gay fiction

Review Tour for TC Orton ‘s Iudicium (giveaway)

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Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK


Length: 61,000 words


Each Path Choice: 30-40k words


Blurb

After being incarcerated at a prison that leans over the edge of the world, Fayt must do whatever it takes to escape (or simply survive) the horrors that await him. You will take control of Fayt and guide him on his path, but be careful, for not everyone posing as an ally will lead you down the road to freedom.

Note: This is an interactive story, and it is important that you keep a record of your choices close by.

July 3 – Queer SciFi
 
Author Bio


Born January 6th 1993, T. C. resides in the United Kingdom, living with his partner Peter Jones and their dog, Drake.

T. C. has had a passion for supernatural stories from a young age, often scribbling down his latest ideas instead of focusing on whatever task was at hand during the long school days. At the age of twelve, he penned his first romance story featuring himself and the boy he had feelings for set in a fantastical land full of werewolves and wizards. Ever since that day, T. C. has made it his mission to entwine his leading gay protagonists with epic paranormal adventures.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TcOrtonBooks

Giveaway

Sean Michael on Characters, Writing and his release “A New Way To Dance by Sean Michael” (guest blog, excerpt and giveaway)

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A New Way to Dance by Sean Michael

Add to Goodreads

Release Date: June 20, 2017
Heat Level: 4 – Lots of Sex
Pairing: Male/Male
Length: 65,000 Words | 262 Pages
Genre: Contemporary Gay Romance, M/M Romance, BDSM
Add to Goodreads

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to host Sean Michael here today. Welcome, Sean!

♦︎

Thank you to Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words for hosting me today!

The first character that came to me to ask for his story told for A New Way to Dance was Seth, the dancer. And I know exactly where he came from. I had seen a number of images of dancers, and several videos of male dancers doing their thing.

These guys are in such good shape – not an ounce of fat anywhere, muscles shown off to best advantage in skin tight leotards. Muscles that are being pushed as far as they can. On top of that, they’re interpreting the music, putting so much emotion into each move. It is a wonderful combination.

Every time I saw a picture or a video, the knowledge that I was going to have a character who was a dancer became deeper. Then suddenly there was Seth with this sad story of his nasty breakup and as soon as I had that, Brook came running to claim Seth as his own.

I hope you enjoy their story!

Sean

smut fixes everything

Excerpt:

“You’re sure I can’t get you anything to eat?”

“I haven’t exercised enough to. You won’t offend me if you eat, though. Honestly.”

“I’m not hungry yet—I had that cheesecake.” Brook tilted his head. “So how many calories a day do you eat?”

“I try to keep it under twelve hundred.” Not that it was any of Brook’s business. He averaged a thousand on days he didn’t exercise.

Brook looked at him like he was crazy. “You must be skin and bones.”

He wasn’t huge, he guessed. He answered with a long, steady look that was meant to tell Brook to back the fuck off.

Brook shook his head like he’d just got it. “Okay. Movie. What are you in the mood for?”

“What’s your favorite?” He felt a little embarrassed, a little silly for being here. It had been obvious that Brook had been interested when they’d met previously, but now… Seth was awkward.

“Oh, I could never just pick one.” Brook laughed. “Maybe if you picked a genre…”

“How about something campy and fun?”

“We could do the grandfather of campy and fun—Rocky Horror?”

“It’s just a jump to the left?”

They sang the next few verses together, Seth surprising himself with his laughter.

Brook pointed to the couch and he moved there while Brook found the movie and put it in the player. Then the man joined him.

He sipped his drink, shifting as he tried to find a comfortable spot.

Brook offered him a couple of pillows and he managed to get them adjusted to where he was mostly comfortable. And sort of leaning against his host.

“Sorry, is this okay?”

“I’m great, are you comfortable?”

He nodded. He was, very.

So comfortable, in fact, that he dozed off before Janet and Brad got to Frankfurter’s house.

