Tuesday 30 September 2014

Cover Beauty #6

Art sells the book; it’s the first thing we see, and some we’ll buy just from appeal.
 
 
“Like a lot of books you come across, I never would have known this one existed without a fb chat, mostly, I believe because it’s sci-fi and that isn’t my thing. But I own it now, and the cover, man it’s simply quite beautiful”
 
Artist by KM Writing & Design
Caterpillar by Ashlyn Forge

Monday 29 September 2014

Pre-Order Love Without Knowing It

Hi everyone, I was going to wait a few weeks before I got into this, so this is just a quick look into show you that pre-order is up, and maybe get you a little excited about the book.

The story behind the story
This story is about prostate cancer, but don’t worry, it’s a Happily Ever After. In all honesty, it’s more about the sudden realisation of love in a man’s scared of commitment and so it’s from his point of very, the caregivers. It’s also a very small window in time, the beginning, along with the fact that I put in only the medical information that I had to in order to get the story moving along, and being a little more real. I have, however, tried to stay away from that for the most part, as I wanted this story to be about the emotions of one, if not both men.

I wrote this book when I was stressed, not only because I knew my first book was about to be published, but me family had just been made aware of my mother and the fact that she had breast cancer. I was having a bit of a meltdown because I went into my first writer’s block (which would turn out to be a first, with a number to follow). An author on facebook, I want to say Chris Quinton (and yeah I had a bit of a fan moment as it was the first author to talk to me) who truly helped me out, because I changed tactics and I started researching.

This became a problem as time went on as I got excited and frustrated and excited and nervous about this one little book as the months went on, but clearly I’ve made it, I’m at pre-order stage and I’m bussing and nervous all over again.

Hell, I’m shit scared, but let’s not let that get out.

The Series
I chose November for a series name, and yeah I’m going all random, because I can. I had a plan to call this the Movember series, but the damn name is trademarked and I didn’t really feel right asking them if I could use it. Or if I had any actual rights in the first place. So I ended up making it easier on myself, especially if they ended up deciding, in years to come that they didn’t want me to use it, then where would I be.

I plan on writing one book a year for this series, the size and story will depend on itself, as the series will be a standalone and I’ll be doing different male health issues and different moments.

This one, I believe I’ve said, is about prostate cancer. Book 2 will be testicular cancer. I have a plan for steroid use, body image, suicide. Along with breast cancer, and Alzheimer’s

I want to show a better side to the diseases, a more hopeful tale then a lot of people write about because for me it’s more about being awareness. I want to write something hopeful that brings a light at the end of the tunnel. Or shows you that there are ways to over comes, and to get help.

It’s a hope.

The Cover Art
I love the picture I choose to use. The moment I saw it, I was hooked, only it has taken me a long time to get it right. Really, this last one I created, the one that will be on the sold book, I created last week, because there was something missing, always something that didn’t work for me. Mostly my name.

Now it’s done, finally cover art that I am proud of. Book loaded onto each site, though I plan on putting a few more on ARe, but I’m done, all we have to do is wait.



When everything Paul had ever known turned upside down, suddenly he needs to man up and fight for the love he’s always feared.

Paul’s life was set. He had what he needed and what he was comfortable with. Then a night with one of his regular lovers pulls him into the drama of sickness, love, and death.

In the end, Paul needs to work a few things out first: Is he strong enough to fall in love with a man that may need more than he’s able to give, or will he fall into old habits and run when the relationship gets too complicated?

 
Love Without Knowing It by Bronwyn Heeley
(November 1)
Publish 1 November 2014 by Bony Dee
Contemporary Romance

PRE-ORDER LINKS

Note: though the month of November 2014 all profits from this book will be donated to the Movember charity

