Who Should Play Fen and John in Short Order?

I answer that and other burning questions at Stories That Make You Smile today.

Who do you think would be good at playing the two lead men in the story? (Think cute short men! No beefy hunks need apply. Sorry, Armie Hammer!)

Wonderful Review from Love Bytes for Short Order

Thank you so much, Dan at Love Bytes, for your support of the series and of the last book in it, Short Order

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A Reading from Short Order at the Lavender Library

Want to hear a snippet of me reading from the 8th Foothills Pride book, Short Order?

Well, click on this link to see me at the Lavender Library on Friday, December 8.

Here are the links to the other authors reading their work at the event:

Baz: https://www.facebook.com/groups/queeromanceink/permalink/1782136105412974/

Davin: https://www.facebook.com/groups/queeromanceink/permalink/1782142645412320/

Liz: https://www.facebook.com/groups/queeromanceink/permalink/1782176788742239/

Scott: https://www.facebook.com/groups/queeromanceink/permalink/1782176848742233/

Amy: https://www.facebook.com/groups/queeromanceink/permalink/1782176935408891/

What Are Critics Saying About Frank at Heart?

Creeping Up on Release Day

Preorder at
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Introducing Frank and Christopher

Here's how viewpoint character Frank McCord describes himself in Frank at Heart:

The men in my family were clones of my grandfather as far as appearance went. We’re all tall, thin, and geeky, with prominent Adam’s apples, pale blue eyes, and dirt brown hair. The only differences began internally and seeped out externally as people got to know us. My grandfather was addicted to Stoker’s chewing tobacco and Jim Beam, but only indulged outside work hours. Dad, on the other hand, at least early in my life, found religion and shunned all things mind-altering, except the Good Book.

I’d strayed from the straight and narrow after my preteen years. But I didn’t advertise it. My persona as helpful Frank McCord had long ago marked and unsexed me around here. Coming out wouldn’t serve any purpose now.

So I had spent years watching men come and go without a problem. Not this time. This stranger I wanted to meet and get to know. But how did other men do that? 

I was still working on the answer.

 * * * * *

Cover artist AngstyG took that description and came up with the cover. I think she did a terrific job, don't you? 

Open Skye Book Reviews is hosting a cover reveal today, so you can go see all about the book including an excerpt and a handyman gift card giveaway. So be sure to visit their site and enter the drawing.

The Three Loves of Pat Henshaw

Today I'm at Prism Book Alliance, starting a new monthly column. I worried about what I could blog about when there were no parameters or directions given other than "write about anything." That sounds an awful lot like what I do writing fiction.

Miniature cupcakes and gingerbread people

Then it occurred to me to break down my everyday life into the three areas where my heart lies: my miniature making, reading, and writing. So I think for the Prism blog, I'll concentrate on those three loves and update them for a year. I do have goals for each.

MINIATURE MAKING: Finish the quarter inch French bakery I started years ago. And if I do that start on another of the many projects I have. If I could completely finish two projects, this would be a banner year.

READING: Expand my reading of gay romances to include fantasy and sci-fi. I'm burned out from a string of sex scenes interrupted for a dollop of plot. I need more plot and stronger characters and fewer sex scenes that aren't original or needed in a book.

WRITING: While keeping the Foothills Pride series going, I'd like to finish the first of a series that's been bugging me to be written for a few years now. I'm going to be pitching it when I'm at the Dreamspinner retreat, so I won't say anything more about it until I get their take on it.

And that's where I'm planning to go in the next year. Who knows if this is the path I travel? As I say all the time, we'll see.

Coming in May or June 2017: Frank at Heart

FRANK AT HEART, the next Foothills Pride story, will be released in May or June of this next year.

A photo I took of a foothills town's Main Street

What's it about? Well, here's the blurb:

Everything about thirty-five-year-old Stone Acres hardware store owner Frank McCord is old-fashioned—from his bow tie and overalls, to the way he happily makes house calls and the way he dreams of lasting romance, true love, and marriage. Frank’s predecessors have run the store and been loved in the small California town for generations. While genial Frank upholds tradition and earns the respect of friends and neighbors, he fears he’s too dull and old to attract a husband.

