Soooo tempted....

I'm not a massive fan of gadgets but I do like a decent laptop. Something I can drag round on holidays or weekends away, so I can stay in touch with email, surf the net and even do a spot of writing if the mood takes me.

I have a decent laptop (Advent, if memory serves me) which has coped very well with all of the above for a couple of years now. The only trouble is, that by the time I've packed it away in a bag with the battery, power supply, extra cabling, decent mouse (because I simply can NOT use those weird touch-pad things) and a mouse-mat, it weighs about the same as trying to lug the ruddy desktop with me. ;)

I've dreamed about having something so small it could go in my handbag and at last, it looks as though netbooks are catching on. They're small (10" screen), they're lightweight (1.4 kg or less) and yet they have most of the features a full-size laptop would have, in terms of operating systems, software, memory, capabilities etc etc.

Top of the bunch at the moment is this little fellow from Samsung. Not only does it have Windows XP and 160 gigs of memory, but it comes with a full-size keyboard so this particular touch-typist wouldn't be turning the air blue through hitting so many wrong keys.



I am oh-so-very-tempted. Maybe after Christmas, if they have January sales and I save up all my Christmas pennies...

Stand and deliver!

The latest call for flash fiction from Mslexia involves the theme of riding. I didn't want to do something dull about horses or bicycles, but this morning I suddenly thought of an idea about highwaymen - and a magician.


I scribbled the result, called it 'Trick of the Trade', and spent the afternoon polishing it. It's come out far too long for Mslexia in the end (their word limit is a measly 150!) - and I'm not sure it would have enough of a link to their theme even if I managed to trim it down. But hopefully I can find somewhere else to send it in the coming weeks. It would be a shame to waste it.

Linden Bay Romance to be sold

The biggest news in the electronic-to-print romance publishing world today is the sale of Linden Bay Romance to Samhain.

If you haven't already seen details on every other romance writer's blog between here and Outer Mongolia, you can find the full press release about the upcoming sale at the EREC blog.

Further details are understandably woolly at present but one or two LBR authors I know are crossing their fingers that their particular imprints will continue under the new Samhain umbrella.

Writers' rooms

There's a fascinating audio slideshow on the BBC website with photographs of the rooms well-known (or at least, established - I'd never heard of some of 'em) writers use to write in, plus a commentary by the photographer.

Some of the rooms are really surprising - the blood red one, the one that's in a basement with piles of stuff everywhere, the one that looks like a 16 year old's study. More are what you'd expect - filled with books and a lifetime of thoughts, pictures and memories. Those were the ones that appealed to me most of all - in fact, some of them made me chartreuse with envy. I'm lucky to have my own space to write in, but it's in the attic and the roof comes half way down the walls, which means no floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. Having adored books since the age of five, I would love to have a room lined with them, but it's just not possible.

What would your favourite work-space involve? Lots of light and space? Something cosy and familiar? A wonderful muddle? A lap-top on your knees in front of the telly?

Interestingly, the photographer commented that he was originally going to do a series on writers' desks. But the advent of the lap-top means far more people have no fixed desk, but cart the lap-top around with them to work whenever and wherever they get the urge. So he had to widen his scope to the room they usually worked in instead. A sign of the times.

Incidentally, if you want to run the slideshow for yourselves, click on the tiny right-arrow under the main picture. They don't exactly make it clear!

Bloopers

I've decided to try my hand at adapting a fun paranormal short story I wrote earlier in the year as a chick-lit novel. It'll need quite a bit of work, not least expanding from around 20,000 words to full novel length, and giving the main character a sex change from male to female. I read it through from start to finish to see where I could add new sections, where I could expand what I'd already written etc, and came to the rather horrifying conclusion that I'd really rushed the writing, because there are three separate stonking continuity errors in one longish short story. Aargh.

For starters, one character (a vicar who tries to carry out an exorcism) simply vanishes into thin air and is never heard from or seen again. Then I refer to someone's portrait as hanging in two different places at the same time. And finally, when the two main characters get up to a bit of hanky-panky it's in a bedroom lined with rediscovered paintings - and yet in spite of bouncing around on the bed they never disturb a single one!

*headdesk*

I know I was writing it quickly for a deadline, but even so I'm usually more careful than that. It just goes to show that no matter how often you read something through at the time, you can nearly always find masses of bloopers later on. I've made a note... well, several actually. *blush*

Kindle update

A writer friend of mine has now also discovered a long-out-of-contract book available on Kindle, so mine wasn't a completely isolated case. Please, do take the time to run a quick search on yourself on Amazon, to make sure your own old books aren't being sold when they shouldn't be. Remember, you could effectively be paying someone else (your publisher and Amazon), and making no money yourself, if you don't.

Warning on Kindle

A friend of mine has just discovered that 'Roses in December' is still for sale on Kindle via Amazon.com, some five months after the book's contract came to an end. I've written to the publishers for clarification but don't know yet if this is just an oversight or something that Amazon have started doing to try to increase their own sales. Either way, I thought I would pass on the warning. If you're an author with a book that's relatively recently come out of contract, it's worth checking on Amazon.com to see if it's still for sale as a Kindle product. If it is, it obviously has repercussions for both royalty payments and any future publication of the book and I can only suggest contacting your publisher to ask them to sort it out.

Pointless words from hell

Having adapted, rewritten or edited several older stories lately, I'm getting very frustrated with myself and the number of completely pointless words I fill my writing with. All those 'so', 'really', 'a bit', 'that', 'almost', and 'already's are bad enough, but now I've noticed that I constantly use 'began to' or 'started to' instead of just saying what the character did. The number of 'he began to wonder...' or 'she started to feel that...'s I've had to chop out of stories is incredible. I can't believe I didn't spot them while I was writing!

So, does anyone else have any 'words from hell' that they use when they don't need to, and fill up their word-counts with? If so, I'd love to know what they are.

Anthology for a good cause

I heard yesterday that I've had a story accepted for 'I Do', an anthology in support of gay civil partnerships in California. All proceeds from the sale of the anthology will go to the Lambda Legal Fund to assist in the fight against Proposition 18, the recent law-change which has left thousands of civil partnerships in limbo.

The story is called 'Salad Days' and is another of my 'kitchen sink' romps, this time involving two men and some fennel. ;)

The anthology will be due out early next year and I'll keep everyone posted on release dates etc in due course.

Odd socks

What does happen to all the odd socks that get lost in the wash? For a fun take on this perennial problem, why not head over to Cobblestone Press and download their free magazine, CPQ. The September issue (out a little late due to editorial constraints) includes my short story Washday Blues, which is a complete romp involving two men, a washing machine and a pair of navy blue socks!

You can download the magazine, free, as a pdf file from the Cobblestone Press catalogue.

Have fun with the story, and watch out for those socks!

Worth a few pennies...

I don't often have adverts on my blog - but then I don't come across the sort of gritty urban fiction I like all that often. But here, for a change, is an anthology of hard, dark, urban short stories from Byker Books. Their tagline is 'industrial strength fiction' and their stated aim is to publish an antidote to chick-lit, which should give you some idea of what they're about!

For the record, I don't have a story in this volume, although I'm hoping 'Rock and a Hard Place' will be included in the follow-up.

-----


‘Radgepacket – Tales from the Inner Cities Volume One’ will be available from 17th November. This is a strictly limited edition publication featuring brand new fiction from up and coming British authors Andy Rivers, Will Diamond and Nick Boldock amongst others as well as an exclusive story from renowned novelist Danny King.

‘Byker Books have mustered a cabal of writers who write like men possessed about men possessed. Tales from the Inner Cities wades into the British underclass with tight clenched fists and eyes wide open.

Pick it up if you’re hard enough – put it down if you can.’

Matt Nesbitt, Oxfordshire Press

Radgepacket Volume One

-----

And what's more, it's only £5.99! I'm off to order my copy today.

Heat Haze

Velvet Mafia have duly uploaded their latest issue, complete with my short story 'Heat Haze'.

This is a very naughty little story set in a desert, where nothing is quite what it seems. English gentleman Edward lusts after his Arab guide Rashid, and gets more than he bargained for when they set up camp in the desert. But the story's title gives a clue as to what's really going on... ;)

Click the button below to read the story (for free!) at the magazine's website and as usual, I hope you really enjoy it.

Great news

It's not often I get two acceptances in the same week, let alone on the same day. But that's what happened today, much to my amazement and delight!

