than Three Press presents an anthology of stories about people who get a second chance to connect…

 

Genre(s):

No Straight Boys, First Guy Kiss and Defying Convention are contemporary

The Wish Augur is fantasy with a contemporary setting (and an elf!)

Perfect Match is contemporary BDSM

Tea and Werewolves (Torquere Books):

Blurb:  As soon as Connor walks into Sev’s tea shop, Sev knows there’s something different about him. It could be his charming smile, his obvious intelligence, or the way he howls at the moon when it’s full. Either way, sparks start flying straight away.

Sev and Connor both know there’s more to their relationship than simple mutual attraction, and the question of taking the next step is foremost in their minds even as they tumble into bed together for the first time. Will they work things out, or will the suddenness of it all get the better of them?

Coming Soon:

Defying Convention (Less Than Three Press) [28th January]:

Blurb: Danny and AJ have been online friends for years, and secretly in love with each other. When the opportunity to attend a comics convention comes up, they decide to go and share a room. But friendship online does not always translate to friendship offline, and both are anxious about how the meeting will go, and the friendship change, when faced with challenges easily avoided behind the safety of computer screens…

Perfect Match – Playmates #1 (Liquid Silver Books) [23rd February]

 

Genre(s):

  • No Straight Boys and Defying Convention are contemporary
  • The Wish Augur is fantasy with a contemporary setting (and an elf!)
  • Perfect Match is contemporary BDSM

 

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Contests and Giveaways:

1. Today’s Giveaway (thank you, Cecil Wilde) is an eBook copy the reader’s choice of Cecil Wilde’s backlist. Enter using this Rafflecopter link here. Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
<script src=”//widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/

2. Down Under Scavenger Hunt – find the Hunt “word or phrase” in bold green . Collect all the words from each author and submit the list in writing no later than midnight on February 1st. Make sure you include an email address where you can be reached. Prizes will be given to 5 people selected, from 1st place to 5th! Happy Hunting.

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Author Qand A

Q When did you start writing?

 Other than the usual writing for school–which I enjoyed, but never really did more of than I had to–I started writing for something other than grades when I discovered fandom, in my last few years of high school. After that it was sort of a slippery slope which I did describe recently to a friend as my accidental descent into a writing career.

Q. Were you a reader as a child?

 

Yep! To the point where school librarians would encourage me to go outside for once. As a kid, I never met a book I didn’t want to read. I’ve always been enchanted by stories of all kinds.

 

Q. Title or characters or plot?  Which comes first?

 

Characters. Almost without fail, characters come first. The ones who are most compelling or whose circumstances as they occur to me have the best potential for a decent plot tend to be the ones who get written into books. Titles are lucky to come at all. I’m terrible at titles.

 

Q. Do you have a favorite character that you have written?

 

Don’t get me wrong, I genuinely love all my characters (even the seemingly unpleasant ones), but right now I have to say that AJ, of Defying Convention, is my favourite. They’re a quiet kind of person, but warm and full of sunshine and giggles and pink hair. Danny, the other MC in that book, is about as in love with them as I am.

 

Q. My first impression of AUS/NZ was from stories and novels like Colleen McCullough’s The Thorn Birds or Nevil Shute’s A Town Like Alice as well as from movies like The Man from Snowy River, The Dish, Rabbit Proof Fence, Strictly Ballroom, and yes, Crocodile Dundee!  There are so many out there.  What is your favorite AUS/NZ stories and favorite Australian/New Zealand movies?

 

I love Crocodile Dundee! It was a favourite of mine as a kid (call that a knife? This is a knife!) I don’t think I could talk about great Australian tales without mentioning Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Muriel’s Wedding, or The Castle. Films like The Wog Boy are great for illustrating stuff about Australian culture that doesn’t really get talked about outside of Oz, and indie stuff like Better Than Sex can actually be really great (if you can lay hands on a copy of that I highly recommend it as an alternative romance).

In terms of books, I don’t think you can go past Paul Jennings’s entire body of work, which is bizarre and wonderful and what Australian literature looks like to me. Also worth a read (though feel free to skip the film) is The Monkey’s Mask, which is a mystery novel in verse that takes place in the Blue Mountains and surrounds, and has lesbians (which, obviously, is a huge draw). Speaking of verse, Judith Wright is a wonderful poet, and her narrative poems about Australia truly capture the spirit of the land as I know it. The rest of her work is also powerful stuff (I will never get Double Image out of my head).

If you want something more lighthearted that really captures the spirit of small town Australia, Seachange is a great soap opera-style drama. As an added bonus, you might even get to see David Wenham in his budgie smugglers!

I could talk about Australian literature and film all day, but I’ll stop there.

 

Q. What’s your favorite spot to visit in your own country? And what makes it so special to you?

 

I’ll never get tired of going into Melbourne. I don’t live far away–about an hour by train–but it really is a phenomenal city. As they say in the song, I’ve been to cities that never close down, and they’re lovely, but nothing’s ever compared to Melbourne for me. Not London, not Singapore, not Los Angeles, not even Belfast, which I think of as my other home. Melbourne’s beautiful. I discover something new every time I make the trip in. I could write an entire book on everything I love about Melbourne. (And if anyone wants to experience that, I fully recommend Long Macchiatos and Monsters, by Alison Evans, as a beautiful love song to Melbourne with a gorgeous romance to boot).

Down Under Day 28: Welcome, Cecil Wilde, and AUS/NZ Facts of the Day!

