Ten Things About A Match Made in Spain by Rochelle Merrill

September 15, 2021 MD Neu

Happy Wednesday everyone. How is your week going? I hope you are all doing well. This week, I’m thrilled to have fellow BAQWA (Bay Area Queer Writers Association learn more here.) writer Rochelle Merrill over to share ten things about her new book A Match Made in Spain. Let’s jump in and see what Rochelle has to share.

Big thanks to M.D. Neu for sharing the news about my latest release, A Match Made in Spain. I’ve been anxiously awaiting the release of this book and hope you will all take a vicarious journey with me through this book. Here’s the blurb:

A small-town ASL teacher is reluctantly captivated by the Catalonian vintner determined to woo her across the Spanish countryside. Can a match made on a tour of Spain be a fairytale second chance for this grumpy/sunshine pair?

The ink on Cecilia's divorce papers might be dry, but she’s in no hurry to connect with another traveling businessman, especially the spatially challenged one seated beside her on a crack-of-dawn flight from San Francisco to Madrid.

Felip should be on top of the world running his family’s cava empire, however life has left him feeling unfulfilled as of late. Good conversation and a hard-won smile from his seatmate—a grumpy but lovely American hearing-impaired teacher—have him wondering if maybe fairytales are possible—or if he’s lost his mind, especially when a series of mishaps lands him in the role of the substitute tour guide for her group.

Over the course of twelve days, Felip’s irresistible charm and lust for life break down Cecilia’s carefully constructed walls as he competes with needy teenagers and pulls off a daring rescue to show her they are a good match. Will Cecilia see that their worlds are closer together than she thinks, and that faith and compromise can give them a real happily ever after?

Perfect for fans of Shipped by Angie Hockman and People We Meet On Vacation by Emily Henry. And those who miss the excitement of exploring a new place with a special someone by your side will appreciate the journey.

Ten Things about A Match Made in Spain:

My family and I actually took this tour in 2018 with my daughter’s school. All of the places the group visits in the story were places we went…the names have been changed to protect the innocent-ish
The first time I went to Spain was in 2001 and I fell in love with Granada, which we did not visit in 2018. The Alhambra is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been!
My daughter was most likely conceived in Barcelona.
Author Laura Bailo read the book for me and gave me lots of great tips about the culture and language, including things specific to Catalonia, which is where she’s from.
Author Kilby Blades, a good pal of mine, is a sommelier. Before writing this book I had no idea what that was. She gave me lots of great feedback on the cava industry in Spain.
Author Eva Moore was very helpful with the winery scene. She understands me and my dislike of wine. Yeah, I said it. I don’t like wine. BUT I like cava and some sparkling wines. Sangria is awesome…
We happened to be in Bilbao the day they had their Pride celebration and it was really special to be there with my family. They had about a dozen party boats decorated in rainbows and glitter and folks dancing to great music. It looked like so much fun. Someday I want to be on one of those boats.
We attended Festival San Juan in Bilbao and it was truly magic. I actually was offered my second book contract via email while standing on top of a hill surrounded by new and wonderful friends next to a bonfire while listening to Basque heavy metal.
We actually did have a medical emergency, but it was not like the one in the book. Three of us went to a clinic and we used our limited Spanish to help our colleague communicate with the doctor. It was so different than any American medical clinic I’ve ever been to.
Someday I plan to spend an extended amount of time in Spain. If I disappear, well, you know where to look for me. I just have to convince my husband…

Thank you so much for stopping by today, Rochelle. This sounds like a wonderful read and I’m looking forward to diving in.

Did you read my last Top Ten Lists, click here to get caught up:

Top Ten List: What’s Your Tribe, with Eddie Newton. Click here.

What a great piece by Rochelle Merrill. I hope you all enjoyed the top ten list. If you know folks who may appreciate this new story, go ahead and share this post and help spread the word. Until next time I hope you stay safe and have a great week.

**Learn more about A Match Made in Spain:**

For Goodreads click here.

For Amazon click here.

For iBooks click here.

For Kobo click here.

For Barnes and Noble click here.

About Rochelle Merrill:

Fun, Fresh Fiction with Feeling

If R.L. Merrill is your local hard rock/metal radio station, Rochelle is her Adult Contemporary alter ego. Spinning feel-good stories to make you laugh and swoon, Ro writes romance for grown-ups who use their words (mostly) and take care of business. She’s a mom and wife who’s on hiatus from a career in education while she explores the new terrain of mid-life adventures. You can catch her walking and gardening in her neighborhood by the Bay, spoiling her rescue pets, and dreaming of attending concerts and theaters again someday. Stay Tuned for more hits coming your way…

Where to find Rochelle Merrill:

Find Rochelle’s Website here.

Check her out on Facebook here.

Follow her on Instagram here.

See what she’s up to on Twitter here.

Top Ten List-What’s Your Tribe?

September 8, 2021 MD Neu

Happy Wednesday everyone. I hope you’re having a wonderful week. Today I’m pleased to share with you fellow NineStar Press author Eddie Newton. Eddie lives in Florida and enjoys few things more than the beach. An accomplished author, he received the Robert L. Fish Memorial Award from the Mystery Writers of America for the Best First Short Story. Eddie’s newest novel Truth to Light is available now everywhere books are sold. His new novel, Truth to Light, reveals everyone on Earth isn’t necessarily human. Many of the population live under an enchantment called the Great Dream. But the world is much wider than most people think. There are twelve tribes equally divided among the people of the planet.

What’s your tribe?

Humans: Everyone dreaming the Great Dream sees themselves as a Human. It is the easiest form to enchant. But most people are living a lie.
Angels: Winged seraphim are real enough in the Wider World. Nigh immortal with fantastic powers, they alone are allowed to procreate with another tribe. A child born of an Angel and a Human is called a nephilim.
Fauna: Talking rabbit? A tea-sipping dormouse? Grinning Cheshire cat? This isn’t Wonderland. A family of anthropomorphic animals could be living right next door to you!
Demons: They aren’t the evil entities as portrayed in fiction. This tribe of horned entities with prehensile tails and indigo skin has gotten a bad rep from historians. They simply tell the terrible truth.
Time: The rarest tribe features a patriarch named Kālá, the embodiment of history itself. He and a few offspring are all that remain of this endangered tribe.
Ghosts: These ephemeral entities flicker at the edge of agelessness. This mostly incorporeal tribe shares a special affinity with nature. They are deeply attuned to the energies of the universe.
Golems: Earthen lifeforms made of soil and detritus are rooted deeply to the land. Golems are ponderous creatures at one with the Wider World itself.
Extra-Terrestrials: This tribe has voyaged to the stars and back, nomadic explorers who push the cosmic boundaries beyond the Wider World.
Genii: With oversized craniums and wild hairstyles, the caricature of the Genii have been used to personify mad scientist characters throughout countless works of fiction. They have boundless intellect and an insatiable curiosity for new technology and invention.
Magi: The people utilizing the enchanted energies of the Wider World have been branded through history as wizards and witches. Enchantment is real, and ten percent of the world can access real magic.

