The Super Couple Rockers of Black Hurricane

Today is the day you can play Hangman at The Romance Reviews's Fall Into Love event. I believe my question will be up again during September, so you should be able to answer it a few times to get points for the fun cover matching game. There will only be one question to answer, though, and that is:

What super couple name has the media given the two main characters of Black Hurricane?

Really, you're not supposed to know the answer when you play Hangman, - that's the whole fun of Hangman - but if you need a clue, you can find the answer in this excerpt:

The sun beams down on the black car that stops outside my door at noon two days later. Ally rolls down the window and tells me to hop in. Dean’s not in the car and for a moment I worry that Ally might be working on some scheme concocted by Lee to get rid of me. Crazier things have happened.

“We’ll meet up with Dean later,” she explains as she shifts the car in gear. “Need to ditch the paparazzi first. Buckle up.”

I fasten the seat belt as soon as she starts driving. Christ. Maybe this is a plot to kill me after all. I close my eyes while she zooms between lanes to give photographers a run for their money.

The paparazzi have been hounding my place ever since that YouTube video and tripled in numbers after the concert. They’re part of the reason why I've been hanging out in my loft so much these days. They've even started bugging my friends. Eric came by late last night and shoved a glossy magazine in my face with a picture of him in some awkward position while getting out of Alex’s car with his arms full of take-out. His name was even mentioned, as was his Glitter Guys Magazine. They dug it up, somehow, ’cause I know Eric didn't tell them. Knowing him, he would have posed if he’d known they were snapping pictures.

“I take it we’re not going to the house?” I say to Ally. With a gasp, I grab the handlebar to keep myself steady as she takes a sharp turn.

“Nope, he has something else planned,” she says and grins at me.

“Eyes on the road, please!”

Ally laughs and turns back to the road. “It’s so cool you guys are together. Talk about a hot couple. We've been trying to come up with a super-couple name for you, but it’s not easy since you both have short names. Dazz, maybe? McJazz? JazzQueen? Jazdean?”

“JazzQueen and Jazdean?” I scoff. “Makes us sound like girls.”

Ally snickers. “The media’s sort of already decided on Jazdean. Probably a gibe because you guys are gay. Dean didn't sound too happy about it, so us groupies have been thinking Dazz. Much cooler, right?”

“Still sounds gay. Dazz for ‘Dazzle’? But whatever, it’s way too early for a super-couple name. Technically, we've only been together for two days,” I mutter while I check the mirror for any chasers.

“Not according to the media.”

She zooms past Chinatown and through South Boston. Even though there’s no sign of the paparazzi she keeps driving like a maniac, taking extra ramps only to get back on the road southward. Damn lucky there are no cops around. By the time she stops in an empty parking lot in Dorchester, it feels like my heart got left behind somewhere on Columbia Road where she dove between two trucks.

An old rust bucket of a pickup with tinted windows and peeling red paint sidles up next to us.

“He’s in there?” I point at the vehicle that seems like it’s about to run on its last mile. I don’t want to believe that Ally’s in on Lee’s evil plot, but why would Dean drive a truck like that with all the money he’s got? This looks more like something within Lee’s budget.

“Yeah.” She gives me a small finger wave. “See you at the party tonight?”

“Party?”

“Well, it’s more like a get-together. Maxime thought it would be a good idea to throw one, since there are still ten days until the next concert. You know, let loose a little. But Yin didn't want a bunch of people passed out around the house, so they’re only inviting a few. I think Yin’s already called all your buddies. There’ll only be a couple of other people.”

“Right…” I take another look at the beat-up truck.

“Well, go on. He’s been planning this since yesterday. I've been following the band for a whole year now and I've never seen him this excited about anyone. So romantic.”

“Right,” I repeat a little softer. My heart finally catches up with us at her words.

Taking a deep breath, I open the door and close it with a resounding snap. It only takes three steps for me to reach the handle of the junkyard truck. Who will I find behind the steering wheel? Lee with a gun or Dean with long stemmed roses?

Black Hurricane is available from most online retailers, including: MLR Press, All Romance eBooks, Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and Kobo. 