Synopsis

Dancer Seth Avery has it all. He’s at the top of his game as a dancer and he’s in love with famous dance director Fayden DelMonaco, the man who is his sub. Seth’s whole world is turned upside down when Fayden dumps him in the nastiest and most public way possible. To compound matters, he’s in near fatal car crash shortly thereafter that leaves him severely injured.

Brook Turner is an ex-lawyer turned micro-brewer, baby-brother of Seth’s best friend Lizzie. The two met briefly before Seth’s accident, but it’s when they meet again six years later that they get a chance to act on the attraction they’d initially felt.

With Brook’s help, Seth begins to heal not only from his residual physical injuries, but also from the emotional ones inflicted by Fayden. Will it be enough to keep the two of them together?

Join Seth and Brooke as they find a new way to dance together.

Excerpt

“Did you see USA Today, man?” Julian plopped down, eyes wide. “Fayden is… Well, he’s not naming names, but…”

Seth looked at one of his oldest friends and arguably the best choreographer he knew and tried not to growl. “I saw.”

He saw. His brother saw. His mom saw. His neighbor. Fayden’s sister. Ernie at the fucking convenience store where he bought his daily diet energy shot saw.

“World-Famous Director Escapes from Abusive Sex-Slave Relationship! Says He Feared for His Life!”

Sex slave.

Christ.

Ten years they’d been together. He’d been nineteen when he’d met Fay. Nineteen and horny and amazed that a man almost twenty years his senior with money and power and the most beautiful eyes on earth would want a dancer in the chorus.

“It’s all lies,” Julian told him. “You should sue him.”

“Just drop it, Jules. It’s no big deal.”

Just a huge, life-changing, world-altering deal.

Julian’s eyebrow went up, the man not saying another word but still speaking volumes.

“What do you want me to say? I… I don’t have anything.” He had an apartment. The cops had let him take his car and computer—after they’d copied the hard drive for evidence.

Evidence.

Christ.

“Honey, I’m on your side here.” Julian hugged him.

“I know. I do. Thank God for that.” Who else would he have called from the jail? His lawyer was Fay’s. His friends were Fay’s. Julian was it. His saving grace.

“Come on out with me tonight. There’s a new bar that we haven’t ever been to—he won’t be there.”

“No. Not yet. I’m not going out right now. I need to recover.” Seth needed his space.

“You need someone to take the bad taste of that asshole out of your mouth,” Julian said.

Seth blinked, then started laughing, deep, full belly laughs that felt so good. God, this sucked so hard. “I caught him with another man. That new dancer. Dylan.”

Dylan was nineteen now. Ah, the irony.

“Shit, he’s old enough to be that boy’s grandfather!”

“Yeah. Well, you know…” Seth was going to lie down and die, simple as that. Okay, he wasn’t, but he was going to pretend to, mentally.

“You think we should warn Dylan what a predator asshole he is?”

“Poor, innocent, victimized Fay?” He shrugged. “You wait. I’ll stop getting jobs soon.” It was inevitable.

Julian shook his head. “That’s not fair.” Seth noticed that his friend didn’t say it wasn’t going to happen.

“Life’s not fair. I have to work out and head home. I have an audition for a music video in the morning.” Hopefully he’d make a good impression. It would be good to put some money in the bank before the jobs started drying up.

Julian hugged Seth tight. “If there’s anything I can do, honey…”

“I love you, honest. Maybe we’ll meet for brunch on Sunday? Somewhere new?” Somewhere the paparazzi and Fayden wouldn’t be.

“You got it. Text me the deets.”

“Absolutely.” He grabbed his coffee and headed out of the little coffee shop outside of the studio he’d rehearsed in most of his adult life.

He was going to lose that too, he’d bet. Everything was going to just disappear because Fay had decided to trade him in for a younger model and was doing it in the nastiest way possible. Seth could feel everyone staring at him, could hear people talking about him.

He couldn’t stand it anymore and it was only going to get worse.

