Monthly Archives: May 2015

No comments

Inked Souls: Blurb & Release Date

  May 21, 2015

SS02InkedSoulsScarred Souls Book Two

Kian didn’t anticipate being dragged along while his friend got a tattoo as anything but a waste of time. Then he meets Silver, a handsome tattoo artist who provokes all sort of x-rated thoughts and ambitions. More intriguing, Silver’s been waiting for a chance to get to know Kian.

A relationship wasn’t what Kian was expecting when they fall into bed, but he’s not opposed. But the beginning of a relationship is the easy part, it’s everything after that’s a challenge—especially when the danger of disease and infection enter the picture.

Coming September 2nd, 2015 from Less Than Three Press. 

No comments

Scarred Souls #1: Scarred Souls

  May 20, 2015 ,

logo200 waxcreative-amazon-kindle All Romance Button waxcreative-goodreads

Less Than Three Press
ISBN: 9781620045428
Genre: contemporary m/m
Wordcount: 62,000
Release date: May 20th, 2015

Book 1 in the Scarred Souls series

On a cold, wet afternoon Damian stumbles across a young man huddled beneath a tree crying his eyes out. He’s got more than enough problems of his own, but is compelled to give the bloke a place to crash for at least the night.

Josh is used to being alone, and most days it’s easier than trying to deal with people who can’t, or won’t, understand him. When Damian takes him in for the night, Josh assumes it’s gong to be one more go round of sex and get out in the morning.

Neither of them expects the friendship that develops, and they’re far from prepared when friendship starts to turn into more.

No comments

Finally finished Freefall

  May 18, 2015

writingOkay, it’s a couple of days ago, but I didn’t have time to blog then. Still, it’s done! It’s been a WIP forever. The first incarnation, then titled Returning Home, was first written in 2008 (I believe…). It was written in 3rd person, POV switched between the two MCs, and it was a bit of a mess. I tried to get it published back then, but it was rejected. Well, I could resubmit if I made David more likeable, but I was kind of done with the story at that point.

So it lay there for a few years. I brought it back to life last year (I think? There might’ve been another rewrite in-between…) and it flowed nicely for two thirds of the way. Got stuck when I had one third of it left though and just couldn’t work through it, so it was put away again. I had the ending plotted out, mind, I just couldn’t write it.

I came back to it this month. Was supposed to get back to it sooner, but Wounded Souls went on longer than scheduled (and then I didn’t like that ending, so that needs to be rewritten…). Anyway, I got back to it, and the scene I’d stopped on was a drag, but then– It flowed. Everything worked. And I finished it. It was done. Finally.

Now, the first two thirds are written a while ago and I think my style of writing has got better since then, so I need to go through those two thirds and fix it up. After that though, it’s going to an editor. Because yes, I’m going to try and self-publish this one. It’ll be my first self-published gay romance title that has some length to it. Up till now I’ve only self-published a lesbian fantasy novella I got the right back on, a non-romance short, and an erotic short. But Freefall is a novella/short novel (depends on final word count after I tighten up the first two thirds), and I have great hopes for it.

I hope people will like it. I do. But then I suppose I’m biased.

No comments

Why rewrite? 

  May 17, 2015
SSScarredSouls

The new novel.

One night back in January of last year I was struggling with what to write next. Then Josh and Damian popped up. The published short story wasn’t exactly the way I’d originally thought out these characters.

You see, Scarred Souls has been through many revision in it’s lifetime. I first wrote it back in 2007 or 2008, and it turned into a 130K monstrosity. This novel was shared between three couples: Josh and Damian, Chad and Dion (from Measured Doses), and Spencer and Lesley (Damian’s co-workers).

When I started reading m/m romance I split the three couples into three stories, and again Josh and Damian went through several revisions and rewrites.

scarredsouls

The now out of print short story.

When I wrote the published short story, I was quite happy with it. But I was still clouded by what I thought a m/m romance did need, especially when I wrote Yesterday’s Tears which also featured these two. I thought sex was expected in m/m stories, so I wrote them as such.

But it’s not really in Damian’s character. He doesn’t think about it, doesn’t want it, and he’s strong-willed enough not to be pushed into it. That’s who he really is. And Josh… Josh has been through so much in his life, and the aftereffects in the published stories just weren’t big enough.

Thus they came to me one night, wanting their story told how it was supposed to be. I made the decision to write the new version in first person point of view, and I do not regret it. They work better that way, the story works better, and I, personally, believe I write better that way.

So Scarred Souls has become a novel. Their experiences and the trauma they’ve suffered is the same, but the aftereffects is bigger, greater, more troublesome, and have more realistic aftereffects.And Damian finally embraces his own sexuality, in that he doesn’t have one.

No comments

A Shattered Soul: This is not a romance story

  May 7, 2015

Souls0ShatteredI’ve just uploaded A Shattered Soul to Amazon, All Romance Ebooks, and Smashwords. It’s a free read, except not on Amazon because there it needs to be price-matched. If anyone want to help with that, please do so quickly so it can become perma-free! I would also be very grateful if an honest review was left both on Amazon and on GoodReads.

This short story takes place before Scarred Souls, which comes out in thirteen days. It is not a romance, and it has no happy for now or happy ever after. It’s simply written to provide background on a minor character that appears in Scarred Souls.

It is the first book I uploaded to other sites than Amazon. Since it’s free, there was no reason to go Kindle Select. I wanted to try out ARe and Smashwords too, so I did. (It already had 16 downloads on Smashwords last I checked!).

The cover is made by yours truly, and I got to say… I’m quite proud of it! I think I made a good job with it. The photo captures Mal and how he’s feeling on the spot, too. I knew I had to have that picture once I saw it on the stock site I use. It was perfect. The hardest thing for me when it comes to covers is the font. I can try out fonts for hours until I find the right one. Sometimes I have to let the cover rest for a few days (or weeks…) before I figure out exactly the way I want it. This came about quite nice, once I decided to do my own thing and not try and make it look like the rest of the series (I have not made those covers, so I didn’t like trying to make them have the same “feel” and set-up. Though I love them! Love those covers SO MUCH!).

I hope A Shattered Soul will be enjoyable (or, well, it’s not an enjoyable read, it is not light at all, it’s all dark and heavy). But anyway, here it is, released into the world. I hope you liked it, even if it is quite a dark story and not at all a romance.