So which tribe are you? Wondering what the other two tribes could possibly be? Find Truth to Light today and get ready to be enlightened!

***

Thank you so much for stopping by today, Eddie. I can’t wait to read your book and learn more. Do you have questions for Eddie? Leave them below and I’ll be sure to have her swing by and answer them.

Want to read some more of my Top Ten Lists, check these out:

Top Ten List - Give Way (click here)

Top Ten List - Top 10 Facts about Concussion and Contentment (click here)

Top Ten List - Top Ten things about We Cry the Sea (click here)

Top Ten List - Top Ten List-Mr. Sticker (A More Perfect Union) (click here)

I hope you enjoyed getting to know Eddie, and learning about the wonderful new world he has created. As always like this post, so I know I’m providing you content you enjoy. If you know folks who may appreciate this new story, go ahead and share this post and help spread the word. Until next time I hope you stay safe and have a great week.

**About Truth to Light:**

What is she willing to sacrifice to hide the truth?

Sofía Hernandez has been looking for her truth all her life. She was adopted as a baby and never knew her birth parents. She was assigned male, and that wasn’t the truth either. So when she gets a phone call from someone offering to clear up the mysteries in her life, she starts on an adventure that leads to revelations she can hardly believe are true.

Sofía’s birth sister reaches out and reveals a world full of greater mysteries than Sofía ever could have imagined. A secret organization called the Illuminati created a universal lie about the population of Earth, concealing the true nature of the world. The Illuminati hides the real Wider World behind a magical glamour, concealing the existence of ghosts, aliens, monsters, angels, demons, and more.

Truth to Light is a novel that explores what it means to be true to yourself and what truth can mean to different people. Sofia is a transgender woman who must deal with changes both within and without. Her transformation will need to accommodate not only her own identity, but the very nature of the world around her.

**Buy Truth to Light:**

Get your copy at NineStar Press here.

Find the book here on Amazon.

About Eddie Newton:

Eddie Newton lives in Florida and enjoys few things more than the beach. An accomplished author, he received the Robert L. Fish Memorial Award from the Mystery Writers of America for the Best First Short Story. His previous works include Horrorfrost, a chilling tale, as well as several published short stories. Eddie spent a year traveling the continental United States and found something intriguing everywhere he went—this country is an amazing and fascinating place. His heart is his family and he couldn’t do any of this without his wife Treina and his amazing kids Kobe, Gage, Oliver, and Bennett.

Where to Find Eddie Newton:

Find Eddie on Facebook here.

Find Eddie’s Blog here.

More Vloggers I Follow (Part 2)

August 11, 2021 MD Neu

Happy Wednesday Scribblers. Today I thought I would follow up my Top Ten Vloggers I Follow with More Vloggers I follow. These are shared in no particular order.

Minty Comedic Arts: As a lover of Cinema and general Pop Culture I peel back the layers of some of our most well-loved movies and try to discover secrets laying behind films that we would otherwise think we know everything about to bring a new love and appreciate to all those movies we grew up watching. Buckle up and get ready for my Top 10’s as I do a check list of things that you may not know about the movies. Click here to check it out.

Peter Hollens: Peter Hollens is an American entrepreneur, educator best known as a classically trained vocal artist specializing in a cappella music on Youtube and Facebook. With over 5 million followers and subscribers on his content and over a billion total views since. Hollens has collaborated with some amazing artists, including Brian Wilson, Jason Mraz, Hunter Hayes, Lindsey Stirling, George Watsky & The Piano Guys. In 2010, he was featured on NBC’s The Sing Off! Check him out here.

Justin Scarred: Welcome to Randomland, hosted by Justin Scarred. From Roadside history and Attractions to theme park history and updates, our adventures and episodes are extremely varied and can sometimes feel, well, Random. But life is a symphony an isn't meant to be one note! Randomland is dedicated to a positive and interested approach to the world, blurring the line between entertainment, education, and exploration. This channel is all viewer funded, and we appreciate everyone who watches and interacts in a positive way. Click here to learn more.

Laura in the Kitchen: This is where I share my passion for cooking with the world. I started Laura in the Kitchen in 2010 as a way to help share the love of the kitchen with anyone willing to watch and learn.

I had no idea that so many of you would tune in and love to cook with me! I've shared over a thousand recipes here on YouTube, all of them are super yummy, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

I'm not here to turn you into a perfect chef, just help you navigate the kitchen and make food everyone will love! Find her here.

Theme Park Express: Theme Park news, reviews and vlogs! Learn more about them here.

Lost in the Pond: I'm on a quest to uncover all of the memos that Britain and America Lost in the Pond. Check him out here.

Cruise with Ben and David: Ahoy there, we’re Ben and David. We upload a brand new video every Sunday. Our channel is jam-packed with cruise videos for you to enjoy, from Cruise Ship Tours to Cruise Tips, Hacks, and Cruise Vlogs. We've cruised over 40 times so we know what we are talking about, it doesn't matter if you are a first-time cruiser or cruised hundreds of times, our channel is for you.

We want you to come along on our cruise adventures, and experience everything with us! Check them out here.

Theme Park Obsession: Hey, my name is Dylan and welcome to Theme Park Obsession! Dedicated to bringing you valuable information on some of the parks here in Southern California. Weekly updates and vlogs, reviews and of course fun, do you have a Theme Park Obsession too?

Let’s Dive Right In! Find him here.

DSNY Newscast : DSNY Newscast is a news channel that covers everything to do with The Walt Disney Company. Explaining construction of the latest projects at Disney parks around the world to analyzing and reviewing Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars movies. DSNY Newscast aims to deliver the best coverage of news to adults who love The Walt Disney Company. Click here for more.

Nobody Reads Short Stories: LIVE weekly literary podcast. Join our hosts Jeremy Ray and Megan Morrison as they guide you through a new short story each week, followed by an interview with the author. Tune in every Monday at 6PM Pacific/9PM Eastern! Learn more here.

If you enjoyed this list, be sure to check out: My Top Ten Vloggers I follow here.