GRL 2014: Featured Author

I've been so busy with my new M/M Zombie YA that I forgot to tell you that I'm going to GRL 2014 as a Featured Author ^.^ That's right, I'll be in Chicago in October, partying with the locals and other attendees.

As part of the promo, I've been invited to take part in the GRL Blog Hop. I'm making four stops:

July 27: The Novel Approach
Aug. 11: Love Bytes Reviews
Sept. 2: The Blogger Girls
Oct. 6: Prism Book Alliance

Stop by on those dates, leave a comment, and you might become one book richer.

Autism Blog Hop

Edited: Congrats to Penumbra for winning a copy of Black Hurricane :)

Welcome to my day of the Autism Blog Hop. This hop was organized by my friend, RJ Scott and I was honored when she asked me to take part. Once I've shared my bit, I'll announce the prize I'm offering today (ends on April 20th at 11.59 PM).

RJ gave me a quote to share:

People with autism who have an extraordinary talent are referred to as 'autistic savants'

I don't have many autistic people in my life. We have a 14 year old boy in the family who is autistic, but he lives in north of Iceland so I don't get to see him very often. I do know that whenever I see him, he looks like any other kid, so you can't tell just by looking at him. This boy won't talk to strangers, but as soon as he knows you're "family" he's okay. He is wonderful to my sons who are half his age and he loves playing with them. 

The other person close to me who has autism is an online friend of mine - a fellow writer who's also mastered the art of photo manipulation and original art. He takes perfectionism to a whole new level and he truly is savant when it comes to creating art (though he'll deny this). Like my nephew, you can't tell he's autistic when you look at him. You can't even tell when you speak to him or message back and forth. He's like any other person and if he hadn't told me I wouldn't have guessed he was autistic. This post is dedicated to him (you know who you are).

Please visit RJ's blog to continue the hop (after you've finished entering my contest, of course). 

So, my bit about autism has been shared and here's my contest: From the comments, I'll randomly choose one winner who gets an eBook of their choice from my backlist. The contest ends on April 20th at 11.59 PM. Winner will be announced on April 21st. What you have to do is:

1) tell me which of these books you'd choose if you won and 

2) include a way for me to reach you (email or facebook link or something). 

Boston Boys (novels):

A Life Without You

Jesse's like a bar of soap: the tighter Adam holds on, the faster Jesse slips away. Or that's how it feels to Adam. It doesn't help that Jesse has a girlfriend back home and claims to be straight, but there's no way with all the sparks and physical intimacy flying between the two roommates.

When Adam believes he has reached his ultimate happiness, the bedroom walls come crashing down with a visit from Jesse's girlfriend.

Now Jesse has to decide if he can come to terms with his sexuality, while Adam has to learn to accept that Jesse might never be able to crawl out of the closet.

Absolutely Eric

Eric Wesley is short and snazzy, hot and happy. Or that's what he thought. After three years of living on the wild side hes tired of being a playboy and wants to find love.

Eric, however, has never been in love before and doesn't see that the guy who's been gazing at him all summer might be Mr. Right. Alexander Centauri isn't only style-less and clumsy, but also terribly awkward. After a miserable date, Eric plants Alex on another guys lap and goes after Mr. Wrong who looks so right.

When Eric realizes his mistake, it might be too late.

Black Hurricane

Twenty-three year old Jasper Jones fell in love with Dean McQueen at fourteen, but after a disastrous relationship, Jazz would like nothing better than to see the rock star choke on his own vomit.

After a catastrophic reunion, Dean seems bent on destroying Jazz’s life. It all started when an impromptu bar performance ended up on YouTube and Jazz became an internet sensation overnight. The name “Jazdean” keeps popping up in headlines and the paparazzi stalk his every move. To make matters worse, Jazz is about to end up on the streets for the second time in his life. 

In a desperate attempt to keep his home, Jazz signs a deal with Dean’s band, Black Hurricane, to perform at a couple of concerts. It feels like one of Dean’s feeble attempts to get Jazz back, but painted into a corner like he is, Jazz has no choice.

