Romance Writers Ink, a chapter of the national organization Romance Writers of America, has banned same-sex pairing entries for theirMore than Magic contest in all categories. (the rules and information page can be viewed here: http://rwimagiccontests.wordpress.com/rwi-contests/2012-more-than-magic-rules-information/) (from Anne Tenino’s blog).

I find that in this day and age that the discrimination showed by this organization is despicable. The rules of the contest state:

RWA defines romance as A Central Love Story: The main plot centers around two individuals falling in love and struggling to make the relationship work.

It does not specify that it has to be m/f. Love and romance are not defined by gender nor should it be.  It is especially galling when you take into consideration the growing number of m/m ebooks and the excellence in writing so clearly demonstrated.

And then there is the sad sack answer given to Kari Gregg when asked for a rational reason, heck, any reason…

Here is the answer from RWI:

Kari Gregg: I emailed the contest organizer to ask why this change was enacted. The contest organizer replied that RWI chapter members were “uncomfortable” with accepting same-sex contest entries. “Same-sex was just too much.”

The attitudes, hypocrisy, and sheer stupidity of such a decision is appalling. This organization should accept LGTBQ entries and bring their organization into this century. Or lag behind and be left behind.

Write and voice your opinion to:

RWA at info@rwa.org and/or

email the contest coordinator at jackie.rwimagic@netscape.com

To sign a petition, go to http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/rwa-shouldnt-be-in-the-business-of-discrimination

The rules and information page can be viewed here: http://rwimagiccontests.wordpress.com/rwi-contests/2012-more-than-magic-rules-information/

I also urge you to go read the blogs listed below.  The more voices raised against discrimination and hypocrisy, the louder we become, the greater chance we have of being heard.

Sincerely,

Melaniem54

Other Blog Posts on this Contest:

http://annetenino.com,  “Personal Taste, Public Responsibilities & Discrimination #Rom4All #LGBT #RWA”

http://karigregg.com  “What Year Is This? LGBT Romance in the Trenches”

http://heidicullinan.wordpress.com  “RWA Shouldn’t Be In The Business of Discrimination”

http://stephanihechtauthor.blogspot.com  “Uncomfortable” = Discrimination

http://www.courtneymilan.com/ramblings/2012/02/04/dont-enter-more-than-magic/

Here is the reason I have not posted in a few days  – it kept me that involved.  Life After Death is like a fine Cabernet, my favorite wine.  Deep, full bodied, multi-layered and appropriately, the color of blood.  It is to be sipped and savored, not swallowed in one gulp.  So I took my time and finished it over several days. What a treasure!

Life After Death is the third book in the Infected series and, in my opinion, the strongest yet to date. Sometimes with a series, it loses momentum after the first book or two. Not so with the Infected stories. With Infected Life After Death, the story of Roan McKitchen grows in power and in depth.

As the story opens, Paris Lehane has been dead a year but for Roan McKitchen it might as well been one hour ago. Roan has retreated into depression and denial, rarely leaving his home, unable to deal with the loss of Paris. Only the support of friends who pay his bills and force him to eat has kept him alive. Roan is coasting along, full of pain and survivor’s guilt, until a case of a missing husband forces him back into the real world.

The real beauty of this story lies in the fact that the character of Paris Lehane was so real and so loved that here you grieve with Roan. The author pulls you through all the stages of grief as Roan lives them. When Roan is unable to cope with this monumental loss, it’s your loss as well. His tears are yours too. Keep that tissue box handy. As Roan gets wrapped up in the mystery of the missing spouse (and a wife’s grief), all too briefly you forget that Paris is gone and involve yourself in the case too. Until a song or a memory makes Paris’ death real again to Roan and the reader. The story keeps you on a rollercoaster of emotions along with Roan as the case gets more complicated, forcing Roan back to the living as he searches for answers.

The second part of the book takes place two years after Paris’ death. I loved that, for once, the fact that death and loss does not get better with time is addressed. Too often in life (no matter whether it is a story or not), people assume that grief has a time limitation on it, like a parking meter or a bakery good. You don’t get over something this traumatic, you just learn to deal with it better. And here Roan is trying to move forward while learning this basic truth. New characters come into his life that I just loved, such as a software executive with a surprising new job and a old acquaintance called Holden Fox who is as complicated as he is gorgeous. I can’t wait for their next appearance.