Have you check out this other posts yet:

My Favorite Reader Groups on Facebook (click here)

My Summer Writing Update (click here)

The International Queer Authors and Readers Uniting Stories Con 2021 (click here)

My Media Update 2021 (click here)

Rainbow Space Magic Con 2021 (click here)

That’s all for this week. So, who are your favorite vloggers on Youtube? Are there any I should check out? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time I hope you stay safe and have a great week.

Top Ten List-Mr. Sticker (A More Perfect Union)

January 27, 2021 MD Neu

Happy Wednesday Scribblers. We are in a new year and last week we welcomed a new President and Vice-President. This week I’m pleased to introduce you to Adrienne Bell. Not only is Adrienne a fellow native of the SF Bay Area, but she is a romance writer and lover of Disneyland, which already makes her pretty cool in my book. I got to meet Adrienne through working on the anthology A More Perfect Union that I’m apart of, and today, she’s here to share her Top-Ten List about her short story Mr. Sticker that features in A More Perfect Union, let’s get to know more about Mr. Sticker...

Top Ten Things About Mr. Sticker

It’s based on my favorite part of voting—the I Voted sticker you get at the end.
It’s short, and that’s hard. You’d think that writing a short story would be easier than a full length novel, but creating a story with a satisfying beginning, middle, and end—not to mention one that hits all the right beats and meets all the genre expectations—in only a few thousand words is anything but.
I’ve done a good deal of political volunteering—voter registration drives, canvassing for candidates, working on local campaigns—but the one thing I haven’t done is volunteer to be a poll worker…yet. It’s on the list though!
Because I wasn’t familiar with the ins and outs of being a poll worker, I had to go to my favorite research site to learn all about it—YouTube. And let me tell you, you haven’t lived until you’ve spent an hour and half in front of a poll worker training video.
Just like Evie in the story, I did dye my hair blue and pink for a while, but, dang, it was hard to keep up.
While Mr. Sticker revolves around flirting, I am terrible at it in real life. Fortunately, my husband and I recently celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary, so I haven’t had to worry about unleashing my sub-par skills on the public in a long time.
Like Evie in the story, my husband is a music teacher, and one who believes that everyone can learn how to play. He even taught me to play the ukulele during the pandemic. I’m still terrible at it, but that’s on me, not him.
Some punny names my family suggested for Mr. Sticker (and I immediately rejected) were—Love Ballot, The Love Vote, and Erection Day. Seriously, pray for me.
Some of my earliest memories are of tagging along with my parents when they went to the polls to vote. Their example is what’s led me to never miss an election.
100% of the proceeds of A More Perfect Union will be donated to Fair Fight, an organization dedicated to combatting voter suppression.

***

There you have it, ten things about Mr. Sticker. Thank you so much for stopping by today, Adrienne and congratulations on all your amazing works. Do you have any questions for Adrienne? Leave them below.

Want to read some more of my Top Ten Lists and learn about some great authors and their works, check these out:

Top Ten List-Give Way with Valentine Wheeler click here.

Top Ten List with Abigail de Niverville, click here.

Top Ten List with Schuyler L'Roux, click here.

Top Ten List with Jacqueline Church Simonds, click here.

Top Ten List with Kay Doherty, click here.

That’s it for today. Please remember to drop me a heart/like letting me know you stopped by. If you want to help support my blog, please consider sharing this post on your social media platforms to help keep the conversation going. Until next time I hope you stay safe and have a great week.

A More Perfect Union - BookBrush - 494.png

About A More Perfect Union:

Love wins in this collection of nine all new, voting-themed romances.

A set of bite-sized romance short stories with 100% of the proceeds benefiting Fair Fight, an organization dedicated to combatting voter suppression.

From the campaign headquarters to the polls, A More Perfect Union features brand new stories from:

Adrienne Bell

Kilby Blades

Aliza Mann

Claire Marti

R.L. Merrill

M.D. Neu

Dawn Montgomery

Sera Taino

Kearney Wentworth

Buy A More Perfect Union here.

About Adrienne Bell:

Adrienne Bell is the author of over a dozen action-packed romances including the bestselling contemporary Second Service series and the new Exiles of the Realm paranormal series. She loves nothing more than writing quirky heroines with a knack for finding trouble and the hardheaded heroes who help them fight their way out of it. Adrienne lives with her husband and sons on the far edge of the San Francisco Bay Area where she spends her downtime reading, binge watching nerdy television, and scrolling through Disneyland fan websites.

Find Adrienne Bell on her website here.

Top Ten List-Give Way with Valentine Wheeler

January 6, 2021 MD Neu

Happy New Year and happy Wednesday Scribblers. I hope your New Year is off to a positive start. This week I’m excited to bring back author Valentine Wheeler to share their Top Ten List about one of their main characters Awais Siddiqui in their new book Give Way (released on January 4, 2021 find it here). As a reminder, Valentine is a Queer Romance, Fantasy and Science Fiction author who is published through NineStar Press (learn more here). Also, Valentine is part of Wizards in Space Literary Magazine (learn more here). Let’s get started.

Give Way features some of Valentine’s favorite things: baked goods, big queer communities, old friends who like to give you shit, and postal workers! In the meantime, let’s get to know one of the main characters...

