Author M.D. Neu is a Gay Fiction Writer who tells epic stories that reflect our diverse world.
Happy Wednesday Scribblers. I hope you are all doing well today. A quick announcement this week. Me and several members of the Bay Area Queer Writers Association will be holding a virtual reading on March 12th at 4:00pm (PST). You can find out more here:
Click the link to get more information and RSVP. https://bit.ly/363JJWp
This is a free online event. We hope to see you all there. The readings should be varied and enjoyable.
Until next time, have a great week.
How exciting is this! Newman who has been my mascot since I started can now be yours. The talented Glenn Quigley (who is both a fellow author and brilliant artist) created the artwork for Newman, which is amazing. Find Glenn here. As of this week, you can pick-up your own pin version of Newman to show off. Find him on my website (click here), and have Newman sent right to your doorstep (available in the US only). This is a great way to show your support for me and my writing. With luck, I will add to the Newman collection.
Happy Wednesday Scribblers. In case you missed it, the month is February, and the year is 2022 and yet here we are talking about banning books in libraries and schools. What the actual heck are we doing?! Are we sure this isn’t 1822 or 1922? I understand that not all books are for everyone. I understand that we all like and enjoy reading different things. Believe it or not, there are books I don’t like. There are books I had to read that I didn’t enjoy. There are books I run across today wondering how these works of literature ever made into print. But never, and I mean ever, have I thought we should ban a book. Never! That is insane.
You want to control a population start by controlling the media. Guess what folks; books are media. And I’m not pointing a finger at one party or another. Banning Books happens on both sides of the cultural divide. People are going to say and do things we don’t like. We don’t have to agree with them and we sure don’t have to like them. However, it’s not up to us to squash them and destroy them. It’s up to us to educate them and ourselves. Listen to their concerns and fears and try, as hard as it may be, to understand them. We do not give them a pass and we sure don’t let them ban books or censor our media. Look into history and see how well that has worked out for everyone in the past.
A quote from Stephen King sums up my thoughts on the entire Book Banning perfectly:
When books are run out-of-school classrooms and libraries. I’m never much disturbed. Not as a citizen, not as a writer, not even as a schoolteacher… which I used to be.
What I tell kids is, don’t get mad, get even.
Don’t spend time waving signs or carrying petitions around the neighborhood. Instead, run, don’t walk, to the nearest non-school library or the local bookstore and get whatever it was that they banned.
Read whatever they’re trying to keep out of your eyes and your brain, because that’ exactly what you need to know.
I think what Stephen King says sums it all up perfectly, and I’m thrilled to see Maus on the New York Time’s Best-Selling list, because that shows we are voting with our wallets and sending a loud message to those who want and support censorship, aka Banning Books.
In short, don’t let them control you. Don’t get angry or protest, do what Stephen King suggests, go out, buy the book and read it, see if you agree or disagree, but the choice of what you like or don’t like should and always be with you. The Reader.
Until next time, have a great week.
Happy Wednesday Scribblers, I hope you are having a pleasant week. Over the last several weeks, I’ve been working on several writing related projects. I’ve been doing auditions for my next audiobook. I’ve been listening to a current audiobook in production. I’ve been writing a couple of different articles that have been requested of me from some different online sites. I’ve been working with my author groups on planning some events for 2022. I’ve been finalizing some new promotional pieces. And the list goes on.
It’s an odd thing when you are working on unique items and see how your time splits between them, and it got me thinking about how things were at the start.
When I first started writing, I had the luxury of sitting back and working on a single story at a time. Once that one was finished, I would move on to the next one, while I put the first story through my writing group for critics and comments. That wasn’t quite how it always worked out. Sometimes I worked on a couple of manuscripts at once, but mostly, I worked on one story at a time. Now… that’s not how things work.
As an author, now with five books, two short-stories, three audiobooks, and two anthologies out, my writing time seems to drip away. Because you have to focus on addition writing related tasks. You have to work on editing. You have to work on marketing and PR. You have to work on getting your books turned into audiobooks (which I have four, five and six on the way). You have to engage with readers, plan reading events, work with other authors to grow your community. The list goes on. Everything I mentioned in one way or the other affects my writing process. Where I could once sit down and write a couple of chapters a week. I’m lucky if I get a chapter in a week. Sometimes it takes me a couple of weeks or even a month to get a chapter finished.
I’m not complaining and I love working on my author business and brand, but I miss the days of having characters come forward and say hello and start telling me their stories. It still happens, just not as much.
Additionally, and much to my dismay, I haven’t been adding general characters to my trunk of characters for future stories, which is a shame because I love that process. If you don’t understand what I mean. There was a time when I could sit down and write general characters bios and save them for later use. When I would need a character for a story, I could go to my ‘trunk’ and pull one out for use. It was a great way to have characters ready to go when I need them.
I still have characters packed away, but not near as many as I once had, and I haven’t added any in years.
These days, I have to schedule my writing times. I have to sit down with purpose and focus… okay, who am I kidding? I still get up in the middle of the night to write. Or I’ll get up early on the weekends and pump out a few thousand words. Then sometimes all I want to do is sit and work on my writing and my current story, letting everything else fall to side.
I love these days.
In the end. I still have novels coming out. I still manage to create and write whenever I have a free moment. And my characters still come and talk to me and tell me their tales. These characters of mine continue to even play nice when they aren’t getting the attention they deserve.
I think they understand better than I do. And they are a lot more forgiving than I am as well.
Overall, my writing process has both grown and changed over the years. Do I long for how simple things were at the start. Sure. That was a time of writing innocence for me. Now I’ve grown… dare I say matured, as has my writing and my author life. Perhaps someday, when I have a catalog of books out there as long as my arm, I’ll be able to pass on some of these more mundane tasks to an assistant or marketing professional and focus solely on my writing and creating new worlds for people to visit. That would be lovely. However, until that time, as I grow and move forward, so does my writing process and how it all works itself out. I guess it all a matter of juggling, where once it was only two balls, I seem to now have five or six. Who knew I could juggle?
Until next time, have a great week.
Happy Wednesday Scribblers. A few years back I wrote this article about my coming out and how that has affected my writing. Today, after so many years, I thought I would revisit the post and see if there is anything I want to add or change, because as we all know, time has a way of changing our perspective on life. Especially with how my journey has influenced my writing.
People ask and are curious about my coming out. I get this question a lot from my straight co-workers and friends. The query is kind of funny because if you flip the question ‘when did you know you were straight?’ it’s silly. Anyway, I don’t mind sharing my story, so here it is.
As a kid, I always understood I was different, at least on some level.
I grew up in the 80s, so yep, I’m old. Anyway, I never gave much thought to my sexual feelings or identity in middle school. Sure, I was ‘sensitive’, but I had a wonderful group of ‘nerd’ and ‘stoner’ friends, so I never suffered from any personal angst. I never understood what the big deal about girls was. Sure, they were pretty, and some were friends, but I wasn’t interested in kissing them or anything like that. I never was ‘girl crazy’ and found that I enjoyed their company and we had fun together, but I wasn’t interested in anything else. Friendship was fine with me.
Where there any girls that liked me. Maybe. I suppose there were a few girls who liked me, but honestly, I had no clue.
I wasn’t supper popular in school, but I wasn’t an outcast either. If I had to describe my school experience; you know, in the movies, you see all the kids in the background that are there and appear to be having a good time and aren’t the center of attention. That would have been me. Don’t get me wrong, I had a good time in school, so it wasn’t bad and I have some great friends who I’m still in contact with today (thank you, social media).
Anyway, I didn’t really deal with my sexual identity until my later teens and early twenties. I had a few girlfriends and even was engaged to be married, but something didn’t seem right. Again, I didn’t really know, clueless as I was, what the ‘it’ was. I found guys so much more attractive than girls, but I still thought I was ‘normal’.
Once, my engagement fell apart (her doing and not mine) that was when everything crashed in around me. I realized I had all these fake walls and barriers up. For the first time, I had to take an honest look in the mirror and accept that I spent my younger years in deep denial. At one point, I even remember my sister Dawn and I talking. She told me she thought I was homophobic, not mean or cruel or anything like that, just not as friendly or as open-minded as she thought I would be. Thinking about it now, I guess I was trying to hide who I was and didn’t want to come across as ‘gay’, which of course is stupid, because I was in fact gay. Live and learn, I guess.
As I got older, I remembered I had major crushes on guys and I denied it… hid it. I had even fooled around with a few friends, but again, these experiences were all pushed behind these walls I created, and this life I wanted to live—I needed to live in. For me, this pressure wasn’t so much from an outside source, but internal ones. No one told me to be one way or the other. Those rules and thoughts all came from me. Anyway, when all the walls crashed down, I fell to pieces. It wasn’t until I thought about killing myself that I figured something needed to change. I couldn’t be like this anymore. I had to pull myself together if I were to have a happy and healthy life.
No one realized I was going through any of this because, by my early twenties, I was amazing at hiding my drama.
