free today for Black Friday! - Of Wolves and Witches:)

Of Wolves and Witches and Fireballs in the Sky (adult fairy tales) - All Romance Ebooks

The Vampire's Boy, FREE

Free for a limited time at All Romance ebooks - mobi, PDF, EPUB and HTML

Levi is a vampire, villain and tragedy, a monster made rather than born. He was only a teen when another vampire went rogue and turned him. He's obsessed with his first victim, Jared, who survived the attack.

Jared is in love with his best friend, Jordan, and has been for years. Jordan feels the same--but it's too late. Jared pushes him away, believing Jordan's in danger.

Jordan is crushed until he discovers Jared's hiding something from him. Something that's killing him. And in the meantime, Levi's growing stronger every day, drawing Jared in against his will.

The Vampire's Boy

Beneath the Neon Moon sequel

I'm celebrating the start of a writing project - Beneath the Neon Moon's sequel. It's been awhile since I concentrated on writing, and it feels good. It picks up right where I left off. Have the rough draft, very short beginning:

 The screen door fell shut behind them, creaking, heat and humidity swelling it so that it fell short of settling fully into place. Zach reached behind him and absently shoved it shut. Mal stopped in the middle of the living room, looking around him.

The place was at least a hundred years old, floors of hardwood, low-slung ceilings, wide doorways between rooms. Zach's old green couch, sagging in the middle, sat at one end of the room, the outdated TV on the other, with a bookshelf full to overflowing with tattered paperbacks against one wall. Ahead of them, Jasper rushed for the kitchen, then stopped and circled back when they didn't follow, meowing impatiently. His tail curled over his back.

Mal smiled down at the cat. He towered in the low-ceilinged room. His hair was raked off his face, wet with rain, shirt clinging to his skin. He looked at Zach, his face still. Zach looked back, waiting. Mal moved closer, reached up and curled his hand around the back of Zach's neck.

Jasper meowed, his voice high in protest, like a week-old kitten.

Mal sighed. "I could just eat him," he suggested.

Zach stepped close into Mal's body, smiling when he heard Mal's breath catch. "Not funny," he said in Mal's ear. "He's pack, got it?"

Mal laughed a little. "You, me and the cat. We'll strike fear in the heart of wolves everywhere."

review: The Traveling Vampire Show by Richard Laymon

The Traveling Vampire Show by Richard Laymon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It's the story of three teens trying to get into an adults-only vampire show coming to town. Nicely written as far as the coming-of-age theme goes; good Dwight-voice. Lots of longing on Dwight's part for Slim. By the time I got to the end of the book, I didn't care about what happened to Rusty because of what he had done.

It dragged on a bit, but I was okay with that. Some eyebrow raising scenarios were suggested about some of the relationships within the book, which I found interesting (always wanting to peek around corners and discover the dark parts). The scariest part to me was the twins waiting on the road a few weeks before the climatic scenes in the book. I don't know why the twins showed up at the end - it felt irrelevant. Slim was way too unbelievable there at the end, sadly, though I still admire her competence. The ending fell apart/fizzled for me in that it was like a comic book (I love them, but it didn't work for me here).

View all my reviews

bad sex scenes

free today at Amazon: What I Need

free ebook today at Amazon: WHAT I NEED - can a troubled young man and a male prostitute from the back-alley find their way together?

http://www.amazon.com/What-I-Need-ebook/dp/B008DLHH7W/ref=zg_bs_172503011_29

new release: What I Need

WHAT I NEED

available at Amazon

Jacob’s a damaged young man, trying to climb out of the pit and find what he needs to be happy. He meets a beautiful boy, Elijah, and falls hard for him. The problem is, Elijah’s a hooker.

Does Jacob have a prayer in a relationship with someone even more lost than he is?

******************************

Excerpt

I reached the alley and stopped at the end of it, uncertain. I knew it was stupid but I wanted to see him. I wanted to see him again from the first moment I saw him. I wanted to know his name.