                  Excerpt
Early the next morning Paul met Matt out the front of his apartment block. He’d been lucky to get there early or he would have missed Matt completely.
They walked to the doctor’s in a weird sort of silence, emotion dancing around them; no need for words, or gratitude, or small talk. Shifting his eyes to Matt, they shared a look and a bump or two of their shoulders as they went towards the scariest building Paul had ever seen.
The thing was, he wished more than anything they were not here at all. He wished they were still both home curled up in bed together, in their morning glory.
The waiting room was like every other one Paul had ever sat in. He tried to appear perfectly calm as he sat next to Matt, waiting. Waiting. Fucking waiting for a name, one name in particular, but when Matt’s name was called out, he suddenly wanted to grab him up and run like crazy. His heart didn’t want to be doing this, all he wanted was for Matt and him to run so fast none of this could catch up with them.
The waiting fear was so consuming he had trouble sitting still. His legs kept shifting nervously. He couldn’t stop looking at all the other sick people in the room. Why were they here? What would it be like if he was in Matt's shoes? Would he be as calm, or would he have started to rant and rave? Hell, knowing himself, Paul would have been on his deathbed before he came to any doctor.
There was definitely no beauty pageant happening in this doctor’s surgery. Why were these people here, what was wrong with them? They didn’t look like they had been run over by a truck or anything, so what was wrong with them? Were any of them dying of cancer and you just couldn’t see it?
Leaning back in his chair, Paul pushed the thought away while fear of the unknown settled to the bottom of his stomach.
He tried to pick something to read, finally settling on an old magazine that had seen better days. Realistically, it probably held more germs than if he’d decided to lick a handrail. He couldn’t concentrate worth shit. What was wrong with the minute hand on the clock? It ticked by, slowly—so fucking slowly.
Then suddenly time was up. Matt walked out.
Paul didn’t need to ask Matt how it went with the doctor. He could see it in his face as soon as he walked out from the back of the surgery and up to the counter to pay. Something was definitely wrong. All Paul could see was his pale-as-shit face. Everything inside him froze. He took a deep calming breath, stood up, and unknowingly became Matt’s rock.
Paul took his time crossing the room as Matt finished paying and making another appointment. It seemed as if Matt was holding on by the skin of his teeth, and the last thing he needed was Paul going up to him, standing there, commenting on something he was clearly trying to hide.
They met at the door. Paul arrived first, silently opening it for him. Matt smiled, not saying anything, just fiddling with the papers in his hands, so many unspoken emotions running across his shocked face.
The door clicked shut. Paul blinked in surprise at the sounds of the world speeding by, as if everything was still normal, still working. “So…?”
“So?” Matt echoed, as if he didn’t know what Paul was talking about. As if Paul wasn’t dying—pun not intended—to know what was happening, what was wrong.
“What next?” he asked instead.
Matt cleared his throat as he looked down at his hands, but Paul saw the sad smile tilting the side of his mouth. He tried not to see fear in Matt’s eyes and he defiantly clamped down his jaw and didn’t ask any questions. He couldn’t push, mostly because he didn’t have any right to know what the doctor had said. If he had, he would have been in the room with Matt…
“Blood test,” he said lifting up the paper to emphasise.
“Okay, do you need an appointment, or can we just go?”
Matt shrugged. “Doc said if I went right away there shouldn’t be any problems.”
He was right, of course. This early in the morning, there was only an elderly lady and a pregnant sheila who had an overly excited toddler she was trying to keep quiet. The thing was, no one there cared about the rowdy little girl. To him it was distracting. It took his mind off what they were there for, or rather, what Matt was there for. She giggled and laughed, asking silly question he could barely understand, but couldn’t help smiling with the answers.
“Can you come in with me?” Matt asked unexpectedly, nervously licking his lips. When Paul got to his eyes he saw a look of pure fear staring back at him, the kind that was normally reserved to having a spider crawl up your neck.
Paul swallowed back a laugh. “Sure.”
Matt’s relief was a little too much to bear. “Thanks,” he sighed, “I really hate needles.”
“Hate?” Paul smiled, because the description Matt was looking for was scared as all fuck.
“Yeah,” Matt nodded, smiled. It lightened the mood for a moment even if it wasn’t really funny, but more relief at not being left alone while he was being stabbed with needles.
Paul felt this weird little lift in his shoulders, a pride at being let in without having to ask.
“He said that this should tell if it’s cancer or not,” Matt said softly after a long pause.
“That it? You don’t have to get cut up or nothing?”
Matt shrugged. “Apparently a blood test will tell us if it’s cancer or not.”
“Really?” It was asked as fact more than a question. “So that’s it then, just a blood test?”
“Well, for the moment. Because of the amount of swelling, and the fact that it hasn’t quite stopped me pissing yet—oh, and I’m young. He said it could be an infection, but…”
Yeah…, He’d never actually known anyone with prostate cancer, but from what he’d gathered it was the go-to disease, especially for men with a prostate the size of a plum. He hoped he was wrong, but his imagination was already running riot, and he couldn’t shake off the feeling that they were dealing with the worst.
“Yeah,” Matt sighed, a little calmer from sitting beside Paul, even if the death grip on Paul’s thigh gave him away…
They stayed sitting liked that as the elderly woman and then the mother went in and had their blood taken. They stayed connected that way as other people came and went. It seemed to take forever for their turn, and yet when Matt’s name finally got called it was as if only moments had passed.
Matt tensed up like a plank, and Paul tried not to laugh as he took his baby in to get his blood taken.

