Tag: gay romance

Following a Story Where it Leads

magicalhorseSome writers are pantsers. They ‘fly by the seats of their pants’ and write what they feel at a given moment. I’m more of a plotter. Usually, I come up with a couple of characters and start imagining situations they could be in. I mull things over until a few scenes really gel, then I make a rough outline and start writing. I’m a control freak. I need to have some idea where all of the bits and pieces go before I can lose myself in the writing.

The new story I’m working on has decided to make me crazy. I’ve never written a mystery, but I thought it would be fun to write a gay mystery romance. I’ve never written a historical. So, why not a gay mystery historical romance? I actually did a significant amount of research for my epic fantasy series, and I enjoy research, so I thought researching this new book would be a lot of fun. Ha! The story had other ideas….

I thought I understood my story. I thought I knew what it was going to be about. I had a spiffy outline that told me what I wanted to hear. But my research turned up new things. Horrible things. Things I thought I knew, thought I understood, but….um…no. The world I’m writing about is so much darker and more frightening than I imagined–and I chose the area because it always frightened me as a child. I chose the era because it seemed like a spooky period, but I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

My research turned my pathetic little outline on its ear. The story is morphing, growing into some hungry new beast. It’s thrilling, honestly. Is this why pantsers get so starry-eyed when talking about their process? I, because I’m still a stodgy control freak, am slavishly bleeding out another outline. Being thrown into the briars was fun, however.

I have an ambitious project to tame. I imagine it will throw me again when it feels bored. For the moment, I’m excited by where it has taken me.

 

The Fur Coats

Authors often talk about what music they listen to while writing, but what do their characters listen to? In my new gay romance, Zen Alpha, the two main characters get their blood pumping with the pop punk sound of Austin’s The Fur Coats. Ward listens to them every morning before work, where he teaches autistic children. On this particular day, he and Bradley listen to them after a long night looking for a lost cat.

Check out The Fur Coats here and wake up!

Zen Alpha

My new book Zen Alpha is now available on Amazon! Zen Alpha is a steamy M/M romance. It’s free with Kindle Unlimited.

When his domineering stock broker boyfriend goes too far, Bradley wonders if his flexible, mindful neighbor might be just what he needs.

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A Lovely Blog Review!

The Novel Approach, a book review blog, posted a nice review of my M/M romance Because Faery Godmonster! They said the book was: “Sweet, a little angsty, comical and sexy all apply to this story. It’s such an easy, breezy read.”

Here’s an excerpt from the review:

This book is at once lighthearted but also touched by the somber notes of both Goss’s and Pox’s individual conflicts. It’s equal parts adorable and weighty, and I loved the building sexual tension between the hobgoblin and the nightsprite. Their quest is ambitious and the eventual consummation of their feelings for each other was unexpectedly erotic. I feel like I should throw in here, now, that there is a fisting scene, because Pox evidently doesn’t like his sex entirely vanilla, so do check your comfort level with that if you’re considering giving Because Faery Godmonster a try.

Read the entire review here!

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A Different Kind of Triangle

HisDungeonDiscoveryHis Dungeon Discovery is the sequel to Because Faery Godmonster. You don’t have to have read the first one to enjoy the second one, but I strongly recommend it. Like the first book, this is a rather silly, smutty story. I did try to do something different, however.

Since the first book showed the lovers getting together, I thought the second book should show their bond being tested. Classically, this would be done with a love triangle. But I don’t especially like love triangles, and I always prefer to do my own thing. So I gave them a young orphan with a vocabulary limited to one word and challenged them with taking care of her. Goss, the more nurturing of the couple, bonds to her immediately and wants to protect and adopt her. Pox thinks she stinks and is rather tiresome.

So that’s the main source of conflict between the lovers in my story. One wants to nest, but the other isn’t ready. It’s a funny little fantasy story, but I wanted it to have an honesty to it. In my life, wanting different things/ being at different life stages have been the big relationship problems–not the tall, dark stranger.

Now you know why Lady Grawgraw plays such a pivotal role in the story!

You can find His Dungeon Discovery here, and you can read it for free with Kindle Unlimited.

Doms Need Love, Too

Depictions of BDSM in popular media make my skin crawl. They’re rarely anything I recognize. I really hate how doms are portrayed as crazed sociopaths who enjoy hurting people in all aspects of their lives.

Um. No. We, as a group, tend to be nice people. If you met me outside of my dungeon (yes, I have one. No, it’s not the red room of pain. It’s decorated in green men and cats) you would probably find me charming and kind hearted. (At least, that’s what people tell me….) I don’t eat men for breakfast. I don’t make cutthroat business deals. I don’t try to find ways to humiliate my husband outside of our playtime, and I don’t try to control his life.

Some people do have slave contracts. Neither of us are big on formalities or paperwork, so we’ve never bothered with anything like that. BDSM has been a huge part of our romantic life during our twenty years together. We’re both creative, playful sensation-lovers, so it fits our needs well.

But other people’s ignorance still irks me. Being a dom means seeing yourself portrayed as the bad guy almost constantly. The damaged one who hurts people because he doesn’t know how to love. Why? Because vanilla sex is love? Reduced to its lowest terms, vanilla sex is just a lot of jamming various things into various holes. Love doesn’t have much to do with it. It’s what we decide it means that’s everything. The same thing is true of BDSM.

In Lover, Destroyer, although it’s fantasy romance, I tried to show BDSM as part of a loving relationship. The men have problems, but BDSM isn’t one of them. It’s no more a problem than vanilla sex is in most vanilla romances.

Lover, Destroyer is available on Amazon. Read it for free on Kindle Unlimited!

 

 

Cover Reveal for Lover, Destroyer!

I’m so happy to share with you the book cover for Lover, Destroyer! Here’s a little preview of it. I’ll probably show you the entire thing once it’s published. Next_hub on Fiverr created this cover. I’m thrilled with it because it looks so much better than the idea I pitched to her. I love artists that can do that–take what a client says and do something better with it.

Kite looks dark and foreboding, and little tawny Elarhe practically glows. This is very much what the book is about–a bright, shiny guy comes into an melancholic, brooding guy’s life and changes it in profound ways. It’s a little like The Sound of Music without yucky kids and Nazis.

Lover, Destroyer will be available on Amazon soon!

You can reach next_hub here.

LD book sample

Pride and Pox and Gossamer

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June is Pride Month! Pox and Gossamer, the heroes of my zany fantasy romcom want to celebrate it with you. You can get a free copy of Because Faery Godmonster here.

Because Faery Godmonster is about a warrior-priest named Goss–short for Gossamer and a necromancer named Pox. It garnered 4.25 stars on Joyfully Jay. Check out the review here. And here’s a highlight:

The world building is light and simple, drawing on familiar tropes to anyone whose ready a fantasy story or played any MMO — be it table-top or online — which helps color in the background world and story. The characters are true to themselves without falling into cliched tropes, only skirting lightly around them.

This was a fun book to read, with just enough humor and romance to flesh out the plot. I’m glad there are sequels planned because I truly enjoyed watching Goss and Pox make a muddle of things. I can’t wait to see what’s next in store for them.

The light, geekily goofy flavor of this sexy little story is very different from my other books, which are darker and heavier. Look for a sequel later this year!