Cover reveal - The Hearts of Yesteryear

I got new cover art!

Throughout his career, actor John Paravati has stuck with the line he sold to the gossip rags—he’s been in like, been in lust, even been in respect once or twice, but never love. It works for him. After all, the only thing he’s ever cared about is performing, and if he’s stuck now doing commercials for cruise lines to pay his bills, at least it’s better than shilling adult diapers.

But people in Hollywood are pros at pretending, and John is the master of them all. Because once upon a time, in the world of his youth, he loved two things with all his heart—his best friend Frank and the movie palace he used as sanctuary.

Over fifty years ago, he ran away from his hometown, never to look back. Now, someone has decided to restore the theater he left behind, and they want John to be a part of its relaunch. Though the memories still sting, he swallows his pride and agrees to go, even if it means finally dealing with the heartache he’s ignored all this time. At seventy-seven, he’s too old to continue holding onto the hurt. The question is, however, is he too old to start over once it’s gone?

I'm so pleased with it. The Hearts of Yesteryear is my sweet, senior citizen m/m romance, and the cover is perfect for it. It comes out on September 22 from Amber Allure.

Outlander obsession

With each step the Outlander series takes toward its premiere, I get more excited.

I was warily enthusiastic when they cast Sam Heughan as Jamie Fraser and Diana Gabaldon gave her full endorsement to the choice.

But then he tweeted this in July, and he completely won me over.

“Christ, Sassenach. I need ye.”
— Sam Heughan (@Heughan) July 26, 2013

I wasn't following Gabaldon on Twitter prior to a couple weeks ago (because that felt like just a step too far into obsession, lol), but since succumbing, I've been witness to some lovely interactions between her and Sam about the project. Plus, she always has information about what's going on with the show. That might not last if the show takes off, but in these early stages, it's absolute gold.

Which sounds like an obsessed fangirl, I know, but...Outlander! Jamie Fraser! How can I not be obsessed?

The state of my writing world

I haven't been completely slacking off in the time away I've been away from my blog. My productivity might not be anywhere near where it was when Pepper and I were working together, but I still try to get a little bit done every day.

So what's in the pipeline...

On September 22, The Hearts of Yesteryear, my novella about an aging actor who returns to the home of his youth for the relaunch of the movie palace that changed his life, comes out at Amber Allure. No cover yet, though I'm hoping to see that soon.

I'm in the throes of finishing up a vampire m/m novella called Threshold. It's about a vampire who crashes at a motel for the day after barely surviving an attack and the ex-Marine who finds him and refuses to let him die.

Once that's done (which should be by the end of the week), I have a short story to finish that's due by the end of the month. That one doesn't have a title yet. I had a longer idea I was going to do for that particular collection (stories set on trains), but I don't have time to do it justice.

And finally, I wrote a het paranormal short story called One More Bloom for a charity anthology created by Kallysten. The anthology is called Shades of Pink and will benefit breast cancer research. That comes out in October, and I will definitely be sharing more details about that as the date gets closer.

Apparently summer does mean I take a break...

Ha, apparently I was wrong with my last post from almost two months ago. Summer does mean I take a break, lol.

I didn't mean to. It was just incredibly busy with lots of traveling and time sucks that had absolutely nothing to do with writing. My daughter made the all-star team for softball in her league, so we had those playoffs (they made it all the way to the northern California finals!). Both of my kids were involved with summer programs--my daughter spent 3 weeks at UCSC studying engineering while my son went to camp for a week--and then I got to go to Las Vegas for my birthday in July. Toss in the fact that my kids started back to school at the end of July, and, well, you get the idea.

With them out of the house during the day again, however, I'm getting back on track.

How did it get to be August already?

Summer break doesn't mean taking a break

My kids began their summer break yesterday. In an ideal world, that would mean more time for me to get stuff done since I won't be losing two hours a day on school runs and even more on after school activities.

The problem with that is my world has a thirteen-year-old girl who doesn't know how to take it easy. By 11:00 a.m. yesterday, she was so bored already she told her eleven-year-old brother they were going to clean and organize his room.

