Monday, August 24, 2015

Monday's Montage Mantlepiece: 50s Mixed Tape


Summary:
Chantilly Lace by Em Woods
When appearances aren’t everything…

Shea Laporte is a twenty-four-year-old professional twink. He gets his way with a bat of his eyelashes and a swish of his hips. Coffee bars, nightclubs and late, lazy mornings in bed are routine for him. He’s never regretted being who he is—after all, his lovers know what they’re signing up for—but he’s keeping a secret. One he’s more than happy to keep to himself until he meets Murdock ‘Murk’ Rouse, the new tenant in his apartment building.

Murk has been watching Shea flounce in and out of their shared complex for months. At first glance, he thought Shea was nothing better than the whores down on Eight Mile, but after one brief run-in with the spunky blond, he knows all Shea needs is a firm hand and a man who sees him for everything he is—smart, kinky and sexy as hell.

Rush Around the Clock by Silvia Violet
Finn McMurphy convinces himself his spoiled dogs are all the company he needs. Then he meets Crawford, his sexy new neighbour, and everything changes.

Patient soul Finn McMurphy teaches music and drama to middle schoolers. By the time he’s finished with after-school rehearsals and the private lessons he teaches to make ends meet, he’s too exhausted to think about dating or even hanging out with friends. He’s resigned to life with his music, his students and his ludicrously spoiled Yorkies.
Then he meets Crawford Bixby. Crawford may be the most perfect man Finn has ever met—kind, good with kids, gorgeous and completely unconcerned with Finn’s lack of ability to be coherent around him. Finn falls hard for him, but he’s terrified of what he feels. Will he be able to step out of the controlled world he’s created for himself and take a chance on love, or will he keep making excuses—rehearsals, papers to grade, dogs to walk—and push Crawford away?

It’s Only Make Believe by Havan Fellows
Dyer’s whole life is nothing but a game of play pretend. When he attempts to drag Derrick into his make-believe world, it tips on its axis. Suddenly Dyer doesn’t want to play anymore.

Dyer Cambell could escape all his troubles with a starring role in a new gay dramedy. At least he thinks so. Unfortunately, the producers want to cast true to script actors. Simple enough, Dyer will make them believe he’s gay. Problem solved.

Enter his best friend’s brother.

Derrick Verns had no intention of being Dyer’s personal show and tell prop. But there is something about Dyer that is oddly compelling. Derrick wants to find out who the real Dyer is—the one that doesn’t play make believe all the time.

Walkin’ After Midnight by Hank Edwards
Floyd has trouble staying interested in men, but meeting Gavin changes everything. Until Floyd learns his boss is dating Gavin. Now Floyd wants him even more.

Floyd Burland tends bar at Dudebaker’s, one of the city’s hottest nightspots. He’s something of a serial dater, but nowhere near as bad as his boss, club owner Shawn Frost. Floyd is trying to figure a way out of an entanglement with Trevor, a Dudebaker’s bus boy, when Gavin Hunt steps into his life. Handsome, outgoing, and just Floyd’s type, Gavin is there to talk with Shawn about a singing gig.

On a moonlit night, Floyd discovers Gavin in the club’s parking lot with a car that won’t start. He walks Gavin home and during their conversation, Floyd realises he could very easily fall in love with the man. Later, however, Shawn begins to brag that he and Gavin are dating, and Floyd, in a rash moment of jealousy, kisses Trevor the bus boy right in front of Gavin.

Soon everyone is pointing fingers and demanding answers, and before Floyd can even try to fix things between him and Gavin, the singer leaves town to pursue his dream of cutting an album.

Will Floyd follow his own dream and pursue Gavin in an effort to win him back? Will Gavin even give him the time of day if Floyd shows up at his door?

His Dream Lover by Lee Brazil
Through the gates of the sun lies the land of dreams, and beyond that…the realm of the lost.

In a private hospital room, motionless and still beneath a sheet, lies Joseph Caldwell. His surgery has passed, to all intents and purposes, successfully. The doctors offer no explanation for why he hasn’t awakened from the medically induced coma. The stream of visitors trickles down to nothing, and still he lies in endless sleep. Nearly everyone has given up any hope for his recovery.