I found a therapist and spent about a year going to treatment once a week. She helped me face who I was and where I needed to be. After therapy, I could come out to everyone. Keep in mind this was in the early 90s, so AIDS was still a big thing and society wasn’t nearly as open and welcoming as now. First, my friends. Then my sister. And finally, my parents.
I was lucky, very lucky, because I was my own worst enemy. Everyone in my life supported me and was there for me. And those that weren’t quickly dropped from my life. I was the hurdle. I was the one that created all my problems. I tried to make myself fit into this perfect image I had in my head.
The journey wasn’t always easy. I lost a couple of friends, made friends with some of the wrong people, and I even lost a job because of who I was, but I never blamed them, I knew I was better without them and bigger and better things were waiting for me.
I guess what this journey boils down to, for me, is that I always realized I was gay. I always understood, but I wasn’t willing to face it. Still, I never blamed society or anyone (as I said my family and friends were way more accepting than I was) and I don’t judge it as a failing of the time I grew up in, it was more what I was willing to accept. Maybe, if there were more positive gay male figures when I grew up things would have been different, I honestly don’t know, but like I said for me, it wasn’t so much the outside influences, but my internal thoughts that caused me the most trouble.
Part of what I write is to provide positive LGBTQ characters with a voice because I do agree we need more of them. My goal is to show them without this ‘queer struggle’ I want my characters to face other issues. That doesn’t mean they live in a world filled with sunshine and rainbows. They have a past, as we all do, that affects them and their lives. All my characters carry a little of me in them and their internal journey may differ from mine, but if you look into them deep enough, you will see my journey there as well. Telling honest stories with believable, imperfect queer characters is my goal. The LBGTQ thing is a part of them and not the focus. My opinion is that the more people/society can see us, all of us, and relate to us on a non-sexual identity level, the better.
I share this because people ask about my ‘gay struggle’ and how it affects my writing. My experience is unique to me and this personal journey is different for everyone. As I say, I was lucky.
There you have it, my coming out journey and how it affects my writing. I hope you got something helpful from this. Until next time, have a great week.
Happy Wednesday Scribblers. This week I’m pleased to welcome Eric David Roman to my blog to chat about his experience as an author and what it’s like writing and finding your balance in the middle of our current planetary event (aka COVID-19). Eric hits on several authorly fears and anxieties that remind us we are all going through this together and we need to stop listening to those uninvited voices in our head. Whether or not you're an author, this is a wonderful article that I hope you enjoy.
***
If you ask any Golden Girls’ fan, they’ll tell you the best moments, the best episodes, in fact, are those with our fab four gathered around their iconic kitchen table late one night. It’s not ideal for us to be around a table to laugh, eat, and discuss life while we share stories that help us get through the days. But if you’d permit me this indulgence, I’d like you to take a moment to visualize their cozy kitchen (or any kitchen really, theirs is the safest space I can think of). And see us around a table covered with cookies, cheesecake, chips, a side of pork if you like—I never judge a food kink. We’re comfy in our robes, we have our coffee, our tea, or our cannabis.
We’ve been laughing and jovial, but try as we might, we cannot steer our convo away from the topics of the outside world. We all know it’s damn near impossible lately to even say hello without current events being the next topic. Eventually, rolling belly laughs dim into faint chuckles as the memory of the amusing comment fades, and the conversation eases into one of its natural lulls. One of us sighs and another laments about life never returning to normal, and we wonder aloud how we’ll face the challenges ahead of us. I’m itching to be chatty, so when its asked what’s the most challenging aspect of writing now, I jump in:
From the moment we writers pick up a pen and feel it glide along the paper as smooth as figure skater Surya Bonaly zipped across the ice, we’re hooked—okay, yes, maybe for some of you it was a keyboard or a tablet that popped your writer cherry, I’m trying to be poetic dammit. But from that moment there’s no getting off this ride. It’s a deep emphatic love which binds us to the words, and then we’re caught in this gig for the long haul. And truthfully, it’s not fun a lot of the time, even during the best of times being a writer is an arduous trek; the rejection, the crippling self-doubt, that pesky internal Critic always pulling double shifts to make us feel like the absolute worst.
Picture it, during what we can all agree is nowhere near the best of times, I got my first offer from a publisher, my first Yes (goal achieved). A writer’s life is often filled with rejection and harsh critiques, so one develops a proficiency at popping back up like a tweaked-out whack-a-mole hungry for more. Immediately, however, I found myself unsure what happens after the Yes. When does the instant fame kick in? (pimp book here). And I’ll venture to say that it’s not unfamiliar to anyone at this table to get bitch-slapped with a what the hell am I doing? moment so hard it freezes you in place. I was having such a monumental event occur concurrently with a once-in-a-lifetime global issue. The timing was a bit much.
I dove into the final polish of my book but found nothing I wrote seemed good enough, nothing I tried to convey in my writing was coming through. It felt like every character was one-dimensional, every plot device was contrived. Everything was muddled and filtered by the ever-evolving events happening outside in the world. A lot of creative frustrations began showing up to the party, which if you’re a writer, you’re nodding along cause you know. I was hounded by intrusive thoughts. Who’d want to read about the fake horrors I’d concocted when our own true-life horror show played out every day in real-time? Self-doubt weighed heavier than normal, and baby, that threatens the delicate creative ecosystem; listen it takes a certain degree of delusion to keep a writer going (yes, we are going to make it).
Anxieties from the global stuff slogged the creative process. And because the Critic, I guess, was lonely or whatever, they called a friend. And this ‘heffa’, Imposter Syndrome, showed up to tag-team me like no one’s business. It’s not a fun three-way. Plus, the Critic amped up their nonsense past the normal, You’re not good enough shtick, and started hitting on deeper levels: Why publish at all? The oceans are burning and you’re a joke. Who’s going to read you when the world is slowly crumbling around us? It’s a mistake, the publisher is going to email you that they were wrong. You’re a hot mess and everyone’s exhausted. The world’s running out supplies. They’re just going to watch Netflix and chill and ignore your scribbles. The Critic doesn’t play. And Imposter Syndrome, well, that hoe is still trying me; like who am I to ramble on about this for 1500 words?
Feeling extremely low and straddled with a deadline to turn in the final draft, the Yes was not the glamourous champagne popping moment I’d envisioned. I realized everything I’d worked for hinged on what I did next, so you know, no pressure or anything. I could spiral out or step my pussy up as the kids say and forge forward. I spiraled out. Sure, it’s messy, but it’s easier.
It took a minute, longer than I’ll admit, to realize I’d lost my creative equilibrium because I’d lost faith in my creative self. I’d gotten a yes; I was getting published and still didn’t believe I’d earned it. Nonsense really, as it’s since come out and been a huge hit (remember…delusion). A hard lesson along any healing journey is learning to trust the Universe, or your Higher Power of choice of course, but even more so, yourself—your intuition, your gut.
My healing story intersects with my creative one here, so, we’re going to get spiritual for a moment. But don’t worry, I’ll keep it lowkey, not really my vibe to preach about aligning chakras and waving crystals around like a loon—though meditation would save the world if we gave it a chance.
Despite the negativity in my head, the pulsing madness of the world, I focused my meditations on my creative self, and it took a minute, but I realized I was where I was supposed to be. Regardless of the outside world, I knew my book, the story I wanted to tell, did have a place in the world. That there was something to say even in a sea of loud voices. I trusted I had everything I needed to move forward, that I was safe as could be, considering. And my Yes, wasn’t a giant fluke they were going to take away. I did affirmations solely about rising above the self-doubt and defeating the Critic. They won’t ever be fully gone, they’re like a bad horror franchise, they keep coming back—but you can shut them up for a while. And I’d love to tell you I did the affirmations every day for months in an impressive, even inspiring display of tenacity, but no. And that’s okay, and I’ll continue to tell myself and you that.
I found assisting the other writers in my life with their own creative path helped my own creative confidence. I mean, that’s not groundbreaking stuff as any soul in recovery will tell you helping others and stepping out of self, helps them remain sober. I like to believe that idea applies to writing as well since my own words were flowing again. And the more I flowed with the Universe, the clearer they appeared. We, as a collective, experienced several rapid life-altering changes in a microsecond’s worth of time, learning to simply flow with those changes helped (still helps) me get through the mess. We can’t control what’s happening in the rooms we aren’t ever going to be invited into, try to not let it consume you. I know, easier said than done, but maybe it’ll help.
There was more of course: Journaling, physical exercise, seventeen broken vows to quit and go do anything else, three and a half mental breakdowns under my desk, but that’s all the boring stuff. The hardest part of regaining my equilibrium was remembering to trust in my creative self despite the Critic and Imposter Syndrome; they’re just noise in that complex and mysterious grey matter floating within our skulls, so why are we even listening to them? Why do we have to be reminded to not listen is what makes me scratch my head. And it can be hard to remember they aren’t the truth.
