Release Date: January 31st 2017
Genre: Contemporary MM Romance
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Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have E. Davies here today to talk about his story Flaunt and share foods he can’t live without. Ed, we must talk fiddleheads some day! Welcome, Ed!
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Canadian Desert Island Eats to Share
Hello! I’m Ed Davies, and I’m thrilled to be here. I was asked to share the foods I couldn’t live without, and nothing against you all, but there are some of these foods I won’t share… Writing requires brain food, but don’t worry, absolutely none of my favorite foods are healthy or brainy.
To add an extra twist, I’m making a list of strictly favorite foods I associate with my home country, Canada. Some of these are widely available throughout North America and the world, some not so much!
Corn Puffs
Seriously. I can eat a bag of these in one sitting. They’re also impossible to find here in the UK, which has driven me mad over the last two years. You can only squeeze two bags into a checked bag, and one into a carry-on… not that I’d know that from personal experience. They seem plain–cornmeal, veggie oil, salt, water—but from the plainest ingredients comes pure magic.
Maple Syrup
Okay, an obvious choice for a Canadian list, I grant you. But hear me out! There’s no syrup like the darkest, richest syrup straight from a Quebec forest. None of that buttery maple syrup stuff, please. When you grow up in Canada, the history module you repeat every year is about the boil-off every winter, when maple sap was boiled down to syrup. They’d pour some onto the snow, where it freezes into a crunchy, hard candy. Proof of Canadian status: when I moved out of my most recent house, I uncovered two bottles of maple syrup, just in case I ran out of it.
Fiddleheads
These are a very Atlantic Canadian food. They’re a specific type of fern that has to be carefully cooked before eating, and they have a unique taste I really can’t describe… the earthiness of mushrooms, yet lightness of fresh greens, with an extra twist. And they can be made ultra-gourmet: four years ago, I had a bowl of fiddlehead cream soup that I still haven’t forgotten.
Sweet & Sour Chick’n
Huh? This isn’t very Canadian… except for the strong tradition of Chinese-Canadian restaurants. There are fascinating articles online on the history of Chinese food in Canada. Throughout the country, but especially in BC—jumping to the other coast now—there’s a long history of Chinese-Canadian families running buffets. Although sweet’n’sour chicken is probably familiar to everyone, I associate it with honey buns, rice paper candies, and a hundred other little tastes of Vancouver’s Chinatown.
Poutine
When I cut out cheese from my diet, oh man… this was the hardest thing to go. I’d been gradually cutting back for a long time, and I could live without most other forms of dairy, but poutine was a hard one to give up. But only the stuff made with cheese curds, not fake poutine with shredded mozzarella! That stuff’s a crime against poutine. The curds should also be fresh enough that they squeak.
Kraft Dinner
It’s probably half-plastic, and I don’t even care. I stopped eating it when I cut out cheese, but I found a very suitable vegan alternative and I still eat it… er… embarrassingly often. But sometimes, that little craving sneaks in for some genuine, Canadian KD. Reminds me of my university days…
Kinder Eggs
Again, a predictable choice, but who didn’t grow up with these? I feel for the Americans who have to smuggle these across the border. The chocolate itself isn’t even the tastiest, but waiting to finish the chocolate before you open the plastic egg makes it taste better. Sometimes you’d get a disappointing toy, which is defined as one that doesn’t do anything, and that you didn’t even have to assemble. Other times, it was a cool wind-up car or paper airplane, or something you wouldn’t expect to fit into an egg!
Food famously brings people together—shared memories of it, and unique traditions. In Flaunt, my newest release, Kyle is used to late night pizza with his boss, for example, and Nic finds himself thrilled to get home to cooked meals when he starts sharing his house with Kyle. It’s one of those small, yet hugely important details that can tell you so much about a person. I’d love to hear more about your favorite foods and food memories!
BLURB
“He’s waiting for me to ask, and I’m afraid.”
“I’m just one more gay guy here.”
