Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Summer Love Anthology from Duet, an Interlude Press Imprint





Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing S.J. Martin author of The Most Handsome.


Hi S.J., thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.



What is the most satisfying thing about being a writer?

It’s a great feeling bringing new characters and their adventures to life. Ideas for new stories sometimes get stuck in my head and bounce around for a while –I love having the ability to create an entirely new world from that first thought about a character or situation.


Do your characters ever take over your writing and make the story go somewhere you hadn’t originally planned?

Oh, this happens all of the time! More often than not, I sit down with a plan for where the story is going to go, but the characters refuse to cooperate. Recently, I was working on a story where a certain theme was supposed to be a relatively minor one and instead, it ended up being 60 pages! I wanted the story to head down a particular path, but it went down an entirely different one.


How did you celebrate the release of your book?

I’m planning on dancing around my apartment clutching the book to my chest once I receive it! Not kidding—I’m going to do a happy dance. This is my first published story and it means a great deal to me. I’ve been writing for most of my adult life, and it feels SO wonderful to be included with the other amazing writers in the anthology.


How did you come up with the idea for this book?

I was daydreaming about a soft and fluffy romance one day. As a transgender man, I’ve had great difficulty finding love stories with transgender characters. Ones that DO contain trans folks are often sad and filled with a lot of agonizing and trauma for them. I wanted something completely opposite from that. The funny thing is: I don’t normally write light-hearted stories. It was quite difficult to break out of my normal mold and get out something so different. I’ve sometimes been told that my writing can make people cry because I write about darker themes usually. This story is about as cheerful and upbeat as I could manage.


Have you ever written naked?
     
This question made me laugh out loud! Nope, no naked writing as of yet.  Maybe when I get ready to publish my first novel.


 


Blurb:

Summer Love is the first collection of short stories published by Duet, the young adult imprint from Interlude Press. These short stories are about the emergence of young love of bonfires and beaches, of the magical in-between time when young lives step from one world to another, and about finding the courage to be who you really are, to follow your heart and live an authentic life. The contributing authors have written stories about both romantic and platonic love featuring characters who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, pansexual and queer/questioning. The authors also represent a spectrum of experience, identity and backgrounds.

Beautiful Monsters
SUMMARIES & AUTHOR BIOS
A campaign volunteer is assigned to assist his high school’s Gay Straight Alliance for the Pride Parade, forcing him to face the students he had previously avoided, and the truth about himself.
Author: Rachel Davidson Leigh is a writer, educator, and small town native who tells stories she wishes she could have read as a teen. Beautiful Monsters is her first published work of fiction. She lives in Wisconsin with her family and two dogs who are spoiled out of their tiny minds.

The Willow Weeps for Us
Jack, the young son of a grocer, falls for a charming piano teacher at the dawn of World War II.
Author: Suzey Ingold is a writer, linguist and coffee addict, currently based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Brought up in a household where children's books are quoted over the dinner table, literature has always had a strong influence on her life. She enjoys travelling, scented candles and brunch.

The Fire Eater’s Daughter
When a traveling carnival comes back to town, Ruth must choose between caring for her mother and a life with the beautiful and mysterious Constance, the fire eater’s daughter.
Author: Amy Stilgenbauer is a writer and aspiring archivist currently based in southeast Michigan. She is the author of the novelette series, Season of the Witch, as well as the Young Adult novel, The Legend of League Park. When she isn’t writing, Amy enjoys all things bergamot and tries to keep her cats away from her knitting.
  

Surface Tension
Logan just wants a summer where he can be anonymous and fit in without labels, but that all changes when he meets out-and-proud Dave at summer camp.
Author: Ella J. Ash is a lawyer by day and an author by night. She has been a writer in online fan communities since 2006. She also enjoys dance parties with her family and cooking experimental vegetarian cuisine. She lives in Toronto with her partner, three daughters and four tropical fish.

My Best Friend
In a letter to his best friend, a young gay man reminisces about their relationship.
Author: H.J. Coulter lives in Winnepeg, Canada, where she works as a respite worker and studies music, in hopes of one day becoming a musical therapist. My Best Friend is her professional writing debut.

What the Heart Wants
A young student discovers attraction and desire through her experience drawing figures in her summer art class.
Author: Naomi Tajedler was born and raised in Paris, where art has always been a part of her life—including painting, restoring books, and working in auctions. She started writing in online fan communities in 2009.