“Hey. Seth. I…” Lizzie Bean came up, took his arm, the leggy dancer as tall as he was. They’d worked together a hundred times at least. “I don’t know what to say except that I love you, man, and people suck.”

He made this weird half-tickled, half-surprised sound. “They totally do. God, they do.”

“Come have supper with us? Mel is grilling chicken.”

Mel was an amazing cook. And it was tempting, being with people who wouldn’t look at him like he was a monster.

“Please. Come on. You look exhausted and I promise to just feed you foods with no real calories and ply you with wine.” She put her hand on his arm. “Please.”

“God, you’re so demanding.” Seth nodded, though, found a smile. “Let’s go.”

She beamed at him and slid her hand into the crook of his elbow when they started to walk. Lizzie and Mel lived not that far from the studio in a converted loft with the most amazing roof garden full of potted trees and flowering plants and several large raised areas where they grew vegetables.

Mel was big into farm-to-table cooking and tried to grow as much of his own produce as he could.

Lizzie told him a story about one of Mel’s nephews—the man had far too many nieces and nephews to keep track of—who had gotten a skateboard for his birthday and become the terror of the neighborhood.

Seth tried to laugh in all the right places. Every so often he’d catch sight of himself in a window, just the barest hint, and he’d sigh. He’d really thought Fay was his Mr. Right. They’d been into the same things, the chemistry had been off the charts, they were uber-compatible in bed…

Purchase

Evil Plot Bunny | Amazon

Meet the Author

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

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

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

Sean’s available for interviews, by the way. He can always be talked into, well talking about himself. Just drop him an email.

 

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

Tour Schedule

June 26 – Sue Brown’s Stories |  MillsyLovesBooks | Because Two Men Are Better Than One

June 27 – BFD Book Blog | Stories That Make You Smile

June 28 – The Really Naughty Corner | Happily Ever Chapter | Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews

June 29 – MM Good Book Reviews | Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words | Boy Meets Boy Reviews | Divine Magazine

June 30 – SiK Reviews | Dawn’s Reading Nook | Two Chicks Obsessed

Giveaway

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An Alisa Review: That Alien Feeling by Alessandra Hazard

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Rating:  4 stars out of 5

 

Banished by his parents to the third planet in the Sol system, Prince Harht’ngh’chaali of the Second Grand Clan is completely fascinated by its inhabitants. Assuming the human name “Harry,” he tries to pass for a human to survive, but being human is so much harder than Harry expected. Humans are so confusing.

 

Adam Crawford isn’t looking for love. Financially secure and good-looking, he’s in a good place in his life. He doesn’t mean to fall in love with the quirky guy working at the coffee shop near his office. Harry is ridiculous—and ridiculously endearing. He wears ugly shirts and flowers in his hair, and he has a kind word for everyone. Adam falls hard and fast.

 

Little does he know that Harry isn’t what he seems and anything between them is impossible.

 

Star-crossed love between a human man and an alien prince from a world half a galaxy away.

 

I really enjoyed this book.  However I was a little ticked when I first started reading about Harry having a fiancé back on his planet.  Thankfully this all worked out and there isn’t any actual cheating but when I first started reading I was a little dismayed by this.

 

Harry is really innocent both on his home planet and on earth, adorably so.  He feels drawn to Adam from their first meeting and as their friendship grows so do his feelings.  Adam can’t help but be charmed by Harry and his quirks.  Their lives quickly intertwine even as Harry has to keep his life a secret.

 

This story is told from both of the characters’ points of view which allowed me to see both of their feelings and what they had to deal with when apart.  Harry can’t tell Adam the complete truth and it truly hurts him especially when he is taken away.  Adam is destroyed when Harry disappears not once but twice and isn’t quite so willing to allow Harry back right away.  There was a lot to overcome in this book to allow these two to really be together, but unfortunately it is done when they apart from each other so they aren’t really given much opportunity to work together on this.  I can’t wait to read about Ksar and Syen in the next book.

 

Cover art as adorable as Harry is in the story and I think it’s perfect.

