Accomplished in 2013

After taking much of 2012 off, I started back in on writing in 2013 to try and get up to steam. It was a slow process, but I think I'm back in a groove somewhat, finding my rhythm as I concentrate on writing the stories and characters that are important to me. All but one of them came out with Amber Allure as well as all being m/m, but that's going to change up in the year to come. I ended up having seven solo titles and one collaboration with Rick R. Reed.

My lone non-AQP title came from Liquid Silver. A Simple Charm is a sweet historical romance about a carny who shows up in a small Indiana town and falls for a local boy who has real magic. It's one of the most gentle stories I wrote all year, with some of my best prose, I think. It makes me a little sad that this didn't get the bigger audience I think it deserves, but I always knew a sweet historical with paranormal overtones would be a hard sell for most m/m readers.

One of my first titles this year at Amber Allure was The Low Between, a 50s noir story about an ex-cop and the young actor who get caught up in murders that have nothing to do with them. I have a real soft spot for this time period, and there just isn't enough out there, especially in the m/m world. It was tough getting back into plotting, but I was happy with how this turned out.

After reading so much steampunk that focused too much on the tech and not enough on the characters, I decided to try my hand at my own version. The result was Iron Eyes. While one of my leads was a brilliant engineer from 20s Hollywood, I deliberately focused on the story they had to tell, the journey of finding a new solution to help a little blind girl see. I'm really proud of this one, plus Cap and Hector's chemistry went off the charts for me.

After noir and steampunk, I decided to dip my toes in sci-fi. Thus, Aria of the Eclipse was born. I've never created an alien species all on my own before (I've done it as part of the Jamie Craig team), so coming up with Dek was my real challenge in this. He needed to be otherworldly enough to warrant the genre, and yet relatable enough for the readers to connect with. I think, hands down, this is the most romantic story I published all year.


I collaborated with the talented Rick R. Reed on an epistolic short about two men separated by life choices, in a time when being gay wasn't nearly as accepted. Family Obligations still makes me cry when I re-read it, for everything they had to endure as well as for the lives they actually lead.

I stayed in the contemporary zone with my sweet romance, The Hearts of Yesteryear. While it's very comedic in tone, the subject matter is not. It's about a man in his seventies who ran away from his small town after his best friend and the boy he loved chose the military over him. John has to go back to that town and confront his past. To this day, I still want to see this as a sitcom. I think John and Frank would be terrifically funny as a gay senior citizen couple, with Corrine, John's personal assistant, there for back-up. Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?

Things sobered up for me with my next contemporary. The Unbeaten Track is about an insomniac who is still haunted by the loss of his high school sweetheart, a victim of homophobic violence. I chose to do this one in first person, mostly because it's so much about being in Sean's head. The reader needed to be there with him as he made his choices, and hopefully come out the other side better for the knowing.

Last but not least, came Threshold. This took me back to my vampire roots, about a hurt vampire on the run who holes up in an out of the way motel. Falling for him was Max, an ex-soldier who is desperately looking for meaning in his life. The connection between these two sizzled from the start. Of all the titles I released this year, this one, for me, is by far the hottest.

2014 is going to see me branching out some. For instance, I have an m/m/f menage called Enthralled in Silver coming out with Ellora's Cave, and I'm hoping to have more. There are two stories in the final stages to come out at Amber Allure, Boundless and What the Heart Thinks, and more I'm scheduled to do there. All good things!

February Amber Allure bestsellers

The February bestseller list at Amber Allure is up, and Iron Eyes is on there at #6!

1. The Whore Of New Slum - T. A. Chase
2. Admiring Jesse - Shawn Lane
3. It Might Be Magic - Carolyn Gray
4. Collusion - Eden Winters
5. They Walk Among Us - T. A. Chase
6. Iron Eyes - Vivien Dean
7. Eye Candy And Achy Hearts - Adrianna Dane
8. The Tinkered Pinkerton - Helen Louise Caroll
9. Harnessing - D. J. Manly
10. Balthazar Starblitz - A. J. Llewellyn

I'm thrilled to see Carolyn's first release at AQP on there, too, as well as other friends.

New release - Iron Eyes

My m/m steampunk is out! It's part of the Steampunk pax collection at Amber Allure, and can be bought alone or with the four other stories at a discounted rate.

For three years, Cap Kaufman has been trying to make amends to his war buddy’s orphaned daughter—building her a safe home, and even finding her the best nanny. Now, he’s kidnapped the man her doctor says is the best bet for fixing her blindness.

When Hector Gabourel wakes up on a boat in the middle of nowhere, he’s confronted by a man determined to get his own way. He has no choice but to play along and wait for a chance to escape. What he doesn’t count on, however, is learning to respect the man who uprooted him from everything he knew, all for the love of a child.

For Hector, it’s a challenge. For Cap, it’s penance. For both of them, it’s a chance for love. All it takes is opening their eyes to see what’s right in front of them...


Other stories in the pax collection are:
Balthazar Starblitz by AJ Llewellyn
Harnessing by DJ Manly
The Tinkered Pinkerton by Helen Louise Caroll
The Whore of New Slum by TA Chase

Go check them out! There's a wide variety of stories there. You never know what you might find!

