Six Sentence Sunday

Welcome to my SSS! For the month of May, I'm highlighting sentences from a short story that released two years ago, a contemporary gay erotica piece called Yesterday's Names. It's the story of Jonathan Lynch, a teacher who goes to Italy for a very special purpose. It's not as easy to face as he hoped, though.

Nothing says procrastination better than a trip to a local bar.

I can’t even say it was an arbitrary choice. I spent fifteen minutes Googling gay bars in Rome—fifteen wasted minutes, I might add, since my command on the Italian language consists mostly of tourist phrases I’d picked up to help me on my trip and not the ability to read conversational reviews posted by other desperate gay men.

All right, the desperate part of that description is probably obvious transference on my part. It’s been a stressful couple of months. I’m not feeling as nice as I usually try to be.

To check out all the other six sentence contributions, head over to the official website.

Six Sentence Sunday

Welcome to my SSS! For the months of March and April, I'm highlighting sentences from the very first novel I had published, a het vampire erotic romance called Chains of Jericho. It was the very first book I had final in EPIC's ebook awards (then called the EPPIE), and since I had two final this year, I figured this was a good time to share the one that started it all.

Dec has just learned that the nightmare he's been trying to control isn't over, and come back to his room and Maya wracked with too many feelings. A kiss has exploded into the potential for more.

Her breathing was starting to even out. “So why do you need it now?”

If he’d been more eloquent, this would’ve been the time to tell her how much she’d brought into his life over the past few months, how watching her and learning about her had shown him the costs of being driven toward a single purpose, how lonely it could be when one closed the door to anything but their goal. He would’ve told her about Tasha, and about how he’d failed, and then begged her not to give up on him just because he’d made this fatal mistake. He would’ve been able to put voice to the burgeoning feelings he had for this beautiful woman, in spite of the fact that she was human, or maybe because of it, and how she constantly amazed him with her willingness to look above and beyond.

But Dec didn’t possess a silver tongue, and he had to settle for a simple, “Because you were looking for me.”

To check out all the other six sentence contributions, head over to the official website.

Giveaway - North of Heartbreak by Julie Rowe

Well, I took this past week off (outside of Six Sentence Sunday) to recuperate from RT (and yeah, I needed it, lol), but now I'm back on schedule and ready to give away another book!

This week, it comes from Carina, and features an Alaskan setting, always a weakness of mine...

Since her divorce, Willa Hayes has thrown herself into her work as a nurse practitioner in the remote town of Stony Creek, Alaska. She's regained her self-confidence and her heart is almost healed. Then her newfound peace is shaken by the arrival of sexy flyboy Liam Reynolds. Willa can't deny she's instantly, intensely attracted to him--even if she's convinced he's yet another Mr. Wrong.

Liam has his own reasons for fleeing to the isolation of the north, and a relationship is the last thing he wants. He wasn't counting on being drawn to the pretty nurse who accompanies patients on his flights to southern hospitals.

Fortunately, the temptation--and the desire to avoid anything serious--is mutual. So the pair comes up with an arrangement: sensual, steamy, no-strings fun. But when things heat up on a cold Alaskan night, the rules of the game may change forever...

You can read an excerpt at Carina.

All you have to do to enter is comment to this post. That's it. Next Monday at 9am PST, I'll choose a comment at random to win.

You don't need an account to leave a comment, but if you don't have one, please consider leaving an email address you can be contacted at. That guarantees I can get a hold of you in case you win.

Six Sentence Sunday

Welcome to my SSS! For the months of March and April, I'm highlighting sentences from the very first novel I had published, a het vampire erotic romance called Chains of Jericho. It was the very first book I had final in EPIC's ebook awards (then called the EPPIE), and since I had two final this year, I figured this was a good time to share the one that started it all.

Continuing on from last week's scene with Maya and Dec's finally getting sexual...

He must’ve felt her orgasm coming. Seconds before his fucking and sucking sent her careening over the edge, Dec’s mouth slid down and away, his jaw dropping, his teeth grazing over the soft skin of her inner thigh before finding the spot where it was most sensitive. Maya felt the distinct prick of his fangs sinking into her flesh, but it was the first almost painful pull that catapulted her into coming, unfettering her as her climax picked her up in fiery waves and rocked her through its wake, everything spinning out of control around her as she rode it to its finish.