This series is full of mysteries, and not just the cases Roan takes on. There is the mystery of how the werecat virus was born. And why Roan is getting stronger as he ages while the other cats, like Paris, grow weaker and sicken. Plus the politics of being infected is always present much like Aids was in the 80’s and 90’s. The series and this book has so many layers that each time you read it, you make new discoveries. I love Roan’s voice. If the dialog here were a song, it would be on autoplay in my home. Roan McKitchen has the ability to make me laugh, and cry and snort in disbelief. He is as real to me as my neighbor next door. That is both a talent and a gift. Andrea Speed has both.

If you are looking for a book full of hot sex only, this is not that story. But if you are looking for a story of love, loss, and full of characters so real that they breathe, this book and this series is for you. I have one more published book to go….Infected Freefall, the fourth in the series. I think I am going to try and wait a week to get and start that one. I just don’t want to be finished yet. Luckily, Andrea Speed is working on book 5. So the end is not in sight. Lucky for all of us.

My rating is 5 stars.

Publisher Note: My ebook had formatting problems. At the end of each chapter was the notation to return to the table of contents. And sometimes the chapters started in the middle of the page. I have not had this happen before so I am not sure if it was just my copy or all the ebook copies. But that was the only jarring note here and unusual for this publisher.

In a world where a werecat virus has changed society, Roan McKichan, a born infected and ex-cop, works as a private detective trying to solve crimes involving other infecteds.

But when your heart is gone, it’s easy to fall into a black hole and never crawl out. Roan has been lost and alone for more than a year, and his best friends think a new case might be just the motivation he needs. Roan forces himself back into the game and discovers a dead man who might not be all that dead, a street hustler that wants to hustle him, and a dominatrix who is well prepared to take Roan’s orders. As Roan claws his way out of the darkness by diving back into his work, he finds himself in a race against time in the adrenaline-pumping realization that nothing helps a person want to live like helping someone else survive.

Available at: Dreamspinner Press, All Romance, Amazon and Fictionwise in multiple formats.

 

In between procrastinating on house cleaning and sitting down to finish my latest book I am reading, I thought I would post a new recipe that I just love.  The flavors are deep, subtle and mouthwatering.  And the chicken was even better the next day.

This calls for butterflying the chicken.  If you have never done this before, it is  easy.  I used kitchen shears although you can use a knife. Here is a good video on how to do it: www.ehow.com/how_2089420_butterfly–chicken.html

Now on to the recipe.  This will become a go to recipe. It has for me.

A Chance Encounter is the first book I have read by Gale Stanley and the first in the new series from her, Hybrids #1. I have mixed feelings about this book so I give it a 3.25 rating.

This is Gale Stanley’s take on the Secret Government Project/Evil Scientist story and she does a nice job with it. Adam’s DNA was manipulated at birth in a project aimed at producing the perfect soldier. The scientist in charge of the project? None other than Adam’s father. During an explosion at the military lab that housed the experimental subjects, Adam escapes and ends up on the run. After a time, he ends up in Philadelphia where he meets a man called Chance Hollis, son of a local business tycoon.

And this is where the story derailed for me. The author’s descriptions of Adam’s life and containment within the lab was visual and real. I felt for Adam and the other young men that had been turned into creatures upon military order and hated how they were treated. Even the lust at first sight was believable and believably written for both men.

One of the things that kept me from giving this a higher rating is the “love at first sight” relationship that Adam and Chance jump into, both declaring their love for each other almost immediately. In some shifter novels where this happens, it is explained by the presence of pheromones or the mate drive or some other “deus ex machina” brought about by the author. Here there is no such explanation as Adam is essentially a lab experiment. Here they just “looove” one another. This is also not believable as Adam has spent almost his entire life as a lab rat, so he has no interpersonal skills and zero trust in people for obvious reasons. I also didn’t care very much for Chance who has his own father issues. He just seemed a little whiney to me. He wants to write, his father wants him to learn his business from the ground up. What a villain! Chance compares his office cubicle to a prison which is laughable after the great job Gale Stanley does in describing the horrors of the prison that Adam lived in. Chance did not seem very credible to me.

This is a short book, only 8 chapters. I think it would have been a far better book if the relationship of the characters had been given a chance to develop naturally through at least Book 2, from lust to like to love. As it is, the book ends abruptly as the characters jet off into the sequel and presumably the sunset.

I will get the sequel to this when it comes out to see if the characters improve as well as to see what happens next.