I was in a whole other headspace when I turned in the final draft; my creative ecosystem balanced with all the functional delusions back in their place (we are going to make it). I felt confident and knew my novel would carve out its place in the world, that its message, though wrapped in blood and gore, would seep through. That hopefully it would become someone’s favorite book. I felt pretty good sending the final draft off, and when I got another Yes from my publisher for a second book, I knew I was where I was supposed to be. I mean, of course, I repeated everything I described to you all over again, but this time it didn’t take so long, and I got this round down to only two meltdowns and ten broken vows that I was done with writing, so, yeah…progress.
Eric David Roman spent twenty years wandering the wrong paths; he tends to get lost a lot (he’s from Florida). He worked the wrong jobs (as it turns out, streetwalking is not a profession for just anyone) and avoided his true passion—writing, or as he refers to it, shotgunning sleeves of gluten-free Double Stuff Oreos in a dark closet whilst crying. After hitting a low point while trapped in retail management hell (a harsh rock bottom), he rearranged his thinking (now with 75% less anxiety and depression), got a little spiritual (but isn’t all in-your-face about it), and switched his focus to writing; well, as much as his gAyDD allows. And now, you’re reading his bio, so things are progressing nicely. He is the author of the outrageous novella Despicable People, the new novel Long Night at Lake Never, and the upcoming short story collection: Pirate Station N.G.H.T. Eric remains socially distant in Northern Virginia (don’t stalk him, you’d just be disappointed), where he lives, writes, loves all things horror, campy, and queer. He spends the days with his adoring husband and loveable cat (both of whom remain indifferent to his self-proclaimed celebrity).
Facebook: Www.facebook.com/ericdavidroman
Instagram: @themwritervibes
Twitter: @themwritervibes
Website: https://ericdavidroman.com/
Welcome to Camp Horizons, where they pray all day…and get slayed all night!
Nestled against scenic Lake Never, recently outed Tyler Wills has arrived at the secluded conversion camp, where the delusional staff of counselors believes he and his fellow camper’s queer affliction can be healed solely through the power of prayer.
After a full day spent rallying against sadistic deprogramming therapies, the deranged camp director, and planning his escape, Tyler discovers a larger problem—a mysterious stranger has rolled into camp with a grudge to settle and a very sharp axe.
When night falls, the terror and body count rise. And Tyler, along with his fellow campers, find themselves trapped between a brutal, unrelenting killer and their holier-than-thou prey as they desperately search for a way to survive the Long Night at Lake Never.
Where to buy: Long Night at Lake Never:
Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/longnightatlakenever/
Wow, it’s 2022, and if I’m honest, it still feels like 2020. I can’t be the only one who feels this way, or am I? Well, as 2021 ended I have to admit I had a good year, not a great year by any stretch of the imagination, even so, overall the year treated me good. Let me fill you in on what’s happen and what I have coming in the new year.
As many of you have seen by now (at least I hope). T.A.D.-The Angel of Death and The Called both did well in the Rainbow Awards. T.A.D. won for: Gay Alternative Universe/Reality, T.A.D. also was a runner up for Best Gay Book. The Called was a runner up for Best Gay Paranormal Romance and received several honorable mentions. Also, my publishing house, NineStar Press, did well. We had several of our authors win in their categories and there were too many honorable mentions to count. Find out more here.
Also, in 2021 I put out three audiobooks: T.A.D.-The Angel of Death, The Reunion, and A Dragon for Christmas and all three audiobooks have received some wonderful reviews. I’m proud to see these stories still doing so well. Find them here.
On the writing front, I finished Volaria and have been getting feedback from several Beta Readers, which has been great. I should have the story ready to be sent off to the publishers soon. I can’t wait for you all to read this new exciting book. Also, I sent in the first round of edits for Conspiracy (A New World, Book #3). This is exciting. The editing process has been a long road and my publisher has promised to fast track the book for release. I don’t have any release news yet, but I’ll keep you all posted. You can learn more about the story here. Additionally, I’ve been working on my lost continent story, no title yet, and I’m happy to say this novel is moving along nicely, so I’m hopeful to have the story wrapped up in the coming months. What else do I have… oh, right. I have a flash fiction piece; The Ink of Your Soul that I’m cleaning up and will enter in a contest this month, so that will be exciting. Also, coming out this year, I’m part of another anthology (this time through Other Worlds Ink, find them here) tentatively titled: Save the World, Twenty Ways to Save the Planet. I’m both thrilled and honored to have been selected for this anthology, so you can bet I’ll be letting you all know when this book comes out.
What to except in the coming year. Well, as I’ve mentioned, I’ll have one new book hitting the market, along with the new anthology. Moreover, I continue to work with the amazing authors of BAQWA (the Bay Area Queer Writers Association, learn more here.) on planning some in-person events. Another of the writing groups I belong to, QSac learn more here, is working on planning more virtual and potentially in-person events, so that is something to look forward to. I can’t wait to see people face-to-face again. Don’t forget you can find and follow me on my socials so you don’t miss a thing:
Website: http://www.mdneu.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Writer_MDNeu
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mdneuauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authormdneu/
Mailing List: https://mailchi.mp/ce975db93f5f/scribble-subscribers
NineStar Press: https://ninestarpress.com/authors/m-d-neu/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/66488958-md
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfGxw0RBSgsTiyYkA_UGhCw
RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Blog-MDNeu
QueerRomance Ink: https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/m-d-neu/
Liminal Fiction: https://www.limfic.com/mbm-book-author/m-d-neu/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/M-D-Neu/e/B076FK1S14
Well, my lovely Scribblers that’s all for this week. Got a question for me leave it below in the comments or you can email me at info@mdneu.com. Until next time have a great week.
Happy Wednesday Scribblers, I want to take a moment and thank you all and wish you all a joyful holiday season. No matter what you celebrate, I hope you take time to rest, relax, and unwind. I know these last couple of years have been difficult for all of us, so please take some time and decompress.
For this holiday season, I wish you all peace, joy, and healing. Even though each day feels like a struggle, we are strong. Through our kindness and love, we bring light to a dark world. Take these moments and recharge. With the ending of this year, we can look forward to this coming year with hope. As light always concurs, dark.
Until next time, be well, happy holidays, and have a great week.
Happy Wednesday Scribblers, what a mind-blowing week. I’m so pleased to share with you, if you don’t already know, how my books performed in the 2020-2021 Rainbow Awards. This year I entered T.A.D.-The Angel of Death (click here to learn more) and The Called (The Calling Book 2) (click here to learn more). As some of you may know, I wasn’t sure about entering the books in the Rainbow Awards this year. T.A.D.-The Angel of Death hadn’t performed as well as I had hoped and the reviews were mixed; including a DNF (did not finish) along with a scathing review of what the reader read. On the flip side, The Called had received some wonderful reviews, but again wasn’t performing as well as The Calling had. With that fresh in my mind, I decided to sit this year’s awards out.
Well, some of my readers and a few author friends weren’t having any of my worry or concern. They told me to suck it up and enter the two books and see what happens. So, I did. Then the waiting began.
During the competition, for which I was a judge again, I accepted that there were several fine books out there and prepared myself for what I believed to be the inevitable.
I was wrong and gladly so.
How did I do? You may be wondering.
This year, T.A.D.-The Angel of Death won the 2020-2021 Rainbow Awards: Gay Alternative Universe/Reality category and in the 2020-2021 Rainbow Awards: Best Gay Book category T.A.D.-The Angel of Death was a runner-up! Here are some lovely judges’ comments:
This was a wonderful story! I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the angel of death and the drag queen/hairstylist’s lives, especially when it covers an entire life span (get tissues, you’ll need them). Although it covers some very tragic events in real life, they were portrayed with care. We have TAD, the angel of death, wanting to diminish the amount of death in catastrophic events which cost him his wings and to be sent to live life on Earth as punishment. Then we have Doug, who cares so much about humanity that when he meets TAD he can’t pass by without giving the smelly, disheveled man a hand, thinking him a homeless man, which he was at the time. Bringing TAD to the salon to give him a makeover, Doug then brings him home, where TAD spends years watching Doug ruin his life with alcohol and drugs. This friendship continues throughout the decades until Doug’s final days. What a beautiful tale this was. I thoroughly enjoyed this well-written story. This is also my first MD Neu book and I’m looking forward to reading others from this author.
Drag queen befriends the Angel of Death. What a great premise! I loved this, particularly the relationship between Doug and Tad and the way it developed.
As for The Called, I racked up a wonderful, honorable mention, and the book was the 2020-2021 Rainbow Awards: Gay Paranormal Romance (Runner Up). Here is the honorable mention:
If there’s something I love reading in a story is action, mystery, drama. Add vampires to the mix and exciting plot, fantastic writing, and I’m happier than a pig in a mud pit. This book has all the above and then some. It’s the type of story that once you start reading, you can’t put it down, thus staying up until 5AM this morning and had to finish it once I got up. This is the third book I read from MD Neu and I can assure you, it won’t be my last. I loved Neu’s writing style, the world-building where it feels like you’re actually there, living the drama. The characters are amazing. The setting is simply fabulous, and the plot, well, read above. I highly recommend this story to those who love Vampires. Well done, Neu. Well done.