Anaesthesiologist Oliver Gideon is racked with guilt and confusion. Could he have somehow done something wrong? His superiors assure him he is not at fault, the science he reviews tells him his dosages were correct, but the longer Caldwell sleeps the more Oliver is haunted by the loneliness of the figure in the bed.

He spends every possible moment with the patient, reading, talking, trying to fill the little room with sound, to stir a response that science isn’t sure is possible.

Morpheus, King of Dreams, has welcomed Joseph to his realm. Some dreams, he explains, are true, and some are false. There’s only one way tell. Joseph loves the dream world Morpheus has woven for him, for in it, he’s found something he never found in reality: a soul mate. For the first time, his life is perfect.

In the end, he has to choose. He cannot stay in the Realm of Morpheus forever. It’s either back to the land of the sun, and potential loneliness, or on to the realm of the lost.

The Line by Angel Martinez
Rafael Schiller, vampire and sexual god without peer, believes himself the top of the food chain, until a bizarre creature feeding in an alley scares the deathless hell out of him.

Rafael Schiller’s had a long road and he’s forgotten the meaning of several human words along the way. Commitment? Relationship? Love, for all the gods’ sakes? What does a vampire need those for? He’s completely content treating his long string of one-off lovers as midnight snacks. He makes it good for them and has no reason for guilt or grief. Some nights still induce an odd, hollow ache, but he can just drown it in the next conquest. Master of his universe, he lives without a care…until he encounters a bizarre creature feeding in an alley.

It’s caught his scent, and now that it’s hunting him, Rafael remembers a word from his childhood. Krsnik—the hunters, the monsters who feed on the blood of vampires. He could run, but he’d be running forever, and that would sure as hell take the fun out of life. Time to figure out what the creature really is, what can defeat it, and why he feels so drawn to it.


Chantilly Lace by Em Woods
The lights were too bright. The restaurant was too busy. The room felt like a damn sauna. And life could suck.

Shea Laporte knew that better than most.

Here he sat, on the two-week anniversary of his break-up with his previous lover and said lover’s bank account, on a blind date from hell. He sighed and wiped the spilled coffee from his arm. It was a good thing he had rolled his sleeves up or he would have been seriously angry. The sloppy Joe—what was his name?—across from him, trying to slide his way into Shea’s bed, couldn’t keep from talking about himself. To top it off, the idiot had managed to knock over Shea’s drink.

If he had not been filthy rich, Shea would have been long gone. But Shea had suffered a lot worse than a bad date for the kind of comfort a man like this could provide. Recently, in fact.

“When are we going to fuck?”

The question caught him off guard. Shea blinked his way back to the present. “Excuse me?”

The man across from him leant back in his seat, his pale blue shirt stretching dangerously tight at the buttons over his round belly. He twisted his chubby fingers together and rested the whole meaty lot behind his head, revealing the sweat stains under his arms. “I wanna get dirty. How long are you going to hold out?”

Shea allowed one carefully manicured eyebrow to drift up. “Who do you think you’re having dinner with?”

“A whore.” His date leered for a split second before a spit-slick tongue ran over dry, cracked lips. “A high-dollar one, but still a whore. When are we gonna get to the fucking?”

“That’s right. A high-dollar whore.” Taking his time to gather his thoughts, Shea harnessed his anger. He had cultivated that image carefully—buying only the finest things with his lovers’ money, preening under the attention of the wealthiest man in the room—so he could hardly complain when confronted with it, now, could he? “A high-dollar whore, in fact, who requires certain things, an agreement, a contract of obligations, if you understand.

Rush Around the Clock by Silvia Violet
Finn McMurphy sat on his front porch grading an abysmal set of essays written by his music appreciation students. Some of them didn’t seem capable of writing a complete sentence despite having made it to eighth grade in an elite private school. He sighed and gazed out at his sunny yard. Daffodils, irises and his two lilac bushes were blooming, and he wished he could enjoy the beautiful spring weather. He’d thought working on the porch would at least make him feel as if he were taking part in the season rather than ignoring the beauty around him to grade homework. Perhaps the spring air would even help him psych himself up for rehearsals for the musical his principal had asked him to put together at the last minute.

