...for a couple of weeks while we go on holiday. We'll be staying in a cottage in deepest darkest Cornwall *g* and I'm not sure there's any internet access so you may not hear from me for a while.
I'm taking my usual heap of books, notebooks, half-written stories etc though and hope to find at least some time to write.
I'll catch up with everyone when I get back. :)
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Friday, September 15, 2006
Win a free e-book!
There's a free copy of Roses in December up for grabs in the latest 'Fall in Love' give-away in Forbidden Fruit.
All you have to do is wander along to the zine (link below), answer the easy peasy question and if you get it right, you'll be entered in a prize drawing on 15th October to win one of four e-books donated by several of the magazine's regular contributors. These are: Willow Bend by Ally Blue, Roses in December by Fiona Glass, Those Pearls That Were His Eyes by L E Bryce, and The Favor of a God by Shayne Carmichael and Mychael Black.
So, what are you waiting for? Oh yeah, the link. LOL. It's here: Fun & Contests
Good luck!
All you have to do is wander along to the zine (link below), answer the easy peasy question and if you get it right, you'll be entered in a prize drawing on 15th October to win one of four e-books donated by several of the magazine's regular contributors. These are: Willow Bend by Ally Blue, Roses in December by Fiona Glass, Those Pearls That Were His Eyes by L E Bryce, and The Favor of a God by Shayne Carmichael and Mychael Black.
So, what are you waiting for? Oh yeah, the link. LOL. It's here: Fun & Contests
Good luck!
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
'Missing' scene
We've just been asked to do a flash fic piece for the Torquere Social yahoo group. I usually suck at anything less than 2000 words *g* but today I got some inspiration and came up with a brief 'missing' scene from Roses, set just after Nat and Richie first make love. Here it is in all its very brief glory!
"So what do the other bells mean?" Nat perched on the balustrade and watched his reflection in the still dark water below. A fish jumped, rippling his face out over the surface of the pool.
"How d'you mean?" Richie asked, tilting one hip against a post and closing his eyes to the sun.
"Well, you said this bell's for love. But how about this one?" He yanked the next bell along; it was larger and had a deeper note.
"Wealth," said Richie.
"And this one?"
"Er... long life."
Nat watched his lover and wished this moment could last for ever. "Is there one for happiness?"
Richie opened his eyes and grinned, hands already going to his fly. "No. But come and pull this and it'll make *me* happy."
"You know that's not what I meant," said Nat, but went anyway.
You can find out more about the book here.
"So what do the other bells mean?" Nat perched on the balustrade and watched his reflection in the still dark water below. A fish jumped, rippling his face out over the surface of the pool.
"How d'you mean?" Richie asked, tilting one hip against a post and closing his eyes to the sun.
"Well, you said this bell's for love. But how about this one?" He yanked the next bell along; it was larger and had a deeper note.
"Wealth," said Richie.
"And this one?"
"Er... long life."
Nat watched his lover and wished this moment could last for ever. "Is there one for happiness?"
Richie opened his eyes and grinned, hands already going to his fly. "No. But come and pull this and it'll make *me* happy."
"You know that's not what I meant," said Nat, but went anyway.
You can find out more about the book here.
Monday, September 11, 2006
Makeover
It's been a while since I had a major fiddle with my website, which is quite unusual for me. So today I've given it a makeover, with pared-down graphics and quite a trendy look. Hope you like it! There's also one or two new goodies including a smashing review on Roses in December from Wild Child Publishing and an excerpt from my latest acceptance, The Visitor. Head on over to Through a Glass Darkly and take a look-see.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Space opera
This genre usually turns up on publishers' taboo lists but just for a laugh I'm scribbling away on a comedy version, which starts with a human and an alien stuck in an elevator together. For some reason I decided to call it 'Broken Lullaby' when I first started it, but now I can't remember why so I think I'm going to have to re-name it.
I added about 1,500 words to it yesterday and had a blast, which makes a nice change from scraping around for every word.