There you have it, T.A.D.-The Angel of Death joins Contact (A New World, Book 1) and Conviction (A New World, Book 2) as category winners and The Called joins The Calling as a Runner Up. I couldn’t be more pleased. What I learned from this entire experience is that I can’t let the negative voices drown out the positive voices. If I would have sat this year’s Rainbow Awards out, I would not have won or been runner-up and I would have continued to doubt the worth of, not only my writing, but the worth of both these wonderful books.
To celebrate, my publisher, NineStar Press, is offering 30% off all the winners and runner-up’s books in the 2020-2021 Rainbow Awards. NineStar’s Authors had an amazing showing in this year’s competition, so please click on over (click here) and check out all these wonderful books and support these authors and our publisher.
Until next time, have a great week.
Happy Wednesday Scribblers, today is going to be nice and short, because I know how busy everyone is. On December 11, 2021 (that is this Saturday) the Bay Area Queer Writers Association is hosting a virtual Queer Cheer holiday reading. The members providing a reading are: Liz Faraim, R.L. Merrill, Wayne Goodman, Richard May, and K.S. Trenten. The reading begins at 6:00 p.m. (PST) and promises to be a wonderful way to get you into the holiday spirit.
Click on the image to learn more
You can learn more about each of these authors here:
To learn more about the on-line event click here or find the Bay Area Queer Writers Association on their Facebook Page here. Hope to see you all this Saturday at 6:00 p.m. (PST) Okay, that’s all I have to share this week. Until next time, have a great week.
Happy Wednesday Scribblers, for those of you here in the US, I hope you enjoyed the four-day weekend and had time to rest and relax. Overall, we had a quiet Thanksgiving, but we managed to put up our new Christmas Tree, decorations, and holiday lights. I can say for certain that our halls are well and fully decked. In fact, here are a couple of photos, I snapped.
As some of you may have seen, my latest audiobook, A Dragon for Christmas, is out and ready for you all to listen to and enjoy. It’s a short story with a listening time of 1-hour and 13-minutes. Amanda Vargas, who did an excellent job of bringing Carmen to life, narrates the story. Here is the blurb:
Carmen is eleven years old and wants to get her dragon. Since she was seven years old, she understood two things. One, she was going to be the strongest Dragon Keeper there ever was. The second was that she was going to marry her best friend, Mattie.
As Christmas approaches, the magical charms Carmen has to use to fight off her curse are taking a toll on her health. But that can’t stop her from taking her final test to become a Dragon Keeper. If she passes her test, she gets her dragon. If not, she has to start all over, relying on different magical charms to fight the curse for her. That is something Carmen doesn’t want to have to go through. The testing is difficult and charms make her sick. Carmen has decided that if she doesn’t get her dragon this Christmas she’s not going to go for a third attempt, even if that means she can’t marry Mattie when she grows up.
You can listen to the sample here:
You can pick up your audiobook copies at the following on-line retailers:
Audible US: https://adbl.co/3l8kJ55
Audible UK: https://adbl.co/3oZSir8
iTunes: https://apple.co/3HSFXgW
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3xrbXnJ
Also, this week I wanted to share a spot of exciting news. My novel The Called (The Calling, book #2) , get your copy here, has been uploaded to a list on Goodreads; Goodreads Choice Awards 2021. If you are on Goodreads and you’ve read The Called and feel so inclined to do so, I would love it if you voted for my books. Seeing my book break the top 100 or even the top 10 would be a wonderful Christmas present.
I still haven’t heard if The Called or TAD-The Angel of Death, get your eBook or Paperback copy here find the audiobook here, won in the Rainbow Awards this year, but I’ll keep you all posted. I have received some amazing honorable mentions, which is nice. So, fingers crossed.
I received a bit of disappointing news this weekend. A new publishing house I was hoping to try out turned my newest manuscript, Volaria, down. The news wasn’t what I had hoped for, still I will continue to move forward with the project and see if I can find a different publishing house for this piece. I hope to diversify where my books are published in hopes of building and finding a larger audience for all my works. I’m, by no means looking to leave NineStar Press. My goal is simply to help expand my current reach. Wish me luck.
Okay, that is all I have to share this week. Until next time, have a great week.
Happy Wednesday Scribblers, two quick things this week, cause I’m sure (if you are here in the US) you are busy getting ready for turkey day… or you are already exhausted and in need of a nap.
I want to wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving, no matter how you are spending this day (and the weekend) I hope you get to take some time for yourself and be in the moment. Enjoy those you have around you, or enjoy the piece and quiet. It’s been another crazy year and we all need to take these moments and be thankful for all the small things we have in our lives. An author friend of mine posts what he is thankful for each day, I thought I would barrow that idea and share a few things I’m thankful for, so here goes, these are the things I’m thankful for:
My husband Eric, how that man tolerates me on the daily I’ll never know.
My Family, they can work each and ever nerve I have at times, but I’m thankful for each and every one of them.
My home, we have a nice place to live and it may not be a mansion, but it’s home and I love it.
My job, I have a great boss who I respect and have enjoyed working with all these years. For me it’s not about the work, but the people.
My writing, I’ve had ups and downs and there are a lot of things I would love to change about it, but my writing has given me a wonderful creative outlet.
My health, this year has been a bit rocky, but I’m still waking up and I’m still breathing so I count that as a big win.
Being able to travel, Eric and I love to travel and through it all we continue to take trips and I’m so blessed to be in a position where we can do that.
All the little things, there are so many small things I’m grateful for that I can’t name them all, but I’m very grateful for all of them.
What are you thankful for? If you’d like to share below I would love read it.
Now on to the book announcement. An author friend of mine Lee Colgin, recently released a new novel: Mongrel. Here is a bit about it.
A misfit werewolf
A guilt-ridden vampire
A chilling mystery…
Mongrel, a creature more wolf than man, leads a lonely life on the fringes of pack society—until the night a handsome vampire shows up with a mysterious request.
Bowie, a vampire cursed to a life of endless nights, maintains close ties with his human family. When young girls in their village go missing, he must act quickly. But to find them, he’ll need to convince the local werewolf pack to loan him their best tracker—a wolf known as the Mongrel.
Though he hates the slur, Andras is used to being called Mongrel. When Bowie refuses to refer to him by anything but his given name, Andras can’t help a flicker of unexpected trust toward the stranger. He volunteers to help Bowie, risking banishment.
Can two tenderhearted men overcome their traumatic pasts and work together to rescue the girls before it’s too late? Or will the world’s most prolific killer snuff the flames of their passion along with the lives of the captives?
This steamy love story spans the country of Hungary as Andras and Bowie journey to right a villain’s wicked wrongs.
Mongrel features a sweetly possessive werewolf, a cinnamon roll of a vampire, and the worst killer in history. A surprisingly fluffy MM Paranormal/Historical Romance considering the subject matter.
HEA guaranteed with loads of laughs along the way and no cliffhanger ending!
Get your copy here
That’s all for now. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and until next time, have a great week.
Happy Wednesday Scribblers, I hope you are all doing well, and for those of you here in the US I hope you are looking forward to the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday and the mad dash to Christmas and the New Year. With the end of 2021 fast approaching, I’m looking back at my writing career to date. I have so much to be grateful for and I’ve learned so much over the past few years. I thought I would share my experience and thoughts as an author from a small publishing house.
I started my official writing career in May 2017 with my first contract from NineStar Press. Getting that first contract was such an exciting time. I couldn’t believe the news. Someone other than my family and friends believed enough in my writing to want to publish my work. I still feel that way every time I get a new contract.
At that time, I had zero knowledge about the publishing industry. So, everything that happened after that first signing started my new education. Since then I’ve signed seven more contracts, and I’ve not only worked with NineStar Press, but with ACX (for my audiobooks) and with an additional publisher for a new short story that has been picked up to be part of a new anthology (more details on the short story and anthology coming soon). Also, I’ve worked with two different author collectives to self-publish two more anthologies. With each new contract and with each new book release, I’ve learned more and more about publishing. I’ve also created a list of things I like and I don’t like about the industry.
Being part of a small publishing house, you are expected to do a lot of work, not only writing, but you have to market your books, promote your books, advertise your books, find opportunities for you to showcase your work, spend a lot of time and money to build your following…
All these new tasks are daunting.
Everyone thinks that once you sign on the dotted line with a publisher, you are set; you get to sit back, write, and collect royalties. You get to go to a few interviews, maybe a book tour, but most of your time from then on will be you doing what you love… writing. That may be the case for some authors, but not the vast majority, including myself. Yes, I suppose you could just sit back and write, but don’t expect to make any money, unless you are lucky and hit the right mix of story and audience. As a member of a small indie publishing house you have to put in the work in or your much dreamed of writing career won't go anywhere. Small houses like NineStar Press do not have the resources for huge marketing campaigns or getting you on the speaking circuit. They don’t have people who will enter you in book competitions, get you on TV, radio, YouTube, or podcasts. In order to get into any of these things, finding these opportunities is up to you. Now they might have sources and they might point you in the right direction, but all the legwork that comes from you. Some, like NineStar, may even have a contract source for a book marketing professional, but even these services can be limited.