 

Adam is a wolf hybrid, the result of a military research project, splicing animal DNA with human DNA to create the perfect soldier. But the genetic manipulation went too far, and Adam can’t control his beast. Slated for termination, a freak gas explosion provides the opportunity for his escape from the medical facility he calls home. A hunted man, he expects to spend the rest of his life alone, but a Chance encounter brings him hope for a future.

Chance is unlucky in love and stuck in a job he hates. Then he meets Adam, his perfect man. But Adam is more than a man, and involving Chance in his life could get them both killed

 

My rating: “http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/261735926″4 of 5 stars
Rating: 4.5 stars
In All Best Are Off Marguerite Labbe has crafted a lovely, warmhearted romance. This book has everything I love in a story – great characters, a terrific plot, marvelous dialog and a HEA that had me smiling long after I had finished the book. And I should add hot and sexy!
Professor Eli Hollister hasn’t had the best luck in relationships when he spies a hot man helping roof his friend’s bar and local hangout. The hot man on the roof? Ash Gallagher, recently discharged from the Army after being wounded in Afghanistan and now in Amwich, CT trying to finish his degree. One meeting and the physical attraction between them is combustible. Really, you can feel the heat. After the night together ends unexpectedly, both are looking forward to another meeting but neither expects it to be in the classroom, with Eli as Ash’s professor.
Due to the nature of the student/teacher relationship, they decide to forego the physical side of the relationship until the semester is over. This allows both the men and the reader get a chance to explore their characters within the structure of a small town and college. The build up of sexual tension between Ash and Eli is wonderful and frustrating. Plus there are outside burdens placed on each man that adds additional stress to their new relationship. For Eli, there is a English Chair who despises him and wants him fired. For Ash, the fact that his closes friends were left behind overseas when he left the military is making him feel guilty.
Marguerite is such a gifted author that almost immediately you are swallowed up into their lives. Their joys are yours as well as their doubts and aggravations. When Eli gets stubborn and angry with Ash, you get why while at the same time commiserating with Ash over the walls Eli has erected. I just loved these two. And my only quibble would be that at the end, I wish I could have seen more of their future together but perhaps that is another story.
Either way I know I will be picking this book up again in the future so I can settle back into the lives of Eli and Ash.

It only takes one night with Ash Gallagher to make Eli Hollister think he’s finally met the right man at the right time. Good thing he doesn’t bet on it, because Ash turns out to be a student in Eli’s class at the local college. Eli can’t deny he’s attracted, but now it’s complicated. He’s already in enough trouble with the department head, a man who would like to see Eli denied his tenure and fired.

Ash is looking forward to taking his life in a new direction. After serving one active-duty stint in the Marine Corps and another in the Reserves, he’s ready to put his military life behind him. The last new experience he’d planned for this semester was to fall in lust with his English professor, but the more Eli resists, the more Ash is determined to have him. Then he discovers Eli’s playing for keeps, and Ash is only interested in a fling… or is he? Between these two, when it comes to life and love, all bets are off.

Available from Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, and All Romance.
“http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/2515670-melaniem54msn-com”>View all my reviews</a>

I knew this book would be heartbreaking from the very beginning. After falling in love with Roan and Paris in the first Infected book, I had been debating how quickly I wanted to delve into this one. I decided on the cowardly choice and read a much lighter book instead. But the characters kept calling me and truthfully, I just had to know what happened next.

As expected, the sniffles started from the very first page. Andrea Speed has created such a mesmerizing universe here populated with beings both memorable and haunting. Roan McKitchen is hired to find a missing girl, a case that turns into a murder with a suspect at each new development. Paris Lehane (Roan’s partner/husband) is involved in a fight of his own as the infection and the Tiger virus take its toll. The warm and loving relationship of these two men (built in this and the first book) is countered by the realities of Paris’ condition and Roan’s attempts to deal with it. Paris and Roan aren’t perfect, and their relationship has taken work. But the pain coming off both men is genuine as are the motions they go through. Denial, anger, depression and bargaining, Roan is dealing with them all as the case of the murdered girl gets murkier. All the people around Roan and Paris are beautifully fleshed out characters, remarkable in the impressions they leave you with. By the time I finished the book, my box of tissues was as empty as I felt. So, can you love a book when you hate whats coming? In my case, yes. Andrea Speed made me care so much about these people that I was drained at the end but would not have missed the journey. With 2 more published books to this series yet.

So I think I will go read something frivolous or one of my comfort reads before I head into the 3rd book. But the pain and heartache of this story is worth it. And it will stay with me for some time to come.