Saturday 27 September 2014

#MySexySaturday {11}


It’s time to lock the door, distract the kiddies, and share a little snuggle time with the one you love more than anyone else in the world.

It’s week 61 and the driving need to get recreational is the theme. No matt the age, no matter the coupling, the mating dance to love continues to be a sexual tensions and that is what this weeks all about.

Now, a thought on whose tension needs an audience for this special event. I decided to that I’m going to go with a set of characters I haven’t done yet. But these two characters are my fuck bunnies.


The orgasm was twitching at the base of Jex’s spine by the time the front of his mind clicked into the dream he was having. Yes, what he’d just experienced was a dream.
Bliss passed through his body as something held him face down on the warmth of the mattress beneath him. He could smell the sweet scent of Matt’s sweat mixed with his own. A large warm hand held him firmly down at the back of his head, at the neck, into the mattress, making sure that was where he stayed. The other gripped his hips, nails biting into flesh as he held Jex’s arse in the air.
The hard reaming was only in his imagination. Even in the dream, Jex knew he hadn’t a clue what it would actually feel like. He’d never had sex before, but the pounding of hips on arse had him groaning in pleasure.
The pace picked up with a growl and Jex felt the hits at the top of his head as if everything in him was going to be pounded out and there wasn’t anything he could do about it.
Jex loved a man behind him holding him down, being controlled by him. Then, again, he always had.
With a thrust that connected with hot flesh and a hand that moved down a smooth stomach that wasn’t his own, Jex startled into stillness, coming awake as his mind let him understand what the hell was happening.

 
And onto the pimping and other random fact linked to this hop

Thursday 25 September 2014

From the Backlist #4

The books that were forgotten in the rush of all things new, or just weren’t loved on as much as they should have been, these are our genre’s backlist, maybe you’ll find something old to love like it’s new

 
Flight of the Sparrow by Laura Baumbach
First Published April 2007 by MLR Press
Contemporary ‘thriller’ Romance


Black Ops Leader Daniel Burke is beginning to tire of his lonely nomad's lifestyle, but he stays in the game because he's good at it, loyal and he feels a bond of brotherhood for his longtime teammates. When someone starts to dog his trail, it leads him and his team back to England where his career and life took a different turn eighteen years ago. Now people want him dead and they are willing to take his team out with him. Enter teenager computer whiz Quill Tarquin who hacks into secret government files detailing joint, clandestine operations between American and British forces and stumbles on something much more sinister. Suddenly Burke and his boys have their hands full with assassins, internal betrayals and career changes. And now they get to play father to an orphaned teenage terrorist dropped into their laps. Taking flight seems the only answer.
 

            Excerpt
      Jameison pulled the collar of his overcoat up higher against the drizzle and stared at Crowe's hardened face, deciding on the value of debating the issue any further. There was something about the man that reminded Jameison of a coiled snake just waiting for the opportunity to strike its next victim. Crowe's reputation for violence accompanied by a high body count was well known. However guilty of hacking into MI5 as these boys might be, Jameison didn't think they deserved to suffer the kind of abuse Crowe was reputed to dish out to his prisoners.
His conscience got the better of his judgement. Jameison reached out to take Kevin back. Before he could get a proper hold of him, the boy was pulled from his reach, straight up into the open back of the army truck. Burke's face appeared in Kevin's place, an apologetic smile on his lips.
Throwing Crowe a warning look, Burke nodded at Jameison. "He'll be fine, Inspector. I'm sharing guard duty with Lt. Crowe at the moment."
Crowe gave Burke a disgusted sneer. "We're capturing terrorists Burke, not babysitting school boys. Lower your guard, someone'll pay for it, Yank. But it won't be me or my men, remember that." Crowe climbed up into the truck and disappeared from sight.
Peering after Crowe, Jameison could see the jabbering older McCabe perched on a bench across from his pale, silent brother. Crowe and his men lined one side of the truck with Liam, while Burke's men lined the other. The brothers sat at the very front, one on each side of the truck, corralled in place by the soldiers.
Jameison gave Burke a resigned nod, then walked back to the car. He drove to a more secluded spot down the street. They would stay close to provide back up to the team if it was needed. Chances were, the terrorist assault team would be more than able to handle the situation, but it never hurt to have a plan B. Besides, Jameison was anxious to see the fabled SparrowFour in action, even if it was from a distance.
 