As an example, I was looking into going to Saints and Sinners (Saints and Sinners is a LGBTQIA literary festival held in New Orleans each year). Several authors who I’ve spoken with have said is a wonderful event and worth going to if you can. Eric and I looked into going and for the three-day event we were looking at a cost of about $3,000, and there are no guarantees that I would see any kind of return on investment, other than making contacts and getting to know people (which isn’t a bad thing). Going to this event is on hold for this year.
Keep in mind that is one event, and there are many book events throughout the year. Currently, I’m looking for literary events closer to home.
Because NineStar is a small publishing house, there is no way they could cover these costs, not only for me, but for any of the authors in their catalog, nor would I expect them to. Still, it would be nice.
What’s a small publishing house to do?
The advice all authors get is to keep writing and reading, build up your backlog of books. That is the only way to get better royalties and with better royalties comes the opportunity to afford to go to literary festivals like Saints and Sinners. Another must get those reviews. Reviews equal exposure and the exposure turns into money. This is why you’ll see authors begging for readers to review their works (myself included). When it comes to reviews, remember the author is not the only one looking for reviews. There are thousands of authors out there and there are only a limited number of reviewers. Some publishers will have a list of reviewers they work with, which is helpful. NineStar is building out that list, which will be a great help. However, finding review sites and people willing to review your work is mostly up to the author.
I have a small list of reviewers that I’ve created and with whom I contact when I have a new book out. Still, those few reviews aren’t enough. You need hundreds of reviews to be a blip on anyone’s radar.
Another avenue for authors to build a following and sell books is to get their works in all the local bookstores and libraries, this again is something the author has to do on their own, yes, the publisher will ensure your books are available for bookstores and library to buy, but as for getting your books into a local bookstore, that is up to the author. I have a list of LGBTQIA book stores I email and let know when I have a new book coming out. Some have been responsive, which is wonderful. Also, I have a list of local book stores who I contact as well, in hopes they will carry my books, or better yet, let me come and do a reading.
I’ve heard in large publishing houses they have people who will do this, which is wonderful. But again, small publishing houses don’t have that kind of capacity, which is a shame.
Being part of a small publishing house is a lot of work and with each new book title, you continue to learn more and improve on what you have already learned. As a small house author, you have to build up your network of followers and build opportunities for yourselves, because no one, not even the big five publishers are going to give you a pass on selling your work. Sure, they have more resources to do more, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t involved. I’ve heard having a book agent can help (but they will take a cut of your royalties) in all areas of marketing, but getting an agent, let alone a good, well-connected agent is challenging. I know authors who are much farther down the path of their author career with several more books out than me, who still can’t find an agent. Which is a shame because these authors are amazing.
Additionally, part of my publishing journey has included the realization that I have to spend a lot of my money to hopefully accomplish my dream of becoming a well-known career author. To date, I’ve spent more than I’ve earned… that’s right… let that sink in… as of the writing of this article, I’ve yet to turn a profit. That was something I never thought would be the case. This lack of profit is also why I have my full-time job and am lucky if I can publish one to two books a year (with the pandemic it’s been more like one book a year) which I will admit is frustrating as I have books written, but they are in the queue with my publisher.
Ah, that is another thing. As a small house published author, you have to have a lot of patience because publishing has its own time schedule. You may have two, three, five, ten books ready to go, but your publisher decides when they will be edited, proofed, have cover art created, and finally when they will be released. All decisions that are out of your hands, so patience is key. Patience is also something I’ve had to learn quite a bit of and I can admit to you all that I’m not a big fan. NineStar has offered to translate my books into Spanish, which is wonderful, however; patience. I have to wait for my turn for my books to be translated. I don’t how long this will take and I can’t even be sure having my works translated will ever happen (unless I pay for the translations myself). My problem is I’m used to working in a world where deadlines are created and we live and die by them. There are no delays. The world doesn’t stop moving for one reason or another. Work still has to be done and there are still expectation and obligations that must be met. Yes, there is some of that within these small publishing houses, but their time lines and their sense of urgency differ completely from what I’m used to or, if I’m honest, had hoped for. This isn’t one publishing house, this is the industry, even the big five, from what I’ve heard.
I don’t want you to read this and think that I’m not happy with being part of a small publishing house, because I’m grateful to them for the opportunities they have given me. I’m also grateful for the education I’ve gotten when it comes to publishing. Publishing is not as easy or as glamorous as you see in movies or TV. Being a published author means you have a lot of work ahead of you and you have to learn a lot, and become a lot if you want to make writing your career.
Given all that I’ve learned and all that I continue to learn. And all the hardships (which there have been many) being an author in a small publishing house hasn’t been bad. I can say I’ve enjoyed most of it. I’ve met great people and learned a lot. I can’t wait to see where this all goes and what else I’m going to learn. What do you think being an author for a small publishing house was like? Did you think it would be like this? Or did you have some other vision? I’d love to hear what you think.
That’s all for now. Until next time, have a great week.
Happy Wednesday Scribblers, I hope you are all having a great week so far. Here, in California, where I live we’ve been getting this mystifying liquid falling from the sky…I believe it’s called ‘rain’. I’m glad for the change in weather and lord knows we need the water, so keep good thoughts that California will continue to get rain, cause we need it. Also, I hope you all got to enjoy some of the silly photos I shared on Instagram about Eric my vacation. It was nice to be away, even so I spent time each day writing.
Speaking of writing, today I figured I would share my current writing updates with you, so let’s get too it.
Frist, the local writing group I belong to the Bay Area Queer Writers Association put together a charity anthology this year to benefit the Billy DeFrank LGBTQIA Community Center here in San Jose, California: BAQWA Presents: Horror Show 2021. Five writers: Wayne Goodman, Richard May, R.L. Merrill, Liz Faraim, and myself all shared two stories for this limited run anthology. All proceeds we raise will go to the DeFrank Center to help support all their amazing work. Help us, help them. Buy your copy here before it goes away for good.
Here are the blurbs for the two stories I submitted.
Prom Night. The last hurrah before college. Brandon and Ed are the chaperons for the LandsEnd High Senior Prom, hosted at the LandsEnd Yacht Club. Its a night of dreams until the ground shakes and flashes of light brighten the sky knocking out everything electrical casting the event into darkness. Cut off and alone. The adults and the students have to figure out what to do and what’s happening. Additionally, what is that strange clicking sound off in the distance that seemed to have scared off the animals.
Halloween; a night of tricks and treats, but what happens when you take a stranger for a creepy night of mischief and fun? Anything can happen on Halloween, even the unimaginable.
I know I’ve been talking about this book for a long time now. When will this new book come out? I still don’t know. However, the publishing process has been slow thanks to some changes at my publishing house and to the ongoing pandemic. That said, the book is with my Editor so I’m waiting to get the edits from her, then hopefully we can get this book out. I can’t wait for this next installment to reach the world.
I’m happy to report, that as of this weekend I have finished all the editing I received from my Beta Readers and I love all the changes. I think these edits really improve the story. I still need to decide the next steps for this manuscript, send it to my current publishing house, or branch out and diversify to other publishers. There is a lot to think about. To get you in the mood for this new story here is the blurb and a graphic I created that gives a feel for the story.
The Blurb:
It’s been over a hundred years since the Earth went through The Shift. Where once almost eight billion humans lived, the population now holds at four billion. But that wasn’t the only change. Humans are no longer alone; they have been joined by Arcanes, Lycans, and Vampires. At first these new groups were thought of as genetic anomalies caused by the shift, something to be cured, but later scientists discovered that each new generation of human born would produce these new variances at the onset of puberty. Finally, the new species of man were welcomed. No longer studied or treated as outcasts by most, people accepted these new humans and they integrated into society. This allowed the UN Government to focus again on the Moon and on Mars, ensuring the survival of all, as humankind became a multi-planet species.
Tobin Corsian lives in a newly reopened district of San Jose, California, where his family’s old home stood. He lives there with his friend Mikel, a Lycan, and his dog Begger. Instead of making his mandatory monthly blood donation at the government blood bank for the vampire community, Tobin decides, with the help of his therapist, to visit Bitter, a vampire spa. The spa allows vampires to feed from humans directly while providing spa and sexual services, granting the donor a three-month reprieve from their mandatory donations. However, permitting a vampire to feed from you comes with risks, shared memories among them. Tobin’s encounter at Bitter opens a window to his past and an experience he had as a child on the moon. Questions abound as he tries to unravel his past and make sense of his life.
As with all things there are still more fires burning. I have three new stories that I’ve been pecking away at, some of these stories are farther along then others and as they progress I’ll be sharing more information with you.
Don’t forget, if you aren’t signed up for my quarterly newsletter do so this month for your chance to win all of my current Audiobooks (T.A.D.-The Angel of Death, The Reunion, and A Dragon for Christmas). Sign up here. Don’t miss out!
Well, there you have it, my autumn writing update. As you can see, there is a lot happening, and progress is being made. I’m excited to get both Conspiracy and Volaria out for you to soak up and enjoy.