4.75 Stars

In a world where a werecat virus has changed society, Roan McKichan, a born infected and ex-cop, works as a private detective trying to solve crimes involving other infecteds.

The newly married Roan is struggling to balance his work with his home life as he grows increasingly distracted by his husband Paris’s declining health. One case with strong emotions attached takes up most of his time: finding the murderer of a missing little rich girl who winds up dead. But while solving the crime, Roan loses something infinitely precious as well.

 

Today’s quick post is all about those trashy things you secretly love and hide from others, whether it is Twinkies, National Inquirer like magazines or in my case, a new show on Foodnetwork called Bama Glama.

Like all guilty pleasures, I accidentally fell into this one.    Flicking through the channels, I saw this white southern goth guy talking ’bout ‘his brides” and how he takes care of his “brides”.  Now my mind immediately leapt to “sister wife” conclusions but I couldn’t have  been more wrong.  The guy turns out to be Scot Wedgeworth, a southern wedding planner based out of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and “his brides” are his clients.

Here is the blurb from Foodnetwork: “Friday nights on Food Network are about to get a little more fabulous. From incredible food to lush floral arrangements, Alabama event designer Scot Wedgeworth creates one-of-a-kind events in“Bama Glama”, a six-episode original series premiering Friday, December 16 at 8p.m. Eastern/7p.m. Central. With his signature edgy flair, unfiltered sense of humor and volatile team, Scot makes every wedding, birthday party and reception an over-the-top affair.”

From Episode1 it is clear that no one, including Scott, his assistants, caterers, have watched the very network they are appearing on, as his “over the top” decorations and food are strictly southern Baptist circa 1970 (as familiar as I am with my cousins, aunts, uncles etc from Georgia and Alabama).

Whether they are coming up with a potato bar (mashed potatoes in martini glasses with little marshmallows as olive stand-ins) or lemonade stand at the reception, the OMG moments flow fast and furious.  The bride wants cupcakes instead of a cake at the wedding? OMG, the caterer doesn’t know what to do (see Cupcake Wars I would recommend).  But she comes up with white cupcakes in a floral paper cup! Nope never been done before.  And Scott’s floral arrangments?  Look the same in every show, except of course, with the roses and corn specialty he created.   It  had a row of corn standing up surrounded by a row of roses.  I can’t make these things up.  I giggled for minutes.

If I had a recommendation (and one I would have followed when I was in college) is that this be viewed along with shots of tequila.  One snort/giggle=a shot.  The party would be rolling pretty quick.  Last night the menu was mashed potatoes with a sprig of parsley in the middle, overcooked green beans with huge hunks of  ham in a peculiar lavender color floating on top, and squares of chicken with white gravy in a bowl.  And the caterer was horrified that the bride wanted a corn dish because that would be tacky. God, I love this show.

So tune in on Saturday on the Foodnetwork and watch.  A remarkable addition to the growing pantheon of reality TV.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5  I liked it but wouldn’t read it again.

Lessons In Love is the first in the Cambridge Fellows series and my first introduction to Orlando Coppersmith and Jonty Stewart, fellows at St. Bridge’s College, Cambridge. Set in Edwardian England, civility and restraint are the rules of the day and even the hint of homosexuality can bring incarceration or the gallows.

Dr. Orlando Coppersmith is repressed and aloof, consumed by mathematics. Dr. Jonathan (Jonty) Stewart teaches English and Literature in a manner that welcomes interaction with both peer and student alike. Opposites clash when Jonty mistakenly claims Dr. Coppersmith’s chair at High Table and is set to right by that gentleman. But repression can conceal innocence and a friendly manner can hide a traumatic past as both gentlemen get to know each other better and begin the course of their relationship.

Meanwhile, a murderer stalks the halls and lawns of St. Bride’s, killing young men with a predilection for homosexuality. With that threat hanging over their new found feelings for each other, Jonty and Orlando set off to help the local Constabulary to solve the mystery and catch the murderer.

I often felt as I was reading this story that I was gazing at a story as a tintype. The language used, the sights evoked, all seemed to be filtered through a sepia colored light. Like gazing through the window at a antiques shop, I felt that there was always a barrier between me and the characters. I liked them, enjoyed them even but never quite felt their pain or insecurities.

Some of the real delights of this book are discovering Edwardian sweets with such wonderful names as Bulleyes, Liquorice Allsorts and Mint Lumps. Or going on in search of the meaning of Rugby terms so I would a better understanding of the positions each man played on the team. Charlie Cochrane’s descriptions of Cambridge 1902 were so very real that I felt like freshening up the fire to keep away the cold in the rooms myself as I read.

