Status Update

Because I don't update my website often enough... (this weekend, swear to god, it'll happen)

What the heck am I doing lately? When are my new releases coming out? What are they, even, and why am I so terrible at promo?

We'll just disregard that last question and move right along.

What I'm working on currently: Redstone, and am having to resist the temptation to jump ahead to the next story in the Bonded universe, which will go back to Cody and Ten and everyone, with a heavy side focus on Jonah. Make of that what you will.

Also, my NaNo project this year is the beginning of my next Samhain project, which is a complicated contemporary that I'm grappling with like the Nemean Lion. Fear not, I will skin this bitch and hang it's wordy carcass on my wall before deadline.

Upcoming releases: I've got a coauthored short story with Caitlin Ricci called Worth the Wait in this year's Dreamspinner Advent Calendar, available in December: Advent Calendar

The whole collection is on sale right now, so if you're interested, it's a good time to jump on it. Our story is sweet and feel-good and involves freezing your ass off in line in front of a bookstore to get what you want, a feeling I know I'm not alone in.

On January 13th my novella Dangerous Territory will be re-released through Less Than Three Press: Dangerous Territory

It's an m/m, alt history, shapeshifting adventure story that was originally published in Storm Moon Press' Forgotten Menagerie anthology, but has since been re-edited and given a beautiful new cover. I want to be up front: this is a re-release, folks, so if you read it in the original antho, don't expect anything drastically new here.

In February I've got Shadows and Light coming out with Pride Publishing, formerly Totally Bound. This is one that I first published on Literotica years ago, and has been edited to within an inch of its life, is getting beautiful cover art I can't show off yet, and released as a 70k novel. I'm pretty sure if you've read my stuff for years (which some of you have--crazy, I love you) you've read this one, but I'm pleased to be releasing it as a real, grown-up book. I mean, magical pseudo-vampires and BDSM. What's not to love?

In April Tempest comes out with Samhain, which is ridiculously exciting because they're an amazing company and this, honestly, is a pretty epic book. My longest publication to date, a dark fantasy that nevertheless pulls it out at the end, I'm so excited for this one. Cover soon! I also get to go to the Romantic Times conference in Vegas in April, so this is looking to be a good month.

Last thing I know for sure: Panopolis #3 will come out with Riptide in May. No cover or link yet (I'm still doing edits, pray for my soul) but I'm really, really happy with how this one came out. I think it'll surprise people. More info for you when I have it.

That's all I know, on the writing front. Personally, my honey and I are going to travel to Cambodia at some point next year to visit my darling MIL, who is working with the Peace Corps there. Japan this year, Cambodia next year: I know a lot of fucking awesome, travelsome people. I'm lucky to be able to go and visit them on their adventures.

So! My calendar for the forseeable future. ;)

Various Cool Things!

Well, damn.

So, last year Caitlin Ricci and I wrote Camellia, a contemporary BDSM novella with Japanese tea ceremonies and spankings. It did...okay, but didn't make a big splash and I was ready to fire off a quick sequel and move on to other things when, just recently, I learned that it earned an Honorable Mention in this year's Rainbow Awards. That doesn't make it a winner, exactly, but it does mean that whoever read it (two different people, I think, since we got two comments) liked it well enough to score it at least 36/40 on the judging scale, and left some lovely observations on it for us:

"Camellia is a beautiful, delicate story that unfolds with the same languid, graceful pacing of a Japanese tea ceremony...and like the ancient art of the ceremony, will engage every one of your senses by the time it concludes. The memory will linger as well, with surprising, subtle strength. And lest you think this story is a snoozefest, I’d best mention the sex was hot enough to leave me wishing for a fan. No fooling."

"I normally do not read lesbian novels or BDSM.  The genres are not my usual preference. However, after reading this book (first in a series), I was genuinely pleased with the dynamic, tight writing style, the beautiful explaination and demonstration of the BDSM lifestyle, and the introduction into the beauty of tea service.  Lucy & Danny are two characters I am willing to visit again & delve deeper into their story."

So wow. Apparently, those who went after this one have really liked it. I'm humbled and pleased, this is my first lesbian story in years, as well as one of my first forays into BDSM, and it seems to resonate. That's awesome, and I'm very happy about it. It's also been nominated for a Golden Crown Literary Society Award, which are awards given solely to lesbian fiction, so...gosh. Guys. Who knew? If you want to give it a try, you can find it on Amazon here: Camellia.

The other cool thing: another co-authored story now has a cover, and it's beautiful. I've got to hand it to LT3 Press, they listen to you when you describe what you want out of a cover and do their best to give it to you. Caitlin and I have a story coming out in an upcoming collection called Hunting A Lady, and here's it's pretty cover:

Oooh, shiny!

Yeah, believe it or not, I do have some new releases coming out in the near future. This story and my Riptide short will be released in the new year, and an M/M science fiction story of mine called Evergreen (which naturally is about the colonization of Mars) will be out in LT3's Missed Connections anthology in November. I've got the serial story, obviously, and several other novels picking at my brain, and a list of calls for submission that I'm set to wrangle. Basically, I'm getting my groove back. I lost it for a while in the crazy rapids of my life, but things are calming down a little bit and so am I.

Missed Connections Anthology

Well, here's something I haven't done in a while: announced a story's acceptance in an anthology.  This one Missed Connections, courtesy of Less Than Three Press, and will technically be my second acceptance from them, although the first isn't published yet.  Here, have some details!

A fleeting glance across a crowded space. Trains passing by in the night. Second chances that weren’t supposed to happen. Old friends reunited. Sometimes rediscovering a person and having new feelings can be just as intense as an initial spark. Whatever the reason for not seeing them is gone, and these men and women are ready to make up for any time missed. LT3 is seeking stories about capturing a moment that was thought to be lost, about reaching out and grabbing hold before they’re gone forever, and always, always, about finding their happy ending.

***

My particular story is called Evergreen, and is less about a missed connection than about failure to launch.  Literally: my boys are astronauts in the space program of 2067, training for a one-way mission to Mars.  They meet, they fall in love, everything looks good and then--

Well, you'll have to read it to find out:)  I'll post an excerpt here once this bad boy is edited to within an inch of its life.  I'm very excited!  Yay!  Now if only I can bang out my Goodreads story, edits for Camellia and read and review a book for Review The Rainbow over the weekend, my life will be sparkles and magic.