First of all the gltb online magazine Velvet Mafia emailed to accept 'Heat Haze' for an imminent issue. It's a naughty-but-fun tale set in a desert, where nothing is quite what it seems.

I'd just written back to thank them when a second email bounced into my inbox, this time from Byker Books who have taken 'Rock and a Hard Place' for inclusion in their Radgepacket - Tales from the Inner City anthology next year. The story should appear either in the second volume in the spring, or if that gets too full too quickly, in volume #3 in the summer. I can hardly wait!

I'll obviously post more details about when and where as soon as I have them. Right now I'm just glowing. It's a nice reward for some very hard work.

Lots of submissions

I've been sending stories off rather madly in all directions the last couple of weeks, to markets including a flash contest, various magazines, and the prestigious Aeon Award.

I'm not particularly hopeful on the latter; it's a national contest attracting some of the best names in sf and fantasy and I'm not sure I stand a chance against them. I've never had the courage to even enter it before. But this year I happened to have a story about time travel, which I've always liked, floating about, so I thought I'd bung it in and see what happens. If nothing else it's good experience. Hmm. Why does that sound ominously like the old 'it's good for the soul' whenever anything awful comes along? :D

Litfests - is this the end?

Private Eye had an interesting snippet on the future for literary festivals in the current economic crunch a couple of weeks ago.

Although some of the best known, longest running and most popular festivals (such as Hay-on-Wye and Edinburgh) may be financially secure enough to survive, a lot of the others apparently depend for their existence on the attendance of authors who are paid (or at least heavily subsidised) to go along by their publishers.

The only trouble is, Random House have already announced they will no longer pay for author 'jollies' of this kind and other publishers are likely to follow suit. This could easily mean that the rash of literary festivals that sprang up in virtually every town and city (heavens, even Birmingham has one *g*) may find themselves at risk.

Has anyone ever been to a literary festival? I keep looking, but they all seem so dreadfully woolly - it seems virtually impossible to get details of exactly what's on when, and how you pay, and whether you can pay for the whole festival or only for individual workshops. As for accommodation and food, those have obviously never even crossed most of the organisers' minds.

It'll be interesting to see whether Private Eye is right, and the number of festivals falls off sharply during the next few months. In which case I might have missed my chance...

It's like buses...

None for a while, then two come along at once! I had not one but two stories released yesterday - first the Byker Books one (see previous post) and then Aspen Mountain put out 'Shifting Perspectives 2'.

This is a follow-up, unsurprisingly, to 'Shifting Perspectives' and contains sequels to both Feathered Friend and Emily Veinglory's The Rat Burglar, as well as a brand new story (about a shapeshifting fish!) by Sharon Maria Bidwell.

In my sequel, Steal the Sky, Avery insists on entering a pigeon race but gets off course and finds himself locked, naked, in a stranger's garden shed!

As ever you can find more details including full size cover art, a blurb, and how to order the book, on my website.

I had a blast writing Steal the Sky and hope you get as much enjoyment reading it.

Radgepacket?!

Byker Books have very kindly offered to feature Any Means Necessary on their website, even though its previously-published status means they can't use it in their anthology. It's up there right now in the 'Radgepacket' fiction section of tales of inner city life. Do please bear in mind this is a slightly abridged version from the story that appeared in 'Men of Mystery' (Haworth Press); if you like the story enough you might consider visiting my website and splashing out on the full-length version (plus a heap of other great gay stories in the anthology)!

You can read the Byker version here (the link is a little way down on the right hand side) and you can find out where to order 'Men of Mystery' here.

I think I've mentioned before that Byker Books are based in Newcastle (Byker is a district of the city) and they seem like a fun crowd to deal with. But please don't ask me what a radgepacket is - not being from the north-east myself, I have no idea!

So near and yet...

I had an amazingly quick response from Byker Books. They loved the story... but they don't take previously published work. Aaargh! Just my luck.

However, the editor has encouraged me to send along something else. I haven't got a free story that's the right length, the right subject matter, *and* hasn't been published before, but I do have one story that might work. It involves an ageing rock star and at the moment it's too long, but with a bit of judicious hacking I could probably get it close to the 3000 word target.

I've already dug out the file and I'm busy cutting it down to the bare bones and hope to have it ready to send off later in the week.

Another one away...

I've just this second hit the 'send' button on a new submission. Well, 'new' is a slightly misleading term since the story is actually an adaption of 'Any Means Necessary', the gritty little tale of two bent cops I had published in Haworth Press's 'Men of Mystery', which was shortlisted for a Lambda Award earlier in the year (the anthology, that is, not just my story).

Last week I spotted that Byker Books, an indie publisher based in Newcastle, were asking for short stories with a gritty, contemporary urban feel for a new anthology of 'tales of inner city life'. I thought that story fitted the call to a 't', so I brushed it off, downsized it by a couple of thousand words, toned down some of the graphic sex, and finally decided to take the plunge. I've got no idea if it's still too graphic for them, or even if they'll consider gay material, but I figured it was worth a shot.

Wish me luck!

Wrong Number

This is the title of a new 'flash' story appearing in the latest issue of Gay Flash Fiction, which came out yesterday.

The story involves a mobile phone call with disastrous results. It's rather darker than my usual flashes but it does have a twist in the tail. You can find it, together with the rest of the new batch of stories, at the magazine.

Enjoy!

Passive headache

One of the biggest challenges I've found in writing mostly for the American market is the little-known but surprisingly big gulf in grammar between the two languages. Over the last few years I've argued the toss with various US editors *g* and been geuinely surprised by their explanations. In one case, the use of passives, the difference is so great that I decided to write a little article about it, in the hope of smoothing the waters both for other British writers, and for American editors who may be tearing their hair out over the British language. :)

The article, 'Separated by a Common Language', is up at the British Writers Blog and you can read it here.

Swans, pigeons and fish, oh my!

In other words, we've had the cover art through for 'Shifting Perspectives 2', and very nice it is too. The model is the same one Aspen Mountain used on the first volume, but in a different pose, and the animals represent the shapeshifters in the stories.

Here's a thumbnail of it, and I'll be putting a full-sized version on my website in a few days' time. The book is due out at the end of the month so watch this space.

Home again...

We got back from holiday at the weekend having had a really good break - although we could both have done without the flu! (Which explains why I'm a day or two late updating this - it hit me quite hard for once and I've been having problems working out which way is up.)

The weather was surprisingly good, if rather misty a lot of the time, and we managed some good long walks and a couple of climbs (to the tops of mountains, that is - I don't go in for rock climbing!) The scenery in the Lake District is magnificent at any time of year, but I often think autumn, with the leaves turning to gold and the hillsides swathed in russet bracken and purple heather, takes some beating. Mind you, we did get a little too 'up close and personal' with one particular lot of bracken, on a precipitous slope heading from the Dunnerdale Valley towards Seathwaite Tarn, but that's another story. Let's just say my lungs didn't take very kindly to being head-first in the vegetation as I crawled up on my hands and knees!

The search for background material was partly successful; I called into a local bookshop and came away with two books. One is a sensible one, full of old postcards of the area together with interesting snippets of history. The other is emphatically not sensible - a lurid little volume of ghost stories and other hair-raising tales, most of which are probably apocryphal but highly entertaining!

Part way through the holiday I realised that the Lake District is changing fast, to the point where it's in danger of losing its identity. Village after village is filling up with the sort of shops you can find anywhere else in the country; gourmet restaurants are taking over from the local cafes and pubs that used to sell hearty portions of well-cooked local food (bliss after a long day out walking the fells); and the people who visit are changing from serious outdoorsy types to well-groomed older folks on coach tours. It all seems a little sad (especially as I've known and loved the area for the best part of thirty years) but I can't help thinking it will make an excellent backdrop for a novel. The pressure on the locals to either conform or go bust must be horrendous...

Holiday

It's that time of year again - we're off to the Lake District for two weeks' holiday. It's a very beautiful area of lakes, mountains, streams, waterfalls, moorland, long walks and pretty villages and we love visiting. I'm even hoping to set a novel up there at some point, so will take a notebook for research and look out for any interesting books. At least browsing the bookshops gives us something to do on the wet days - there's always plenty of those!

New short story

Has anyone else ever tried writing 'flash' fiction, or very *very* short stories? They often have a word count of only a few hundred words, sometimes even less, and I find writing them a real challenge. Just how do you tell a complete story in so few words?

