How Did the Foothills Pride Series Start?

Today on the MM Good Book Reviews blog site, I talk about how I fell into writing the Foothills Pride series.

I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to do what I love--writing--and entertain people at the same time.

As I say in the blog piece, writing books and becoming an author have been dreams of mine for a long time. Having a series with so many books published overwhelms me when I stop typing and think about what's come so far and what I see for the future.

Below is a list of the series so far with links in case you want to buy the books:

#1 What's in a Name? Dreamspinner, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, ARe, Kobo, Google Play
#2 Redesigning Max Dreamspinner, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, ARe, Kobo, Google Play
#3 Behr Facts Dreamspinner, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, ARe, Kobo, Google Play 
#4 When Adam Fell Dreamspinner, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, ARe, Kobo, Google Play
#5 Relative Best Dreamspinner, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, ARe, Kobo
#6 Short Order - to be released in December 2016/January 2017
#7 The Right Sort - to be submitted to Dreamspinner August 15, 2016

You can read books #1 - #4 in the paperback, Foothills Pride, Vol. 1 from these online retailers: Dreamspinner, Amazon, Barnes & Noble

And below are the books I'm working on for 2017. None of them have been accepted by Dreamspinner yet, so the titles and plots are speculative at this point.

#8 Seared: Marshall O'Shea buys Tommy Thompson's Original Steakhouse and wants to turn it into a family fun center. He never expected to fall in love until he met a special Stone Acres' resident who's appeared in other books in the series. (I've just started writing this one for submission in October.)

#9 Artistic License: Vic Longbow's stepbrother Hayden Weller opens an art gallery in Stone Acres and doesn't want to include any of Fredi Zimmer's work. Fortunately, Fredi has an ally in town who pleads his case and falls for Hayden.

#10 Buckaroo: The Christmas holidays are tough for itinerant cowboy Jake Vons, who decides to drown his sorrows at Stonewall Saloon, only to be yanked from the doldrums by Stone Acres' newspaperman Tony Donner, who struggles to put out the weekly rag and keep up the town bulletin board.

Guy Talks about Jimmy Today

Bartender Guy Stone, from What's in a Name?, talks about the love of his life, barista Jimmy Patterson today at Romance Lives Forever.

You won't want to miss it!  (If you haven't read any of the Foothills Pride series, go to Dreamspinner Press or Amazon to find out more about it.  Each of the books can be read alone.)

Enjoy!

A Kiss in Time, Short Story Available on Amazon

Yes, it's true. It's taken me a little under forever--or about six or eight months--to get my gay romance short story, A Kiss in Time, formatted and posted with a cover image onto Amazon.

If you like parkour, graffiti, murals, artists, kisses in busy hallways, gruff but kindly bartenders, and undercover cops, then this is the story for you. It's also got its share of hugs, dreams of public art, and beating up on the bad guy.

It's short. It's sweet. And it's available now.

Buy it only on Amazon using this link.

Dancing Their Way to Love

This weekend my review of Dance with Me by Heidi Cullinan is featured on AAR.  If there'd been a little more information about one of the characters, I would have happily given the book an A rating.  But even with its B+, I'm glad I've got it on my Kindle and will have it read again wherever I go.

Actually, there are a few of Cullinan's books that I've enjoyed.  Her men act and sound like real men, and not feminine parodies.  I especially like the Tucker Springs books and I can't wait to read Family Man even though I'm bummed that neither Amazon nor Samhain Publishing have a page count for it.  I'm staying away from novellas and short stories these days.

In other news, while we were away celebrating my mother's 90th birthday last weekend, AAR ran my Desert Isle Keeper review of After the End by Alex Kidwell.  The story revolves around how one man gentles another back into the world of the living and loving.  Brady is a caterer and top-notch chef, and uses his talents to lure Quinn in a non-threatening way back from his grief after Quinn's partner of ten years dies of cancer.  It's a solid, compassionate book about a touchy subject.

Let Me Pick That Out for You

Not to take anything away from automated referral systems, but I'm still trying to get my mind around services like E-Harmony and Rhapsody that take something I like and then tell me what else I will like.  Most of the time with the music services, I feel like my choices are hemming me into a small box.  Often having the same suggestions made over and over annoy me to the point of wanting to shake the service in order to get a better match.  (I haven't tried e-Harmony since I've been married 40 years and so far haven't needed to try it.)

So I was pleasantly surprised when Amazon made a suggestion for an author unfamiliar to me and I actually loved the book.  My review for About Last Night by Ruthie Knox is on AAR today.  My skepticism about electronic recommendations is lessened by this very enjoyable book.