Ten Packages Awais Siddiqui Delivered this Holiday Season

The first package he delivered in Swanley after his transfer. A big box of books, nearly 40 pounds, to Jolene McGonnigal at 61 Tremont Street, two houses down from his aunt Fatima’s house. Jolene hadn’t seen Awais in thirty years, but when she opened the door she smiled at him, called him by name, and welcomed him back to Swanley. (Of course, she’d then asked him if he could carry the box all the way inside, and her cat had nearly killed him by winding between his ankles as he navigated her narrow hallways with a gigantic package. But she’d given him a signed copy of The Fifth Season in thanks, since she ran the signing events at Turkey Creek Books in her spare time. The book had made him cry, but it was worth it.)
A slightly-battered small parcel from Egypt addressed to Rana Wahbi at 36 Tremont Street. She clutched it to her chest and thanked him so graciously when he handed it over that she halted him in his tracks. She told him it was her grandfather’s journal, something a cousin had found while clearing out old boxes of family detritus, and it had almost been thrown away. And then she promised him a free sandwich next time he stopped by her restaurant.
A small, neatly-addressed box with nearly $40 in postage and a signature required addressed to Michaela McNamara over on Dighton Street. She opened the door, took one look at the sender’s address, and shook her head. “Nope,” she said. “He knows exactly where he can shove it.” She handed him the package, then disappeared back inside the house, leaving Awais standing on the porch. He still didn’t have the full story, but he really, really wanted to know what the hell that was about.
A package to 77 Billerica Drive, addressed to Latify Thibeault on December 1. He doesn’t remember the package specifically, other than that it was small and square and nothing out of the ordinary about it, but when he opened the mailbox to stick it inside, he’d found an envelope. He went to toss it with his outgoing mail, but then he noticed the writing on the front: To Awais, our substitute carrier. Welcome back to Swanley, and thanks for the deliveries :) Love, Latify and Henri. He’d had to take a long moment to pull himself together after that one–they must have called the office to get his name, worried their regular wouldn’t share his tips with him. It was an act of generosity he hadn’t expected.
A small, dense, tightly plastic-wrapped box to Anthony Sullivan at 17 Chestnut Street that smelled overwhelmingly of pot. Hey, if it made it this far, Awais wasn’t one to judge. He left it on the porch wrapped in a SORRY YOUR PACKAGE WAS DAMAGED bag, just to give the guy a little a reminder that the mail might not be the best way to get this particular kind of package–especially since the return address was just a few towns over in Needham. Maybe next time he’d drive his federal crimes instead.
A small white padded mailer to Scotty Pillon at 14 Milton Avenue, Apartment 1. Scotty–who owned route 16, the one Awais liked covering most because it had a nice long section of close-together houses with mailboxes right on the street–opened the door just as Awais opened his mailbox to drop the parcel in. He’d handed it to Scotty instead, sharing a brief smile at the irony of the encounter, and moved on to tuck Lucy Smith’s mail in the box for the upstairs apartment. When Awais turned back toward the door, Scotty had ripped open the package and was clutching its contents, standing stock still.
“What is it?” Awais asked, and Scotty turned toward Awais to show him a bright, bold They/Them pin. Awais clapped them on the shoulder and grinned. “For work?”
Scotty nodded.
“I’ll get a He/Him,” said Awais. “Solidarity.”
Scotty swallowed hard and nodded again. “Thanks, man.”
A long, thin package with a bent end that was obviously a hockey stick to David Shapiro at 144 Pond Road. When his mom Lila opened the door and called him down to sign for it–which, though not technically allowed since he was ten, was adorable–he’d barrelled down the stairs, gasped, and said to Lila, “A package for me? What’s inside it?” The look of sheer parental doneness Lila had given Awais was worth the whole two hours of overtime he’d just worked.
A rooster, express mail to 93 Old Medfield Road. It rode up front with him, and the thing made terrifying dinosaur noises the whole time. Awais wasn’t afraid of birds. He just had a healthy respect for them. A very healthy, very distanced respect. And honestly, he’d rather not ever share a vehicle with one again. The baby chicks? Fine, small, cute. The full-grown version? No thank you.
A holiday gift box of fancy pears, apples, and oranges to Windmere Bakery. The kid behind the counter had torn the box open and immediately offered Awais his choice of fruit. Awais, who’d forgotten his lunch at home, enjoyed the world’s most perfect pear on his walk to his next stop at the Cairo Grill, where Rana Wahbi gave him the promised free shawarma. That was a good day.
One small brown box to 210 Washakum Ave Apartment 8, because the man who’d taken it from him–cute, flustered, very dapper–had blushed, given him a helpless up-and-down look, and immediately, accidentally declared his singleness. Awais is pretty sure nothing’s going to beat that one.

***

Thank you so much for stopping by today, Valentine and congratulations on the new book. I’m looking forward to reading Give Way and learning more about Awais and the other characters in the story. It was great having you. Do you have questions for Valentine? Leave them below and I’ll be sure to have her swing by and answer them.

Want to read some more of my Top Ten Lists and learn about some great authors and their works, check these out:

Top Ten Vloggers I follow, click here.

Top Ten List with Abigail de Niverville, click here.

Top Ten List with Schuyler L'Roux, click here.

Top Ten List with Jacqueline Church Simonds, click here.

Top Ten List with Kay Doherty, click here.

Top ten inspirations for Taking the Plunge by J.B. Reynolds, click here.

I hope you enjoyed getting to know more about Valentine’s character Awais Siddiqui. Please remember to drop me a heart/like letting me know you stopped by. If you want to help support me and Valentine, please consider sharing this post on your social media platforms to help keep the conversation going. Until next time I hope you stay safe and have a great week.

**About Give Way:**

Kevin McNamara’s post-retirement life is… fine. He has friends, a few consulting gigs, and an ex-wife he’s finally on good terms with. But when he meets an intriguing stranger–a rarity in close-knit Swanley–he can’t stop thinking about the hot mailman or the unexpected attraction that knocked him flat.

Awais Siddiqui never thought he’d want to come back to his childhood hometown, but when his grandmother falls ill, he’s the only one who can help his aunt keep an eye on her. Awais figures he’ll be back in the city soon enough–but then a silver fox on his route catches his eye.

Can Awais deliver the spark Kevin’s been missing?

Buy Give Way here on Amazon and here from NineStar Press.

About Valentine Wheeler:

Valentine Wheeler (she/her) lives outside Boston with her spouse and child and spends her days chasing mail carriers and citing obscure postal regulations. She goes by Lis in meatspace and her life's ambition is to eat the food of every country.

Find her on twitter or goodreads and her work at Ninestar Press and the Future Fire. She also serves as Fiction Editor and Logistics Manager for Wizards in Space Literary Magazine, as Logistics Wizard and Managing Editor for Mermaids Monthly, and as a slushreader for various genre publications.

Where to Find Valentine Wheeler:

Twitter: @ghostalservice

Top Ten Vloggers I Follow

October 7, 2020 MD Neu

Happy Wednesday Scribblers. Another week has flow by. Given all that is going on, I thought I would do something fun and share with you the vloggers I watch and enjoy. These are shared in no particular order.

Slapped Ham: All things creepy and scary. New list videos every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. We make creepy and scary videos. On our channel you’ll find unexplained videos, scary photos, paranormal mysteries, monsters, cryptids, time travelers and ghost photos. Click here to check it out.

TrekCulture: Boldly going where no WhatCulture channel has gone before... Check them out here.

Certifiably Ingame: A nerd found a microphone and roped his friend into starting a YouTube Channel. We're a small channel with a love of all things Science Fiction, but always looking to grow and expand our content. You'll find here Top 10's, Lore, and opinions. Gaming provides more of the same with the occasional playthrough and general capers! We always encourage discussion so stay a while and maybe you'll find something to enjoy! Star Trek, Doctor Who and Mass Effect will always have a home here, but if you've got something specific, send us a request! Click here to learn more.

BrickVault: Brick Vault is dedicated to bringing you the best in Lego set unboxing, building and reviews. Created by a group of passionate Lego enthusiasts Brick Vault hopes to inspire and share our passion for Lego with the world. Find them here.