 

Sales Link: Amazon  

 

Book Details:

ebook, 196 pages

Published: May 30, 2017 by Alessandra Hazard

Edition Language: English

An Alisa Review: The Sky at Night by Wayne Mansfield

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Rating:  3 stars out of 5

 

When Armand happens to look down into his new neighbor’s yard one night and discovers him lying on his back, staring up at the night sky, he doesn’t know what to think. It doesn’t happen every night, but it happens often enough for Armand’s curiosity to be piqued.

 

When they finally meet, Armand falls instantly in lust with Ben, a dentist with an interest Armand can only describe as out-of-the-ordinary. As they get to know each other, Armand’s feelings towards Ben blossom into love. Yet Ben reveals he has recently come out of a six-year relationship and isn’t quite ready for anyone special in his life. Armand is disappointed but learns to live with the fact he and Ben might only ever be friends.

 

But the future is a strange and wonderful thing. When Armand starts to show a fondness for Ben’s unusual interest, it leads to more than one surprise event.

 

This was much more a story of friendship than romance to me.  Armand has been attracted to his new neighbor since he first saw him and jumps at the chance to get to know him better.  He gains a wonderful new friend and new interest for them to share as they get to know each other.

 

We see this story from Armand’s point of view and don’t really get to see Ben’s emotions as he keeps them hidden a bit.  We see their friendship develop from their first real meeting to great friends that see each other a few times a week and spending a lot of time together.  Ben finally opens up near the end of the story giving Armand the chance to have what he has been hoping to have for months.

 

The cover art by Written Ink Designs is understated but is perfect for this story.

 

Sales Links: JMS Books | Amazon | B&N

 

Book Details:

ebook, 36 pages

Published: May 20, 2017 by JMS Books

ISBN: 9781634863865

Edition Language: English

Release Blitz & Review Tour for Better Than Suicide (The Yakuza Path #2) by Amy Tasukada

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Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK


Length: 86,000 words


The Yakuza Path Series


Blood Stained Tea (Book #1) Amazon US | Amazon UK


Blurb

A stash of drugs. A twisted cop. A mob on the verge of self-destruction…

Nao Murata is the new godfather of the Matsukawa syndicate. When Detective Yamada confronts Nao over a dead drug dealer, Nao knows his organization isn’t responsible. The Matsukawa doesn’t deal drugs… or does it?

When Nao discovers drugs in a locker owned by his syndicate, he no longer knows who to trust. With the police bearing down on the Matsukawa, Nao must make unlikely allies to find out the truth. Can he discover who is betraying him before time runs out, or will everyone suffer for a crime he didn’t commit?

Better Than Suicide is the second book in a Japanese mafia thriller series. If you like complex plots, gripping suspense, and a splash of romance, then you’ll love the next installment in Amy Tasukada’s Yakuza Path series.

Buy Better Than Suicide to start the race against the clock today!

This can be read as a standalone. 



Author Bio

Amy Tasukada lives in a catless home in North Texas. (She enjoys cats but can’t quite make that kind of commitment yet.) As an only child her day dreams kept her entertained, and at age ten she started to put them to paper. Since then her love of writing hasn’t cease. When she’s not chasing after stray cats, she can be found drinking hot tea and filming Japanese street fashion hauls on her Youtube channel.



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David Pratt on Wallaçonia, his latest novel and the Inspiration Behind it(Author Guest Blog)

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Wallaçonia by David Pratt

Title: WALLAÇONIA  (woll-uh-SO-nee-uh)

Publisher: Beautiful Dreamer Press, 309 Cross Street, Nevada City, CA  95959
Distributor: Ingram
Release Date: April, 2017

Available for Purchase at

Beautiful Dreamer Press

✒︎

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have David Pratt back again to talk about his latest novel, Wallaçonia, and the inspiration behind it.  Welcome, David.

✒︎

“Who Is Michael?” by David Pratt

I dedicated Wallaçonia “to Michael, with my greatest appreciation.” I’d like to tell you about Michael.