Until next time, have a great week.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked why I write. This question comes up so often that I’ve been thinking about why I write a lot lately. Authors spend hours alone writing. They miss out on a great many things in order to create stories for the world to enjoy. Literature (either fiction or non-fiction) is often, these days, seen as a commodity, something to be consumed and moved on from. This is not the case for other artforms. Writing and by extension writers are only as good as their last story and if you don’t have something shiny and to give consumers, they will find something else and move on, forgetting all about you and your works.
Obviously, this isn’t the case for all writers, some authors move on to be legends, were their works are taught in schools and studied in university. But for a vast majority of writers (as I would assume would be the same with other artists) few reach any kind of acclaim. Most authors barely make back their advance (assuming they received one) According to Indeed (March 2021) a fiction writer can make anywhere from $15,080 to $127,816 per year, depending on experience, the writing subject matter, contract terms and book sales.
That doesn’t sound too bad, right?
Well, I can assure you these number do not reflect reality. Not for me or any of the authors I’m familiar with. Few authors make a living off their writing most, if not all, have full-time or part-time jobs to put bread on the table. Some have a spouse that supports them and their writing dreams. Can an author make a decent living? Sure. Will it happen? If the stars align and the writer gets lucky; perhaps.
Why am I sharing all this with you?
Well, I decided to ask authors from all over the globe who write in many different genres; why they write. Here is what they said:
Richard May (United States) – I write because I want to communicate to the reader they are worth loving. I want to show them it’s possible anywhere, anytime.
R.L. Merrill (United States) - I write to bring people hope and make this world a better place. I write to honor the people I’ve crossed paths with in my life who have faced and overcome life-changing obstacles. And I write for myself, to help me continue learning and to find peace in my chaotic brain.
Glenn Quigley (Northern Ireland) - I've always created art. Whether it's through paint, or pencils, or pastels, I've always felt the urge to create. Writing allows me to do that in unique and engaging ways. It lets me create whole worlds in a few lines. As an artist, what could be better?
Jonathan Pongratz (United States) - I write because I want to share the dark stories that pop into my head with the world. I love to take an idea that may seem like it's been done before and corrupt it until it's something completely different, something harrowing and terrifying that keeps people at the edge of their seats. Sometimes the monsters win, and sometimes we're the real monsters.
K.S. Trenten (United States) - I write because I live for story. I don’t just want to experience them as a viewer or reader. I want to create them, weave tales of my own, inspire the kind of wonder in others stories inspire in me.
Randall Krzak (Scotland) - It wasn't until I was getting ready for early retirement when a longtime work colleague and friend suggested I try writing a novel. I had never thought of doing this, but I thought, why not? So I gave it a shot. He was right--it appears I have some semblance of ability in creating imaginary plots, although I do include as much realism as possible.
Hans M Hirschi (Sweden) - Why do I write? I think it’s because I have no say in the matter. I kind of have to. Plus, I’ve always missed the kind of stories I write when I was a “mere” reader, the mundane, ordinary people who just so happened to be like me and my family.
J. Scott Coatsworth (United States) - I write because I have to. Because there are stories inside me that want to come out. Because I am happier when I am writing and feel sad when I’m not. And because I read Lord of the Rings in third grade and said “I want to do that.”
Kevin Klehr (Australia)- I write because it's one of my favorite ways to express myself, sharing personal stories and the wisdom of friends obscured with speculative fiction. I also find it therapeutic, sorting through my life both past and present, reliving entertaining moments while resolving dramas with the help of my alter egos.
Barbara Russell (New Zealand) - I'm afraid I don't have a beautiful reason. I write because I like it.
Tim Walker (England) - I write about things that interest me, but as fiction. I've written historical fiction stories that reflect my interest in certain sites I've visited and periods, and a children's book series with my daughter, based on her interests and ideas. Structuring a story is a fun thing to do and it never ceases to amaze me how a story can take on a life of its own and lead me in unexpected directions.
Jane Jago (England) - I write because I don’t know how not to. It’s as natural as breathing.
Margena Holmes (United States) - I write because I have stories to tell and like Jane, I don't know how NOT to write (I've tried). I love creating worlds (even within our own) and telling the story.
W.C Quick (United States) - I write what I have always enjoyed reading, fantasy and science fiction. I prefer character driven stories, alternate reality fantasy and apocalyptic Sci-Fi with compassion and humor.
Aryl Arthur Shanti (United States) - I write because it's cheaper than therapy.
Becca Jones (United Kingdom) - I write because my head is full of stories, and I need somewhere to put them! I write all different formats, from novels to film scripts, and I love finding the best way to tell a tale. World building and character development is my favorite parts of the craft.
J.P. Jackson (Canada) - I write stories in order to explore my darker nature. Writing allows me to create fantasies where anything and everything can happen, and I get to choose whether or not the cops are involved.
Wayne Goodman (United States) - I like to tell stories, and, hopefully, stories that other people will find of interest.
As for me, I write because there are stories in me that need to be told. Stories that I didn’t get to read as a youth. I wanted to see myself in the stories I read, so I write. I hope with each story that people out there will find them and enjoy them seeing life from a different perspective and hopefully that new level of perspective will help to make the world a better place.
You can see, there are as many reasons for an author to write as there are authors. The important thing to take away here is that authors write for the love of the craft. So, when you pick up your favorite book, or when you wonder why an author is taking so long to come out with the next book in their series, remember they are creating a piece of art, something for the world to enjoy, and they are putting out a part of their soul for the world to view. Always try and show the authors you enjoy some love, be it a review, letting your friends and family know about their work, or simply sending the author a note letting them know that the story they created mattered to you.
Greetings folks! I hope you are having a great Wednesday so far. This week I’m pleased to have fellow NineStar Press author, Rick R. Reed to share his newest novel, Immortal Things. I can’t say enough about this author and his writing. You need to get to know him and his work. You don’t want to miss out.
IMMORTAL THINGS ©2021 by Rick R. Reed
Meet cute is a romance-novel convention, referring two when our two love interests meet. I go a little darker with my meet cute in Immortal Things. Here is when our two male vampires meet and make an impression on each other—in 1950s New York City.
***
The Tiger’s Eye was not a place where established artists and writers hung out. Jackson Pollock or Willem de Kooning would not have been glimpsed there, although they may have been nearby, perhaps in a cab with Peggy Guggenheim heading up to her Art of This Century Gallery on West Fifty-Seventh.
But those who aspired to be the next Pollock or de Kooning took advantage of the cheap price of spirits and the “starving artist” ambiance afforded by the Tiger’s Eye.
Edward Tanguy was one of those artists. For Edward, the Tiger’s Eye was an escape from his tiny studio apartment (and workspace) on Horatio Street. He could walk there, nurse a beer or two all evening, engage in conversation with other patrons, which might or might not inspire him to work, and perhaps catch the eye of a handsome stranger. This last was a rare occurrence, usually accompanied by racking guilt the morning after and a determination to “throw himself completely” into his art.
Edward was tired. He had worked all day trying to create something that would move him from being the “crazy guy who fancies himself an artist” who lived at the back of a four-story walk-up inhabited mostly by drunks, heroin addicts, women of easy virtue, rats, and cockroaches to being “that crazy artist who fancies himself alive.” Edward still had primary-colored paint under his fingernails. A smear of green on his forehead was partially obscured by his blondish-brown hair, which hung like dirty corn silk. His skin was pasty from too many long nights at the Tiger’s Eye and too many days spent inside his one-room apartment, whose only light―save for the sixty-watt bulb that hung from an uncovered ceiling socket―emerged from a gritty window that faced the side of another building. But the ashen pallor of his skin lit up his eyes, a shockingly pale green, flecked with yellow. Edward’s wide-set eyes, ringed in black, gave his face a startling beauty and magnetism. Without those eyes, Edward might have simply melted into the crowds of similarly dressed poor New Yorkers, culturally aware young men who dressed themselves in worn berets, dark denim, and cotton print shirts. Edward wore paint-spattered jeans, black sneakers, and a rumpled plaid cotton shirt. He forewent the beret; he didn’t want to look that affected.
Edward was actually sipping whiskey that cool September night, a rarity. He couldn’t usually afford anything more than beer, and tonight was no exception. But it had been such a hard day. His body ached from his efforts to distinguish himself, to transform himself from someone who aspired to being a painter, to one who actually was. He wanted to free himself from the bondage of necessities such as short-order cooking, selling encyclopedias, cab driving, apartment cleaning, or message delivering. The aches along his rib cage and the bruises on his limbs came from Edward’s style of painting, which was to smear his entire body with various colors and fling himself at oversized canvases, contorting, rolling, and turning his body to create―he hoped―an electric fusion of color and movement, a way to record something important about himself at that moment that no one had ever seen.
Today, his work had littered the floor of his apartment (a wooden plank floor almost black from neglect and from not having seen the underside of a mop in generations): three canvases, all of them riots of color that traced the movements of a small man, ambitious and a dreamer. There were only small paths from his front door to his bed (a mattress on the floor), his bathroom (a toilet and small claw-footed tub occupying one corner of his kitchen), and to the grimy window, which would never close all the way.