Moving to the suburbs of L.A. was supposed to give Nic Montero a fresh start. After escaping his family, coming out as a gay trans man, and excelling in computer programming out of desperation to get financially stable or die, everything should be easy. But joining gay culture now, post-transition, feels impossible… until he runs into the force of nature that is Kyle. Everything Nic isn’t, Kyle embodies. Green hair, garters and cut-off shorts, sports jerseys, and all, brash Kyle is the most gorgeous man he’s ever laid eyes on, and he pulls Nic headlong into the center of his world. If only Nic felt like enough for a man like Kyle.
“One-night stands are my only option.”
Loud, loving, and too much for most men to handle, Kyle Everett catches eyes and occasionally scorn… even at his job at the local HIV charity, Plus. His days and nights are spent at work, his precious spare moments spent with his son, Kevin, when it’s his turn to co-parent, or his best friend, drag queen River. He only has money or time for cheap flings, but the lanky otter who walks into his life makes Kyle want to hold him for longer than a night. He knows what it’s like for Nic to be without a family, but he isn’t brave enough to let this man into his life… until his charity is targeted by bigots, and Nic’s there for him.
“I’ll stay with you if you’re brave enough to be you.”
Nic spent his twenties avoiding family and even his own femininity, but his yearning is impossible to ignore. Kyle’s used to flying solo, but Nic offers him safety and fills gaps in his life he never realized existed and now can’t stand. Living in close proximity, they can’t run from their attraction, but they’re each used to being rejected, with the emotional scars to prove it. Can two men who feel like they’re not enough and too much find something just right?
Flaunt is a steamy, stand-alone gay romance novel with a HEA ending and no cliffhanger.
Purchase: Amazon US | Amazon UK
Goodreads
EXCERPT
“Welcome to our headquarters! Er, not that we have other locations. Not full-time, anyway. Don’t worry about being late. I’m not even ready. I’m so sorry.” This had to be Kyle— the voice on the intercom matched this peppy yet sibilant, rapid-fire speech.
“I— that’s fine,” Nic assured Kyle with a quiet laugh. He was relieved not to be in trouble for showing up late, nor for showing up in formalwear when everyone else was probably going casual. “GPS pointed me the wrong way.”
“Oh, they do that! Right this way, please.” Kyle scanned his card against a reader near the staircase door. When he twirled to hold the staircase door open, his skirt flared out a little.
Kyle was wearing a skirt, over men’s skinny jeans and boots, and a blouse, and chest hair peeked out from the top of the blouse, his biceps unmistakeable. And his suspenders reached under the skirt, presumably to his jeans waistband. It made Nic wonder if he was wearing garters, which was a wholly inappropriate thought for their first meeting.
He awkwardly stepped through the doorway and Kyle brushed past him to trot upstairs at top speed, already talking again.
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About the Author
E. Davies was proficient in real estate ad shorthand (the old-fashioned newspaper kind) by the age of nine. Growing up moving constantly taught him what people have in common, the ways relationships are formed, and the dangers of “miscellaneous” boxes.
As a teen, he tore through a stack of found romance novels, wishing someone had written similar for M/M, though he could never find anything at Chapters or the library. Just after graduating university in 2013, semi-out and clutching his English B.A. for dear life, he stumbled on an Amazon M/M short story. It was a whole new… phrase he dares not repeat for fear of lawyers. It shone and shimmered splendidly, though.
After failing forty times to avoid crafting happily-ever-after endings for steamy short stories, he plunged into romance novels and hasn’t looked back. As a young gay author whose formative gay fictional role models were characters punished for their sexuality, Ed prefers his stories lightly dramatic, full of optimism and hope.
Now out and proud, he writes full-time, goes on long nature walks, tries to fill his passport, drinks piña coladas on the beach, flees from cute guys, coos over fuzzy animals (especially bees), and is liable to tilt his head and click his tongue if you don’t use your turn signal.
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Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon
After breaking up with his partner, English professor Dr. Derek Chandler feels like a failure who will never win at romance. His aloof colleague, Dr. Macon Pinney, disagrees and pens an anonymous note of encouragement to Derek, which he signs “Cupid.” Thus begins an exchange of correspondence, a courtship through words where the two men find out they have a great deal in common. Meanwhile, Derek reaches out to Macon, not knowing Macon is his anonymous pen pal. Derek reveals through his letters that someone close by has piqued his interest. Could he mean Macon—or has Macon missed his opportunity and lost Derek to another man?
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 