Wednesday 24 September 2014

Just Talking Words

I’ve got nothing to say… no thoughts inside my head.
 
This week has been exhausting. You forget just how much having someone you never get to see visiting. The late nights, maybe not any later than your use to, but the fact that you’re not at home, doing nothing, or worse that you’re out, making for long days, and nights that’s just seem to drag.
 
I love the brother-in-law’s visits, it’s just the end of our week, and I’m utterly exhausted, but thinking about the fact that today I’ll have to entertain the kids all by themselves. That they are on holidays…shit.
 
As I was saying before, I got LWKI back, and yesterday was when I was finally about to pull it up and have a good look at it. I’m happy to see that it was clean enough. That the most was commons or full stops in places and out of place and a few messed up tenses. It’s my struggle, which I’m hoping I’ll get better at.
 
Today, in between entertaining the kids I’m going to be doing a final read through, this one comes with checking the document and making sure it’s set for formatting.
 
I actually like this stage, not so much having to read the story again, but formatting. I’m weird that way, but I quite like making sure it’s all perfectly the same, all the spacing and the lining, and then I’ll be pulling up my first PDF copies. most of which will be sent off to those who have already read the story (I don’t believe they’ll buy it, so why not give them the gift) and the two people who have agreed to review it.
 
I’m still tossing up going with a promotion company to do the promoting for this book. I think it would be a good idea, because I want people to know about it. No so much my book, but the reason behind it. Only I don’t like the idea of having on post on 6-8 blogs, but I’m clearly not able to create a good promotional thing in such short time. It should have been something I did a few months ago.
 
But then I think, “but the it’s not like you’ll promote until November,” and, well, you see the thoughts, don’t you?!
 
In all honesty, I believe the idea just scares the shit out of me, and I just need to get over it and push myself to do things I’m not comfortable with in order to get this great cause of to everyone.
 
But I’ll sent an email to one other company this week, and hopefully they will say yes and I’m happy to be on 4 sites. It works for me, and I think it’s enough for the moment. They places that have agreed are seen, and that’s the important thing, really.
 
And that’s it really.
Remember that I put up my first Newsletter type post and there’s a giveaway for that.
Oh, and I’ve got the apps for Google+ and Linkedin, I’ll get you the details next week, but I’m setting them both up, if you see me, feel free to connect

Tuesday 23 September 2014

Cover Beauty #5

Art sells the book; it’s the first thing we see, and some we’ll buy just from appeal.
 
 
*sigh* “what else can I say. It’s a truly beautiful cover”
 
Artist Reese Dante
Full Disclosure by Kindle Alexander

Monday 22 September 2014

Newsletter-like Update #1

Welcome to me new newsletter like post, it will either run each fortnight or monthly, I haven’t get decided, but its me, talking about, well, myself, and what I’m working on – along with a giveaway

WIP – New Release like Facts

I got my proofing copy of LWKI aka, Love Without Knowing It back on Sunday night and will be spending a big chunk of today going over that before getting it ready for formatting.

I’m so excited about this one it’s making it hard for me to concentrate on anything else. But it’s getting closer, all I need to do now is create a promotion post and send one off to a blog that’s already accepted it. And one that said they would, but it was casual-like, A handshake, which I’m going to take advantage of when they may have only been polite.

But it basically means, bar something major happening, I’m going to be ready for this book to come out by the end of the week.

Saturday 20 September 2014

#MySexySaturday -- 10


 
Romance is week 60’s theme, the couples that seem to have it all. The ones that jet-set around the world, drive the nicest cares, live in the coolest houses. Well… this theme isn’t necessarily about them…but it could be.