I did find the innocence of the young versus the arrogance of position and power strong images throughout the book (in the Edwardian age) and as it plays out in our society today. I am also hoping to find that as I continue through the series that my detachment from the characters begins to diminish the more I become acquainted with them. At any rate, onward I go to the 2nd in the series and the furthering of Jonty and Orlando’s relationship.

I also found the cover didn’t look as though it went with the story.  The men look too modern for 1905 Cambridge, England and doesn’t seem to belong to the story inside.

Blurb from Linden Bay Press: When Jonty Stewart takes up a teaching post at the college where he studied, the handsome and outgoing young man acts as a catalyst for change within the archaic institution. He also has a catalytic effect on Orlando Coppersmith.

Orlando is a brilliant, introverted mathematician with very little experience of life outside the college walls. He strikes up an alliance with the outgoing Jonty, and soon finds himself having feelings he’s never experienced before. Before long their friendship blossoms into more than either man had hoped and they enter into a clandestine relationship.

Their romance is complicated when a series of murders is discovered within St. Bride’s. All of the victims have one thing in common, a penchant for men. While acting as the eyes and ears for the police, a mixture of logic and luck leads them to a confrontation with the murderer—can they survive it?

This is the first book of Andrea Speed’s that I read and it is a case of love at first read.  Infected Prey includes the first two books in this series and what a fabulous introduction to this author.

The world created here is one in which a werecat virus has spread much like HIV through society and governments are struggling to deal with it much like they did with AIDS in the initial stages of discovery and scientific research.  At this time, there is no idea how this blood born pathogen came into being although it is suggested that the government might have something to do with it.  Again, much like HIV, some are born with it (virus children) and some are infected, whether by accident (transfusions) or intention (attacks or choice).

Roan McKichan was born an infected child.  Now grown, he is a ex-cop and P.I.  The years of growing up unwanted and in abusive foster homes, have left him wary, cynical, and  isolated.  His partner, Paris Lehane, is a Infected by malevolent intent and carries the rare Tiger strain.  Paris is the only one that Roan lets get close to him physically and more importantly, emotionally.  The heart of this book is  the relationship between these two men, both incredibly different and yet deeply in love with each other.  Two unique voices that leap off the page and demand your attention.

In Andrea Speed’s world, shifting from one species to another is not an easy matter.  In fact, it’s painful, debilitating, and in some cases lethal.   Those Infected are caged during their change for society’s protection, whether it is cages at home supplied by the State or at the Police Station in a special ward.  Still, there are some who wish to be Infected themselves and the Church of the Divine Transformation draws those individuals like flies to raw meat.  And someone is killing them.

Hired by the head of the Church to find the killer, Roan and his lover, Paris, struggle to find the killer while dealing with the dynamics of their relationship, their health problems, and the fact that Roan is changing in ways neither man can grasp.

Intense, sometimes funny, and always addictive.  Here is Roan in a mall store trying to get information from a clerk:

Roan: “I’m a cat, yeah. I’m a virus child.”

“Really?” Her eyes were shining now. He was another boring adult when he walked in, but now he was suddenly exotic and appealing. “Cool.” He thought of Paris’s breaking bones, and wanted to backhand her across the face.”

Short, succinct, and telling.

There are more in this series, four published and another on the way.

I give this a 4.5 and am on my way to starting the second book, Infected Bloodlines, that looks to be a heartbreaker.  I’ll let you all know what I find.

But in the meantime, pick this one up.  Let me know what you think.  I think you will love it.

Speed, Andrea. Infected Prey (Kindle Locations 1678-1682). Dreamspinner Press.

Blurb: “In a world where a werecat virus has changed society, Roan McKichan, a born infected and ex-cop, works as a private detective trying to solve crimes involving other infecteds.

The murder of a former cop draws Roan into an odd case where an unidentifiable species of cat appears to be showing an unusual level of intelligence. He juggles that with trying to find a missing teenage boy, who, unbeknownst to his parents, was “cat” obsessed. And when someone is brutally murdering infecteds, Eli Winters, leader of the Church of the Divine Transformation, hires Roan to find the killer before he closes in on Eli.

Working the crimes will lead Roan through a maze of hate, personal grudges, and mortal danger. With help from his tiger-strain infected partner, Paris Lehane, he does his best to survive in a world that hates and fears their kind… and occasionally worships them.”