Misc. Tidbits

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I've started reading Infected: Prey by Andrea Speed and so far I'm captivated! Wow, that girl can write.

Hop Against Homophobia has reached an awesome number of 70 m/m authors/publishers/reviewers and we're expecting lots more. The M/M-only blog hop kick-off date will be on May 17 (International Day Against Homophobia) and readers are welcome to visit the blogs and see if they can win a book or ten! It will be advertised later :)

I just got my edits back from MLR Press, No Boundaries Press and two from my critique partner AM Riley. I have a lot of work ahead of me. Three are short stories but those take just as much work as the novel-length manuscripts. Thankfully, the novel manuscript (Absolutely Eric) is nearly done. I just have tiny changes to make. Sooo exciting and I can't wait to reveal the cover. I'm looking forward to share this book with everyone ^.^ Since I'm all about setting goals these days I'll give myself until the end of next week to finish all this.

M/M-Only Blog Hop

We're opening up registration to our m/m-only blog hop.

Basic rules are that you must be an M/M author/publisher/seller/reviewer. You don't have to be m/m-only publisher/seller/reviewer as long as you're offering a m/m-related prize.

Here's the official post:

An M/M-only blog hop!

Now that we've finally released some gay romances, we (Erica Pike, NJ Nielsen, and K-Lee Klein) have begun to take part in blog hops. They‘re great fun and we‘re very appreciative to be invited along for the ride. One thing we‘ve noticed though is the lack of M/M specific blog hops created for writers and readers of our particular genre. So we thought, why not make one?

K-Lee came up with the clever name: Hop Against Homophobia, and we've decided to use the International Day Against Homophobia, May 17th, as our official hop kickoff date. The hop will run until midnight May 20^th.

We hope to get as many authors of gay (M/M) fiction as we can to sign up and show their support. Publishers, sellers and reviewers are welcome to take part as long as your prize is M/M-related.

Here are the author participation requirements:

--- Be an author/publisher/seller/reviewer of M/M fiction.

--- Offer a M/M-related prize (M/M book/ebook, or GLBTQ swag, t-shirt, whatever you can come up with).

--- Provide links of other blog participants to your blog visitors (will be explained in an email, but it'll be as easy as copy-paste).

--- Talk about the International Day Against Homophobia in your May 17th blog entry (as little as just a mention – your choice).

--- Add the colorful Hop Against Homophobia image to your blog/website with a link to the official hop site (http://hopagainsthomophobia.blogspot.com/).

We are discouraging the use of gift cards as prizes. In doing this, we hope to attract readers more specific to our M/M genre and not just readers looking to score a gift card. We want m/m fiction lovers to win our prizes!

We plan to do as much promotion on this as we can and we'd appreciate it if all participants could help by mentioning the hop once in a while. This is OUR (people of the gay fiction genre) hop, and if successful this year, it could turn into a fabulous annual event of M/M love!

What is a blog hop? Take a look at this post.

For authors/publishers/sellers/reviewers interested in taking part, specifics will be sent via email once we get closer to the date, so everyone will know what to do. But for now, please sign up and encourage others to do the same :)

18% Gray Review

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If you're looking for a sappy romance - this is not it. If you're looking for a book that contains two rough men fighting through the enemy's territory, running for their lives - this is it! 

What I love about 18% Gray is how naturally the "romance" develops between the two guys. The bits where they did connect on their journey were touching and heartfelt without being overly so. I loved the beginning, so funny. I also admire the way Anne Tenino writes; fluent and clever. 

The name of the book is great, but other than a very brief mention of 18% gray, I really don't see the relevance. Except maybe that the gays in the Red zone have to hide and use symbols to get lucky. 

I also don't see the purpose of Benigna, unless she has something to do with the other books. The one part I can see her moving the plot along (after the brush incident) would have been solvable without her. I don't know if she was for comic relief. The little "nunette (love that word) frustrated me more than anything else.. 

There's obviously going to be a second book and I can't wait to read it :) 

Definitely 5 out of 5 - heck, make it 10 out of 10!

Author Chat, Giveaways and More

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There's an author chat at No Boundaries Press facebook page and a chance to win Hot Hands.

Another m/m title to win is Kharisma Rayne's Bound by Temptation (the cover is so cool!).

They're only for today, so be quick :)

I shared the blurb for my February NBP title on the author chat. It's called A Grade-A-Sex-Deal:

For weeks, college student Casper has been the victim of sail-by goosing and groping. The problem is that Casper would very much like to get more than groped by those wonderful, big, hot hands. 

With a journal full of clues, he sets out to discover who his mystery groper is. However, he may be in serious trouble once he discovers the ominous identity, trouble that has nothing to do with the light bondage involved.


That's right, it's a student/teacher relationship ;) There's no cover yet, but you can expect me squeeing over it soon.


Finally, a little reading status. I'm 50% in 18% Gray and I loooove it so far. I love dystopians.

Oh one more thing! Hot Hands got a B+ review from Brief Encounters. I'm not exactly sure what that's in stars, probably 4. 

February Reading

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I'm ashamed to say that I've known a bunch of m/m authors for almost a year now but I haven't read a single work by most of them. I feel that's something I should change this year, so here are my reading goals for 2012:

-- Read two books a month by an author I'm personally familiar with / friends with. 

-- Read at least one book a month by an author I haven't read before (doesn't have to be someone I know).

-- Read 60 books this year (slow reader! I like to sink into the books and read them at leisure).

That's three books a month. Then, of course, I can read whatever else I want once I've finished those three. I start by chopping down what I already have on my Kindle, then I'll start buying more. Since January has already passed I'll read 4 and 2:

J.P. Bowie - Frontier Men

Sue Brown - Nothing Ever Happens

Z.A. Maxfield - Drawn Together

T.A. Chase - Why I Love Geeks

Prey - Andrea Speed

18% Gray - Anne Tenino

It's just embarrassing talking to these authors when I haven't read their work! I'll make a status report by the end of the month so you can kick my bum if I've been slacking.