The Most Handsome
Carter, a Cape Cod boy who recently came out as transgender, meets and falls in love with a college student visiting for the summer.
Author: S.J. Martin lives with his partner and their cranky, rotund cat in Washington D.C. He’s a barista by day and a writer by night. He makes a mean cappuccino and lives for good coffee, good books, and good company. The Most Handsome is his first published story.

Something Like Freedom
A boy finds a safe space from which to imagine a new future after leaving his conservative parents’ home, thanks in part to a new friend.
Author: Caroline Hanlin is a full time statistician, a part time stage manager, and an avid sports fan. She currently resides in Boston, where she enjoys writing during her commute. Something Like Freedom is her first published short story.

On the Shore
A young woman retreats to her parents’ beach house to nurse a broken heart, but instead meets a vivacious girl who helps her find joy again.
Author: Rachel Blackburn is a writer, musician and librarian based in central Ohio. When free from work, she enjoys cuddling with her cats, drinking tea, and baking more cupcakes than necessary. On the Shore is her professional writing debut.



Pages or Words: 276 pages

Categories: Please keep in mind that as an anthology, not all stories contain all elements listed.
Bisexual, Contemporary, Fiction, Gay Fiction, Lesbian Romance, M/M Romance, Romance, Trans*, Young Adult, Collection

Excerpt: (From Beautiful Monsters)
Beautiful Monsters
By Rachel Davidson Leigh

“Glad to see you could join the party,” Terrence deadpans, pressing a rainbow bandana into André’s hand. André grabs a second bandana out of the bag, stuffs one in each of his back pockets, and then goes in for a third.
“Cody was checking out the parade route,” André replies, in a smooth lie. “It turns out we’re still walking six blocks through absolutely nothing and then calling it a day.” Terrence laughs, and, as he turns away, André presses a handkerchief into Cody’s hand. “Use it wisely,” he whispers into Cody’s ear. “You’re one of us now.”
One of us. He’s never been part of an “us.” Cody stares down at the lines on the handkerchief and then at the two patches of color on the back of André’s jeans as he walks toward the arriving cars.
Cody expects panic, but it doesn’t come. Maybe he isn’t ready to be Gay with a capital G, but if “us” can mean being one of these idiots, then maybe he’s ready to have people of his own. As he watches the sharp sway of André’s hips, the heat rising up his neck doesn’t feel like fear. It feels like... clarity, as though the run put everything in perspective and now he can’t stop seeing André in crisp, dazzling color.
Someone presses a sign into his hand and guides him toward the parade staging area with the rest of the crew. Once again, he can’t hear himself think over the din, but it’s different now. At the meeting, and for years before that in the hallways, he felt like an invader locked out by a wall of sound, and now he’s somehow wandered inside. 


Sales Links:

Interlude Press web store: store.interludepress.com



About the author:


Where to find more information:
Facebook: facebook.com/interludepress
Twitter: @duetbooks, @interludepress
Pinterest: pinterest.com/interludepress
Other: duetbooks.com
Other: duetbooks.tumblr.com


Publisher: Duet, a Young Adult imprint form Interlude Press
Cover Artist: BuckeyeGrrl Designs

Tour Dates & Stops:
23-Jun

24-Jun

25-Jun

26-Jun

29-Jun

30-Jun

1-Jul

2-Jul

3-Jul

6-Jul

Rafflecopter Prize:  One $25 Interlude Press gift card. Five multi-format Summer Love eBooks.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

When Will I Be Loved by Julie Lynn Hayes



Good morning, and thanks for having me on your blog today!

You ask what makes my story different from the rest. To begin with, I wrote it. Every author puts their own touch on everything, naturally. But of course there’s more to it than that.

I created a town called Crescent Bay in the first book, When Will I See You Again. I never actually give a location, but it’s fairly obvious from the clues I drop that it’s on the west coast, so let’s call it California. Crescent Bay is a prime tourist location, although obviously there are year-round residents as well. I set up a world in which vampires and werewolves are out of the closet, so to speak, and known to exist. So of course that removes the element of secrecy, but allows for more normalcy.

The difference is that the werewolves have SL57 (aka Wolf Tranq) and the vampires have Blut, each of which keeps them under control and allows them to interact safely with society.

I wanted to show my wolves and vamps as being people, as well, not creatures, and not monsters, but very real people, with the same sort of problems that other people have. Falling in love, making a living, having fun, etc.

The first book deals with the pain of loss and surviving it—and dealing with it or not—and touches on the idea of reincarnation. The second book is more about finding the person you’re fated to meet and fall in love with, and then dealing with everything that comes along with that. Making things work out when maybe you’ve jumped into something without knowing all the details, following the dictates of one’s heart.

