New Release: Higher Learning anthology from Dreamspinner Press

Just a quick note that I have a new short story out. It's part Higher Learning, an anthology of M/M stories set in college.

My story is called "Bug Boy." Here's the blurb:

Dan Holbrook remembers Jesse Milner as the social misfit from his third grade class—the quiet boy in the glasses who liked to play with bugs. When he encounters Jesse again as a junior in college, the glasses and the bugs are still there, but in every other way he’s changed. Handsome and self-assured, Jesse is exactly Dan’s type, but a decade of resentment over past rejections has made Jesse wary. Dan resolves to do whatever he has to in order to crack that prickly exoskeleton and get close to Jesse, no matter how hard Jesse tries to push him away.

News Roundup: Cyberpunk and Christmas and College Boys, Oh My!

So. Um. I have a lot going on right now.

First off, I have THREE (count 'em, THREE) stories releasing between now and the end of the year.

1- Unacceptable Risk: This novella-length m/f cyberpunk romance comes out December 13, 2011, from Samhain Press, and I am so, so excited about it. Because it's my first m/f book of this length, I'm running a blog tour and everything to promote it, including guest posts, interviews and, most importantly, giveaways. Stay tuned for more news.

2- A Gift of Trust: A contemporary, m/f Christmas short story, due out December 7, 2011, from Silver Press.

3- Bug Boy: This contemporary m/m romance short story will be included as part of Dreamspinner Press's Higher Learning anthology, and it will be out super, super soon – October 17, 2011!

Second, I've recently received contracts on two more short stories. "Seriously" will be included in Going Down, a Cleis Press anthology edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel all about… ahem, er, going down. Y'know. And I just found out yesterday that "Gretel's Lament" has been selected as part of another Cleis Press anthology, Lustfully Ever After, a book of fairy tale-inspired erotica edited by Kristina Wright. Both are m/f stories with lots of heat. I don't have release dates for either, but chances are they'll be out in 2012.

Finally, if you haven't read my FREE m/m short story Heart and Soul yet, you can now read it as part of Don't Read In TheCloset, Volume 1, a free collection of short stories compiled by the amazing people over at the M/M romance group over on GoodReads.

I know I've been posting a bit sporadically, but that's the scoop. It's been a busy season for writing, editing and submitting – and that doesn't even count the major verbiage I've been putting into my novel-writing. Hope the fall is treating you well!

The Writer's Life: So What Do You *Do* With All That Time?

Whenever I talk to my mother, invariably the topic comes around to the fact that I'm currently not working full time and (with my husband's blessing and generous financial support) am dedicating myself fully to this writing thing. And her main response is always, "So what do you do with all that time?"

If she only knew.

Writing full time sounds great, and it is (holy crap, but it really, really is), but especially once things start happening with publishing, there are all these little things that need to get done. I am so, so blessed to have four pieces under contract right now (3 shorts and 1 novella), but man. There's just all this stuff.

For example, yesterday I didn't manage to write a single word on my manuscript, but I sure did manage to kill some time. Things I crossed off on my to-do list include:

• Proofing the galley and blurb for Bug Boy (my short story for Dreamspinner's upcoming Higher Learning anthology)
• Writing long and short blurbs for A Gift of Trust (a Christmas story that will be releasing in December)
• Cold-emailing blogs asking to guest blog in support of Unacceptable Risk
• Keeping up with all the author blogs, book review sites, and writer discussion lists I stalk
• Editing a short for a critique partner
• Editing my own short story so I could send it to a critique partner
• Scouring the internet for calls for submission so I can hopefully keep getting my work out there.

It may not look like a ton, but especially since I'm new to all of this (and terrified of people) all the blurb-writing and editing and cold-emailing seem to take forever, and it's super easy to have a day just fly by.

All that said, I'm really not complaining. I love this life. But seriously, Mom. There is never any lack of things to do.

New Free Read : Heart and Soul

Now that we're halfway through August, I finally got around to posting Heart and Soul, my Hot July Days story, as a free read. It's up on my website, or you can download the free ebook from SmashWords to view on your eReader.

Summary: The tattoos on Duke's body tell the stories of all the times he's loved and lost. His best friend, Ben, knows all the stories. But Ben doesn't want to be written on Duke's skin. He wants to be in Duke's heart.

Hope you enjoy!

Power Play Anthology On Sale Now

I'm so happy to announce that my short story, "The Next Step," has been included in Power Play, a new anthology from Xcite Press, edited by Miranda Forbes.

It's currently available in ebook format from All Romance Ebooks or from Xcite, and should be available in paperback later this year.

Here's a quick (naughty) excerpt:

By the time she reached the platform, her thighs were slick, her sex swollen, and she found herself shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other as she waited for the train. Per her instructions, she stood at the very edge of the platform, right where the last car would soon be pulling in. All around her, people continued to fill in the spaces and, with a tingle of anticipation, she recognised that the train would be full.

That soon, she would be amid a throng of bodies, encased in their heat, with nothing standing in the way of any stranger’s roaming hand and her flesh.

A rush of warm air bombarded her, pulling her from her thoughts as the roar of wheels on steel drowned out all of the surrounding voices. Her skirt was pressed against her thighs, riding up dangerously high with the force of the wind created by the train. As if on cue, the moment the hem drew up to flutter across her pussy, the doors of the last car slid open in front of her, and she was left burning beneath the stare of a half dozen people, all casting lascivious, judging gazes down her form.

Sucking in a deep breath, Cynthia met each pair of eyes and stepped up onto the train. Bodies parted to make way for her, but she still felt her sides being brushed as she reached forward to grab onto the pole. There were a couple of open places to sit in the filling car, but her master had told her to stand, so she stood, her hips pressing to the half wall between the aisle and the first row of seats, her knuckles white as they clung on.

As it roared back to life, the lurching motion of the train sent another thrill through Cynthia’s body, and she moved with it, swaying with every turn, vibrating with the heady rush of turning wheels. At every stop, more and more people filtered into the car, and it wasn’t long until she felt the crush of heat she had anticipated, bodies all around her.

Then there was a touch – a hand dragging over fabric, rough fingertips on overheated thighs.

She was ready to panic, her whole body tensing and her mind finally returning to rationality, reminding her that she was not that type of woman. That this was wrong.

But then the man behind her spoke.

Remittance Girl's Review of Bad Romance

Great, new review of the Bad Romance anthology. I may have squeaked when I saw Bleeding Red mentioned. And in a positive light, at that ;)

Some romances break your heart and some dismember and  disembowel you, this anthology deals with the latter, both metaphorically and literally. From Jeanette Grey’s looping car crash in ‘Bleeding Red‘ to the blithe decapitation of Chris Guthrie’s ‘Three Days In Summer‘, the collection is a literate homage to all the ways in which we delight in our own destruction and that of those we love.

...

I once tried to describe the difference between porn and erotica by explaining that porn carves away all extraneous matter and leaves the sex whereas erotica should reflect an entire life, seen through an erotic lens. ‘Bad Romance’ does exactly that, no matter how explicit or raw or violent. It tells the story of the how and the why, not just the what.

You can still pick up your copy here. (Scroll halfway down the page to see it.)