One of the curious features of Wallaçonia is that it’s eighteen-year-old hero feels bullied and excluded, he actually turns out to have done some bullying of his own. Early in the book, he confesses to picking on a smaller, weaker, odder kid when they were both in middle school. He wishes he could see that kid again and make it right. For a long time I had that wish myself. I don’t remember when I decided to include this part of my young life in Wallaçonia. I just felt I had to. I had to confess, as it were. When I was a confused, put-upon middle schooler, I picked on Michael. In the book I call him Nate.

I have tried to find Michael online. Unfortunately his name is quite common. He wanted to be a rabbi, but even when I add “rabbi,” there are still lots of men with his name. One in particular is kind of a local hero in Oregon. Like Jim in Wallaçonia, I was irritated by chubby, effeminate, chatty Michael’s attempts to engage me over and over, to associate me with his weakness. I was also probably irritated that I responded. The cool kids, the masculine boys simply ignored him. As though he didn’t exist. I was drawn to him. And repulsed by him. The association with him was a sign of my fate, and I hated that and found opportunities to insult him or push him away.

I was never, ever violent with Michael, but, egged on by me, a classmate once took aggression against Michael too far. I stood there shocked as this boy gripped Michael around the neck and pushed his head back against a wall. I watched Michael’s face go red, his face in shock. This had not been my intention. I had tried to feel big and masculine by picking on Michael, but an even bigger, more real, more dangerous masculinity now asserted itself. Something we both feared. Something I had never meant to happen.

Of course, years more of being the weak one and the outsider, and I finally came to appreciate what Michael endured at my hands and the hands of us all. Michael could not disguise his effeminacy or his nerdiness. At the same time, he could not escape the clutches of an overbearing mother (in our one encounter she threatened to call the cops on me) and a father, himself a rabbi, who clearly had single-minded expectations. I wonder how the expectations and the effeminacy eventually sorted out. Did he become a rabbi, while everyone turned a blind eye? Or did he rebel? Move away? Keep secrets?

In Wallaçonia we eventually find out how “Nate” grows up. The necessities of fiction made me give Nate a future Michael very likely could not have. So while I appreciate what Michael went through, I really did not give him his due. (I am not saying just what I gave grown-up Nate that Michael could not have, because it would involve spoilers aplenty!) I still would like to apologize to Michael, if he could hear what I have to say. If there would not be a communication gap because I would be talking “gay,” and he would by now be far beyond closeted, going through the motions for a lifetime, to the point that he would actually be the motions. That would be a new level of Michael to appreciate. A communication we can never have. A person he can never be, never conceive. A book that I might like to write, but that perhaps can never be written.

“Sharp, focused, super-intense, and special. It’s rare to find a novel with such a beautifully rendered friendship between a young gay man and an older mentor. I’ll remember the relationship between Jim and Pat for a long, long time.”

—Bill Konigsberg, author of Openly Straight and The Porcupine of Truth

 

About Wallaçonia

“My name is James Howard Wallace, and I always wanted to be normal.” Every young man should have a mentor. Jim Wallace is about to prove for good and all how “normal” he is when he finds himself getting close to Pat Baxter, his neighbor next door. Pat befriends Jim, reveals to him his own heartbreaking story, and in the end helps him know who he really is and where he wants to go with his life. Along the way, Jim must decide what to tell his parents and his girlfriend, Liz, and he must confront an old acquaintance who unexpectedly comes back into his life.

Price: $13.95 – see sales links above
Trim Size: 5.5” x 8.5”, 270 pages
ISBN: 978-0-9981262-0-3
Audience: LGBT, Young Adult, Family Life

Trailer on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/211172226

About the Author

DAVID PRATT

is the author of three published novels: Bob the Book (Chelsea Station Editions), which won a 2011 Lambda Literary Award; Looking After Joey, soon to be re-released by Lethe Press; and Wallaçonia, a young adult novel released March 25, 2017 by Beautiful Dreamer Press. Several of his short stories are collected in the volume My Movie (Chelsea Station); three of these stories are being adapted as a film by San Francisco-based director Joseph Graham.

