While I don’t write a ton of winter stories, it’s without question one of my favorite times of year. Not a lot of things I like better than sitting in front of a fire with a cup of hot cider while it snows outside. Then there’s the morning after a snowfall, with that quiet serenity of an unbroken blanket of snow, when even the normal noises of the world are muffled and distant.
So it’s probably not the biggest shock that my winter project this year is (yes, yet another) retelling of Snow White. Coming in January!
Prince Carwyn is going to be crowned in less than a week when he overhears a conversation he wasn’t meant to—one that precipitates his swift flight from the castle, pursued by Gareth, the loyal huntsman who wants nothing more than to keep him safe.
Want the visual? Here’s the pinterest board, for a little taste:
Category: Books
All good and bad things about books.
Hey all, Waverly and I have a short story in the fourth edition of the awesome Heart2Heart anthology, all proceeds going to some great LGBTQIA+ charities, and its time is almost up! As of the 29th of September, it’ll no longer be available, so get your copy before it’s too late!
My co-written book with the awesome W.M. Fawkes, Prince of Death, is out in the wild as of today!
You can get your copy on Amazon, for purchase or KU borrow.
We’re both pretty excited about sharing Lysandros and Theo with everyone…
…and just as excited about sharing what’s next in this universe: Prisoner of Shadows
As fans of Greek and Roman myth, Fawkes and I have always loved Prometheus, and thought he got a lousy deal after putting himself on the line to help humanity. So we’re going to give him a happier ending.
If you met me at GRL, you probably also met W. M. Fawkes, whom I introduced as artist, writer, and all around great friend. For some time now, Waverly and I have been working on something new. We’ve created a new universe together that’s a mix of mythology, fantasy, and of course, love: Lords of the Underworld. It’s a series of standalone urban fantasy romances.
It starts with Prince of Death on March 7th, 2019, beneath the streets of Washington, DC, with a lonely prince and a sad professor, neither of whom has any idea how much they need each other…
Gifted power over life and death, Lysandros has spent millennia in the underworld, listless and alone. The youngest child of Hades and Persephone, he’s been sheltered from the threats in the world above.
Theo Ward hasn’t been so lucky. After watching his mother wither away, he’d do almost anything to have her back. When a messenger appears at the Banneker College of Magic and offers the young professor a chance to save her, Theo can’t pass it up, even if it means going straight into the underworld and dragging her home. But Theo gets more than he bargained for when he crosses paths with the prince of Hades.
Set against the king of Olympus, they must shed their past burdens and learn to trust in each other, so they can face down a storm that threatens to wipe the nation’s capital off the map.
Prince of Death on goodreads
Cover by the talented and lovely Natasha Snow
I’ve been planning to give Isla her own story since it became apparent how important she was to Rowan Harbor and its future. After book six, I realized that in the overall plot, this was the perfect time to tell her story. Her novelette will be released at the same time as book seven of the Rowan Harbor Cycle, Eagle in the Hawthorn, which is the current project!
The death of her mentor has left Isla MacKenzie fumbling in the dark. She’s expected to perform as the sole witch on the town council, but she also might be the only witch in town who can’t use her powers. The one bright spot in her life is Cassidy Simon, the town’s beautiful, charismatic vampire bar owner. She’s not sure what Cassidy wants from their relationship, but she hopes that whatever it is, she can give it. The events of a single day are about to change everything for Isla, and only she can control her own destiny.
The cover, as all Rowan Harbor covers, is by the lovely Madeline Farlow at clause&effect
After a conversation with a reviewer in the m/m community, I was taken by the need to write you reviewers, for lack of a better term, a love letter. I’ve met a handful of the reviewers in the m/m community, and every one that I’ve spoken to has been a lovely person. I feel lucky to be writing in a genre that has these people in it.
You guys don’t have to be here. It’s not your job. You don’t get paid to show up. Most of the time, you don’t even get thanked for your efforts. You sometimes get treated like dirt for expressing your opinions. On terrifying occasion, people get threatened, stalked, and attacked for being reviewers. With all that, the fact that you stick around and keep going? It amazes me.
I’m a writer. I could try to be something else, but I’ve done that, and it doesn’t work for me. So I have to be here. I come back every day not just because I love books, but because this is my bread and butter. If I do my job well, I get paid for it.
You? You’re just here because of the books. You could read and not review, but you choose to share instead. Sure, sometimes if you review long and well enough, you get free books to review. You didn’t get promised free books at the outset, though, and chances are they’re not the only reason you’re here.