At 2pm, she informed me there was no way she was going to spend her summer reading and cleaning. I, in turn, told her she better pick up another hobby before she leaves for her summer program at the end of the month. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she makes the county all-star team for her division of softball when they're announced in ten days. Sure, I'll lose time from getting work done, but at least I won't have to listen to a dozen "I'm bored"s a day.

Besides, that program I mentioned she's going to? Lasts for three weeks. And my son is gone for a week of that for his camp, too. I plan on getting oodles of work done during that time, which is probably a very good thing since I just volunteered for another pax collection that's due 9/1.

I just have to make it until she leaves.

Is greenlighting Outlander as a series a good idea?

Yesterday, it was reported that Starz has officially greenlighted Outlander as a series.

My first response was, "Oh, my god."

So was my second. That's because I'm equal parts terrified and exhilarated by this news.

Jamie Fraser is, hands down, my favorite romantic hero in written word. I adore these books, even when they diverged from their original roots to stories and characters I care less about. That's all due to Jamie and my ongoing love for him. So my feelings about him? Pretty strong.

There are so many ways they can screw up casting him, it isn't even funny.

For those not in the know, Jamie is a giant of a redhead and Scottish to boot. This physicality is so married to the character, deviating from it in order to find someone who can actually act would be dangerous. But...they might if they can't find a good enough actor who fits the description. Producers do it all the time. And if they can't sell me on Jamie? There is no way they are going to sell me on the rest of it.

Don't get me wrong, I like Claire, but she's not the reason I kept going back to that world. I loved, loved, loved how Gabaldon reversed a lot of the familiar tropes with Jamie in the first book. It made him so completely real to me that it was effortless to fall in love with him.

My imagination is pretty damn good. I have my own idea of what Jamie is like, but the thing is, my sister--who loved the books even before I did--has her own idea, too, and it's very different to mine. For the longest time, she wanted Ewan McGregor to play Jamie, even though the only thing he probably has in common with him is the accent. The idea of McGregor in the role makes me shudder, because...no. That's not my Jamie.

And therein lies the producers biggest problem. Jamie has a lot of fans out there. They will never please all of them. Even trying to please some of them is going to be difficult.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed they find a way to do it. I want to love this series as much as I love the books.

Weekend reading recommendations

I've got a couple recs for people if they haven't already picked up something to read for this weekend. I read these this past week and thoroughly enjoyed both of them.

Doug Heavy Runner left the life of an openly gay Miami police officer and returned to his home on the Salish-Kootenai Indian Reservation when his mother got sick. In the two years since she passed, he’s carved out an empty life as a small-town deputy, relying on out-of-town one-night stands to keep him sane. Then he meets Detective Christopher Hayes, and they share a wild night so incredible Doug breaks his own rule and allows a one-night stand to grow into a weekend of amazing sex.

When Christopher travels from San Diego to Montana to deal with his abusive brother’s suicide, he doesn’t expect to find the man he spent the weekend with to be handling his brother’s case. He certainly doesn’t mind spending more time with Doug—but then an arsonist destroys the house Christopher inherited from his brother, and Christopher and Doug discover they are the primary suspects.

As they investigate, they discover Christopher’s dead brother has set them on the trail of a psychotic pedophile who will stop at nothing to silence his last victim. However, the search for the victim goes horribly wrong, leaving Doug hospitalized and Christopher at the mercy of the killer….

Well written, engaging, with real chemistry between the guys. It's very encouraging to see this is her first published novel, too. It promises great things to come.

Available from Dreamspinner.

What's a Lord of the Dead to do? Hades' bride of several thousand years has served him with divorce papers and she doesn't just want him out of her life, she wants the palace and the dog, too. Hades' nephews and his faithful ferryman, Charon, are determined to find their uncle something to distract him before he expires of brooding misery.

Tiberius Snyder had a good future, until his mother dies and his employer shuts down. When he finds himself alone with nowhere to live, he turns to panhandling and to drink, depression slowly killing him.

He just wants a place to sleep out of the cold wind, but Death finds him in a dirty alley. Odd. Ti never thought Death would be so hot... 

Angel blogged over at the Pax blog about why she loved Hades so much, and I was so taken by her interpretation of the god that I immediately went out and bought her book. It more than delivered.

Available from Amber Allure.