Tall Tale TV: I narrate Sci-Fi and Fantasy short stories by aspiring authors. Free audio books to help you discover new authors twice a week! Regular posts are Monday and Friday. Learn more about them here.

Afterlife: What would a professional barber for the military, and a classically trained opera singer/aspiring novelist have to say about queer life after the clubbing years? Ya know, when you turn 30 (gasp!) and suddenly everyone thinks you're dead? Yeah, well we're still here! And we have MANY stories to talk about. Queer life before the internet, before cell phones, before social media of any kind. You'd be surprised just how resourceful a young queer kid can be when all of those cool modern tools are taken away and you gotta figure crap out for yourself. We do all of this with an irreverent, though clearly queer slant, eye and full of humor while we discuss what it means to be an "older cat in the gayborhood" in this post 2020 era. Join us for the chat and maybe pick up a few fun stories and some irreverent comedy along the way! Check them out here.

Pressure Luck Cooking: You've come to a page to learn some awesome, delicious, and QUICK recipes for your Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi and pressure-cooking needs...and have some fun doing it! As I'm not a professional chef, I don't do fancy ingredients here - just the simple, everyday stuff that's easy to find! Check him out here.

FoodWishes: Hello this is Chef John, and welcome to the Food Wishes channel, where the food is the star. Watch these fun-to-make, and easy-to-follow recipes, and you'll improve your culinary skills dramatically!

I post new videos on Tuesdays and Fridays (usually), so keep checking back! Even better, join the community of astonishingly amazing people who subscribe to my channel, so you don’t miss a thing. Find him here.

Preppy Kitchen: Hi, I’m John, Creator of Preppy Kitchen! I’m a husband, dad to twins Lachlan and George, Los Angeles native, and an avid baker and cooker of all things delicious thanks to a lifelong education from my mother. My mom cooked every meal we had and I loved spending time with her in the kitchen watching, helping, and learning as she made everything from scratch. Click here for more.

WhatCulture Horror: Part of the WhatCulture Group out of the UK. They focus on the horror movie genre. Learn more here.

Want more, here are some of my other Top Ten lists as well as some Top Ten lists from some great guest bloggers:

The 10 Best Covers of 2020 (So Far) by Thao Nguyen Click here

Podcasts and More Click here

My Favorite Sci-Fi Properties by Matt Doyle Click here

Top Ten List with Jacqueline Church Simonds Click here

Book Recommendations Click here

That’s all for this week. I’m planning on doing another one of these in the future, this list doesn’t even scratch the surface of what we watch. Now it’s your turn, what are some of your favorite Vloggers and YouTube Channels that you follow? Leave them in the comments below so I can check them out. Lastly, please remember to drop me a heart/like letting me know you stopped by. If you want to help support me and my writing efforts please consider sharing this post on your social media platforms to help keep the conversation going. Until next time I hope you stay safe and have a great week.

Top ten inspirations for Taking the Plunge by J.B. Reynolds

October 9, 2019 MD Neu

This week I’m pleased to have J.B. Reynolds over on my Scribbles Page to do a Top Ten list about his new novel Taking the Plunge. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know J.B. over the last several years and I’m happy to call him one my friends.

I’d been dreaming about writing a novel for more than twenty years and decided it was time to stop dreaming and start doing. I wanted to finally be able to say, “I’ve written a novel.” It’s not the novel I would have thought I would write twenty years ago, or even three years ago (when I started getting serious about my writing), but that leads me to inspiration number two…
The characters came from a story I’d already written. The main characters had already appeared in my short story, What Friends Are For. In that story, (spoiler alert), a woman confesses to her acquaintance that her husband has been cheating on her. The acquaintance’s advice is to make a pile of his belongings in her back yard and set fire to it. I thought, what would happen if she followed through with that advice? I’d begun writing an entirely different novel but I set that aside when the story for Taking the Plunge grew wholly and organically out of that question.
Location, location, location. Taking the Plunge is set in the mountains of Central Otago in the South Island of New Zealand in the early 2000s. While I grew up in and now live at the opposite end of the country, I too lived in Central Otago in the early 2000s. The landscape there is beautiful, but also wild and unforgiving. I figured that for my first novel, with so much to learn in the writing process anyway, it would be much simpler to set it in a place that I had first-hand experience of. While it’s been many years since I’ve been back to Central Otago, the landscape is so imposing that it stamps itself on your soul, and my memories of it are still vivid.
Small Towns. The heroine of Taking the Plunge, Kate Hensley, lives in Cromwell. Cromwell is a forty-five minute drive from the alpine resort town of Queenstown, and is kind of like a lesser known and much less interesting little cousin. I like the idea that in small towns, everybody knows your business whether you like it or not, and that there’s only one of two degrees of separation between any two people. Because the services available are so minimal, you can’t afford to be picky about using them. You can’t hide in a small town. Whether you’re rich or poor, everybody shops in the same supermarket; everybody’s kids go to the same school. Small towns are great melting pots for characterization.
Gossip. I write in the novel that gossip is as good as firewood for keeping people warm on cold winter nights. Since the entertainment options are so limited in small towns, gossip becomes a primary form of entertainment. Small towns are fueled by gossip. I find this idea fascinating – that in a small town you can go about your life, minding your own business, doing what you do, and yet down the street you can be sure that your neighbors are gleefully discussing your business over a nice, hot cup of tea.
Snowboarding. The climate in Northland, where I currently live, is subtropical. There was a dusting of snow on the very top of Mt Tutamoe on a particularly icy winter’s day a couple of years ago but apart from that, it doesn’t snow. In fact, it’s been years since I’ve been to the mountains. However, I did quite a bit of snowboarding in my teens and twenties, in NZ and Canada and Washington State, and there really are few things in life that compare to the hysterical joy of a fresh powder run, whether you’re skiing or snowboarding. The snowboarding elements in Taking the Plunge are not just a plot device, but an attempt to capture a little of that joy on the page, in lieu of actually being there. My kids have never seen the snow, and so next winter my goal is to take a family snow holiday and hopefully experience that joy in real life again.
Jane Austen. I used the StoryGrid method, by Shaun Coyne, to outline the novel. If you’re a writer and haven’t heard of it, it’s well worth checking out. I found it immensely helpful. The StoryGrid method is based around genre, and the conventions and obligatory scenes of specific genres. While outlining Taking the Plunge I read an annotated StoryGrid version of Pride and Prejudice, where Jane Austen’s take on the conventions and obligatory scenes of ‘the love story’ are explained. I don’t want to compare Taking the Plunge to a masterwork like Pride and Prejudice, but it was certainly an inspiration.
Sir Terry Pratchett. Terry Pratchett is probably my favorite writer. I love his stories because they are so wise, yet the wisdom is dispensed in such a fun way that it doesn’t even seem like wisdom. Again, I don’t want to compare my writing to a master craftsman like Sir Terry, but I think whatever I might write in whichever genre, from now into the future, his writing will serve as the aspiration.
Smiles. I like books that make me smile (I say smile rather than laugh because laughing is a social behavior but reading isn’t, so getting someone to laugh while reading is an incredibly difficult thing to do). There’s tragedy in Taking the Plunge, but there’s comedy too, and that’s the aspect that’s most important to me. If I can elicit a laugh from readers of Taking the Plunge then that would be my absolute greatest reward, but eliciting a few smiles would be almost as good.
Stephanie Plum. I’ve read three or four of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum novels now and I think she’s a great character, feisty and funny but vulnerable too. I’m not sure Kate Hensley is quite is likable as Stephanie (at least not currently) but once I’d outlined Taking the Plunge I realized Kate’s story was bigger than one book. I doubt it’s as big as the twenty-something novels featuring Stephanie Plum, but I’ve now outlined two sequels, and depending on how the writing for those goes, there could be room for more.