College Fun and Gays (short stories):

Grade-A-Sex Deal

When College professor Daniel Corrigan was brutally kicked out of his home after revealing his true sexuality to his wife, he had to make a whole new life for himself. For the first time in two years Daniels main heartache isn't the none-existent relationship with his two kids, but the fact that the grade-A-sex deal with his student Troy Anderson is about to expire. After a whole semester of office fun, Troy has managed to squeeze his way into the core of Daniels soul. Daniel, however, is positive hes nothing more to Troy but a teacher who can modify a grade.

The Walls Have Ears

Short and scrawny college student Harley Santos has a strange relationship with the guy on the other side of his bedroom wall. For weeks, the two have been masturbating to each other’s voices, but they have never met in person. In fact, he doesn't know a single thing about his wall-mate except that he looks and sounds incredibly hot.

When Harley’s roommate, Ryan, is asked on a date by one of his neighbors, Harley is devastated that his wall-mate mistook not-hot Harley for super-hot Ryan. Helping Harley through his heartache is Tasha Novokov, the other neighbor, who is tall, dark, and impossibly handsome.

Little Stalker

College student Coby is being stalked by a young guy and has no idea why until someone suggests that the stalker may have a crush on him. The idea both excites and terrifies Coby, who is so deep in the closet he can barely manage to think the word “gay” without freaking out.

Welcome, Brother

When arts student Kyler Morris applies for membership to The Nova Britannia Brotherhood, he's immediately floored by their intimidating leader, Hunter Kingsley. Fellow arts student Hunter, however, isn't the bad-ass he's made out to be and takes Kyler under his wing.

While Kyler struggles to keep his crush under control and his sexuality hidden from the Brothers, Hunter battles daemons of his own in the form of two Brothers who aren't playing by the rules. 

Cold Hands

“Hot-Hands” and Casper have been dating for a month, but their relationship is about as smooth as shattered glass. It doesn't help that Hot-Hands is racked with guilt over his high school bullying of Casper, or that Casper darts away whenever his boyfriend gets a little too frisky.

Desperate to hang onto Casper, Hot-Hands tries to earn back the trust he destroyed years ago, so they can face their disastrous past and have a chance at a happy future.

Cold Hands is the sequel to Hot Hands and contains big spoilers if read first. Hot Hands can be downloaded for free.

(Free)

Excerpt: Cold Hands

The red, pink and blue lights of the wheel spin so fast you can hardly see the carts with people in it. Good luck to him. I don’t really like fast rides. Except if Cass wants to go.

Looking down at him, I relax at the reluctant expression on his face. He looks so gorgeous in his dark, grey woolen coat and thick blue scarf. Every time he exhales, little clouds of steam puff out of his mouth. He doesn't move away when I sneak my hand to the small of his back, guiding him to some of the funfair games. 

I let go of him and we walk side by side. 

“What do you wanna do?” I ask as we walk between the booths, our fingers brushing now and then, sending sparks through my system every time. 

“I don’t know,” he says, but then spots something interesting behind me. “Shoot ducks?”

He answers my big grin with a shy smile, walking ahead of me to the stand. It’s decorated like everything else in the park in red, white and green Christmas decorations. 

“Let’s play for something, all right?” I ask while we wait our turn.

“Like what?” he asks, a little gleam in his eyes I don’t see too often. It makes him look damn sexy. Not that he isn't sexy all the time.

“Like a kiss,” I murmur, leaning toward him with a wide smile. 

“Not here,” Cass whispers, pushing me back, but there’s a playful smirk on his face. 

“Okay.” I step up behind him to whisper in his ear. “If I win, you’ll make out with me on the Ferris wheel.”

“And if I win?” he asks, twisting his torso to look up at me.

“You can ask one thing of me.”

“One thing?”

“Yes.” I steal a touch by sliding my hands along the rough fabric on his coat, over his stomach. “Whatever you want, and I’ll try my best to make it happen.”

“Deal,” he says, still looking up at me, still with that playful gleam in his eyes. 

For a moment we just stand like that, gazing at each other. I’d just have to bend down a bit to kiss him. It looks like he wants me to, but he asked me not to earlier. Does he want to now? I lower my head a little, just to test the waters. He tilts his head up in return.

“Hey!” I jump back at the loud yell from the booth, taking in the middle-aged guy with a black beard. “You guys are up.”

We step away from each other and Cass picks up a riffle. 