When evening came, and the apartment grew dim, and the sounds outside of cab horns, newspaper vendors hawking that day’s news, and the cries of passersby became intolerable, Edward dressed himself, stopped at the newsstand on the corner for a pack of Luckies, and headed over to the Tiger’s Eye.
Alcohol and maybe―if he was lucky―the warmth of another man’s arms might act as a balm to the soreness in his muscles and the drain of his hard day’s work. If he could procure that balm, Edward thought, it would be worth losing the little bit of money he still had left from his last temporary job as a clerk in a paint store on West Fourteenth.
He leaned against the bar, smoking, listening to Charlie Parker’s plaintive sax, and watching a guy at the end of the bar. The guy was dressed all in black, wearing sunglasses in spite of the gloom of the Tiger’s Eye. Tiny round gold-rimmed sunglasses that made it look like he had holes where his eyes should be. The effect was chilling, scary, and it drew Edward in a dangerous way, repellent and gripping at the same time. His face, like Edward’s own, was pale, but defined by sharp angles, good jawline, and strong chin. Blond hair fell in soft waves to his shoulders. There was something stirring, strange, and beautiful about this character, something that made him stand apart from the other men and the few women in the bar, all roughly the same age as Edward, all sporting the same look of studied bohemian dishevelment.
Edward had been watching him for the past hour or so, his stare growing more obvious as the beer and whiskey emboldened him. There wasn’t enough alcohol in the bar, however, to provide Edward with enough courage to actually approach the man and initiate a conversation. Trolling for men, his method was always the same: watch and wait. If his pointed eye contact yielded no results, Edward would go home alone. Since the bar was dark and smoke-obscured, not allowing the casual observer to take in the allure of Edward’s emerald eyes, he often traveled back to his Horatio Street walk-up by himself, accompanied only by the stench of stale beer and smoke on his clothes.
But tonight, Edward wasn’t sure he would be making that walk alone. Even though it was impossible to tell what the man was thinking behind those odd, old-fashioned glasses, there was an almost palpable connection. Edward could feel it. The sensation was akin to the prickle he got when he knew someone was watching him, even if his back was turned. The stranger’s face was turned toward him, and Edward was positive their gazes were engaged, even if a shield of black glass prevented him from confirming it.
Almost. He was almost to the point where impatience and desire collided, at the point where he would disregard his own fear and let hunger usurp it. He was almost there: where he’d break his own rule and approach the man. What would he say? What would be clever enough to amuse this stranger?
By day, Elise draws and paints, spilling out the horrific visions of her tortured mind. By night, she walks the streets, selling her body to the highest bidder.
And then they come into her life: a trio of impossibly beautiful vampires: Terence, Maria, and Edward. When they encounter Elise, they set an explosive triangle in motion
Terence wants to drain her blood. Maria wants Elise . . . as lover and partner through eternity. And Edward, the most recently converted, wants to prevent her from making the same mistake he made as a young abstract expressionist artist in 1950s Greenwich Village: sacrificing his artistic vision for immortal life. He is the only one of them still human enough to realize what an unholy trade this is.
Immortal Things will grip you in a vise of suspense that won’t let go until the very last moment…when a shocking turn of events changes everything and demonstrates—truly—what love and sacrifice are all about.
Rick R. Reed is an award-winning and bestselling author of more than fifty works of published fiction. He is a Lambda Literary Award finalist. Entertainment Weekly has described his work as “heartrending and sensitive.” Lambda Literary has called him: “A writer that doesn’t disappoint…” Find him at www.rickrreedreality.blogspot.com. Rick lives in Palm Springs, CA, with his husband, Bruce, and their two rescue dogs, Kodi and Joaquin.
Find him on Facebook here.
Find him on Twitter here.
Check out his blog here.
Follow him on Amazon here.
See all his works on Bookbub here.
Email Rick here: rickrreedbooks@gmail.com
Are you all getting in the mood for the spooky season now upon us? I hope so. Today I’m thrilled to share that the local writing group I belong to, the Bay Area Queer Writers Association (BAQWA) is putting out our first anthology: BAQWA Presents: Horror Show 2021. This is a follow up to last year’s highly successful Bay Area Queer Writers Association - Halloween Radio Hour 2020. If you haven’t listened to last year’s creepy story time, give the radio show a listen here.
This year we have ten stories written by five of our authors: Wayne Goodman, M.D. Neu, Richard May, Liz Faraim, and R.L. Merrill. We wrote each story to give you a delightful fright. Also, this year, all proceeds from the book will be donated to the Billy DeFrank Center in San Jose, CA. We are excited to help support this wonderful center here in the heart of Silicon Valley.
To give you a little tease as to what to expect in the anthology, here are the two blurbs for my two stories:
LandsEnd:
Prom Night. The last hurrah before college. Brandon and Ed are the chaperons for the Land’s High Senior Prom, hosted at the Land’s End Yacht Club. Its a night of dreams until the ground shakes and flashes of light brighten the sky knocking out everything electrical casting the event into darkness. Cut off and alone. The adults and the students have to figure out what to do and what’s happening. Additionally, what is that strange clicking sound off in the distance that seemed to scare off the animals.
The Old Road:
Halloween; a night of tricks and treats, but what happens when you take a stranger for a creepy night of mischief and fun? Anything can happen on Halloween, even the unimaginable.
Find out more about the anthology here and you can pick up your copy here.
Find out more about BAQWA and our authors here.
Want to learn more about the Billy DeFrank Center click here.
Well, that is all for this week. Keep an eye out for more details about BAQWA Presents: Horror Show 2021. I hope you have a wonderful day and see you next time.
Happy Wednesday everyone. I hope your week is going well. Over the past several years, I’ve been a book judge for multiple contests and believe me, I’ve read some outstanding books, sadly I’ve also read some not so great novels. Based on this experience, let me share with you what I look for when I’m judging books for a contest (this is completely different from reading for pleasure or even research).
To start, each book competition will have their own criteria for judging book entries. So, my suggestions and comments will be more general, to help you win awards and ensure you are presenting your best possible work.
Categories. This seems simple, but honestly, putting your book in the wrong category is the biggest no-no I can give you. When you enter your novel in an award contest, make sure you submit your book to the correct category. For an example, if you write erotica. Enter your erotica book in an erotica category. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you can enter the novel in Romance or, say, Sci-Fi, or Fantasy, or any other category (unless there is a sub-category for erotic stories like: Erotica-Fantasy). That is the quickest way for me, as a judge, to give you low marks. There are categories for a reason, so please do this for all your novels. If I’m planning on evaluating a fantasy story and you entered your Sci-Fi story in the fantasy section, I will not be a happy judge and you will end up with low marks.
My advice: check the category, recheck your story, ask a friend if they think your book belongs in the category you want to enter. If there are no categories that fit your book, then find another competition for your work. There are plenty or book competitions each year. Basically, don’t be lazy.
Editing. Okay, here’s the thing, we all make editing mistakes. If you have been a long-time reader of this blog, you know by now; spelling, grammar, and punctuation are a major hurdle in my writing. Believe it or not, each blog post has been edited and I use editing software to help catch mistakes. Still, there are major editing mistakes all over this blog (for me my blog is casual writing so I don’t sweat these mistakes too much). Errors happen and that’s fine, but if I’m reading your book for a competition and you didn’t take the time to have your manuscript edited (and this means professionally edited) then I’m going to nail you for that when I judge your book. If I can find mistakes in your work, then you clearly did not do any editing, and that is a big issue.
My advice: Self-publishing or traditional publishing or highbred… editing is key. Nothing will be 100% but do everything you can to ensure your product (yes, your book is a product and a piece of art) is as polished as possible. I may be more forgiving if you are self-published, but I will not give you a pass. And if your work is traditionally published, I’m really not going to give any slack. Basically, there is no excuse for sloppy work. Plus, you can find professional editors on line, always ask to see a sample of their work and ask them to provide you a sample edit of your work (one page or 500 words seems reasonable).
Novels, Novellas, and Short Stories. Know the difference. Pay attention to the length of your story. Novels are 50k words to 100k words, or 200 to 400 manuscript pages. Novellas range from 17,500 words to 40k words, or about 100 to 200 manuscript pages. Short Story length is always between 1,000 and 10,000 words, or roughly 3 to 30 manuscript pages. Why this is important is because as a judge I have certain expectation, if I’m reading Sci-Fi, mystery, fantasy, or urban fantasy stories I’m planning on something close to 100k words, if I’m reading romance I’m good with 50k – 70k words. I don’t want to read a Sci-Fi story that is only 10k words, unless I know ahead of time it’s a short story (which should be its own category). Submitting a short story or novella in a category that is clearly meant for longer books is a fast way to receive low marks.
There is nothing wrong with novellas and short stories. In fact, I love them, but they need to be entered in the correct categories and it’s up to the author to ensure that is the case.