For the last year or so I've been trying my hand at flash, with varying degrees of success. I freely admit that some stories work out better than others! One I'm particularly fond of, which was inspired by a friend's true story, is a creepy little tale of a dog and a beach. I've just posted 'all' 150 words of it on my website if anyone would like to take a peek. I hope you enjoy it. :)

'Boulevard' review

I've been forgetting to mention for the last week or so, but my latest book review of Jim Grimsley's 'Boulevard' is available to read in Forbidden Fruit. The book, a gay slice-of-life novel set in New Orleans in the 1970s, is an intriguing mix of literature and sleaze, and a window onto the world of gay sex in America before the advent of AIDS. You can find out whether I liked it or not by reading the review in Forbidden Fruit.

Anyone for Tolkien?

Fans of the great JRR might be interested in a little article I've just thrown together and posted up at the Britwriters' Blog. In it I've described some of the locations around Birmingham which Tolkien used in Lord of the Rings, either directly or as inspiration for some of the book's wonderfully atmospheric settings.

As I say in my post, you may not associate the rural Shire with Britain's buzzing second city but there are actually more links than you might expect, and some surprising hidden corners. Pop along to the Britwriters' Blog for more information, and pictures.

Writing through the mess

We seem to have had a constant stream of workmen in and out of the house the last couple of weeks - first to fix the roof, then to repair the boiler which stopped giving us hot water, and lastly to replace the boiler when the old one was condemned. Lots of workmen means lots of banging and lots of mess and it's been difficult to concentrate on anything, but yesterday I surprised myself by writing about 2000 words.

I've put aside the Irish novel for now because I was itching to actually write rather than just ploughing through edits. Instead, I've unearthed a novel (novella? longish short story?) about a reality tv show set on an exotic island, which I started a couple of years ago. I lost confidence in it after 4 or 5 chapters because I wasn't sure I knew enough about the workings of tv production, but I suddenly realised that I could turn it round and write it from a slightly different point of view, which wouldn't need so much of that inside knowledge. It also needed livening up as the first chapter was deadly dull.

By last night I'd finished the first chapter, re-writing it as a scene between Nancy, the main character's agent, and her flat-mate, rather than just Nancy's own internal musings. It reads a good deal better as a result. Now I need to tackle the second chapter, a board meeting at the tv production company's office, which should be a challenge given that our plumber is hammering again. Oh for some quiet time on my own to think.

Getting back to normal

I'm slowly and steadily getting back into the groove of work, after a week or two when I didn't feel like doing very much. Last week I wrote a flash fic about a snake, inspired by this site which gives you a new word each day to write about. It isn't always updated when it should be, but it's great inspiration because the words seem to have more than one meaning. Last week's, for instance, was 'diamond' which produced ideas for two shorts - one about the diamond pattern on an adder's back, and one based around a diamond-paned window. I wish a few of the places that run themed contests and anthologies would use such flexible words. I'm a little tired of trying to come up with stories about Velcro, or gloves!

Very sad news

My mother passed away rather suddenly yesterday afternoon. She'd been ill for a long time, but with a sort of long steady decline so it still came as rather a shock.

I'm going to be tied up with arrangements for the funeral and so on for the next couple of weeks, so please bear with me if I don't post much here during that time. Like Arnie, I'll be back. :)

The way forward for e-books?

The hype for the new Sony e-Reader has just caught my eye. On the face of it, this looks like a really good product. Not only will it store up to 160 books at once, but you can read a whole page at a time, just as you would with a real book, rather than having to scroll madly back and forth and up and down just to finish a sentence. (I once tried to read an e-book on my husband's palm-pc and nearly blinded myself.) And, apparently, one battery charge gives you enough juice for over 6,000 'page turns', which is (they say) enough to read War & Peace five times, assuming you would want to. LOL.

If this is as good as it sounds, it could be a real breakthrough in e-books and e-readers. Other products I've seen have been clunky, the screen has been small and hard to read, and you can often only store a handful of books at a time.

I do have a few concerns, though. One is the cost. This thing is currently retailing at £199 - that's around $400 - which is an almighty amount given that you have to pay for the books to put on it as well. I'm also baffled as to when it's going to be available. According to The London Paper, it's available in the UK today. But according to the official website, it's not available till September. Hmmm. And I'd need to actually see one in action before I splashed out the cash. Is the screen as clear as it looks in the promotional pictures? Is it easy to operate? Does it take ordinary batteries or do you have to pay for something that only Sony make/supply, at greater cost? How heavy is it to lug about? And does it handle any file type, or do you have to buy one specific type of e-book that only one bookstore chain or distributor actually sells?

Until some of those questions are answered, and until the cost comes down a bit, I won't be paying out for one. But it's the first e-reader I've seen that's even got close to tempting me...

Are you right for writing?

This is a fun little quiz by writer-and-guru Holly Lisle. It's short (10 questions) and only takes a minute or two to complete, but the results can be fascinating as well as fun.

I already knew that my easily-distracted mind is one of my biggest downfalls in sticking to writing and sure enough, those were the questions I scored lowest on. I also knew that I have a vivid imagination (too vivid?!) and I scored much higher on that.

There's a serious message behind the fun, too. Anyone who's in this for a fast buck, or for any other reason than the sheer love of writing, is probably in the wrong job!

You can find the 'Are you right for writing quiz' at Holly Lisle's site. I scored 60. How did you get on?

Shuddering halt

I knew it was too good to last. I raced through three chapters of edits on 'Gleams', only to discover that I'd said a certain event would happen at a certain time - and it doesn't! It's because I shoe-horned an extra chapter in and forgot to check the back timeline as well as the future one. Sigh.

I had two choices - either move the missing scene back to where it had been, or write an additional scene that explains why it doesn't happen when it's supposed to! In the end, I opted for the latter. Not only does it give me the chance to add another thousand words or so, but the current timeline helps to explain some tension between the main characters which wouldn't happen if I moved the scene again.

I'm about half way through the new linking piece (a wake, would you believe!) and hoping to finish that today.

But it's a good job I picked up on it before I sent the thing off to any publishers... ::headdesk::

Flying along

No, not me personally *g* but the edits on the Irish novel. I've been working at it steadily for the last three days and progress is surprisingly good. I crawled through one absolute pig of a chapter, where the wrong people did the wrong things at the wrong times and the whole thing needed re-working from the ground up. But once I'd cleared that hurdle I've been chugging along, polishing, tweaking, and adding explanations as I go, and have finished a total of three and a half chapters since Wednesday. I've got another tricky bit coming up now (the direct results of rewriting that earlier chapter - it's like pushing over a stack of dominoes) but even so I'm really pleased with the way it's going.

The novel was inspired by the wild rocky scenery of the Galway coast, and in particular by Gorumna, a small island linked to the mainland by a causeway, which brought a whole new meaning to the word 'wild'. The views were magnificent, the villages remarkably quiet and unspoiled, and there was a ruined church overlooking the sea. I can't find any decent pictures of the church, but you might like to see this brief YouTube video of the scenery to give you some idea of the place. It left a lasting impression on me and I decided it was the perfect spot to set a ghost story! Seven years later, 'Gleams of a Remoter World' is not far off being born.

Not good, professor

Chest infections and creativity do not mix. I've had one for the last week and haven't been able to do any writing whatsoever - I think my brain just switched off! I'm feeling a little more human today though, and determined to get on with something constructive. On the grounds that edits might be less taxing than out-and-out composing, I'm tempted to go back to my Irish novel. I'd love to have something else to offer a publisher if 'Roses' ever makes it to print, especially something in a similar genre. That way, if they like 'Roses' and it's selling well and they say 'Have you got anything else like this?' I can cheerfully say yes and hand over another manuscript.

Of course, reality is never as straightforward as that, and 'Gleams' needs a lot of work before it's ready to unleash on any publisher. It doesn't help that I wrote it in fits and starts over a period of seven years! During that time my writing style changed, my idea of good structure changed, and my plans for the characters themselves changed. The result, I'm afraid to say, is a dog's breakfast. One major character swapped gender half way through and although I used search and replace I'm still finding places where 'she' is actually 'he'. And as usual, I've under-written the early parts badly, so they sound hopelessly rushed.

Still, I was making good progress on it earlier in the year and it would be good to get my teeth into something longer again. I'm dragging the file towards me as I type!

All in a flap *g*

I had some good news the other day as Aspen Mountain have accepted our 'pitch' for a follow-up to Shifting Perspectives, with sequels to some of the stories including a brand new outing (pun not intended *g*) for my shape-shifting pigeon. It's early days yet but I'm hoping Steal The Sky will be available in Shifting Perspectives 2 in the autumn (fall), and will also include a sequel from Emily Veinglory, and a brand new story from Sharon Maria Bidwell.

