Thursday, July 4, 2013

A Holiday, a Blog Hop and a New Release--big post, whoa...

First off, Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans!

(image from www.eyesonnews.com)


I hope you have a delightful day, wherever you are.  If that means no fireworks (like here, because, hello, fire, we've already got it in spades) or a display that lights up the sky, family and friends over or a more thoughtful, solitary day, I wish you the absolute best.  If you're not American, that's cool, I wish you the very best as well, and hope your own independence day is as fervent and meaningful as ours is.

I'm also taking part in the Equal Rights blog hop hosted by Queer Town Abbey:



The topic of the hop is: what does being a member of the GLBT community mean to me?

Those of you who read Love Letters (the story that is both the joy and bane of my existence) know that I've been doing a lot of looking at Revolutionary-era documents for it, and of course one of the most famous of those is our very own Declaration of Independence.  It's a brilliant document, and even more so than the Constitution I think it highlights the spirit on which our country was founded: 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

This, right here, this is important, guys.  I'm not a religious person but I do very fervently believe in equality, regardless of race, creed, gender, sexual orientation, geographic location or any other thing that someone might want to use to force a divide or build up a boundary.  Being a member of the GLBT community for me means being true to myself and my thoughts and feelings, while honoring the wide variety of personal realities that other people bring to the table.  It means reaching out to new people, learning new things and new perspectives and not letting myself be boxed in to one way of thinking just because something or someone bigger and louder than myself has deemed it "right."  It means supporting equal rights of marriage for everyone, not just for the people born with the orientation that society has deemed acceptable for the longest amount of time.  It means being a little more awake and a little more aware of what's going on in the world.  I strive to be a thoughtful, informed and involved human being, and having an open mind and willing heart are integral to how I see myself.  I'm not always right, far from perfect and have so much to learn, but I feel good about the fact that I'm continually, consistently trying.

Anyway.  In honor of the blog hop (there are prizes associated with it, guys, go check it out and you could win some fun swag) I'm giving away an ebook of my newest release, Summer's Child, newly released by Total E-Bound.  It's the follow-up story to The Solstice Gift, and guys, this is the one that has the happy ending.  So no more screams when you read it, okay?  You'll be happy, I promise!  

One commenter between now and July 7th gets a copy, and if you don't have The Solstice Gift, hell, you get that one too!  Because why not!  The winner gets picked on the morning of the 8th, and you get the story right after.

Here's a little more info on the book.  Please, don't judge it by it's cover, my man doe NOT have wings or that hair.  Or that expression.  It just happened.


Will the distant but brutal past destroy a changeling’s hope for a better life with the Summer Fae?
Dis, a human changeling, is tasked with delivering Oberon’s solstice gift to his estranged wife, Titania, at the Summer Court. Leaving behind the land where he barely survived to adulthood is harder than he expected—it means leaving behind his lover Marten as well. Dis hopes that once his task is completed, he and Marten can be together again.
The Summer Fae welcome Dis to their court, but there’s more going on behind the scenes than meets the eye. Dis struggles to keep Oberon’s gift for Titania safe while being continually tempted by the wilful Summer Fae to disobey, and worse, he loses contact with Marten. Dis is left with no one he can trust, and is faced with the impossible choice between disobedience to Oberon, who will surely kill him once he finds out, or losing the man that he loves forever.

16 comments:

  1. Thanks so much!

    vitajex(at)Aol(dot)com

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  2. Happy Independence Day!

    I strive to be a thoughtful, informed and involved human being, and having an open mind and willing heart are integral to how I see myself. I'm not always right, far from perfect and have so much to learn, but I feel good about the fact that I'm continually, consistently trying.

    I think that's so important -- and really, it's all any of us can do, because none of us are perfect.

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  3. This: "It means being a little more awake and a little more aware of what's going on in the world." THAT'S the main problem in America today, in my opinion -- people aren't paying attention! So frustrating.

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  4. Great post both of your books so very good.
    sstrode at scrtc dot com

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  5. I love HEA. Congrats on your new release! I believe people should try to be more informed and to vote.

    strive4bst(AT) yahoo(Dot) com

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  6. Wonderful post. Thank you for taking part in the hop and spreading awareness for equality.

    humhumbum AT yahoo DOT com

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  7. Thanks for the post and hop.Equality must be for everyone.
    cvsimpkins@msn.com

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  8. Hope you had a great 4th of July :)


    penumbrareads(at)gmail(dot)com

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  9. Thanks for the time given to participate.

    lena.grey.iam@gmail.com

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  10. Happy 4th of July to you, as well! Thank you for your blog post and for participating in the hop!
    -Marie

    awindandbooks at gmail dot com

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  11. "It means being a little more awake and a little more aware of what's going on in the world. I strive to be a thoughtful, informed and involved human being, and having an open mind and willing heart are integral to how I see myself." I love this and wish that the rest of society would do the same.

    Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and books with us!

    Carolyn
    caroaz [at] ymail [dot] com

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  12. Thanks for your blog post and for participating in the blog hop. "They are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Some powerful words.

    romanczukc@yahoo.com

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  13. “For me, I am driven by two main philosophies: know more today about the world than I knew yesterday and lessen the suffering of others. You'd be surprised how far that gets you.” -Neil Degrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and all-around badass :-)

    In my adult life, I have adopted a similar philosophy. Each day I try to live my life such that I leave the world a little better off than it was the day before. There is already too much hatred in the world. If I can use the time I've been given to share love and compassion and kindness then I consider this a life well lived.

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  14. Ooooh, I love the DeGrasse Tyson quote Tiffany posted above me here. I love too that you used the words of the Founding Fathers to prove your point--when they wrote those words, they didn't extend to women, or people of color either--but now they do. If we are to truly adhere to the principles they founded the United States on--then it is self-evident that as we become more enlightened, this endowment should expand to include everyone who lives here. :-)

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  15. Great post. The founding fathers had some great words. Too bad the human race as a whole is having a hard time living up to those words. But things are getting better, slowly but surely. I live in a state where my lesbian daughter now has the same rights that I do. :)

    carolcobun @ yahoo.com

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  16. Thanks for the great post!

    tiger-chick-1(at)hotmail(dot)com

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