My advice: Make sure you know what you are entering and what the expectations are. If you wrote a beautiful short story, enter your work in a short story contest, don’t enter the book in a category where you are up against full-length novels, chances are you won’t win. If the competition you want to enter doesn’t have a short story category, then look for another contest (there are plenty out there). You can also check in with the folks running the contest and see if they will add a short story category. They might not, but asking doesn’t hurt.
Write your story. There is nothing worse than reading a story that has been written solely for the mass market, but wants to be put up against other works that were created to tell a unique and different story. There is nothing wrong with mass market stories (again, I love them and I’ve judged several) and many of them are well worth an award. But if you’re writing a book for market, enter that novel in a contest designed for mass market books (there are several). Not all authors write the same thing, and many authors write stories reflecting their lives and their experiences. These works, in my opinion, are held to a different caliber in my mind, especially when I’m judging said works. We know the difference between a mass market book and something else, and I can assure you mass market books are judged differently and often much harder.
I don’t want to read about generic and interchangeable characters having generic and interchangeable stories. I want to read your story, something you created out of love. Mass market novels up against other works will get you nothing but low scores from me.
My advice: There are so many competitions out there why spam one contest with your work. If you write for market great, but maybe when looking for book award contests, find appropriate contests to enter. Personally, own voice stories rate and score so much better when I judge. Also, ask your friends, ask your publisher, ask your editor if they think your book would be a good entry for the competition you want to enter.
Know your audience: This is so important. If you write, as I do, LGBTQIA books, make sure you enter your queer fiction books in the correct contests. And conversely, if you write other types of stories, make sure you have entered your novel in the write category, don’t count on the contest organizers to sort this out. Many times, the organizers will kick back your book, or worse, enter the novel and let it fail. Yes, I’ve seen both. So, don’t risk putting your book in the wrong place.
My advice: Simple, pay attention to what you enter and don’t set yourself up to fail. Don’t rely on the contest organizers either, because they are busy and may miss something (it happens). As I’ve said, there are hundreds of book competitions out there. You can find the right fit for you and your masterpiece.
Here are a few lists of contests to look at (2021):
Reedsy. Click here.
The Novel Factory. Click here.
For LGBTQ books, do a Google search for: LGBTQ book competitions
Wrapping this up. Keep in mind there are no right or wrongs when you write your story, but there are a lot of do’s and don’ts when it comes to a book award competition. Everyone believes their book is an award winner, and that may be the case, but if you want to save yourself a world of hurt (and plenty of money in entry fees) pay attention to what contest you enter. The most important piece of advice I can give you, and I hope you will take it to heart, is the ‘editing’. Nothing will do your work more harm than sloppy editing. Yes, professional editing isn’t cheap, however, you and your book are worth the investment. Good luck with your writing and your next book contest. I hope this information is helpful.
Well, that is all for this week. I hope you have a wonderful day and see you next time.
Happy Wednesday everyone. I hope your week is going well. This week I thought I would share a couple of books that I’ve finished reading (Corpses and Cognac, The Rising Tide, & The Shoreless Sea) and my reviews. I hope you enjoy and please do check out these authors and their stories they are amazing.
Learn more here
A Terrific Continuation of the Story
This is book two in the Deadly Drinks series by Graves and what an amazing continuation. This is not a stand-alone book, so you will need to read book one first (and you won’t regret it). There are a lot of story elements to love about this novel, and for me, there are a few features I wasn’t crazy about. The writing is solid and Greaves does an excellent job with their characterizations and plot. We continue to follow Jarrod and Retz who are brothers and half-huldra and I adore them and love getting to read more about them and where the story progresses. Corpses and Cognac is a unique story filled with colorful and odd (in a good way) tale. I don’t want to get too in the weds here about the novel, so I won’t. As I’ve mentioned, the characters are well developed and enjoyable to read about. The brothers are my favorite. Sadly for me, this did not extend to Nalem (the god-like being that is connected to Jarrod) this go around. I found them annoying and uninteresting even though we got some wonderful background information and we got to learn more about them, which was nice). Regardless, the plot was well written. The writing is fantastic, as is the continued world building.
I’m looking forward to the next book, as I’m very interested in how this often-mesmerizing story will end.
Learn more here.
More Sci-Fi Greatness
This is book two in the (Liminal Sky: Ariadne Cycle Book 2) and it’s a wonderful continuation. Coatsworth does an amazing job continuing the story of the people who live in Forever. There are so many elements to love about this story it’s difficult to pick one thing to focus on. I love the world building and the storytelling. I felt Coatsworth made a conscious choice to be more inclusive in this story, which is a good thing. However, in doing so, some characters felt a bit thrown into the story, which was disappointing. Still, all the characters are amazing and wonderful to read. I love Eddy and Andy; they were wonderful and their interplay was a joy to read. What I loved most about this story was how Coatsworth created such a rich world in a confined space (we are inside a generation ship so there are only so many places to go (or are there?).
If you need a good sci-fi series, I suggest you start with book 1 and go from there, cause you don’t want to miss a thing.
Learn more here.
I Want so Much More
This is book three in the (Liminal Sky: Ariadne Cycle Book 3) and wow! I’ve been sitting on this review for a while, because there is so much to love about this book and this series, however, I had a really hard time with the story. I don’t maybe I wanted too much, or maybe I loved the first two books too much. Anyway, we continue our adventures inside Forever, humanities generation ship, that houses the last of humanity, or so we are told. There are bits about this story that made me a little sad, because I wanted so much more from the story. I had a tough time believing that many of the people inside the world ship no longer believed there was an Earth and they were from there. They believed Forever was their world, and that is where humanity came from. Not everyone believed this, of course, but it threw me for a loop since it had only been a generation, maybe two. Anyway, that was a small bit of the story.
Overall, for me, this story was a battle for the soul of humanity and where we would end up. Lilith is the ‘big bad’ of the story and sadly she fell flat for me. Especially since there were so many other wonderful characters to enjoy. What is great about this story is how Coastworth connects this story with the first two books (which means you really need to read books one and two so you don’t miss anything). I really loved how unique Coastworth made each of the Liminals (I can’t dive too deep here because this is a big plot point in book two). However, understand these characters are brilliant and you’ll be cheering for them.
Despite me being picky on this book, don’t get me wrong, I loved it and I enjoyed the series. This is how Sci-Fi should be written and I could easily see the series be developed for TV (pay attention Netflix and Hulu) cause this is a gem that needs more attention.
Well that is all for this week. I hope you have a wonderful day and see you next time.
Happy Wednesday Scribblers, today I am providing an update on my all my audiobooks. Yes, you heard that correctly. I will soon have more than one audiobook available and today I wanted to share the update with you as well as the samples from the stories. I’m so thrilled to have Steve Connor back again to narrate The Reunion (find the short story here). Also, I can’t wait for folks to hear the wonderful narration from Amanda Vargas who will lend her talents to A Dragon for Christmas (learn more about the short story here). Let’s not waste anymore time. Here are the details.
The Reunion is a story full of unique wonderful characters that share a tragic past.
Here is the blurb:
It’s been twenty years since the quiet Midwestern town of Lakeview was struck by tragedy. But every year, on the anniversary of the tragic event, Teddy returns home for ‘The Reunion’. Lakeview, like Teddy, has secrets and not all mysteries should come to light.
Listen to the sample here:
A Dragon for Christmas is a wonderful holiday fantasy short story about overcoming life’s challenges.
Here is the blurb:
Carmen is eleven years old and wants to get her dragon. Since she was seven years old, she understood two things. One, she was going to be the strongest Dragon Keeper there ever was. The second was that she was going to marry her best friend, Mattie.
As Christmas approaches, the magical charms Carmen has to use to fight off her curse are taking a toll on her health. But that can’t stop her from taking her final test to become a Dragon Keeper. If she passes her test, she gets her dragon, if not, she has to start all over relying on different magical charms to fight the curse for her. That is something Carmen doesn’t want to have to go through. The testing is difficult and charms make her sick. Carmen has decided that if she doesn’t get her dragon, this Christmas, she’s not going to go for a third attempt, even if that means she can’t marry Mattie when she grows up.
Listen to the sample here:
T.A.D. is a story about lifelong friendship and the choices that we make.
Here is the blurb:
Tad loves bouncing around in time and watching mankind grow and change. He loves humanity and helping when he can. However, his job isn’t conducive to helping people. He’s an Angel of Death.
Doug is fun loving and a drama queen. Despite his witty exterior, he has a dark history and is prone to self-destruction. He’s also an amazing drag queen and hairstylist with big dreams.
When Tad pushes the boundaries of his duties too far, his angel wings are stripped away from him, and he is sent to New York City to live as a human. Lost and alone, he ends up meeting Doug, and the two start a friendship that will shape them both and last a lifetime. But nothing is simple when you’re dealing with a former Angel of Death and a Drag Queen. Could these two cause the fabric of our world to collapse or will they manage to keep the future as it should?
Listen to the sample here:
Learn more about the audiobook here.
Well, that is my quick update for today. Until next time, have a great week.