I'm really pleased because this is pretty much the first time I've ever written a sequel to one of my stories. Usually I write with such a twist in the tail that a sequel wouldn't really work because the element of surprise would have gone, but when I looked at Feathered Friend, my story in the original volume, I realised that I'd left it open enough for further adventures. So, a further adventure is what I wrote, about a pigeon race that goes horribly wrong.

I'll post more details as soon as I know myself, but just wanted to share the news first.

Changed my mind

I've pretty much decided not to work on the old historical for Lace & Blade. Not so much because of the payment issues (after all, it might only be $10 but it would also be a print credit on my resume) but more because of lack of time. The deadline is 1 August, which is rapidly approaching (too rapidly!) and on a second read-through I realised the story needed a LOT more work than I thought it did. I don't think I could get it finished in time. Never mind, there'll be other places to send it if/when I do pummel it into shape.

The current issue of Mslexia has some tips from journalist & novelist Aminatta Forna. They're all good advice, but I particularly liked this one:

When you get stuck, it can be quite useful to go back and work on what you've already written. Perhaps the story has slightly changed since you wrote that chapter? 'Housekeeping' work - revisiting, editing - keeps you going with the flow.

This isn't advice you see very often. More usually, you're told as a writer that going back and editing something stops the flow and is therefore a Bad Thing. But this sounds very sensible, and I've done it myself a few times and found it worked. I just have to be careful not to get so bogged down in the minutiae of whether it should be 'and' or 'but' that I lose track of the story entirely!

Inspiration

I had a sudden Eureka moment yesterday, in the bath of all places! A brand new idea for a novel popped fully formed into my head, leaving me splashing around because I had no paper or pen to hand to make notes. I remembered what I could, got out, got dry and scurried off to jot things down. That sort of lightning strike doesn't happen very often and it can be rather frustrating when it does; it's as though an entire novel has suddenly been downloaded into my brain - plot, structure, characters, even chunks of narrative and dialogue. If only I could find some way of hooking myself up to a computer and re-downloading it onto disk, it would save an enormous amount of hard work and trouble. It never works like that, though, does it? That would just be *too* easy. LOL. Instead I have to hoick it out bit by bit over months or even years, and by the time my typing has caught up with my brain I've forgotten most of the original inspiration. Sigh. Who'd be a writer? ;)

So, where does inspiration strike you? Bath? Bed? While you're asleep? Half way round the supermarket so you start babbling about elves or monsters in the middle of the home baking aisle? I'd love to know!

Slow progress

The historical for Lace & Blade won after all, but I'm not making much progress. It doesn't help that I'm having to retype it from scratch because the only electronic copy I had was on a cd that got corrupted. Luckily I had a printed version but retyping nearly 5,000 words takes longer than you might think, especially when you keep wanting to change stuff while you're typing. And I do seem to want to change a lot. This is an old story, and it shows. Far too much 'tell not show', far too much waffle, not nearly enough direct dialogue or action. It's going to need a lot of work even when I've finished the retyping. For the moment, I still think it's worth it. There's a good story in there somewhere, I just have to find it and drag it, kicking and screaming, out into the world.

Another story off

Formatting? Check. Extended blurb? Check. Cover letter? Check.

I duly sent off the ghost story to Cobblestone Press for their halloween anthology, and had an auto response back. This is something I wish more publishers would do. It takes away all that horrible uncertainty about whether your book or story ever turned up, and saves a lot of wasted time of the 'wait six months, query, and find they never got it in the first place' variety. It must save time for overworked editors too, because they don't have to bother with all those endless 'did you ever get my story?' emails. And it's so easy to set up. I managed it in about five minutes flat with Forbidden Fruit and I'm certainly not a tech-head. So why don't more publishers do it? After all, it's the modern email equivalent of including a stamped addressed postcard with your submission so the concept is hardly new. Baffling. I feel a campaign coming on. :)

I've been working on 'Got Ghosts?', one way or another, for so long that now it's done and sent I'm slightly stuck for what to work on next. I could dust off a historical for Lace and Blade, which Erastes mentioned the other day, but to be honest 2c a word on a short story doesn't amount to very much. Or I could go back to the edits on my Irish novel, which I was making quite good progress on, or perhaps the new contemporary set in Birmingham, or a short story I've just discovered in my wip file that I'd forgotten about, or.... Oh dear. I think I'll have to flip a coin.

I must be keen...

I even worked on Saturday morning!

And very productive it was too. I sent off the 'wrong number' flash fic to GFF with a cover letter etc, and then settled down to read through the new bit of the ghost story. Usually when I rewrite scenes in an existing story I have to polish extensively. I've always said it's rather like knitting - you put a sleeve or something down for a few days and when you pick it up again your tension has changed and the new knitting comes out a totally different size! Well, writing often seems like that and my style or tone can change subtly from one day to the next (I suppose depending on my mood). Luckily this time that hadn't happened and I only needed to fiddle with it a bit before I was happy with it. It's much better than it was and the joke at the end helps to finish the story off so much more clearly than just sort of trailing off into nothing. :)

I didn't have time to do the cover letter and all the other submission paraphernalia but at least the story itself is now ready to go.

Finished!

The re-write of the ghost story, that is. Phew, what a struggle it turned out to be! I got the lads into the bedroom but they rebelled and didn't want to cooperate at all. Still, it's done now and I've added about 1100 words as a result - and what with that and juggling the ending slightly, it's definitely improved. I'll let it lie fallow for a couple of days before the final read-through, and then I'll send it off to Cobblestone for their Halloween call.

Now I'm off to look at a flash fic called 'Wrong Number' that I'm thinking of subbing to the next issue of Gay Flash Fiction.

Working on...

Right now I'm re-writing the end of 'Got Ghosts?', the ghost story set in an ancient English country house. I wasn't overly impressed with the way I'd ended it, but had to finish it off in a bit of a rush to meet the Samhain deadline a few weeks back. Sadly it didn't get picked for their anthology, but Cobblestone Press have a call out for paranormal romance for Halloween and I'm hoping to have it ready in time for that. As well as a bit of juggling of dialogue to get a joke at the very end, I'm also adding a sex scene. I know perfectly well that sex sells *g* and the original story didn't have any, just a couple of kisses and an interrupted clinch. ;)

Luckily the Cobblestone maximum word count is much higher than Samhain's was, so I've got plenty of space to get the two guys into bed together in the Small Blue Bedchamber, on Adam's great-grandmother's antique patchwork quilt. The only thing to decide is what to do with them once I've got them there. :D And fast, because the deadline's in early July and I'm not sure I'll be ready in time. Eeek!

Beach Nuts is out!

I've just heard today that the brand new issue of Gay Flash Fiction is up and running, complete with Beach Nuts (see previous entry for details).

Do pop along to www.gayflashfiction.com for a free read - and I hope you enjoy it!

Coming soon to a zine near you

Good news this morning - Gay Flash Fiction magazine has accepted 'Beach Nuts' to appear in the next issue. GFF is now the sister-zine of Forbidden Fruit and does exactly what it says on the tin - it specialises in flash fiction (under 1000 words) with a gay theme.

'Beach Nuts' is a very silly little story featuring two men who find themselves bothered by a nutter on the beach, and decide to take matters into their own, er, hands. I wrote it specially for GFF so I'm really delighted that the editors liked it enough to accept it.

The new issue is due soon, probably in the next couple of weeks, but I'll let everyone know once it's available so you can read my story. Or if you prefer, keep an eye on my website where I'll be announcing the release when it happens.

Short story delay

Yup, that's a short story *and* a short delay. LOL.

'Washday Blues' was due to come out in the June issue of Cobblestone Quarterly Magazine, and I was really looking forward to it 'cos I haven't had anything new come out for a while. But they needed the issue to promote their brand new vampire anthology and have held over the fiction to the next issue instead.

'Washday Blues' will now be coming to a zine near you (ie Cobblestone Quarterly) in September, so I get to look forward to it all over again. And I'm hoping they'll be running a brief interview with me in the same issue, so watch this space for further updates.

Roll on September. :D

And yet another new blog...

When I signed up for Wordpress in order to join the Britwriters Blog (see previous post for details) I got myself a free Wordpress blog. And at first, had absolutely no idea what to do with it. I already have this blog, an LJ account and a Myspace page and was running out of ideas what to post! Then I thought about book reviews. I did have an old site for posting reviews of books I'd read but it was on a website that I hardly use any more and most of the reviews were simply gathering dust.