There were puddles at the edge of the alleyway where it intersected with the road. Men were paired up further in. I heard a muffled groan, saw moving shadows. The blond boy came out from the darkness as if I'd conjured him, walking toward me. His hair was mussed. He wore a tight, plain black shirt, partly unbuttoned, and a leather cord necklace. His arms were pebbled from the air, the button to his jeans undone. I caught a glimpse of golden skin.

The corner of his mouth lifted up. “Are you looking for someone?”

“What’s your name?” I asked past the knot in my chest and the derisive voice in my head telling me to go home.

He cocked his head a little, like I was some kind of strange specimen he’d found under a rock. “Elijah,” he said.

I nodded, feeling awkward.

He looked at me interestedly. “So where have you been? I haven’t seen you lately.”

I hadn’t realized he might notice. I floundered. “I’ve been taking another route.”

He smiled at me as if he understood my unease. I didn’t know why it was so hard to keep looking him in the eyes when that's all I wanted to do.

He stepped closer. “Why would you do that? I like seeing you.”

My common sense threw in the towel at the question. “I think, uh … trying not to think.”

He nodded as if I’d made perfect sense. “About what?”

I didn’t answer, and then I did. “About you.” I couldn’t believe I was such an idiot as to actually admit it out loud. I could blame it on the drinks … maybe. Not really. Jesus. Now he’d know what a weirdo I was, spying on the alley boys.

Elijah laughed, an incredulous, hard edge to it. He took another step toward me, shadows under his cheekbones, eyes wide and dark. He leaned in slow enough to give me time to move away, and then his mouth brushed over mine, light as falling snow. I didn’t move, I couldn’t, and he pushed closer in and kissed me for real, lips pressing, sliding over mine, warm and wet.

After a minute I felt his breath on my ear. “What’s your name?”

“It’s Jacob,” I said, trying not to pant.

“I like that you think about me,” he whispered. “I watch out for when you walk by.”

I turned into him, searching for his lips, and we kissed again. His tongue pushed inside my mouth, and I moaned, opening up and letting him in. I felt exposed standing in the street but I ignored it, grabbing the back of his head and pulling him close as if I could block the rest of the world that way. Finally we broke apart, breathing hard. Elijah’s mouth was flushed and full, his eyes gleaming and half-open.

I didn’t know what to do or say next. “Didn’t know you’d like—” I gestured, feeling stupid again. “—this. Kissing.”

He grinned at me as if I’d said something really funny. “What makes you think that?”

I shrugged, feeling my face flush. “Something stupid I heard.”

“About hookers, you mean.”

My face felt like it was on fire.

He reached for me and quickly kissed me again. “Not that stupid. I don’t kiss most people, but you’re different.” He turned away from me into the alleyway. His ass was small and tight, gorgeous like the rest of him. His hair was gold in the light. He looked back. “Are you coming?”

I wanted to, more than anything, but I didn’t move. Was I going to pay for sex, was I really at that point?

“No.” I didn’t know I was going to say it until I did, and immediately I wanted to take it back.

He turned around again and looked at me, his eyes already shuttering. “You're sure?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I'm sorry.”

For a moment he looked tired and even younger, his face too solemn. “Okay then. Maybe I'll see you sometime.”

It felt so wrong, watching him leave. I almost started after him. But I didn't think I could afford the piece of me it would cost to get him to stay.

WHAT I NEED

general information about what I write

Especially in romance and in gay romance, there are some strong feelings expressed about things liked/not liked within a story, as is the right of readers, of course! This is my response as a writer in gay romance and what you can expect from me. For people who knew me from the first release of AFTER ANNA, it's probably more of the same when the first storm hit the horizon;) - though I might have softened a bit since then. In general, I like HEA (happily ever after), but if the story calls for it, if the place where the characters are at within the world I've built call for it, I'm going for a happily for now, not a HEA. Most of my  romances end with an HFN as I write them nowadays, honestly.

The important thing about all this is that I don't guarantee endings. In the past, I have made some folks unhappy with how I ended a book. While I realize that knowing and having the security of an HEA is very important to some readers, I'm not comfortable agreeing that my characters will end up a certain way by the end of the story.  