Into his life comes handsome thirty-six-year-old electronic games designer Christopher Darling and his fifteen-year-old son, Henry. Christopher has everything Frank could want in a potential partner: charm, kindness, and compatibility. Also, he’s a terrific father to Henry. When their Stone Acres home turns out to be uninhabitable, Frank offers the Darlings temporary lodging in his ancestral farmhouse, where he and his tenant Emil reside. Since Emil thinks Frank is his, sparks fly. Suddenly, Frank’s monotonous life promises to explode with love and threatens to change him forever.

More about Frank in future blog pieces!

Behr Facts and When Adam Fell Awarded Honorable Mention

Behr Facts and When Adam Fell were awarded Honorable Mention citations for the 2016 Rainbow Awards. I'm so pleased!

Wow!

Order my books at
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30% off Sale for Friends

Have you been waiting for a sale to order one or all of the Foothills Pride books? Or maybe Blame It on the Fruitcake? If so, this is the perfect time to buy! 30% off. 

Click HERE to take advantage of this great deal.

Don't Blame the Fruitcake--Enjoy It Instead

Start the holiday season right with a warm, AWWWW-inspiring story of love and fruitcake.

Get your copy at these retailers and enjoy!
Dreamspinner Press
Amazon
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My Books Are 30% Off at Dreamspinner Today and Tomorrow!

All my books are 30% off--even the paperback--from Oct. 11 through 12.

Go to Dreamspinner Press to shop!

Holiday 2016 Short Story

Last year was all about fruitcake. This year is all about a grand old theater. Both years are about the physical bonds that bring lovers together. They are the jumping off points that lead to love.

Amazed and Humbled

So, today as I started the next book in the Foothills Pride series (Seared, #8), I got to a stopping place after about 1000 words and needed to do a little research before I continued. Always curious, I went to Amazon to see if Foothills Pride Stories, Vol. 1 was listed or not, and in the course of that, see how Relative Best is doing.

I was absolutely shocked to see the Relative Best, which doesn't release until August 17, was #9 on Amazon's Hot New Releases in Two-Hour LGBT Short Reads. Wow.

I'm not sure how all this is calculated or comes about, but I'm humbled to be on the list with other titles that have been published already.

At any rate, this takes my breath away. Thanks to those of you who've made this possible!

Contract News

I signed a contract with Dreamspinner Press this evening for SHORT ORDER, #6 of the Foothills Pride series.

Short Order is the story of Dr. Fen Miller, whose cousin Beth owns Stone Acres' plant nursery with her wife Kate. Fen moves to town for the Christmas holidays and meets John Barton, Adam de Leon's sous chef at the Silver Star restaurant.

The story explores whether two shorter than average gay men can prove short, dark, and handsome are a winning combination.

For more information about the series or to order the books:

Dreamspinner Press Author Page 

ALL books are discounted at Dreamspinner from AUGUST 4-7

Amazon Author Page

Hockey Vs. Ice Skater: Who's More Manly?

Having grown up around ice and skating, I've always been jealous of those who can put on skates, get on ice, and look confident.  After many years of lessons and just "goofing off" on the ice, I never learned the skill--and it is definitely a skill!

That's why Teegan Loy's Picks & Pucks intrigued me.  Here's an excerpt from the review that was posted today at The Romance Reviews:

If an ice skater is equally talented as both a hockey player and figure skater, is it less manly to hone his figure skating skills? Teegan Loy's romance lands solidly on the line, declaring that both figure and hockey skating demand strength and precision.

The author also tackles the question of image as figure skater Justin Corrin works to become a member of the United States Olympic team while coming out as a gay man. Justin's been in a closeted relationship with his friend Danny, a hockey player.

Danny's a real piece of work, acting hot and heavy when he's with Justin behind closed doors and making fun of Justin in front of the hockey team.

This all changes when Justin throws over Danny after he meets C. J. Daly, a new hockey player on the team that Justin's father coaches. While Justin and C. J. immediately click, Justin realizes right away that something isn't right with C. J., a fact corroborated by others who know him.

Since Justin hasn't really talked to his father after he reacted badly to Justin's coming out, Justin leaves C. J. alone, not demanding that he talk about his troubled past. Besides, Justin has demons of his own.