So I'm gradually copying the old reviews across to the new site and will also add new reviews as and when I write them. I'm even including some reviews that I've had published or posted on other blogs and magazines.

I have a very strange a eclectic taste in books - anything from fantasy to the labels on sauce bottles! - so the site's going to be a rather mixed bag. But hopefully there'll be something interesting on there, and it might even persuade people to rush out and buy a book or two. :)

You can find the new version of The Sharpened Quillhere.

Britwriters Blog

There's a brand new blog in town. Britwriters is a collective of writers who live and work in Britain, but publish most of their work in America. To find out about the opportunities, experiences, and occasional frustrations this brings in its wake, as well as gaining an insight into British life, why not pop over to Britwriters and catch up with me, Alex Beecroft, Ansley Vaughan to name but a few?

New story available

I meant to blog about this last week but ran out of time. Eep. The latest issue of Forbidden Fruit (#15, would you believe?) went live early in April and includes my very silly short story 'Rash Moment'. This tells the tale of a fractious hospital patient and his lover who gets his own back with the aid of some lipstick and a very understanding nurse! You can read the story here and I hope you enjoy it.

In the same issue there's also an interview with yours truly, which the new editorial team insisted on doing for some reason. *g*

And the zine, as ever, is stuffed with great stories, articles and artwork after some sterling hard work from the new team. I'm delighted. See the results here.

Lambda Awards finalist

I've just discovered that the Haworth Press m/m anthology 'Men of Mystery', which includes my short story Any Means Necessary, has been listed as a finalist in the lgbt anthology category of the 2008 Lambda Awards. Needless to say I'm absolutely delighted. The anthology is a great-looking book, very nicely produced with lovely cover art and a selection of fiery-hot stories. It's up against some pretty, ahem, stiff opposition, but watch this space to see if it wins.

Pigeon snaffled!

Many congratulations to Bethany, who won my Spot the Pigeon contest and was the first name out of the virtual pigeon basket. Bethany wins herself a copy of 'Shifting Perspectives' and I hope very much that she enjoys her prize.

Many thanks to everyone who took part. If your name wasn't drawn this time, do keep an eye out for future contests when you might have more luck!

Last call for the pigeon!

Don't forget that my 'spot the pigeon' contest finishes on Friday (29th February).

If you haven't already taken part, and would like a chance to win a copy of Shifting Perspectives, then pop along to my website for full details on how to enter.

And good luck!

Review on Speak Its Name

I've just had my latest book review uploaded on Speak Its Name, the gay historical review site that I've done a few things for before.

This time, it's Patrick Gale's Facts of Life, a mammoth tome I picked up in my local Oxfam charity bookstore. I absolutely loved Gale's Rough Music and Little Bits of Baby; you can find out whether this one floated my boat as much as those *g* by going to the review.

Anyone for lipstick?

I've had a new story accepted for the forthcoming issue of Forbidden Fruit, due out in March.

Rash Moment is a very tongue-in-cheek little tale about a man who gets his own back on his lover with the aid of some lipstick and a very understanding nurse!

You can find further details at my website, but I'll be posting updates here once I know exactly when the zine is due out.

Contest update

The organisers have waded through more than 1,500 entries, and the winners have been announced in the Blast in the New contest. If you entered and haven't already received your prize(s), pop along to the contest blog now to see if your name is on the list.

And I very much hope that whoever won Shifting Perspectives and Watery Grave thoroughly enjoys reading them!

Spot that Pigeon

For a change I'm running a little contest with a copy of 'Shifting Perspectives' as a prize. This is a m/m shapeshifter anthology with stories by yours truly, Emily Veinglory and TA Chase. Seeing as my story involves a pigeon, I've hidden five pigeons around my website where they're currently fluttering about, pecking grain and making a mess. *g*

To enter, all you need to do is follow the instructions on the News page, find the pigeons, email me with the pages where they're hiding, and if you get all five right you'll be entered into a prize drawing on 29th February where the first out of the hat will win a copy of the book.

You can find out about the contest at my news page and you can find out more about the book at the Feathered Friend page. As to where the pigeons are hidden, you'll have to find that out for yourselves. :D

Good luck!

Website fiddling

You could call it my annual spring-clean. ;) Those of you who know me best know I like nothing better than messing about with my website, and I've just done it again. This time there was a serious edge to the change. I'd had one or two people comment that the old design was a little hard on the eyes, and the last thing I want is to put my readers off. So hopefully the new design retains the 'arty' feel but is easier to read.

It's here if anyone wants to take a look.

And stand by, because I may just have to re-do this blog as well. :D

Anthology cancelled

The first bad news of the year is that Haworth Press have cancelled 'Distant Horizons', the gay paranormal romance collection that was due out in two volumes in December 07 and January 08. Must admit I was a bit suspicious when December came and went with no sign of it; Haworth had a tendency to be slow in the past but they usually got there in the end! But now the press has been sold and I'm told the new owners don't want the gay & lesbian part of the business, and are busy terminating agreements and cancelling books left right and centre. Including ours.

It's a shame, because it was a perfect home for The Visitor, my time-travel romance. Not only that, but Haworth did a brilliant job on 'Men of Mystery', the last anthology I had a story in, and I was really impressed, and looking forward to more of the same.

However, the editor is currently looking for another publisher so perhaps we'll get lucky and find a new home for the stories. Watch this space!

Free story!

I thought I'd say 'thanks' and 'happy Christmas' in one, to all my friends and readers, with a new little story on my website. Flaking Out is a romantic pwp with a winter theme and I hope you all enjoy it. So, thanks for all the support and for helping to make this year special, and you can find the story at my website.

Happy holidays!

Those scavenger hunt prizes

I've just had a full list through of all the prizes on offer in the Blast in the New scavenger hunt I'm takiing part in. Here it is, and I think you'll agree it's pretty impressive:

Ann Cory Two Prizes - Breaking in Levi & Butterfly Kisses
Ann Lory Two Prizes - Eternal Embrace & Eternal Obsession
Ashleigh Raine One Prize - Lover's Talisman
Camille Anthony Two Prizes - Reflections & Christmas Bunny
Celia Kyle Five Prizes - Touch Me, Tri Me, Serve Me, Love Me & Wicked Shift
Dawn Montgomery Two Prizes - Bound in Lust & Babes in Toyland II
Emily Ryan-Davis One Prize - A Rose of Any Color: Maledom
Fiona Glass Two Prizes - Shifting Perspectives & Watery Grave
James Buchanan One Prize - Lord Carabas
JJ Massa Two Prizes - Sweet Treats & Metamorphosis
Jodi Payne One Prize - Founder
Kate Hill One Prize - Make Love, Not Money
Kit Zheng Two Prizes - Torn & Exposure
Laura Baumbach Two Prizes - Roughhousing & The Collector 9: The Lost Temple of Karttikeya
Lia Sebastian Two Prizes - Office Relations & Seventh Sense
Marteeka Karland Two Prizes - Executive Decisions: By the Numbers & Black Star: Diamond
Maura Anderson One Prize - Texas Tea
Michelle Hasker One Prize - Screaming Orgasm
Phyllis Marie Campbell Two Prizes - Always My Love & Ten Ways to Melt a Man's Heart
Rayne Forrest One Prize - Hero
Sedonia Guillone One Prize - Ace in the Hole
Shelley Munro One Prize - Romantic Interlude
Shonna Brannon Three Prizes - In the Nick of Time, Falcon Hunter & Spirit Within
Stella and Audra Price Two Prizes - Choice of Backlist Books
Tuesday Morrigan Five Prizes - Monstrous Kink, Violet Storm, Nutcracker, Frost Bite & Wicked Intentions

That's a grand total of 47 prizes!! As well as my two books, there are a number of works from other m/m writers as well as heaps by erotica and romance authors.

So, if you haven't started searching yet, what are you waiting for? LOL. Hurry over to my website and find the first of the hidden graphics today.

What a nice surprise!

Well, that was an unexpected but lovely arrival in my inbox this afternoon - a message to say that Night Owl Romance have reviewed Roses in December, loved it, rated it 5/5 and chosen it as one of their top picks!!

I'm ever so slightly overcome, especially as I don't think I specifically requested the review, which makes it even more of a pleasant surprise.

You can read the review at the Night Owl Romance website, and you can find out more about the novel at Through the Glass Darkly.

This really made my day!

Scavenger Hunt!!!