I don't like the fact that the word 'romance' has been co-opted by business and writers associations, but on the other hand I do understand it. I don't conform to it, however. My stance is that if I'm writing about a love story between two people, and it's the main part of the story, if it goes into detail about how they love each other and came to be together, it's romance, even if the ending isn't what is expected.

Addressing my stance on another hot-button topic within the romance community: if the characters are bisexual in my story, or if they've never made a big deal about labeling/defining what sex they're attracted to, you can expect there might be persons of the opposite sex in the story - even if the main thread of the story is about same-sex characters. Encounters with the opposite sex may possibly get graphic, even if it's a bit part within the story. I'm absolutely not in favor of hating/appearing to hate either sex, or hating their appearance in any of my stories, disliking their sexuality or the details of it that come to bear within the framework of my larger story about two people in love.The characters will act out true to their nature, even if it is painful to them (and some readers). My alternate writing persona, Klaudia, will be coming out with some work this year and you'll see it's the same from her as well.

There is clearly a large audience who goes by the 'don't get your peanut butter in my chocolate' idea. I am not in agreement. It doesn't jibe with how I feel about acceptance of sexuality. If a person is interested in straight romance, of course, read it! If you want a gay romance, yes, by all means, read it. But to expect that reading either of those excludes characters of the opposite sex and their sexuality, to expect being shielded from them - I am not that writer.

There is also clearly a large audience out there who want to know the characters they've gotten invested in are going to come out on the other side of the story happy. I understand that, I really do, and I'm a softie at heart. Having said all that above, I don't think that by the end of their story, you'll get a bad ending for the main characters in Theda's work. But they have to earn it, which means getting through major hurtles from inside and out. (When I write as Klaudia, it's a different genre and mindset, not applicable here). 

I love writing and reading. I don't go against what I feel because my opinion is different from others, or if it  makes them angry. I won't argue it, either - I've done that in the past (a little) and for me, it was a mistake. We all know there's a million different ways for each person to go in terms of what they'll like and accept, and that's the way it should be.

spring fling (storms)

My nerve isn't what it used to be after all of  last year's storms, but Knoxville did okay. There was rotation in the clouds above us at work during the day in downtown Knoxville. There was tornado warnings yesterday afternoon changing into almost constant warnings last night until around eleven with high winds, a little hail, loads of rain and constant lightning last night, but that was the extent for me. I'm dreading this season, and hope it isn't as bad as last spring. I thought it was a fluke.

There's a house on the block below me that STILL hasn't gotten their (massive) tree from last year's tree fling cut up/hauled away.

Friday freebie:)

AFTER ANNA is free tomorrow at Amazon in celebration of the 2nd edition of the sequel, TOUCH LIKE BREATHING, being published!

THE BAND PLAYS ON

THE BAND PLAYS ON (short story) now available at forbidden fiction:) FF believes in pushing the boundaries, and it might not be what you're used to from me  - dark(er than normal, even) and possibly shocking, so please keep this in mind! Fair warning: no HEA.

But the characters were snappy, horny, fucked up and so MUCH FUN TO WRITE.

wisdom from my girls

Apparently there's a site called popyourpimple.com where you can watch people doing just that. Oh God.

My youngest observed this morning on the way to school that 'anime' sounds a bit like 'enema.'
???

My oldest has taken to firing up her ringtone from Heath Ledger's Joker, the 'why so serious, let's put a smile on that face' bit and mouthing the words as if she's saying it. That's not wisdom, that's just weird.

as for me! I churned out an 11,000 word story in a week and it's sort of mostly edited, all to meet a deadline for the 'Dear John' anthology at riptide:) I wrote part of it in the hospital. Go me.

free ebook today and tomorrow

 After Anna is a Kindle freebie at Amazon for two days. Artwork by my beloved Sonja, as always  - here's what it looks like.

the 2nd edition of AFTER ANNA with new art by Sonja Triebel and revised edits is up at Amazon today - you can read it free if you're a prime member:)