“You’re gonna lose,” he mutters, taking his aim as I hand the supervisor a ticket and let out a laugh.

“No way. Got a date to impress,” I say back, watching him as he waits with that little smile still on his lips.

The man flicks a switch and starts busying himself with arranging toys. A line of wooden ducks starts moving back and forth and Cass shoots the first one down. And another. And another. I gawk as he shoots them down one by one until none are left standing. He even has a shot to spare. Cass lowers the riffle with a shy grin.

“Wow,” says the bearded guy, raising the ducks and stopping their movement. “Pick a prize.” He points at the big stuffed animals lining the top shelf.

“Ummm…the zebra,” Cass says. He stuffs the huge animal under his arm, the four long legs dangling.

“Where the hell did you learn to shoot like that?” I ask.

“Joey’s dad runs a shooting range. Did I win already?”

“Not so fast,” I say with a laugh, picking up the riffle and taking my aim. The guy flicks the switch again, now a little more interested in the game. Just as I’m about to pull the trigger, Cass gently bumps into me. I jerk back and miss my target.

The beard guy shakes his head and continues arranging the stuffed toys.

I glance back at Cass who’s got his face half buried behind the zebra’s head, looking back at me all innocent. I chuckle and take another aim.

A black zebra hoof “accidentally” brushes against my face when I take my second shot, missing the duck by a foot.

“Casper?” I say, trying hard to keep the laughter out of my voice.

He looks all innocent again. “Oh, sorry.”

Shaking my head I go for the third shot, but then I feel this cool hand brush against the back of my jeans just as I pull the trigger. “So, it’s gonna be like that, huh?” I ask, barely holding in my laughter.

“Like what?” asks Cass from behind the zebra.

I end up winning a tiny pink dog key chain for shooting one duck—a duck next to the one I was aiming at. Cass breaks out in laughter every time he sees it.

$1.99 on Amazon and All Romance eBooks

New Release: Cold Hands (Gay, College, Bullying)

Finally! You've been waiting so long and so have I. Cold Hands is the sequel to Hot Hands and contains a BIG spoiler if read first. To make it easier on people, I've made Hot Hands FREE. 

Cold Hands:

“Hot-Hands” and Casper have been dating for a month, but their relationship is about as smooth as shattered glass. It doesn't help that Hot-Hands is racked with guilt over his high school bullying of Casper, or that Casper darts away whenever his boyfriend gets a little too frisky.

Desperate to hang onto Casper, Hot-Hands tries to earn back the trust he destroyed years ago, so they can face their disastrous past and have a chance at a happy future. 

Cold Hands focuses on high school bullying for being gay. 

$1.99 on Amazon and All Romance eBooks.

Re-Release: Little Stalker (College, Gay, Internal Homophobia)

Little Stalker has been re-released :)

It's even up on Amazon already. All Romance eBooks as well. $1.99

Blurb:

College student Coby is being stalked by a young guy and has no idea why until someone suggests that the stalker may have a crush on him. The idea both excites and terrifies Coby, who is so deep in the closet he can barely manage to think the word “gay” without freaking out.

Little Stalker focuses on the deep, dark closet.

Re-Release: The Walls Have Ears (Gay, College, New Adult)

Here's the next one :) Only two more to go and then I can focus on other things ^.^ Little Stalker will be out tomorrow and Cold Hands the day after, if nothing goes wrong. Again, edited by Douglas Black and cover by Zathyn Priest.

$1.99 on All Romance eBooks and Amazon.

Blurb:

Short and scrawny college student Harley Santos has a strange relationship with the guy on the other side of his bedroom wall. For weeks, the two have been masturbating to each other’s voices, but they have never met in person. In fact, he doesn't know a single thing about his wall-mate except that he looks and sounds incredibly hot. 

When Harley’s roommate, Ryan, is asked on a date by one of his neighbors, Harley is devastated that his wall-mate mistook not-hot Harley for super-hot Ryan. Helping Harley through his heartache is Tasha Novokov, the other neighbor, who is tall, dark, and impossibly handsome. 

Re-Release: Grade-A-Sex Deal - Crazy Hot Cover!