Want a chance to win copies of my books Watery Grave and Shifting Perspectives? Then hurry along to my website right now, and take part in the Blast in the New scavenger hunt organised by Celia Kyle and Tuesday Morrigan, with e-books from 27 participating authors on offer!

All you need to do is hurry over to my website and find the Blast in the New button hidden somewhere amongst the books and stories. When you find it, click the link back to the Blast in the New blog and follow the instructions on how and where to find the other 26 buttons and how to enter the contest. It's as easy as that!

Each participating author has donated two e-books as prizes; the lucky Grand Winner gets copies of them all!! My offerings are Watery Grave, a collection of three short horror stories with a watery theme from Torquere Press (more details here) and Shifting Perspectives, an anthology of shapeshifting stories from Aspen Mountain Press which includes my short story 'Feathered Friend' (more info here).

Best of luck and happy hunting!

My Yahoo group

I realised to my intense shame the other day that I'd been completely neglecting my Yahoo group, which I set up a year or so ago to keep readers, and anyone else who's interested, informed of all my news. These days there are so many blogs, social networks, lists, groups and whatever else to keep updated, it can be difficult to keep track of them all! *hangs head in shame*

I've made a very early new years' resolution to update the list more often, and to try to make it a bit less dull and introduce some chat and fun. To that end I've renamed it Pane in the Glass (I know, I know, but I couldn't resist!) and now I'm issuing an invitation. If you enjoy my books, want to know when I've got new stuff coming out, want to ask me questions about my writing, or just join in and chat, then please wander over to Pane in the Glass and sign up now. And - hello!

Working on: Got Ghosts
Words today: 1018

Starting over...

Writing's a funny business at times. You get a perfectly good idea, sit down and scribble for weeks or months, and then the doubts creep in. You shove the thing back in its folder, put it to one side for weeks or months more, and then quite suddenly, when you weren't even thinking about that piece of work, inspiration strikes.

This happened to me recently with the novel I started earlier in the year, set in the Lake District. I'd written about half of it when my confidence began to slip. Was it gripping enough? Wasn't it too similar to some of my other books? I tried to ignore all those annoying little voices, but gradually the writing ground to a halt and in the end I put the whole thing back on the shelf.

Then, a couple of days ago, I had one of those blinding moments of absolute clarity, when I realised what was wrong with the novel, what needed to be hoicked out, and what I could use to replace it with. Of course!! Of course... it'll mean ten times as much work, a load of rewriting, and simply tons of extra research before I can even put fingernail to keyboard. But I think it'll be worth it, and I'm sure I'll be much happier with the book as a result.

Working on: Got Ghosts
Words today: 1420

What's that? A sequel?

Loud gasps of amazement. My regular readers will know that I rarely (or even never!) write sequels, mostly because my stories are very stand-alone, and many of them have a twist in the tail or element of surprise which would be lost in a follow-on. But for once I've broken my own rule, and have just finished the first draft of a sequel to Feathered Friend. It's called Steal The Sky, and involves the further adventures of Avery and a pigeon race that goes horribly wrong. :)

I don't have a specific home for it yet, but I'm hoping Aspen Mountain might consider a follow-up anthology to 'Shifting Perspectives' in due course. I'll keep my fingers crossed, and keep you all posted.

Currently working on: Got Ghosts
Words today: 211

On a brighter note...

In Their Own Words, a great new blog where authors can post interviews with their own characters, has just published my interview with Nat Brook, the soldier hero of Roses in December.

This was meant to be a short interview but turned into something of a novel in its own right. Rather unusually I've done it in the form of a job interview, which ties in neatly with the book - although I'm not going to say why. You'll have to read the interview, or the book, or both, to find out why! :)

Another publisher bites the dust

I heard the sad news yesterday that Chippewa Publishing, and its erotica division Lady Aibell Press, have ceased trading. This leaves my two stand-alone short stories, Elfmeet and Lost Property, without a home, at least for now. I've taken the details, links etc to the books down from my website and can only apologise for the disappointment if anyone was on the point of buying them! I will keep everyone posted on whether I can find new homes for the stories.

New gay books forum

Regular readers of my blog and website will know that I'm something of a fan of gay books in general, especially if they're on the romantic side. ;) I realised a few weeks ago that I've read dozens but didn't have anywhere to chat about them with fellow enthusiasts. So I set up a new forum to do just that. It's called 'Read the Rainbow' (all I could think of at short notice when Forumer prompted me for a name LOL) and it's right here if you want to take a look, and hopefully join in.

So far we've had discussions on books as wide ranging as Mary Renault and Annie Proulx, Patrick Gale and E M Forster, as well as some more general chat about finding gay books, recommendations, cover art and even 'film of the book'.

Why not pop your head round the door and join in the fun? Hope to see you all there!

Getting my wires crossed

I realised the other day that I'd never uploaded an excerpt for my story 'Crossed Wires' on my website. The story features in a two-title volume of m/m adventures from Whiskey Creek Press: 'Torrid Teaser: The Rescue/Crossed Wires', and although I'd remembered to quote a section from the first story, the space for 'Crossed Wires' was blank!

That's all fixed now, though, with a (hopefully) tantalising cliff-hanger from the story added to the Torrid Teaser page. Read... enjoy... and don't worry, it does have a happy ending. ;)

Review of The Rat Burglar by Emily Veinglory

The Rat Burglar is, quite simply, tremendous fun. Based on Japanese mythology, it tells the tale of Sandy, a security guard at an expensive city gallery, and Rudy, a thief with a very unexpected skill. Needless to say, the two clash when Rudy decides to steal a priceless Japanese artifact from the gallery. Needless to say, the path of true love does not run smooth, as Rudy battles to control his shapeshifting abilities, while Sandy struggles to trust him.

The characters are possibly the best thing in an all-round good story. Sympathetic without being goody-goody, attractive without being Ken-dolls, they engage the reader's interest and come off the page as delightfully real. Even though one's a shapeshifter and the other is half Japanese with a distinctly exotic past, you feel like they're the sort of people you could meet every day on the street. Because of that, it's very easy to care what happens to them.

The story itself can best be described as rollicking, with fights and motorbike chases and misunderstandings galore, but this isn't just wham-bam comic strip action. There's thoughtfulness, too, and just the right amount of angst. The plot twists are both unexpected and clever, the well-researched Oriental mythology adds interest to an already intriguing tale, and the ending is delightful and feels just right.

I won't go into any more detail for fear of spoiling the surprise, but this is a perfect short story whether you like shapeshifters or not!

The Rat Burglar is available in Shifting Perspectives from Aspen Mountain Press.

You can read Emily Veinglory's review of Understanding Forgiveness here, and you can read TA Chase's review of my own story, Feathered Friend, here.

Excerpt

Just in case you haven't already seen it plastered all over my web site and my Myspace page ;), here's a little exerpt from Feathered Friend. Hope you enjoy it!

-----

"I didn't realise I was having such an effect on you," said Avery, turning his hand palm-up and rubbing small circles into the skin.

"You're not... that is, I don't...." Charlie realised he was tangled in half-finished sentences, and drowning in a pair of pretty grey eyes. Eyes that were slate on the surface, but reflected a strange red glow when he stared into their depths. The pale red of a Kipps, if he wasn't much mistaken.... He shook himself, blinked the vision away and nervously licked his lips. The stranger was pulling on his hand now, trying to drag him close, and he resisted in spite of himself. "I don't do one-night stands."

"That's all right, neither do I. A bird is for life, not just for Christmas, you know."

"Well, yes, but...." There it was again, that peculiar reference to birds. Charlie began to feel ever-so-slightly sick. "I only sleep with humans," he said. "Breeding pigeons is a hobby, nothing more. I'm not into that sort of kink."

Avery laughed, a soft cooing chuckle that grated on Charlie's nerves. "So, what kind of kink are you into?" he asked, and pulled so hard that Charlie ended up on his lap.

"Nothing. I mean, I'm not. I don't get off on feathers or anything like that."

"Are you sure?" A single long grey feather appeared in Avery's hand and he \softline brushed it down Charlie's cheek and over his lips, before following its path with his lips.Tiny kisses rained \softline down on Charlie's skin, the contact so small it was almost like the peck of a beak. The thought made him shudder again and he shied away, trying to find leverage to clamber off Avery's lap. But Avery tightened his grip, holding him round the waist and running a hand through his curly brown hair.

"Don't worry," he whispered into Charlie's ear. "I'm not a bird. Not in this form. When I change, I change completely. I'm a man now. A very beautiful man, just the sort you like. You do like me, don't you?"