Wow. Thank you so much J.B. Reynolds for stopping by. Congratulations on your new book Taking the Plunge. If you want to learn more about J.B. check out his details below. If you have a question for J.B. leave it in the comments and I’ll have him swing by and respond. As always don’t forget to share and like this post. Until next time have a great week.

Author Bio

J.B. Reynolds lives in rural Northland, New Zealand, where he raises children and chickens. He writes humorous fiction in which tragedy meets comedy and character reigns supreme. His first short story was published while he was a university student, and in between that and a return to serious writing in 2016 he has worked as a graphic designer, landscaper, ski and snowboard technician, film critic, librarian, apple picker, and baker of muffins and teacakes. Taking the Plunge is his first novel.

Nowadays, when not writing, he’s a husband, father, and high school teacher (not necessarily in that order). He enjoys sailing, cycling, and playing music, really loud, when his wife and kids aren’t at home. He has a big garden where he likes to get his fingernails dirty, and he loves to eat the things that grow in it.

Book Blurb

Sometimes all you need is a leap of faith...

When her husband's recent infidelities are exposed, Kate Hensley does what any sensible woman would; she kicks him out of the house and pursues a younger man. Could her snowboarding instructor, Evan Randall — blue-eyed, blonde, and gorgeous — be the solution to her problems?

If only love lust were that simple.

Gossip travels fast in the high-country, and while Kate’s new BFF supports her romantic endeavours, it seems no one else does. With opposition to her amorous adventure mounting, Kate learns that Newton’s third law applies to love as it does to motion, and she must decide whether the price of being true to herself is one she’s prepared to pay...

Buy Links

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XVT89SW/

https://books2read.com/taking-the-plunge

Social Media Links

https://www.facebook.com/jbreynolds.net/

https://twitter.com/jbreynoldsnet

Top Ten List with Jacqueline Church Simonds

September 4, 2019 MD Neu

It’s a new month, can you believe it. We are well on our way to Fall and Winter. This week I have another fun Top Ten list with fellow author Jacqueline Church Simonds, her Top Ten is all about why she decided to write her Heirs of Camelot series. Let’s get to it shall we:

10. I am a King Arthur fangirl. I have been ever since I saw Disney’s “The Sword and the Stone” when I was 4 and it first came out (yes, I’m old).

9. I have read books like “The Once and Future King,” Stewart’s Merlin trilogy, and “The Mists of Avalon” so often, the pages now come out of the books. Did I mention I like King Arthur stories?

8. So naturally, when I returned to writing, I decided to play with my favorite story. I originally meant to write a “mouse’s eye view” of the Round Table and all the characters and doings. Yes, Anya interacts with Merlin, King Arthur, and Morgaine (OK, more than “interacts.” Ahem), but she knows she isn’t the focus of the story; she is the chronicler—how we know this epic tale at all. The book that became “The Priestess of Camelot” (prequel to the series) is Anya’s own story, which her daughter demands be written.

7. In my first draft, I thought it would be fun to make a frame tale (a story that starts and finishes, and sometimes interrupts, of what happens with the heirs of King Arthur, Merlin, and Anya as a result of Anya’s work in the novel. (This is a common enough story-telling technique. Think “Princess Bride,” etc). But beta readers said, “What the heck is going on with the characters in the frame tale? I want to hear more of that!” (I took out the frame tale, and “Priestess” stands alone.)

6. I have long been interested in the concept of reincarnation, both personally and as a writing topic. David Mitchell attempted something with it in “Cloud Atlas” (one of the few times the movie was better than the book). What do we owe each other in next lives? Can we feel the ties across time to those we have loved and hated? Is there such a thing as timeless love? And so, “The Midsummer Wife” was published by Strange Fictions Press/Vagabondage Press on Midsummer Day, 2018.

5. The minute I wrote the end of “The Midsummer Wife,” I knew it was a series. The air turned blue with my swear words. I am not a big fan of series. I had no interest in writing one. Yet, here we are.

4. I decided that if I was stuck writing a series, I’d approach it more like C.S. Lewis did in the Narnia and Out of the Silent Planet series; each book is different in tone, few of the original characters are present throughout—and those who are, are vastly changed. So, “The Priestess of Camelot” is a Historical Fantasy; “The Midsummer Wife” is an Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance.

3. I’m sort of veering off on this point, but I should advise readers I write sex-positive love scenes. I know many folks don’t like reading about it, or call the sexual bits “racy,” or whatever. But adults have sex. Consensual, loving sex is in my personal top ten list of being an adult. However, I try to give folks a heads up on this. One of my beta-reads was on a New York subway train and read one of the “juicier” scenes in “Midsummer.” I got a text from her exclaiming that it might have been nice to know she should read it in the privacy of her own home (LOL).

2. The next book in the series, “The Solstice Bride” (launching in October, it’s in the publisher’s hands. Click here for the GoodReads placeholder), is an Urban Fantasy/Dystopian. It is DARK—I mean, we bump into an actual Black Mass. The world is in the crapper and the protagonists have to correct what went wrong in “The Midsummer Wife.”