Don't you just want to lick the both of them? Droooooool. Again, cover by Zathyn Priest and edits by Douglas Black. 

$0.99 on All Romance eBooks and Amazon (soon).

Blurb:

When College professor Daniel Corrigan was brutally kicked out of his home after revealing his true sexuality to his wife, he had to make a whole new life for himself. For the first time in two years Daniel’s main heartache isn't the none-existent relationship with his two kids, but the fact that the grade-A-sex deal with his student Troy Anderson is about to expire. After a whole semester of office fun, Troy has managed to squeeze his way into the core of Daniel’s soul. Daniel, however, is positive he’s nothing more to Troy but a teacher who can modify a grade.

Re-relase: Welcome, Brother (M/M, College, Fraternity)

And now they come rolling in ^.^ I've already formatted two other CFaG stories and they'll be out over the next couple of days. Hopefully, they'll all be out of my hands by the beginning of next week - Cold Hands included - so I can focus on other things.

Welcome, Brother had a different cover as this is the second edition. It's been edited by Douglas Black and the cover is by Zathyn Priest at Scarlet Tie Designs.

Blurb:

When arts student Kyler Morris applies for membership to The Nova Britannia Brotherhood, he's immediately floored by their intimidating leader, Hunter Kingsley. Fellow arts student Hunter, however, isn't the bad-ass he's made out to be and takes Kyler under his wing.

While Kyler struggles to keep his crush under control and his sexuality hidden from the Brothers, Hunter battles daemons of his own in the form of two Brothers who aren't playing by the rules.

Welcome Brother focuses on acceptance in college and gay bashing.

$1.99 on All Romance eBooks and Amazon 

Re-release: Hot Hands (free)

I finally got Hot Hands out again and I'm working on the others. I decided to go the shelf-publishing route because I've been wanting to try it for a while. My editor for the College Fun and Gays series is Douglas Black and Zathyn Priest made the jaw-dropping covers.

The series can be read in any order, except for Hot Hands and Cold Hands (huge spoiler if you read Cold Hands first). Hot Hands will be free of charge, but I'll ask $0.99-$1.99 for the others, depending on length. 

You can download the new version of Hot Hands on All Romance eBooks. Hot Hands is up on Amazon, but it's going to take forever and a day for it to be free there, so if I make any money there for any of my free stories the money will go to an LGBT-related charity. If you have time, please help try to make it free :)

Here are the steps to make Hot Hands free on Amazon:

1. Click this link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DU26GSK

2. Scroll to Product Details

3  Click on "tell us about a lower price"

4. Choose "Website"

5. Put in this url: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-hothands-1228391-340.html

6. Put 0 in the price

7. Put 0 in shipping cost

8. Press the "Submit feedback" button

Thank you :)

Cover Reveal! Black Hurricane

I have a treat for you today! I'm revealing my cover for Black Hurricane (Boston Boys #3) made by the incredibly talented Zathyn Priest. 

This is Dean McQueen, the leader singer of the rock band Black Hurricane. He's back in Boston after reaching an international stardom and wants Jazz (his high school sweetheart) back after nine years apart. Jazz, however, would love nothing better than to see Dean choke on his own vomit - Jimmy Hendrix style.

So, when's the story coming out? I'm guessing (without promising) August or September. I just sent the third edits to my editor and the next step is line edits. 

Bottle Extreme?

The people who have read my Boston Boys books will understand why I not only find this video sexy as hell, but also so, soooo cool ^.^ 

Thanks Z. Allora for pointing it out to me.

The Next Big Thing (NSFW)

Welcome Brother (by Dan Skinner)

Bet you keep seeing that blog title all over, huh? Well, it's my turn ;)

Jessica Freely, whom I had the great pleasure to meet at GayRomLit this year, asked me recently if I'd like to be a part of this big thing. So what is the big thing anyway? It probably started with one person, who chose four people to answer the same questions, who each chose four people to answer the questions, etc. So it's probably a huge pyramid by now. I'm supposed to link to her blog and to the blogs of the four people I contacted. Well, the four people I contacted were either too busy or didn't want to take part, so I'm only linking back to Jessica.

What is the working title of your book?

Welcome Brother (College Fun and Gays #5)

Where did the idea come from for the book?