David Pratt won a 2011 Lambda Literary Award for his novel Bob the Book. He published a collection of stories, My Movie, in 2012, and another novel, Looking After Joey, in 2014. Praise for David Pratt’s Work:

For Bob the Book: “Sure to make you laugh…highly recommended.”—After Elton; “A rare and extraordinary accomplishment.”—Lambda Literary

For My Movie: “Character-driven narratives that cannily encapsulate small personal revelations and lead to gratifying endings.”—Lambda Literary; “An important voice in LGBT literature.”—Examiner.com

For Looking After Joey: “The laughs never stop coming; neither do the deep truths this tender book reveals on every page.”—Joel Derfner, author of Swish

Marketing:

National print and media campaign.
National tour: NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, Ann Arbor, Milwaukee, New Orleans, SF Bay Area
Free advance reading copies.
Blog tour.
Advertising in IBPA, Lambda Literary.
Social media: Facebook, dedicated web page at BeautifulDreamerPress.com.
For more information or to book a reading, contact Michele Karlsberg Marketing and Management at michelekarlsberg@me.com.

A Kai Review: Nate And The New Yorker (Nate and Cameron #1) by Kevin Klehr

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Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5

Cameron had it all. He was rich, lived in Manhattan, and even had a cross-dressing butler. But then he met Nate, an Australian who was bitter about love. Cameron was determined to turn this realistic into a dreamer by sharing his world of classy restaurants, Broadway shows, and fabulous parties. And while Nate’s friends saw the makings of a fantasy romance, it was Nate who had to learn that in order to open his heart, he had to face a painful secret.
 
Well, It wasn’t easy to start this review. Actually, when I finished the book I had mixed feelings. But after thinking about everything I’m pretty sure this book didn’t work for me as it could.
 
Although I liked the writing style, I didn’t like the rhythm of the story. It was so fast paced and the situation was rushed and unclear. 
 
I also didn’t like Cameron. He was a total dreamer, spoiled and unrealistic. He fell in love with Nate after a week, and ok, I would buy it if I had seen their interaction. But the author skipped these parts. He just showed the first and the last day of them together in New work, and even that was short and rushed. How can the reader relate to a love so fast if the situations where they interact with each other was out of the book? Needless to say, I couldn’t buy them as a couple. Even when they were together I didn’t feel the connection between them. The story was told in Nate POV and in any moment it felt like he was in love with Cameron. 
Although not loving Nate, I liked him. He was a lot more down to earth than Cameron and his interaction with his friends was great.
 
Almost in the end of the book, I realized the story wasn’t really about Nate and Cameron as a couple. This book was about Nate trying and moving on from his past. He had a secret and was stuck in the past and couldn’t break free. It made my eyes tear up when I learned his story. That realization was why my feelings were a little mixed about this novel and why I had, at first, problems rating this book. 
But in general, the book just didn’t work. The plot had so much potential, could be a so great story but the development was lame. I think if the author at least hadn’t cut Cameron and Nate interaction and the story hadn’t been so fast paced, I could have enjoyed it.
 
Even though I didn’t like this book and wouldn’t read it again, I’m looking forward to the next one in the series. Just because I’m curious and want to know if the next will be less rushed. 
 
The cover art by Natasha Snow is nice and suits the book. The image of a gray city can represent the way Nate couldn’t really enjoy New York city because of his past. And in front of it, Cameron as a powerful man and in color, who was supposed to help Nate to let the past behind. I like it.
Sales Links
 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Nate-New-Yorker-Cameron-Book-ebook/dp/B071DCJCSJ

 
Book Details:
 
Ebook: 85 pages
Publication 2 edition: May 1st, 2017 by NineStar Press
Séries: Nate and Cameron
 
Main Characters