DownUnder_badge

 Down Under Author Showcase Day 28

Welcome, Cecil Wilde!

Our Down Under Author Showcase is almost over, but not our discoveries of wonderful new authors (at least to this review group).  Cecil Wilde is our featured author today and our review of Defying Convention follows Cecil’s author page.  It’s one of our highly recommended reads so be sure to make its acquaintance today, along with Cecil’s other stories and novels.  As always, don’t forget to enter Cecil’s giveaway and locate the Scavenger Hunt word of the day!

AUS flag over countryAustralia Fact of the Day!

Since Cecil makes a mention of spiders (hmm, where does that happen?), let’s take a closer look at one common spider in Australia!

There are 1500 species of Australian spiders and the average person swallows three spiders a year. The most infamous spiders mentioned in Australian literature, including a few of the stories by our Down Under Authors (can you name which ones?) are: Redback Spider, and Sydney Funnel-web Spider.

Redback Spiders (Latrodectus hasselti) are very common in Australia. They are even kind of popular: one Australian beer is named after them.

Redbacks can be found everywhere in Australia, especially in the densely populated urban areas. They thrive in the warmer regions. Look for them on verandas, in sheds, in storage yards, on industrial sites and inside houses. They also hide in hollow logs, wood or junk piles etc.

Small insects make up the bulk diet of Redback Spiders, but they sometimes kill and eat much bigger prey, even small lizards if they get tangled up in the sticky web. They also steal wrapped up food items from each other’s webs if they can.

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How dangerous is the Redback Spider?

Redbacks are responsible for the vast majority of serious spider bites in Australia. However, they are not considered dangerous. Only the bite of a female Redback Spider is toxic (the males are too small to bite anyway).

To get bitten you have to actually stick your hand into the web of a spider, they rarely leave their nest. The fangs of the Redback Spider are tiny. Even if you do manage to get bitten the bite is likely ineffective. In addition the Redback Spider venom is a very slow acting toxin, and most people don’t show any reaction to it (except it itches like crazy).

Possible symptoms in those who do react are pain (can become severe), localised sweating at the bite site, and later on more sweating, muscle weakness, nausea and vomiting.  A simple ice pack is the best first aid. In most cases it’s all that’s required as very few people actually develop these symptoms (about 6% of those bitten, to be precise).

Honest, if you go and see a doctor here and tell them a Redback spider bit you, they’ll probably just tell you to go home and put ice on it.  The Redback Spider is related to the venomous Black Widow Spider commonly found here in the US and looks very similar.

The only difference is the red back, or rather the very distinctive red dorsal stripe (instead of the hour glass) that you can see in the picture.

Cultural Impact outside of Arachnophobia? Per Wikipedia (I know, I know) Slim Newton drew popular attention to redbacks with his song “The Redback on the Toilet Seat”, which won the Golden Guitar at the first Country Music Awards of Australia in 1973. A sculpture of an impossibly large redback  (I personally like The Big Poo better), one of Australia’s big things, was built in 1996 at Eight Mile Plains, Queensland. The Angels 1991 album Red Back Fever takes its name from the spider. Matildaredback-beer-online-1369633780 Bay Brewing Company produces a wheat beer called Redback,with the distinctive red stripe as the logo. The redback appears in the name and emblem of the South Australia cricket team. The Airborne Redback, an Australian ultralight trike, was also named after the spider. Redback Boots is an Australian workboot manufacturing company, which uses the spider in its name and logo

kiwi and NZ countryNew Zealand Fact of the  Day!

Let’s keep going with arachnids and the New Zealand spider Hollywood made famous!  That would be the Avondale Spider, ok it’s sort of an immigrant from Australia. The large harmless spider found around the Avondale area of Auckland is an Australian huntsman spider. This spider found its way to New Zealand in the early 1920s, with the first specimen found in 1924. It probably came in imported wood used for railway sleepers. (What the heck is a railway sleeper?) It has not spread very far from Avondale, so it has received the popular name of Avondale Spider. In South Australia this species is quite common, and people encourage them to live in their houses to keep the pest insect population down.220px-Huntsman-spider-in-hand

In 1989/90, 374 Avondale spiders were sent to Hollywood to star in the Steven Spielberg movie Arachnophobia. This spider is harmless to humans, but it looks fearsome and therefore suited its movie role as a “killer spider”. The film made use of 374 live Avondale spiders, from New Zealand, which were picked for their large size, unusually social lifestyle, and yes, are essentially harmless to actors, uh humans. They were guided around the set by the use of heat and cold, but the large “general” and “queen” were articulated models.  Look it’s Bob (that’s what they called the largest mechanical spider in the movie)!Avondale spider

The first reaction of most people on finding Avondale spiders is usually horror. The spiders move very fast when disturbed (as do people when frightened!). Mature spiders with legs outstretched can measure up to 200 mm across (8”).

The mature males are frequent visitors inside houses in the months January to March when they are looking for a female to mate with. Females are capable of laying up to 200 green eggs in an oval-shaped, white papery-looking egg sac about 25 mm long (1”) by 12 mm wide (1/2”). Females guard their egg sac, and after 4-6 weeks open this up to enable the spiderlings to hatch. They will look after the spiderlings for a few more months until they disperse. Spiderlings will feed communally if the prey is too big for them to manage on their own.

Avondale spiders live in colonies with their extended family and friends; no other spider in New Zealand has this lifestyle.