A photograph by Dan Skinner, titled Welcome Brother (he gave me permission to use that title). However, the story has drastically changed since then and isn't so much about kinky sex anymore (in fact, there's not much sex in it). It's about being in love with the brotherhood's leader and some issues of being gay in a brotherhood.

What genre does your book fall under?

M/M Contemporary Romance. More specifically, college romance.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie?

I can't think of any. This story is too short to ever be made into a film.

What is a one sentence synopsis of your book?

When college student Kyler applies for a membership to the Nova Britannia Brotherhood, all he can see is their very intimidating leader.

Will your book be self published or represented by an agency?

It will be published by No Boundaries Press, hopefully at the beginning of next year.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

A couple of weeks. I edit as I go, so it takes a bit longer. I then sent it to critique partners... and put it away for months and months before I took a look at it again. I'd been convinced it wasn't a good story, but reading it again I've realized that it is a good story, even though it just might offend a few people. 

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre.

Hard to say. The other stories in the College Fun and Gays series? They all take place in college (the same college, actually -  those paying attention will see the occasional character from another story), but they're not really related in any other way, so they can be read in whatever order people want. 

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

Like I said, a photograph by Dan Skinner initiated the idea, but the story changed a lot since then. I actually own this photo (bought it from him and it's at the top of this post), but realize now that I can't use it for this story. Maybe I'll write a pure erotica to go with this photo, but it won't be in this series. Actually, I do have an idea for the plot...

What else about your book might interest the reader?

Kyler, the main character, is insecure about his speech. He has the "gay accent" - and this is why I think people might get offended - which isn't really a "gay" accent, just a speech pattern that some guys (gay and straight) have. As a new brother, Kyler doesn't want his sexuality discovered right away, because people don't often give him a proper chance if they know he's gay before they get to meet him. He's spent years coaching himself to keep the "gay" out of his speech, but slips up in front of the brotherhood leader. 

This part of the story was actually inspired by Zathyn Priest, who wrote a blog post about his "gay accent", a speech pattern he has, but doesn't want to have. I wrote a long author's note at the end of the story to explain this and why I put it in the story.

Over 70 M/M Books Donated

Hi guys :)

Yesterday, my cousin Þóra and I went to the LGBT center in Iceland and delivered the 63 books we brought back from GRL 2012. 63 books!! With the books that have been sent directly from authors and the ones on the way, there will be over 70 new m/m books at the library before Christmas.

What am I talking about here? Earlier this year I did a donation call to my fellow m/m writers to ask if some would be willing to donate a print book for the LGBT-exclusive library at the center. It's a fairly large library considering that it only contains LGBT titles. They have non-fics, magazines, yaoi, DVD's, articles....and a very old fiction section. They haven't had money for years to buy new fiction and the most recent title I was able to find was from 2003. None of the amazing contemporary books by my fellow authors were available and it was saddening. So I did the call and got around 20 responses. I offered to take the books back with me from the conference to give to the center. At the conference, however, more than those who signed up gave books. Some gave their whole collection (one gave 10 books!), Riptide generously gave a whole bunch and I gave bunch of books I won/bought. The majority, however, was from individual donations and I am SO thankful for the generosity. This will be a great Christmas for the library and the people who read the books from there. 

Sadly, Arni - the director - was sick and was unable to receive the books. There was an annual meeting later in the evening, so I stacked the boxes in Arni's office and the board of the LGBT organization officially received them instead. We got a big round of applause for all the books and they thank you from the bottom of their hearts. Since this was in the evening, my cousin was unable to attend and therefor I had no photographer. So, no pictures from the delivery. I did take a picture of the 63 books we lugged with us back to Iceland (header picture), so you can see the pretty pile. 

Again, a big thanks to everyone - and the ones who asked me for the center's address to send books. Here are the people/publishers who donated books (I sincerely hope I didn't forget anyone):

Ally Blue

Anel Viz

Anne Tenino

AR Moeler

Bella Leone

Cherie Noel

Christopher Koehler

Clancy Nacht and Thursday Euclid

DC Juris

Edmond Manning

Em Linley

Erica Pike

Geoffrey Knight

Jessica Freely

JP Bowie

KC Burn

Kiernan Kelly

Kim Fielding

Marguerite Labbe

Mercy Celeste

MLR Press

NJ Nielsen

Prism Books
Ranae Rose

Resplendence

Riptide

Sara York

Simone Anderson

Taylor V. Donovan

TC Blue

Torquere

Total E-Bound

Z. Allora

#Smashwords and #LGBT: Please Recognize Us...