And sure, there are some books that make you angry, or bored, or disgusted, and you give them bad reviews. But you’re not here for those. You’re not here because you want to insult bad books. You’re here because you want to find the good ones, and share them with other readers. And frankly, there’s something incredible about that. You’re here to find and share joy.
Sometimes your review will disagree with the overall opinion of the community, and that’s fine. Sometimes you’ll review and then realize that there were issues surrounding the book that you didn’t know about, and that’s fine too. Sometimes, you’ll give my favorite book (or even *gasp* my book!) a bad review, and that’s fine too.
The thing is, you’re here. You show up and tell us about the amazing books you’ve found, and everyone needs more amazing books in their life.
Thank you.
*I swear, this isn’t an attempt to get better reviews. As has been said over and over again, reviews of my books aren’t for me, they’re for potential readers. If, as a reviewer, you feel like my book deserves to be panned, pan away.
After recommendations from Ami and Annie from FTtB, I knew I had to read this one. There aren’t many books with any kind of asexual representation, and fewer with anything I’d call /good/ representation. (Hint, if your character is somehow ‘reformed’ into a different sexuality, then it’s bad rep.)
This did not disappoint. The characters were well-formed, realistic people, with flaws and quirks that made them fun to read about. I’m sure one of the common problems people might have is that there isn’t much of a plot, because it’s not one over-arcing storyline. Instead, it’s a character-driven story, and focuses on how the two main characters come to love and trust each other.
While the main characters work for a government agency, they aren’t ‘secret agents’ as in the generally used romance novel trope. There’s no action sequence, no chase scene, no passionate sex anywhere to be found. If you’re looking for that stuff, skip this.
The book is exactly what it says it is, and is one of the most aptly titled pieces of fiction I’ve ever read. If you like the idea of a quiet, sweet romance, and think people can love each other without sex, then definitely read it. It’s excellent writing, good representation, and is going on my list of favorites for sure.
When I was sixteen, I prided myself on finishing every single book I picked up to read. It didn’t matter how bad it was, or how much I hated it, if I started it, I was going to finish it. That melodramatic Victor Hugo epic Les Miserables? Every. Last. Word.
In my twenties, a few started slipping through the cracks. I blame it on schoolbooks. There was no way I was going to read the C++ manual front to back. I might have died of boredom.
My twenties saw me finally abandon some fiction, too. The first I remember was Twilight. I tried, you guys, I really did. I got all the way to the last one. Then there was that whole pedophilia thing, and I just… couldn’t. I ran screaming in the opposite direction and never finished the book. That particular hardcover is the single book in my house that gets no respect whatsoever. Which is to say that we use it as a doorstop.
In my thirties, there have been things like the abusive BDSM series that everyone knows. I think that one was my breaking point.
That was when I realized that when I finished a bad book, I didn’t feel accomplished. I felt annoyed, or ripped-off, or outright angry. And it wasn’t like I didn’t see it coming. I can usually tell in the first few chapters whether a book is going to work for me or not. So why am I wasting my precious reading time on things I hate? So that I can be angry and go leave nasty reviews on the work of authors who spent time and effort on those works I hate? I hope not. That’s not the me I want to be.
tl;dr: I have embraced the DNF. Life’s too short for bad fiction. If I decide at any point that the book is going to get a bad review from me, I’m putting it down.
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I grabbed Beyond the Sea last month for a dollar during a bookbub sale. I realize that there’s been some drama over the blurb lines, “Two straight guys. One desert island.” Many people seem to see it as bi-erasure, and I understand why that would be a point of contention. Bi erasure is a big problem. Maybe I’m just too asexual to understand the point of view as it relates to this book, but as I read it, the characters both believed they were straight and fell in love with another man. I also didn’t even pay attention to the blurb before reading the book, so I didn’t have a chance to get offended and put it down before reading it. The main characters are both believable and sympathetic at the beginning, and grow as people throughout the novel, which I’ve always found important in any genre. The story is well done. It covers the tropes you’d expect to find in such a novel, and some you wouldn’t. Some research obviously went into how airplanes work, and I didn’t have a moment of doubt as to the validity of the information. (I don’t know if it’s all right, but it’s well presented enough that I believed and didn’t feel a need to look it up.) Some of the most basic things that often get overlooked in stories like this were addressed – like Troy’s depression when he first starts to believe that they won’t be rescued, and the give and take between an introvert and an extrovert in such a stressful situation. |