There point is romance happens, and there’s some examples, but I’ve copied word for word enough in this post.

Now to think, think, think, but I have nothing. none of my books are of people who are sickingly in love right from the get go, and definitely not jet-setting off anyway, because that cost money which they just barely have. mostly, though, they aren’t the description because I’ve never written what would be considered a full story, or a follow up to any of the stories I’ve written, so here’s another sappy scene I managed to pull outta my head.


“You run and I will follow,” he mumbled. A fierce love shone from his eyes, and if Dan hadn’t been a breath away from coming, he was sure he’d have started to panic just from that look.
That look spoke of possession, love, lust, and everything else in the whole wide world just given from Gene to Dan without anything in return.
Dan panted, his chest tight around the beating of his heart. The need to return everything Gene gave him was strong, too strong for Dan and he let that tidal wave of emotion rumble out of him, giving Gene everything he could, even if he’d have to turn around and get it all back. For this simple moment, he let Gene see him.
And Gene looked back, calm as fuck, a smile that made Dan’s eyes spring tears that seemed to burst something inside Gene as he spilled a hot run of come against Dan, and without a second thought, Dan’s orgasm poured out of him, too, marking Gene just as thoroughly as Gene was him.
He fell forward, letting Gene take his weight, knowing the other man wouldn’t mind.
“You run and we’ll see how long you keep this body away from me,” Gene said softly, fiercely, rubbing his hands up Dan’s back, squeezing his shoulders in a tight hug. “You stay here, with me, and I’ll protect you from everything.”
“Everything?” Dan asked, his voice sounding like a child’s as he looked up onto Gene’s face, their breaths mixing, their eyes looking. The only thing in the world that seemed to matter was each other.
“From everything.”

 
And onto the pimping and other random fact linked to this hop

Friday 19 September 2014

A Thought Needing An Answer

Do you guys like newsletters from authors?
 
If you do, what do you like about them?
 
When you get an author newsletter, what do you expect from them?
 
Just updates about their WIPs
Excerpts from new, or working on
Giveaways
 
Or is there more to it than that
Interviews with characters,
Shorts from series
 
Anything I’m missing?
 
Anything that matters at all, I know I’m new maybe it doesn’t matter for me at the moment but it’s a thought as I’ve been adding more people on faecbook and I’ve noticed a few people talking about newsletter. I don’t get them (hm…maybe I should) because, well, I just don’t see the point. But is it something people like? Is it what you expect from an author?
 
Anyway, input is what I’m looking for, do you like them, or just the freebees you get from then? Would you be interested in me creating one, or something of that sort?

Thursday 18 September 2014

From the Backlist #3

The books that were forgotten in the rush of all things new, or just weren’t loved on as much as they should have been, these are our genre’s backlist, maybe you’ll find something old to love like it’s new



Scars by Lynley Wayne
First Published 14th September 2012 by MLR Press
Contemporary Romance
 

Jace, an injured ex-soldier suffering from PTSD, saves Nathaniel, a nineteen-year-old street kid, from a beating. In doing so, he has no way of knowing that he will find his own salvation.
 
Jace came home from the war scarred in more ways than one. The physical scars that he carries are nothing compared to the mental ones. Struggling with PTSD, he has closed himself off from the rest of the world. The last thing that he ever thought to do was fall in love... Nathaniel has lived on the streets since he was thirteen. When he wakes up in a strange apartment after being badly beaten, he has no idea how he got there. Little does he know that his rescuer, the large man with scars crisscrossing his face, could hold the key to healing the scars that they both have

           Excerpt
Gasping, Jace sat up in bed. Rivulets of sweat ran down his back, making him shiver in the cool air of the apartment. His heart was pounding and his whole body shook with a combination of fatigue, adrenaline, and fear.

The sounds of gunfire echoed in his head, accompanied by screams of pain. He could still hear the sirens going off in the distance, even if they weren't real. It was a familiar soundtrack that played on a continuous loop in his head, making it hard to break away from the nightmare. Because unlike most bad dreams, at one time his had been real. No matter how hard he fought in his dreams, he never could change the outcome. He couldn't save his friends.