Charlie stopped struggling to get away and turned. He saw the pale skin and the soft greyish-fair hair and those pretty grey eyes, and he sighed as if he knew he was already lost. "Oh yes, I like you," he said, and surrendered to the embrace.

© 2007 Fiona Glass

Shifting Perspectives cover art

Just in case anyone hasn't seen it yet, I thought I'd post the stunning cover art from Shifting Perspectives. It was created by Deanna C Jamroz and features a rather hot chappie and some very lovely shapeshifting creatures in the fine detail. See for yourselves:

Two men and a sock

Cobblestone Press have just accepted Washday Blues, a fun but slightly silly kitchen-sink style romp about sex 'n' washing, for their Cobblestone Quarterly magazine. The story won't be appearing until June next year as they're booked solid till then, but it'll be in their birthday issue which I'm delighted about. :D

I'll obviously remind everyone nearer the time that it's due soon, but just wanted to break the good news now.

New releases

It's been ages since I posted here - I've had my head down scribbling and haven't really been coming up much for air.

I've had some good news at last, though, with a couple of new releases. One, Lizard King, is available to download and read in Issue 4 of BENT Magazine. The story is based on a Russian fairy tale, The Frog Princess, and tells the very tongue-in-cheek tale of Patrick, a mobile phone, a pet store owner and a lizard. ;)

Also based on a fairy tale is Feathered Friend, a story about a very unusual pigeon and the man who finds it in his pigeon loft. Little does Charlie imagine the effect the bird will have on his life, or his heart. Feathered Friend has been published in 'Shifting Perspectives' along with two more shapeshifter stores by TA Chase and Emily Veinglory, by Aspen Mountain Press. You can read a brief extract of the story at my website.

New review for Roses

Paranormal Romance Reviews, a site specialising (surprise, surprise LOL) in romance with a paranormal twist, have just done a smashing review of Roses in December, which their reviewer seems to have loved enough to comment, "I had not read anything by Fiona Glass before, and thank god I got the opportunity to". You can read the full review right here.

Torrid Teaser's turn

It must be the season for reviews, because Fallen Angel Reviews has jumped on the bandwagon with a nice one for To The Rescue andCrossed Wires, the two stories in my 'Torrid Teaser' from Whiskey Creek Press - Torrid.

Not that I'm complaining, mind you! It's a lovely review and I'm particularly pleased that the reviewer, Wendi, liked my writing style so much. "Touching love scenes popped out page after page to entertain and delight..."

You can read the full review here, and you can find out more about the stories on my website.

And another review...

Suddenly I'm awash with reviews. This one is from Joyfully Reviewed, for Centaurfold, a collection of three sexy centaur stories by yours truly, Emily Veinglory and Kay Derwydd.

I get the impression that the reviewer was slightly baffled by the concept of centaur erotica (perhaps not surprisingly LOL) but the review, although short, is sweet.

You can read it at Joyfully Reviewed.

Someone else likes Roses!

I've just heard that Just Erotic Romance Reviews have reviewed Roses in December for their June newsletter. And it seems they liked it! I can't quote the whole review for obvious reasons, but I can reveal that they gave it four stars, and described it as 'an intelligently written book with many layers', with a 'simply enchanting' ending. Needless to say I'm a very happy bunny.

The review should be up on the JERR website in about 6 weeks' time and I'll post a link to it as soon as I have one.

Men of Mystery...

...is a mystery no more! Howarth Press have just released this print anthology filled with tales from the darker side of life, which includes 'Any Means Necessary', my short story about two bent cops (in both senses of the word).

This book has been something of a marathon for the editors, Sean Meriwether and Greg Wharton. It was originally slated to come out around 2 years ago but the publisher pulled out, and Sean and Greg worked their socks off to find another publisher and get the anthology off the ground. And here, better late than never , is the result, which I have to say looks great. Readers of m/m may recognise some of the other authors featured, including Vincent Diamond.

To read more, or order your copy direct from Howarth Press, go here. And enjoy!

Holidays...

I'm off for the next couple of weeks as we're going on holiday. Two whole weeks walking in the Lake District - bliss! Hopefully I'll come back with a few ideas for stories, and with my batteries well and truly re-charged.

Speak to everyone when I get back!

Freebie story

Those of you who visit my website regularly know that I always have one free short story available, which I change from time to time. Not nearly often enough, I hear you cry *grin* but at last I've got a new one up. It's called 'Cut and Blow', it's about a haircut with a difference, and it recently featured in the Torquere Press Spring Egg Hunt, for a couple of days over Easter. For those of you who missed it, now's your chance. Pop along to my website and follow the links - and I hope you enjoy it!

Where did that come from?

Last week I was struggling to concentrate on my writing, mostly because there was a lot else going on, partly because it was nice weather and I wanted to be outdoors!

However, on Friday afternoon I suddenly sat down at the computer and banged off 2,500 words on a rent-boy story that I've been fiddling with on and off for years. I have absolutely NO idea where the inspiration came from - I hadn't even been thinking about the story lately. Still, I'm not complaining; I've started the story from scratch in a completely different style and so far it's reading a lot better as a result. Long may the inspiration last, wherever it comes from!

Finance gripe

So, I see from today's news that the pound has broken the $2 barrier for the first time since about 1992.

I'm not ecstatic about this. One, I get paid in dollars by my publishers and now each payment will be worth less. And two, I have a cheque from Howarth Press sitting on my desk which I need to pay into my bank account. If the value in pounds is less than half the value in dollars, and the bank charges to accept foreign currency, there's going to be nothing left.

[mutter]

Hmm. I wonder how hard it is for one person to reverse the trend? >.<

Bent lizard?

No, not a bendy lizard, but a lizard in BENT magazine - or, more accurately, my short story The Lizard King which has been accepted to appear in Issue 4.

The story is based on the Russian version of the old 'frog princess' fairy tale and is deliberately written as a modern fairy tale itself. It tells the story of three brothers who still live at home, until their parents lose patience and give them one call each on a mobile phone to find their true love and move out. All goes well until Patrick, the youngest of the three, dials the local pet shop and has to pretend he wants to buy a lizard.

The story should be available in mid-May but I'll keep everyone posted as soon as I have a definite date.

Teaser from my Teaser

I thought it was about time I posted a little excerpt from my Torrid Teaser, which is a collection of two longish short stories, one about a mountain rescue squad and the other involving a telephone sex chat line. This is from the latter, called 'Crossed Wires'. The hero, Reuben, is an undercover cop working on the chat line to track down a dangerous gang. In order to get information on the other employees he starts 'pumping' his colleage Jim - in both senses of the word. :D

-----

He reached for Reuben's mug and plunked it on a convenient table, and set to work. "I was right about those muscles," he said some time later, having removed most of Reuben's clothes. "You're gorgeous."

"Thought you liked 'em big and dark like Ned." Reuben still wasn't certain he wanted this to happen. Work was work, but it felt too much like cheating.

"Oh, I do. But variety is the spice of life, as they say. And you're definitely spicy. Gingery skin, cinnamon hair..."

"And a triple vindaloo temper to match," Reuben said, pushing the image to its own ridiculous limits. "Never realised you were such a poet."

"Come here and I'll show you just how poetic I can be." Jim walked his fingers across Reuben's chest, circling a nipple en route, and down his stomach to the elastic of his briefs. He cupped his palm over the material for a second before dipping inside, only to draw back again, disappointed. "Somebody down there isn't very pleased to see me."

"Give him a chance, he's getting there," Reuben said, and consigned the unknown Ned to the devil. It wasn't as though the bloke was about to spring out of the wardrobe and catch them red-handed. So why not sit back and enjoy the delights on offer? He wrapped a hand in Jim's hair and pulled him close enough to kiss, and by the time they broke for air, his cock was taking more of an interest.

-----

You can find out more about the book at my website, or at the Whiskey Creek Press - Torrid web page.

Not so distant

Publication of my short story The Visitor in the sf/romance anthology 'Distant Horizons' has just moved a step closer. Previously the title has been listed as 'tentative' by the publisher, Howarth Press, but now they've taken the step of paying the contributors which means it's confirmed.

The listed date of publication is still not until winter 2007/2008 which is a long time to wait but hopefully it'll be worth it. As far as I know nobody else has published a romantic (as opposed to erotic) sci-fi anthology before and I'm looking forward to reading the other stories.

More news as and when I get it.

It's up!