Here's a brief snippet:
The first time Rudi came face to face with a Vreenian, all he really noticed was the smell. It surprised him that he hadn't known that about them. After all, he'd been studying them for years, first at space school and then at the Union's political headquarters on Cygnus IV. He'd read virtually the entire contents of the Vreenian section of the library there (not as hard as it sounded since the Vreena system had only been discovered thirty years before) and watched endless visua-logs of early contacts with Vreenian explorers. He'd studied their history and their demographics and their physiology; he spoke six of their languages well enough to make himself understood; he recognised the difference between all but two of their five genders. But he'd never been in the same room as one before. Here in the elevator between levels one and five of the Trafalgar space station, face to face with a first-category Vreenian male, it was a different story, and a rather overpowering one at that.
Not that the smell was unpleasant, precisely, just... strong. It reminded him of his mother's garden after rain, or of picking parsley for the sauce for Saturday lunch, or of standing on the cliffs at Dingli and smelling the sweet herbs of the maquis on the wind. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more attractive it was becoming, and if he didn't want to be caught doing an impression of a Bisto kid in front of an alien officer he'd better pull himself up right now.
He risked a glance upwards beneath his fringe and found a pair of amused grey eyes watching him. Damn. The effect that scent was having on him must be more obvious than he'd thought. Shfiting uncomfortably inside his uniform collar he said, "Greetings, esteemed stranger,' in the most commonly-used of the six Vreenian languages he knew.
"Good afternoon," the Vreenian replied, in perfect English, with a lift of his left brow-ridge.
I added about 1,500 words to it yesterday and had a blast, which makes a nice change from scraping around for every word.
Here's a brief snippet:
The first time Rudi came face to face with a Vreenian, all he really noticed was the smell. It surprised him that he hadn't known that about them. After all, he'd been studying them for years, first at space school and then at the Union's political headquarters on Cygnus IV. He'd read virtually the entire contents of the Vreenian section of the library there (not as hard as it sounded since the Vreena system had only been discovered thirty years before) and watched endless visua-logs of early contacts with Vreenian explorers. He'd studied their history and their demographics and their physiology; he spoke six of their languages well enough to make himself understood; he recognised the difference between all but two of their five genders. But he'd never been in the same room as one before. Here in the elevator between levels one and five of the Trafalgar space station, face to face with a first-category Vreenian male, it was a different story, and a rather overpowering one at that.
Not that the smell was unpleasant, precisely, just... strong. It reminded him of his mother's garden after rain, or of picking parsley for the sauce for Saturday lunch, or of standing on the cliffs at Dingli and smelling the sweet herbs of the maquis on the wind. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more attractive it was becoming, and if he didn't want to be caught doing an impression of a Bisto kid in front of an alien officer he'd better pull himself up right now.
He risked a glance upwards beneath his fringe and found a pair of amused grey eyes watching him. Damn. The effect that scent was having on him must be more obvious than he'd thought. Shfiting uncomfortably inside his uniform collar he said, "Greetings, esteemed stranger,' in the most commonly-used of the six Vreenian languages he knew.
"Good afternoon," the Vreenian replied, in perfect English, with a lift of his left brow-ridge.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Rushed off feet
Wow, it's been ages since I had a spare moment to post here - I've just been running around in ever decreasing circles. First I've been doing loads of promotional work for 'Roses in December' to try to drum up even more sales, and then I've been tearing my hair out over preparations for the September issue of Forbidden Fruit. I finally uploaded that yesterday (great issue, btw, with simply heaps of stories) so now I've got time to breathe again.
News to report? Oh yes, I have a story of my own in Forbidden Fruit - a creepy tale about locked ancient boxes and their contents written for the 'urban fantasy' theme.
And I have a new Torrid Teaser out from Whiskey Creek Press, containing two stories in one volume. 'To the Rescue' involves a blizzard, a mountain rescue squad and lots of hot sex, while 'Crossed Wires' is the tale of a detective working undercover on a telephone sex line! Don't be fooled by the cover - both these stories are my usual mix of m/m and twist in the tail.
News to report? Oh yes, I have a story of my own in Forbidden Fruit - a creepy tale about locked ancient boxes and their contents written for the 'urban fantasy' theme.
And I have a new Torrid Teaser out from Whiskey Creek Press, containing two stories in one volume. 'To the Rescue' involves a blizzard, a mountain rescue squad and lots of hot sex, while 'Crossed Wires' is the tale of a detective working undercover on a telephone sex line! Don't be fooled by the cover - both these stories are my usual mix of m/m and twist in the tail.
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