1. I have “completed” the final book of the series, “Mistress of the Rose Moon,” about 8 times. Each time I go back and tear it apart. I’m currently in mid-rubble-rebuild. I’m really hoping we can put it out for Midsummer Day, 2020. We’ll see. In “Mistress of the Rose Moon,” we return to King Arthur-y stuff, with an actual hunt for the Holy Grail, but with aliens, talking cats and dogs, and all the happy endings you can eat. Well, except for the bad folks.

Thank you Jacqueline for that great Top Ten list and I can’t wait to started reading the series. As Always I want to thank Jacqueline Church Simonds for stopping by today and chatting with us. As always don’t forget to share and like this post. Until next time have a great week.

About Jacqueline Church Simonds:

Jacqueline Church Simonds is an author and publishing consultant. Her first published book was “Captain Mary, Buccaneer,” a historical adventure novel loosely based on the real pirate women Ann Bonney and Mary Reade. Simonds has done the usual authorly wanderings in life: she was a lady’s companion, a sound and lights roadie for a small Southern rock band, and managed an antiques shop. She’s sold everything from computers to 1950s pulp magazines to towels and baby clothes. The one constant in her life is a love of words, books and writing. She sold some short stories and poetry early, but didn’t pursue it until later in life. She has had a life-long love of King Arthur and was always drawn to novels about that great hero. Finally, she sat down and wrote stories from her own point of view. She lives in Reno, Nevada with her husband and beagle.

Where to find Jacqueline:

On Twitter https://twitter.com/jcsimonds

On Facebook https://www.facebook.com/jacquelinechurchsimonds

Website: http://www.jcsimonds.com/

Check out the Pinterest storyboard for “The Midsummer Wife”: https://bit.ly/2sqTnLy

and “The Priestess of Camelot”: https://bit.ly/2Qg3gpB

and “The Solstice Bride”: https://bit.ly/2YRUxxN

Heirs of Camelot series

THE PRIESTESS OF CAMELOT https://amzn.to/2QgKSg8

Anya, a pagan priestess of the Nordic Rus tribes, leaves her home country and arrives in Britain. There, she joins the sisterhood of Avalon, headed by the scheming Morgaine. When Anya runs afoul of the Avalonian high priestess she is sent to Camelot to spy on the court while acting as healer. But there, she falls in love with the High Druid, Merlin, and King Arthur, bearing sons to both of the great men of her time. After losing both of the men she loves to Morgaine’s treachery, she embarks on a plan that unfolds over the next 1,500 years to return Goddess worship to the island nation and save it from a danger Anya can see but cannot understand.

THE MIDSUMMER WIFE https://amzn.to/2IM1qgS

After a nuclear attack on London that heralds The Time Foretold, Ava Cerdwin, the high priestess in charge of fulfilling a 1,500-year-old prophecy, must assist the heirs of King Arthur and Merlin in healing the devastated country. The descendants of Britain’s great men of legend have kept the myths and relics for sixty-one generations, but no one is quite clear on what they must do next. Nothing goes as planned: Ava falls for the wrong heir, the panic attacks are getting worse, the complex obligations of reincarnation are straining old relationships, and Morgaine and her henchwomen are trying to kill them. Somehow, some way, Ava has to make the Healing happen, or Britain is finished.

THE SOLSTICE BRIDE (Due Out in October)

In this second book in the Heirs to Camelot series, it is twenty years after the Healing. Morgaine has taken over Ava’s body, defeated Harper, humiliated Ron, and is the authoritarian leader of dysfunctional Britain. After years of study with the Goddessians, Falke returns to Britain and, with the aid of Ravenna, the queen’s daughter, must go back in time to stop Morgaine from defeating Ava. But first, they must help the resistance discover why all the psychic adepts in Britain are disappearing—and what monstrous plans Morgaine and her son Prince Robert have in service to the Dark Lord, Adramelech. Falke and Ravenna struggle to find a way to accomplish their goals as their love deepens. The Solstice Bride is a dark adventure and love story with implications for the entire universe.

Top Ten List with Kay Doherty

July 10, 2019 MD Neu

Happy July Scribblers, I hope you all had a safe and joyous 4th of July. This week I welcome fellow NineStar Press author Kay Doherty for a fun Top Ten List about shifterwolves and shifterdragons. Let’s get to it shall we:

What are the top ten reasons you picked shifterwolves and shifterdragons to write around?

When I first started writing I joined Out in Colorado Fiction. There was talk about doing an anthology centered around dragons. The short story I started for that soon became a novel and by the time I reached the end, I realized there was potential for a series. Thankfully, my editor at NineStar, BJ, agreed and the Chevalier Series was born.
I’ve always been drawn to characters with special abilities. When I was teen, my youngest brother and I were fascinated with the X-men and the things they could do. I would make up stories in my head where I was the one who could control the weather or start fires in the palm of my hand. Such a cool idea.
I love dragons. Always have. They embody strength, fearlessness, loyalty, and danger.
My husband loves wolves and volunteers monthly at a wolf sanctuary in southern Colorado called Mission: Wolf. They give tours, educate visitors about wolves to help dispel rumor and myth, and allow you to meet them. You can go into the enclosure and touch them. It seemed natural to me that when Luca stumbled on his mate, that mate would be a wolf.
I wanted to explore the paranormal genre as a writer because I love it as a reader. I probably have hundreds of MM romances with shifters, vampires, witches, you name it.
Luca, Tanner, and the rest of the pack give me the opportunity to explore racism, hate, and discrimination, and find a way to live in a world thick with it. I’d not experienced any of those things until I came out as omni and polysexual. These guys give me a chance to work through it all with them. Tanner really embodies a lot of my struggles with my day job and learning to accept that people will hate me simply because I’m in a committed bisexual poly-family.
Writing shifters and other paranormals freed my writing. I love the two contemporary MM romances I’ve written, but I felt like my creativity could really fly when I didn’t have to follow the “real world” rules. I could make my characters whatever I wanted and give them all these sweet-ass abilities. It’s been so much fun to write.
Having wolf-shifters and dragon-shifters opened the door to have other paranormal beings. As the series progresses there are vampires, phoenix, sorcerers, lion-shifters, hawk-shifters, and whatever other creatures I can imagine. Pretty sure I threw a gryphon in there just for the hell of it.
Writing shifters gave me the opportunity to write complex characters. It’s one thing to write a human with human thoughts and emotions. Add in a supernatural half and you create a whole new level of problems. Animal behavior is so different from human behavior and its fun trying to weave those together in a way that’s cohesive and believable.
It’s sexy!

I love these quick top ten lists, they are so much fun and I believe you get a real feel for the author and the stories they create. I want to thank Kay Doherty for stopping by today and chatting with us. What do you think about dragons and wolves? What about shifters? Let us know in the comments below and I’ll be sure to have Kay stop by and respond. As always don’t forget to share and like this post. Until next time have a great week.