He concentrated on the texture of the cotton sheets against his skin, trying to ground himself in the here and now. This…this was real, not the nightmare- at least not anymore. Even as he told himself that, he could taste the grit of sand in his mouth, feel the arid desert wind on his skin, and smell the scent of gunpowder heavy in the air.

He was the sole survivor. The only one to make it back alive. He'd beaten the odds and now every day was a reminder of what he'd lost and what he'd never be again.

Six months. That was how long he'd been stateside. For six months he'd been poked and prodded by doctors in every way imaginable. His shrink assured him his nightmares were normal for someone who had suffered the trauma he had. With enough time and hard work, she believed they would eventually go away. He wasn't so sure. After all, he knew plenty of guys from Vietnam who still suffered flashbacks. It didn't give him much hope of someday being normal, whatever that meant.

Untangling himself from the covers, Jace climbed out of bed. He wasn't going to be getting any more sleep tonight. As it was, he was lucky if he got more than a few hours.

After using the bathroom, he pulled on a pair of jeans and a shirt, grabbed his wallet, and headed to the kitchen, where he stood looking out the window, lost in thought, while he waited for his coffee to brew. The streets were quiet this early, or this late, however you chose to look at it. He'd been living in this apartment since his release four months ago. Every day he had some form of therapy and his place was within walking distance of the hospital.

As much as he hated living in a city, he wasn't ready to face his family. He hadn't even told them he was stateside. He knew if they found out there'd be no stopping them from coming to see him. For now it was better to let them think he was still in Germany.

Both his therapist, Dr. Summers, and Landon, a nurse he'd become friends with, had been trying to convince him to tell his family the truth. While he knew he should, he was afraid of how they would react to seeing his injuries. It was hard enough having strangers gasp and stare, but he didn't think he could handle it if his family reacted the same way. He knew what he looked liked. He looked like a monster now. Parents had actually pulled their children out of his path when he was walking down the street. He'd heard their whispered comments. Having his family look at him as if he were a freak… It would break something in him. Something he wasn't sure could ever be fixed.

He used to be a fairly good looking guy. In high school he'd never had to work very hard to get a date. Girls had loved him. Hell, he'd even had a few guys hit on him. On more than one occasion he'd used his looks to his advantage. Those days were long over with. Now, it was all he could do to get most people to make eye contact with him.

The hardest part was that sometimes he would forget. Then it was like the first time all over again. He would relive the disbelief, the horror, the anger- all of it.

When he'd first woken up in the hospital, he'd known something was wrong. The thick bandages covering his face had been the first clue of how bad it was. The second came when no one would let him near a mirror until after he'd talked to a shrink. By the time he was allowed to see the damage, the stitches had been removed and the skin was all pink and shiny new.

Staring into that mirror, all he could think was that he looked like some mad scientist had sewn him back together, piece by jagged piece. The doctors said the scars would fade over time and become less noticeable. Not that it would really matter.

He let out a bitter laugh as he looked at his reflection in the glass. "Well, at least I will still turn heads."
 

Wednesday 17 September 2014

Blurbs & Cover Reveals

Here’s the official news, I have two stories coming out in the next couple of months, and one of them I’m excited about, the other I just can’t wait for what people think.
 
Anyway, this is because I finally have the blurbs and thought you’d like to see them (aka couldn’t keep them to myself anymore)
 
LOVE WITHOUT KNOWING IT
 (November #1) – Release day: 1st of November 2014
 
When everything Paul had ever known turned upside down, suddenly he needs to man up and fight for the love he’s always feared.
 
Paul’s life was set. He had what he needed and what he was comfortable with. Then a night with one of his regular lovers pulls him into the drama of sickness, love, and death.
In the end, Paul needs to work a few things out first: Is he strong enough to fall in love with a man that may need more than he’s able to give, or will he fall into old habits and run when the relationship gets too complicated?
 
All profits through the month of November will be going to the Movember charty
 
 
RUNNING SCARED
Release day: (tentative) mid-October 2014
 
You always say you’d stand and fight, but when you witness the death of your loved ones, are you sure your feet won’t take off and lead you on a merry-go-round?
 
Witnessing the murder of my family had me on the run. I didn’t know where I was going, or why I was left standing, but that didn’t stop my flight instinct from kicking in. I ran, screaming, but he found me, and now I’m trapped in a hotel with a madman. What does he want from me and am I going to survive long enough to find out?
 
 
Soo… what do you think?