Read the rest of the review at The Romance Reviews.

British Teacher Pushes Mentor Out of the Closet

From my review of Love Lessons Learned by K. C. Wells that is posted at The Romance Reviews:

A closeted mentor teacher falls for his fledgling out-and-proud instructor in this British romance that flirts with improper conduct.

When John Wainwright is hired to teach at an impoverished Manchester elementary school, he's immediately attracted to Head Teacher Brett Sanderson, who is also his mentor. But John thinks closeted Brett is straight, an impression Brett works hard at maintaining.

Since John, whose brother is a married gay man, wants to ultimately have the same kind of relationship his brother enjoys, he doesn't pursue Brett, but settles into his new living arrangement with three other out-and-proud men.

Brett, too, feels an attraction to John, but since Brett's only acknowledgement of his true self is as "Rob" in the gay resort of Brighton during school holidays, Brett too is ignoring his attraction to his mentee.

It's a stand-off until, one day, overcome by his attraction, Brett kisses John, and then the floodgates open. But is it wise to have an affair with John when he's supposed to be mentoring him?

Read the rest of my review at The Romance Reviews.

A Gay Romance for Coffee Lovers

I'm a tea drinker myself, so the overall setting of B. G. Thomas' Hound Dog & Bean, Bean's coffee shop, isn't really my cup of....tea.  (Sorry!  Had to do it.)

But Thomas' book is a lovely romance in the true sense of the word, a bringing together of two hearts.  That they're brought to together by coffee and dogs is something foreign to me and something that should have put me off the story.

But Thomas' nearly lyrical passages and the magical realism when Hound Dog and Bean visit a special tree won me over.  Lyrical passages and magical realism aren't what appear in any other gay romantic fiction as far as I'm aware, so I wasn't really prepared to have both qualities pop out at me.

The book didn't make a coffee drinker out of me nor did it tempt me to adopt a puppy, but the story has stayed in my mind for months.  Every once in a while I remember a particularly beautiful scene and smile.

Romance in a Musical Family Amid Bullying

John C. Houser's The Music Box is an amazing romance on so many different levels.  For one thing, it's the touching story of two men who are settled in their careers as opposed to the buff, young twenty-somethings that a large proportion of gay romances feature.  Both are battling big problems in their careers--problems that must be settled soon or they might be unemployed.

One is a high school music teacher who is watching his program shrink because of budget cuts.  How can he make the program more viable to the students?  And should he agree to teach history as well in order to keep his job?

The other man manages the music store his musically-talented family owns.  His mother is a world-renowned soprano and his brother in a string quartet.  What they don't know since they are away touring is that the store is losing money and the building need therapeutic maintenance badly.  But where's the money to come from?  Should he start charging family members to keep the business going?

When both men see an extremely gifted teen being harassed by another boy, they rush to his aid, thereby causing their worlds to change.  What results is not only a satisfying romance but also a triumphal story of people reaching out to make someone else happy.

Houser is the kind of uncommon writer whom everyone should read.  I know I can't wait for his next book.

Hospital Tales Enliven Romance

I really enjoyed Jake Wells' A White Coat Is My Closet as much for the stories about the children that the surgeon who's wearing the white closet tells as much as the coming out of the closet story.  I just wish that Wells had had a better editor.  There was a lot of repetition in the novel that distracted from Wells' wonderful points about being a doctor and about being accepted for who one is.

At first I was skeptical about reading this book especially since the first chapter or so are grizzly.  I had two C-sections and reading about someone in danger during childbirth and the resulting C-section isn't really something I would have sought out to read.  Fortunately, the rest of the hospital tales are about children which was marginally easier to take.

I've had five major operations in my life, so my view of hospitals is a little skewed.  One operation was an emergency one held during a nurses' strike.  That was a particularly grim hospital stay as anyone could imagine.  Another operation went wrong and the surgeon found himself over his head in complications or so I found out after the operation when the surgeon nearly refused to see me, and his staff spilled the beans.

So reading a book, even a good one, about hospitals and surgeries was difficult.  However, Wells' smooth writing style helped me get through the rough parts without too much angst.