Maya was only half-aware of Dec disengaging from the bite. But when he slid up her body, his weight pressing her more firmly into the mattress, she turned automatically into his kiss, tasting herself on his tongue as she moaned in satisfaction. “That ... was...” she started to say when they broke apart, but the rest of it escaped her.

To check out all the other six sentence contributions, head over to the official website.

Six Sentence Sunday

Welcome to my SSS! For the months of March and April, I'm highlighting sentences from the very first novel I had published, a het vampire erotic romance called Chains of Jericho. It was the very first book I had final in EPIC's ebook awards (then called the EPPIE), and since I had two final this year, I figured this was a good time to share the one that started it all.

Sharing a room has progressed Maya and Dec's relationship to its natural conclusion...

She was wet, wetter than she could remember being in a long time without the aid of something plastic and vibrating directly between her legs. But though that was now where he seemed to be heading, there was nothing artificial about the way Dec touched her, or the way he growled in the back of his throat when he discovered a fresh patch of her skin to taste, or the probing of his fingers as he determinedly pulled her thighs apart. He never said a word, his mouth too busy etching a path down her navel, and she tensed as she felt his fingertips brush over her cotton-covered mound, tracing her slit with a surprising delicacy.

“Let me,” Maya breathed. She started to lift her hips to shimmy out of her panties, but Dec’s powerful forearm stopped her, clamping down around her waist while he sat up to gaze down at her.

“Don’t,” he ordered.

To check out all the other six sentence contributions, head over to the official website.

RT - Wednesday

It was...a very long day, lol.

I'm still on California time so getting up for registration at 9 was tough. Still, I managed it, and got downstairs about 9:30 to do it. I decided to wait on the goody room until the lines died down, and went back to my room until noonish to look over the program. While the parties aren't my thing, I definitely wanted to head to the steampunk panel so that's where I was at 1pm. Panelists included Eden Bradley and R.G. Alexander, and it offered a nice overview of steampunk in general.

The best thing about it was how it switched up my idea on the steampunk m/m I'm planning on writing for Amber Allure this fall. I have some very cool ideas now that I'm all set to explore.

Other than that, it was all about socializing. I got to meet up with Liquid Silver authors for happy hour, some of my favorites ever to hang around with at RT (though Dee Carney, I miss you!). Interesting (and fun) conversations about retitling stories and zombie alligators (the latter courtesy of T.A. Chase), after which I headed back to the hotel to meet up with Trace Edward Zaber from AQP and a few others.

He's not a myth, by the way. He's very much real. And just an absolutely cool guy all around.

But now it's late, and I have to go to bed. The e-book signing is tomorrow as well as another workshop I want to go to. I have writing to do in between all that, though. So...yes, sleep is in order very soon here.

RT - Tuesday night

Um...well, I had every intention of writing stuff up about all the stuff I did on Tuesday night, but my flight was late getting to Chicago, so I didn't actually arrive until after 8pm. After tweeting, wondering where everybody was, I got a text from the fabulous Tina Burns (one of my favorite people from Liquid Silver) saying they were headed down to the bar.

So that's where I headed once I felt human again. She wasn't actually in the bar itself but in a quieter area nearby, along with the always adorable TA Chase, Stephani Hecht, Caitlin Willows (who has been one of my absolute rocks in this industry for years now), and...Trace Zaber! For as much as I've published with Amber Quill, this was my first time getting to meet him in person, something I've been looking forward to for ages.

The bulk of my night was spent talking to him, unsurprisingly. About just about everything under the sun. Completely worth it.

I have to register in the morning, and then look at the schedule to see what I want to do. I *do* know that there's a Liquid Silver get-together after the workshops tomorrow, but other than that...well, I'll figure it out in the morning.

If I can ever fall asleep. I'm still on California time and I'm not tired. I imagine I'll be dragging tomorrow. :P