More rock than roll

In spite of the ongoing heatwave which is making me wilt, I managed to finish off 'Rock and a Hard Place', the story about the ageing rock star, yesterday. Rather amazingly it came in at bang on 6000 words which was exactly the target I was aiming for. And I'm rather pleased with the way it turned out. It's a complete romp from start to finish and really written for laughs. The hero is hiding from himself and it takes the combined efforts of his manager and his supposed boyfriend to make him face up to what he really is.

Now I have two stories with a rock music theme, this one and 'Roll Over' which is a good deal shorter but much steamier. I'm going to sit on them for a while, give them another good edit, and then look at the possibility of submitting them as a matched pair under the title 'Rock and Roll'.

Now if only I could finish off this weather while I'm at it....

Heatwave

It's official - it's a heatwave here in the UK. People from really hot countries might giggle, but yesterday we were hotter than Malta, for heavens' sake, and it's supposed to be worse today.

I have major problems concentrating when the temp soars (heck, I have problems just breathing LOL) so I've picked up a light hearted little story to keep myself going on, without the sheer grind of a novel. It's called Rock and a Hard Place and it involves a fading rock star whose manager decides to kick start his career by announcing to the world that he's gay. Lots of misunderstandings ensue, because Josh really is gay but he's managed to successfully hide the fact for years. Will Simon, the manager's choice for Josh's new boyfriend, manage to drag him out of the closet? Or will Josh self-destruct?

It's great fun to write, the only problem being that Josh and Simon want to gallop off with the plot and turn it into - you guessed - a novel. I'm having to be very firm with them. LOL

Chatting on Torquere LJ

I'll be hosting my first ever day on the Torquere Social livejournal today - my knees are already knocking. LOL

If everyone is very, very nice to me there's a chance I might post an excerpt or two from Roses in December, so do pop along to Torquere Social and join in the fun. :D

My novel is out!!

J M Barrie once said, "God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December." My first ever novel, Roses in December, has just been published by Torquere Press.

The book is a novelisation of my short story Garden of Remembrance and tells the full story of the soldier, his lover, and the beautiful lost garden they discover together.

Blurb: "Recovering from an injury, British soldier Nat goes to Partington Towers, a quiet place in the country where his body and soul can heal. Fascinated by the elaborate Victorian gardens there, Nat goes exploring, finding some of the gardens' former glory still intact, and finding something even more interesting in Richie, a young man Nat can't help falling in love with.

The gardens are more special than even Nat realizes, and soon he finds himself outed to his unit, fighting to stay on as the gardens are sold to a conservation society, and in love with a man that died before he was born. Can Nat use the strange magic the gardens possess to find he and Richie a happy ending?"

Author Alexa Snow describes the novel as "fine literature, with delicately crafted writing shaped by the hand of a true master". Why not check it out for yourself, either on my website or from Torquere Press, and find out why Barrie's quote is so appropriate for this poignant love story.

Flu

I've managed to pick up a bout of flu from somewhere (yes, in the middle of a summer heatwave *rolls eyes*) and have been sniffling and sneezing - hence the lack of updates here. Progress on writing has been pretty slow too but I have managed to scrape a few words together on Mandragora, including this fun description of the Central Library in Birmingham:

"Luckily Birmingham had an excellent library. From the outside it might look like an upturned concrete ziggurat that someone had dropped from a great height to land with a splat on Paradise Place, but inside it had eight floors of reference material including a whole floor dedicated to history, another to periodicals and a separate area, up a wrought-iron spiral staircase, for the city's archives. And even the outside wasn't so bad once you got used to it. True, Paradise Place was rather a misnomer with not so much as a blade of grass in sight - just flights of ugly steps and a pointy Gothic fountain where pigeons drank and barely-dressed tots (and students) frolicked on hot days. But the city council had done their best with the basic resources, festooning every ledge and crevice with boxes of flowers until it resembled a cement hanging garden, and providing a clutch of scruffy shops and bars in the ziggurat's forum, if that wasn't too much of a clash of cultures."

And here's a photo of the library to show you what I'm talking about. :)

Now I'm desperately trying to come up with ideas for articles for the main character to write, since I've gone and made him a freelance journalist. I'm having to think back far too many years to my own stint at university and remember my own essays for inspiration. So far I've only come up with the history of castle building, but at least it's a start.

Erotic Dreams

The latest issue of the stonkingly hot (and stunningly illustrated) Erotic Dreams magazine is out! This zine concentrates on fantasy erotica with a twist - for all types of sexuality. Here's a brief word from the magazine's co-editor Kay Derwydd:

"Erotic Dreams - July Issue - is live!

We have tons of excellent fiction, poetry, and artwork in this issue of
Erotic Dreams. Plus we have a few new features for you--our readers!"

http://www.eroticdreamspublishing.com/EroticDreams/