Besides having to figure that out, Miller and Holt have the fanatics of C.A.U.S.E. to deal with, who are rabidly anti-supernatural and adamant about wanting them permanently taken care of. Plus there seems to be an impending conflict between the wolves and the vamps. Add to that the discovery that someone has brought V Clubs to Crescent Bay—illicit underground nightclubs where vampires illegally drink human blood.

All these things, plus my main characters, Miller Fenwick and Holt Wynne, are just some of the things that make my story different from the rest.

Thanks for having me here today! Have a great day!


Blurb:


Miller Fenwick wants the kind of happy ending his best friend got, with the hunky werewolf of his dreams. Trouble is, there doesn’t seem to be a Prince Charming on the horizon, and casual encounters don’t cut it anymore. Now that Alexx and Raoul are engaged, Miller is becoming resigned to being the bridesmaid, never the bride. But a chance encounter with a sexy stranger at Charisma has his hopes soaring, and his heart is wide open to possibilities.

Holt Wynne is the head of Helios, the largest vampire organization in the country. He’s a very influential and wealthy man, with a deep-seated hatred of werewolves. His running into Miller at Charisma isn’t entirely accidental. He’d meant to wait, but his emotions got the better of him, and he couldn’t stay away. And now see what he’s done…

Wait until Miller finds out he’s sortof just gotten married to the sexy vampire who hates the people who are Miller’s best friends. Sparks are gonna fly—and not just in the bedroom. One thing for sure—life in Crescent Bay is never dull!


Pages or Words: Approximately 115,000 words

Categories: M/M Romance, Mystery, Paranormal

Excerpt:
Miller forced himself to take a breath, unaware until he did that he’d stopped breathing.
Quit being ridiculous. Wine going to your head already?
But he’d only had the one glass. And he hadn’t even finished that. He wasn’t such a lightweight, when it came to holding his alcohol, and he knew it.
He told himself it was just his imagination. But just to be safe, he began a slow cautious turn, looking around him, without appearing to be searching for anything—or anyone.
And there he was.

Standing a heartbeat away from Miller was one of the sexiest men he’d ever seen in his life. A man every bit as sexy as Raoul Marchand, although not in the same feral way as the werewolf.
This man was light where Raoul was dark. His hair was a honey blonde which stood out by virtue of being obviously natural, in a place where most blondes were either created by the sun or came from a bottle. He stood a little taller than Miller, exuding a presence that went beyond the merely physical, possessed of the bearing and mien of a veritable god.
But it was his eyes that drew Miller in and held him spellbound. Blue and green, like staring into tropical waves, flecked with bits of pure molten gold. And the way he was staring at Miller was sending the most delicious shivers traveling up and down his spine.
The man took a step toward Miller, his hand outstretched. Before Miller quite realized what had happened, he’d placed his own hand inside of the other man’s, and he found himself being drawn onto the dance floor.

Sales Links:



About the author:

Julie Lynn Hayes first began publishing short stories and poetry in the 1990’s, when it was a different ballgame altogether, and Ebooks hadn’t been dreamed of yet. That changed in 2010 with the acceptance of her first romance novel. She’s come a long way since that first book appeared, and is finding the journey a very educational one.

She lives in St. Louis with her daughter Sarah and her cat Ramesses. She often writes of two men finding true love and happiness in one another’s arms, and is a great believer in the happily ever after. She likes to write in different genres, to stretch herself in order to see what is possible. Her great challenge is to be told something can’t be done—she feels compelled to do it.

When she isn’t writing, she enjoys crafts, such as crocheting and cross stitch, needlepoint and knitting, and she loves to cook, spending time watching the Food Network. Her favorite chef is Geoffrey Zakarian. Her family thinks she’s a bit off, but she doesn’t mind. Marching to the beat of one’s own drummer is a good thing, after all. Her published works can be found at Dreamspinner Press, eXtasy Books, Wayward Ink Press, and Amber Quill Press.

Where to find the author:

Facebook:   Facebook

Goodreads Link: My Goodreads
Publisher: Amber Quill
Cover Artist: Trace Zaber

Tour Dates & Stops:
7-Jun

8-Jun

9-Jun

10-Jun

11-Jun

12-Jun

15-Jun

16-Jun

17-Jun

18-Jun

19-Jun

22-Jun

23-Jun

24-Jun

25-Jun

26-Jun

29-Jun

30-Jun

1-Jul

2-Jul


Rafflecopter Prize: 1 copy of When Will I Be Loved and 1 copy of When Will I See You Again or if winner has that, another book from my backlist


 
a Rafflecopter giveaway