Cut and Blow is available right now on the Torquere Spring Egg Hunt. The eggs change every couple of days so don't miss your chance to read this fun (and completely free!) little story.

Enjoy, and happy Easter!

Strapline contest

There are advantages to being a writer. Hubby's company are going through a re-branding exercise at the moment and have decided to run a staff contest to come up with a new strapline. Hubby took one look at the contest guidelines and handed the whole thing over to me saying, "Here, this looks more like your sort of thing." Not bad when the prize is a weekend away for two!

Advertising copy isn't my strong point, but I grubbed about with the company's key areas of achievement, expertise etc and came up with about half a dozen straplines, one of which I like very much. Closing date is the end of next week, I think, so I'll be nagging hubby to get them sent in before that. Then I sit and wait, and hope, and plan where we'll travel to, *if* I win. ;)

I liked this picture so much...

The new background on here is from my MySpace page and was originally a MySpace template from pimp-my-profile. I fell in love with it because it seems perfect for my writing - romantic but with a hint of darkness, sadness or other-worldliness. And of course, the rose is perfect for Roses in December too!

So, after much hard work and hitting of head on desk, I've managed to isolate the background and incorporate it into both this blog and my website. I'm absolutely delighted with the results and would like to say 'thank you' to those clever people at pimp-my-profile.

Five things

Five totally random things you didn't know (and may not have wanted to) about me:

1) I'm descended in a more-or-less direct maternal line from Sir Thomas More, who was bumped off in 1535 by Henry VIII.

2) I grew up in a small town north of Liverpool which has one of the last remaining red squirrel sanctuaries in England.

3) I love Russian Orthodox music, even though it makes me cry.

4) The furthest north I've ever been was just above the Arctic Circle, off the north coast of Iceland. The furthest south is Tenerife.

5) The flat I lived in before I was married was haunted, even though it was newly built.

Admin

The internet is a fluid environment. Sites come and go, friends start up one blog and transfer it to another, or run off after the next new shiny (mentioning no names *coughMyspacecough*). All of which means my sidebar was hopelessly out of date, with more broken links than a century-old bicycle chain.

So today I've finally got round to updating it. I booted off various dead sites and blogs that hadn't been updated since the year dot, and replaced them with some relevant, working links - including several to writers such as Ansley Vaughan and Cassandra Kane who write in a similar style to me, and might be interesting to readers who like my books.

Freebie story

Watch out for a free story of mine, coming to the Torquere Press Spring Egg Hunt in the next few days!

The story, called Cut and Blow, is a naughty little piece about a haircut - with a difference!

The eggs in the hunt change every day (with free recipes, stories, bits and bobs and coupons for the e-book store) so be sure to check back often.

Oh wow!

I'm gobsmacked. DearAuthor.com, a review site by readers for readers, has just reviewed Roses in December. And they liked it. Rather a lot, actually, since they gave it an A-. :D

Check out the full review for yourselves - you might see why I'm bouncing.

Well well well...

When I wrote Roses in December I was worried that Nat's experiences, and particularly the implied criticism of the care he received from the army, might be a bit over the top. Imagine my surprise (and relief!) to see this article from the BBC today, saying that many traumatised soldiers are going AWOL rather than put up with the lack of care the army provides.

It's rather sad that the situation doesn't seem to have improved any in the 2-3 years since I wrote the book, but I do feel Nat's been vindicated.

My space on MySpace :)

I finally gave in to all the hype and got myself a MySpace page, and had lots of fun and frustration kicking it into shape.

I've based the theme on 'Roses in December' and I'm delighted with the way it's turned out, thanks to a gorgeous layout from pimp-my-profile. Here's the finished article:

Fiona's MySpace

I'm in the process of adding friends but it's a slow process because the MySpace Gremlins keep crashing my modem. So if I've missed anyone or you can't wait and want to add me instead *grins* then thank you very much! I'll see you all there.

Music of the night?

Just a line to let everyone know I've got a new story out in the January issue of Forbidden Fruit. This issue has a 'winter holiday' theme and 'Night Music' is a tale of a less-than-successful holiday trip to Salzburg (Austria) with a surprise ending. Hope you like it!

Favourite quotes

One of the things I love is browsing through dictionaries of quotations and the like for things well-known people have said about writing. They always seem to put it so much better than I could!

Here's a small selection of my favourites - either because they're true or because they make me laugh.

"Writing in English is the most ingenious torture ever devised for sins committed in previous lives." (James Joyce)

"Far too many [books] relied on the classic formula of a beginning, a muddle and an end." (Philip Larkin)

"Writing is like making love. Don't worry about the orgasm, just concentrate on the process." (Isabel Allende)

"Sometimes I think [my writing] sounds like I walked out of the room and left the typewriter running." (Gene Fowler)

If anyone knows of any others they think I'd like, please feel free to send them to me!

And now... Happy New Year!

We only got back from our New Year's holiday cruise late yesterday so this is a little belated, but I just wanted to wish all my friends, readers and friends-and-readers a very happy and prosperous 2007. Hope it's a good one!

The cruise was very relaxing and a great way to spend the week between Christmas and New Year, which can otherwise seem rather dreary. We visited some fascinating places, including a medieval castle in Lisbon which we explored in thick fog, the slopes of the highest mountain/volcano in Spain (Mt Teide on Tenerife), and the beatiful coastal city of La Coruna. We even saw dolphins. I'm hoping to use a few of the sights, sounds, smells and other sensory experiences in future stories.

I've come home with absolutely no inspiration for the novel I'd been scribbling for weeks before Christmas, but I'm working on an old (very old) work in progress, a ghost story set in 1970s Cornwall, instead. It's rapidly approaching the 20,000 word mark and if I can just keep going I hope to submit it as a novella early in the year. Wish me luck!

I usually hate New Year resolutions, which tend to get broken faster than you can say 'resolution'. But this year I'm determined to finish a mainstream novel, and start the lengthy and rather alarming process of submitting it to a print publisher. It will be a new experience, but hopefully one that I can learn something from.

I've got square eyes after my first full day back at work (ten days without access to a computer is a mixed blessing ) so it's off to bed. But watch out for further missives in the days to come.

Merry Christmas!

Just a note to say Merry Christmas, and a happy and prosperous New Year, to all my readers. Thank you all so much for your support over the last year - it's meant a huge amount to me to sell my books and think that people are enjoying them!

And this is 'over and out' for a little while as we're off on a cruise for the New Year and I won't be around to update my blog. Stand by for further reports in 2007. :)

Have a wonderful holiday, everyone.

Woo! - a new story

Some news at last! LOL

I have a new story due out in the January issue of Forbidden Fruit. 'Night Music' is the story of a man who wins a trip to Salzburg in a music magazine and rashly invites his best mate along for the ride. Needless to say, all does not work out quite as he planned. :D

The new issue of the magazine should be available either late January or early February but here's a very brief snippet to whet your appetite:

We abandon the opera to its fate. It doesn't seem very ethical but his grasp is too strong to break and besides, given the choice between Mozart and him it's easy to take my pick. Ben may be infuriating but at least he isn't dead.

We cross back over the river and I assume we're heading for the hotel, but without warning he pulls me under an arch and up an alley between two shops. It's dark and dingy and looks like the sort of place they store the dustbins but he taps the side of his nose. "Trust me, you’ve got to see this. Eleanor found it when we came before."

Eleanor's his girlfriend, when he wants her to be. I'd rather push her off a cliff than believe a word she says, but he's dashing ahead of me up the hill, turning every now and then to make sure I'm still there. He looks like an eager puppy and I can't deny the plea in his eyes so I do as he says, trying not to look at his bum in those skin-tight jeans he always wears. That's easier said than done, because it’s constantly in my face. The lane's so steep it's nearly sheer, with flights of steps every few yards and back-breaking stones in between. I thought I was fit, but on this slope I'm starting to flag.

Ben turns again, grinning, to wait. "Come on, grandad. You can do better than that!"

I stick out my tongue and soldier on. He's not that much younger than me really but you'd never know the way he carries on.

The lane's obviously a religious place. It's lined with shrines, each more ornate than the last, painted and gilded in rococo splendour, statues gleaming in the light of a myriad candles. The last is a calvary, Christ flanked by two thieves - three naked bodies assailing my eyes. It's all I can do not to gasp, all I can do not to picture Ben hanging there instead. My trousers are getting tight.

Tight pants or none I make it to the top; the hill is crowned by a friary, remote and forbidding behind high stone walls. It reminds me of Ben, who always retreats when he can't handle life. He's spent the last month retreating from me....