I'm am severely disappointed right now. I was very happy with Smashwords during the whole Paypal censorship matter and thought, hey, that's a place I want to do business with in the future. Seeing my titles up there will make me proud. I still retained those ideas until this morning.

Recently, my publisher, No Boundaries Press, uploaded all their titles to Smashwords and I was very excited. I didn't have time to look at it until today when I rushed off to the Gay & Lesbian section and searched...and searched...and searched for my titles (yes, I wanted to see them in the "New" section, instead of searching for my name - I was that excited). Fifty New titles in and I started to wonder if my titles had been incorrectly cataloged. 

So I did a search for my titles and discovered that instead of Gay & Lesbian - Gay, they were cataloged as Erotica - Gay Erotica. My titles are Romance Erotica, not Erotica, but I understood how my publisher was forced to catalog my titles there (since there are explicit scenes - she's been forced to do this elsewhere as well, though All Romance eBooks did create a special Erotic Romance category for the thousands of titles like mine). However, very few people looking for gay & lesbian titles will look under Erotica first. Besides, "Erotica" means sex only, as in there's no romance involved, and my stories are all based on love instead of just sex (even my Grade-A-Sex Deal is a Romance Erotica). It genuinely hurt to see my titles among titles such as Flaming Hot Gay BDSM, The Electrician's Ass, Confessing to Daddy, My Neighbors Little Girl, A Boy for the Tentacle Monster, Dripping Lust, Lubrication, Breeding His Daddy's Friend, Prison Sissy Sex Slave, Grocery Store Gang Bang... You get the picture and no offense to these authors - these titles and (probably) content belong under Erotica while mine (and more I saw lumped under Erotica) belong under Romance Erotica. There's a huge difference between a stroke-off and a Romance Erotica - both have its literary merits, I'm in no way down-talking Erotica here, I've even written a few that are unpublished yet - but a lot of retailers don't see a difference. It's gay sex, so it must be Erotica!

Okay, so my stories were doomed to hang out with the true Erotica titles. But hey! Farther down the page was a Romance category! I checked to see if there was a Gay sub-category there. They had Erotica sub-category! That's Romance Erotica, so maybe they have Gay under there...but they didn't. Of course, the male/female stories get their very own plethora of Romance sub-categories while the Gay & Lesbian get chucked under Erotica. Nothing new here. It's been this way ever since LGBT literature existed. Smashwords, I'm deeply disappointed. 

So I thought, hey, what about all those sub-genres of LGBT fiction out there. Most of them are Romances (and a lot of them containing some level of Erotic content) with sub-categories of: Sci-Fi, Historical, Paranormal, Horror, Action & Suspense, Holiday, Fantasy, Humor, Mystery, not to mention all the hundreds and hundreds of Westerns (gay cowboys, anyone?). But was there a "Gay" under these categories? Of not! 

So, a reader's option, when looking for Gay Lit, is to search through an impossibly long list of titles in the Gay & Lesbian - Gay (and no sub-cats like Historical, Sci-Fi, Horror, etc.), or Erotica - Gay Erotica (and I still insist that people who are looking for gay literature - erotic or not - do not go searching under Erotica to find them unless they know to look for them there, or unless EVERY category (Historical, Romance, Sci-Fi, etc.) has a Gay sub-category).

Yes, I'm probably being harsh writing only about Smashwords here. To their credit, they do have LGBT under Young Adult (not many do that). The reason I write about Smashwords specifically is because I always figured they were different, more open, more inclusive than other retailers. They're groundbreaking, they're iconic, they fight for writers. It breaks my heart to discover that, in the end, they're might just be like all the others when it comes to LGBT literature...  