Letting the characters define the story

This Sunday, my steampunk novella, Iron Eyes, comes out at Amber Allure. I'm both excited and nervous about it. Excited, because I really adore these characters, but nervous, because it was my first attempt at steampunk, and at the end of the day, it focuses far more on the characters and their relationship rather than the steampunk world around them.

I did that on purpose. 90% of the steampunk I've read has been mostly forgettable or something I couldn't finish, because I found the world-building too boring to slog through. Not that the worlds themselves are boring, but so much focus is placed on creating them that the story and characters ultimately become lost.

When I set out to write a steampunk, I wanted to turn that around. I wanted to write about seemingly normal people living in a steampunk world, people who take this technology and lifestyle for granted, people who used the technology when it was necessary but weren't ruled by it.

Ultimately, I wanted to write about the romance, not the gear. The gear is just window dressing for me.

So...I'm a little anxious. This story is exactly what I wanted it to be, the romance between a brilliant engineer and a lonely ex-soldier, both of whom have benefited from technology in a steampunk world. For me, it's about them defining the story rather than the technology doing the job.

After all, for me, that's what this particular romance is all about.

Writing Update

I haven't done an update in a little while so it's probably time for that.

I just finished the first draft of my story for the upcoming Music pax at Amber Allure. It's a 35k sci-fi called "Aria of the Eclipse," and it just might be one of the most romantic things I've ever written. I had a few false starts with it. In a last ditch effort to save it, I decided to switch from limited 3rd of one hero, to 1st person of the other, and...it worked. That first chapter came out like water.

And then I made an even riskier choice.

I decided to do it in alternating 1st person. So chapter one is from Dek's POV, chapter two is from Tylen's, and back and forth like that throughout the whole book. I know it's not everybody's cup of tea, but I absolutely love 1st person. I love writing it, I love reading it, I love everything about it. And with this story? It really was the best way to serve Dek and Tylen's romance.

So with the first draft done, I'm going to set it aside for a week, then go back through it. In the interim, I have my galley of "Iron Eyes" to get through. I probably won't start a new project until both of these are done, though I have a couple ideas about what I'm going to try.

Iron Eyes

I have writing progress news! My story for the upcoming steampunk pax at Amber Allure is now in and accounted for, so I can spread the news on what it's about.

My story is called Iron Eyes, and is a 35k m/m erotic romance set in 1922. My return to writing is hallmarked by a lot of nostalgic contemporary fiction, lol. I have one in the 20s, one in the 30s, and one in the 50s, all coming out in a two-month period.

Here's the blurb:

For three years, Cap Kaufman has been trying to make amends to his war buddy’s orphaned daughter. Building her a safe home. Finding her the best nanny. Now, he’s kidnapped the man her doctor says is her best bet for fixing her blindness.

When Hector Lanza wakes up on a boat in the middle of nowhere, he’s confronted by a man determined to get his own way. He has no choice but to play along and wait for his chance to escape. What he doesn’t count on is learning to respect the man who uprooted him from everything he knew, all for the love of a child.

For Hector, it’s a challenge. For Cap, it’s penance. For both of them…a chance for love. All it takes is opening their eyes to see what’s right in front of them.

Next Big Thing Meme

So Elin Gregory did this meme at her blog a couple days ago, and though she didn't tag me, she challenged those who liked it to have a go. Which I am.

What is the title of the book you’re currently working on?
"Iron Eyes"

Where did the idea come from for the book?
It started as a writing exercise, actually. I do them occasionally where I'll brainstorm on three unrelated words, just to keep the creative juices flowing. In this case, the three words were pilot, doctor, and kidnap. It sounds like a romance already, doesn't it, lol?

What genre does your book fall under?
It's m/m steampunk erotic romance.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
I just blogged about this when I started the story! In cast you missed it, though, my heroes would be played by Jeremy Renner and David Zepeda. I have no idea if Zepeda is a decent actor, but he's where I started when I was envisioning the character.

What is a one-sentence synopsis of the book?
Captain Terrence Kaufman does the unthinkable and kidnaps the one man he believes can assuage his guilty conscience, only to rediscover his humanity in the process.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
It'll come out in early 2013 at Amber Allure as part of their steampunk pax, "Days of Future's Past."

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
This presumes it's done, which it's not, lol. However, at the rate I'm going, it'll be done by the end of the month, which means it'll be about three weeks for 35,000 words.

What other books would you compare this story to in your genre?
I wouldn't. The genre is too young to have a ton of reading material yet. Besides, I think it's kind of egotistical to compare yourself to anyone.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I've wanted to try my hand at steampunk for a while now, so when this opportunity came up, I jumped at it. I've found it difficult to find much steampunk that really satisfies me. Most of the time, there's too much focus on world-building and not enough on the story. I wanted to see if I could get the right balance.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Haha, I don't know. I try to not write the usual most of the time, and I don't think this is any exception to that. It's not set in a usual setting, instead on a remote Canadian island, and doesn't employ the typical gadgets I think are most common in the genre. Instead, my engineer has a career in the budding film industry in Los Angeles that proves vital for my other hero. I'd like to think readers would be piqued by its unique angles.


 I'm not tagging anyone to do this, but if you want to have a go, I say go for it!