About Kay Doherty

Kay Doherty is an omnisexual/polysexual who lives in Colorado with her poly-family, Mike, Keri, and Tigz. Her house is overrun with cats and dogs. Family is important to her so there are daily texts, frequent visits to her parents, and constant banter with her brothers. She happily suffers a severe addiction to coffee and Mexican food. She loves to read and write and can easily become consumed by it for hours, much to the dismay of Mike and Keri (Tigz is an enabler). On occasion she can be convinced to venture out into world of the living despite being annoyed by the sun shining in her face.

Where to Find Kay

Email address: kaydohertyauthor@gmail.com

Website: kaydohertybooks.com

Fine her on Facebook: @kaydohertyauthor

Find here on Twitter: @kdohertyauthor

About Hearts of Fire (Chevalier Book One)

Luca Duray has been quite happy living a solitary existence for decades. But when a steel trap around his leg catches him when he’s weak and hungry, his life is irrevocably changed. He knows the wolf shifter who offers him assistance is more than he appears and immediately makes plans to keep the pup close.

Disowned by his pack for being gay, Tanner McBane is forced to become a lone wolf. While on a hunt, he stumbles upon an injured dragon shifter and provides aid. It’s not easy surviving on his own and when money gets tight, he finds himself face-to-face with the dragon shifter once again during an interview. Tanner isn’t sure a wolf should be working for a dragon, but he accepts the job and unknowingly creates a bond to his new boss. Soon, Tanner learns Luca isn’t just his boss—he’s his mate.

The mating of a wolf and dragon shifter is uncharted territory for both Luca and Tanner, but they are determined to make it work despite widespread prejudice, death threats, and the untraditional pack Tanner finds himself leading. Tanner only hopes that the bond he forms with Luca will prove to be unbreakable.

Where to buy Hearts of Fire

Find it on NineStar Press here.

Find it through GoodReads here.

Coming in August 2019 Hearts of Blood (Chevalier Book Two)

Top Ten List with Schuyler L'Roux

May 22, 2019 MD Neu

Wow! It’s Wednesday again Scribblers. This week I’m pleased to have fellow NineStar Author Schuyler L’Roux on my Scribbles Page to do a Top Ten List for his debut series There’s Always Something. This should be a lot of fun, so let’s get started.

The Top 10 Reasons I Wrote the “There’s Always Something” series

I answered an open call that Ninestar Press ran on Writing.com in 2015. The day I found the ad, I had started writing a sex scene that I thought was nothing more than a fun diversion. Ninestar had just opened, and I thought it’d be a perfect place for a new writer to learn the ropes of writing and publishing. So I fleshed out my random hookup and hoped for the best when I submitted the first story, “There’s Something about a Kilt.”
In 2015, I was living in Germany in a glorious year off that was dedicated to writing and publishing my first book. I couldn’t get so much as a nibble for that book and, like any proper writer, proceeded to get drunk and depressed. Finding Ninestar and starting “There’s Always Something” reminded me that there can always be another project and that my goal shouldn’t be success, but rather the joy in creating and completing a project.
I’d always toyed with sex scenes, but as nothing more than short exercises to test my writing or because I was hot and bothered. “There’s Always Something” gave me a chance fully incorporate sex into a living, breathing story. Sex became not just an exclamation point, but a way to propel the story forward or perhaps, as was the case in “There’s Something about Pain,” jerking the story to a complete halt.
I love wearing kilts. They’re functional, flirty, and oh, so breathable. I had a ton of fun writing about Gerry’s kilt and using it in sex scenes in fun ways.
I published the first short story in the series, “There’s Something about a Kilt,” early in 2016. I heard good things from reviewers, readers, and the team at Ninestar who published the story. But I didn’t give much thought to continuing the story. It was only after moving back to the United States (B’more!) and spinning my wheels with another novel that I came back to Thom & Gerry. Raevyn, Ninestar’s owner, was so encouraging about my return to the series, I jumped all in.
Continuing the series with “There’s Something about Pain” was a great challenge. I had to bridge all of the emotional consequences about the broken promise that ends “There’s Something about a Kilt.” Then I doubled down on the emotional trauma with the sequel, “There’s Something about Pain,” just upped the ante in the conclusion, “There Something about Flying.” Writing Thom & Gerry’s journey from a hot hookup to an emotional confrontation about acceptance, forgiveness meant so much to me.
If I had published “There’s Something about a Kilt” with another publisher, I’m not sure if I would have ever come back to write “Pain” or “Flying.” Ninestar Press is an incredible company. Raevyn is ethical, thoughtful, and driven for impassioned inclusivity. And the editors I’ve been fortunate to work with on “There’s Always Something” have in equal parts complemented my writing and challenged me to be a better writer and artist.
Gerry is absolutely my idealized version of self. Tall. Beefy. Redhead. Confident. I’m just missing the tall and beefy part, so I had a lot of fun creating fantasies for him. The physical scenes were enjoyable, but I also enjoyed challenging him emotionally.
Thom holds a part of my heart as a fellow writer. I had initially written him as an innocent angel, but Thom definitely evolves into much more than the bookworm blossoming under Gerry’s indulgent care as I originally envisioned. I liked reversing the roles Thom & Gerry initially played in the first story and then watching the consequences unfold in the second and third stories.
And for #10, I’ll give you the number one reason I did NOT write “There’s Always Something”—the Tom & Jerry cartoons. I never once thought about Tom & Jerry while writing Thom & Gerry. It was only after my partner mentioned it that I had any idea. I then laughed for five minutes straight.

Book Blurb - There’s Something about a Kilt

The first in the series: It’s a hellaciously hot day in Minneapolis and all Thom wants to do is enjoy his ice cream and forget about the stacks of essays waiting for him back in his stifling apartment. Until he meets Gerry, a kilted, tattooed Welshman. The conversation is smooth and the attraction immediate, but Gerry is only in town for the night and isn’t down for anything quick and forgettable. When they meet again, hours later, Gerry knows there’s something in the air and all bets are off. Including his kilt.

Where to Buy:

For There’s Something about a Kilt click here.

For There’s Something about Pain click here.

For There’s Something about Flying click here.

About Schuyler L’Roux:

I passionately believe in the power of sex—funny, world-changing, scratch-the-hell-out-of-your-back sex. I'm Southern and Welsh. But most of all, I'm optimistic. I write about thoughtful characters engaged in meaningful interactions and entertaining situations. With lots and lots of sex, of course.

Where to Find him:

On Instagram here.

On Twitter here.