If there are any retailers reading this. Please, please reconsider your cataloging of LGBT titles. Most (If not all) of you are behind times. There's been an explosion of LGBT titles in the past years and as things are now, it is extremely difficult to search through all the thousands and thousands of LGBT titles to find, for example, the most recent Sci-Fi title. I know you each have your own way of cataloging your titles, and you have very limited sub-categories, but I recommend using one (or both) of these methods:

This one's more politically correct. Have a sub-genre of Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, and Bisexual under each of your main categories (or as a sub-sub genre if you have Paranormal under Romance - so Romance - Paranormal - Gay, Romance - Paranormal - Lesbian). Historical - Gay, Sci-Fi - Gay, Horror - Gay (yes, there are gay horror stories out there and they're damn good). Please be aware that most people looking for Lesbian literature are NOT looking for Gay (as in male/male). Please also be aware that there's a big difference between Erotica and Romance Erotica.

This one's easier for people to find what they're looking for - at least at first, while they're getting used to the changes of LGBT literature being included in mainstream categories. Have an LGBT main genre, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, and Bisexual under that (and again, people looking for Transgender are NOT looking for Lesbian - it's not the same thing even though we're fighting for rights under the same umbrella), and then sub-sub categories of romance, erotica, romance erotica (or erotic romance - whichever way you wish to call it), Historical, Sci-Fi, Western, Paranormal, Horror, Post-Apocalyptic etc. etc. So, LGBT - Gay - Historical, LGBT - Lesbian - Sci-Fi, LGBT - Transgender - Contemporary, etc.

Personally, I recommend you do both, so readers have it easier to find what they're looking for. That's the point after all, right? The reason I usually stick to LGBT specific sales sites is because it's easier to find what I'm looking for. I just don't have the time to scroll through titles and titles of mixed sub-genres (or titles that aren't even cataloged under LGBT - like Erotica when I'm looking for a Romance Erotica). Don't wait too long and don't ignore this. This is a market increasing at a spiraling rate and I can only see it exploding further with all the changes in the USA today and in the future. Do you really want to miss sales because your cataloging is outdated? 

Header image by plrang via Stock.xchng.com (free stock images)

100 M/M E-Books for One Person

Want a chance to win 100 m/m e-books? No, I didn't accidentally add two zeros. I didn't accidentally add one zero either. Eliza Rolle, the girl organizing the Rainbow Awards, is hosting a huge giveaway with books by a lot of the GRL authors. All those books go to ONE winner. There are also second and third places, each one winning an m/m DVD. Just hop on over to her Livejournal page and leave a comment with your email. If you don't have an LJ account, then that's okay because you can post as anonymous. Just remember to leave your email address. 

An Exorcism of Icelandic Library Ghosts

Photo by Thora R.K.

Roughly a month ago I sent out a plea to my fellow GRL2012 goers to see if anyone would be interested in donating print books to Iceland's only LGBT center. Their library is very outdated in the fiction section because there hasn't been money to buy anything new in years, so their fictional section is looking rather forlorn.

Photo by Thora R.K.

Chicks & Dicks kindly offered to feature the issue and the post went live today ^.^ I'm happy to say that the LGBT center has a few new books already, either donated by me or sent by people (like Anne Tenino!), and a lot of people - including two publishers - will hand me their donations at GRL for me to take to the center. I thought maybe one or two people might respond to my plea, but I was unprepared for the 20+ people who responded. It goes to show how tight and giving this community is. Now there will be titles in the library by KC Burn, Victor Alexander, Geoffrey Knight, Tara Lain and more, for people in Iceland to read. I'm also hoping this will generate an interest of the local bookshops to buy more m/m books in print (I've already contacted the biggest one and they're very positive - they currently only have a few e-book m/m titles in their online store - by Sara York and Geoffrey Knight, among others. Looks like the shop has a deal with Total e-Bound or something). 

Photo by Thora R.K.

Anyway! If you want to read a bit about Iceland, please head on over to Chicks & Dicks. If you want to send an LGBT book to the LGBT center (by you or anyone else), the address is listed in the post (just please make sure you mark the package as a donation so they won't have to pay the VAT). If you'll be at GRL in ABQ, I'd be happy to save you the shipping cost and take the books to the center myself :)

The Icelandic LGBT Center