He’d wanted to say no, to explain how busy he already was, but he knew the man was looking for any excuse to get rid of him. The principal detested that Finn was openly gay. He didn’t want him influencing students with his wicked ways, but the school’s board members weren’t willing to back the principal in getting rid of Finn without just cause. Not because they were concerned about Finn’s feelings or his right to a job no matter his sexual orientation—the board just didn’t want to deal with a scandal. On the whole, the parents at Langston Academy weren’t as liberal as the average Asheville citizens, but there were plenty of families who’d raise a fuss on Finn’s behalf, thank goodness.

Finn sighed. He was going to make the musical work even if it killed him. He wasn’t about to let that smug blowhard of a principal have anything to hold over him, but it meant working even harder for no more compensation. He already had to teach private lessons and play at weddings and other special occasions to make ends meet. He was still paying off medical bills from his mother’s long illness, and he was determined to hold onto the house he’d grown up in.

He reached down absently to pat Yip, one of the ludicrously spoiled Yorkies he’d inherited when his mother passed away. He scratched her ears as she pawed at Finn’s leg, begging to be held.

It's Only Make-Believe by Havan Fellows
“You don’t understand. I nailed it.” Dyer Cambell grabbed his best friend, Harry Verns, by the shoulders and started his Tigger bounce. “I didn’t just nail it…I fucking nailed it, man. That part was written for me—”

“Except for one main thing…” Harry looked over his shoulder at him with that look. It was enough to make him stop bouncing, but not enough to wipe the shit eating grin off his face.

He nudged Harry and continued to his car. “Aw come on, you’re supposed to be my best friend. Be happy for me, I got the final call back. Rumour has it only two people were called back for the Micall part. If the other guy is who I think, I got this, man. Down the shots and spank the ladies because I’m in like Flynn.”

“And right there, that’s your problem—the ladies. You heard the same thing I did when we passed the director’s office. And Then There Were Two is a gay dramedy, they want gay actors to play the two male leads. Sure they love you, but they aren’t going to hire you.”

“That’s bullshit. They didn’t say they wouldn’t hire me. The director was just telling the bigwigs what they wanted to hear. Why would they tell me to come back—again, may I add—if they weren’t seriously wanting me?” Dyer clicked the key fob twice and unlocked the doors on his hand-me-down Rav4, a gift from his Aunt Pattie.

Harry climbed in next to him and buckled up. “Oh, so they aren’t seriously wanting the other guy they called back too? He isn’t bouncing all over the place, cussing like a sailor about how he’s practically got the part also?”

“Downer.” Dyer started the engine and pulled into the flow of traffic.

Harry sighed, “Look, I’m not trying to be a hard ass. I want you to get this part, you know I do. This show is a great concept, it could make a no namer’s career. But I don’t like the idea of you not looking at what might happen. This network is trying to get ahead of the curve with the GLBTQ crowd, they are pulling out all the stops to do this right from the get go. You’ve seen the press these auditions have gotten. Hell, we even had to use the back entrance to the locked parking lot. They will be blasted to hell and back if they cast a straight man as one of the leading gay roles. It will Titanic them before they even get around to shooting the pilot episode.”

Walkin' After Midnight by Hank Edwards
Dudebaker‘s was packed, and Floyd was busy behind the bar. He didn’t mind it, though, he liked to be busy. It made the time go by faster and the dollars in the tip jar multiply. And it kept his mind off things, most notably Trent. Floyd liked Trent, he guessed, but something was missing, just like all the other guys he had been dating, and there had been a lot of them.

The odd part about this thing with Trent was, they weren’t even dating. Floyd had just paid him a compliment, and now Trent seemed to think Floyd wanted to date him. Floyd liked to fuck, boy did he ever, but so far he’d just been able to find fuck buddies, not dates. He wasn’t sure if it was him or his choice in men or a combination of the two, but up to now, Floyd had pretty much set his mind to spending his life alone.

To make matters worse with the situation, Trent was one of the bus boys at Dudebaker’s. One thing Floyd had learned after he’d first started tending bar at the club was the bus boys stuck together. Like a pack of hyenas.

As he handed off a couple of beers, Floyd caught a glimpse of a handsome man next in line, the flashing lights from the dance floor like sparks in the man’s brilliant blue eyes. This guy was new, and something about him really caught Floyd’s attention, so he flashed a big smile and shouted over the music, “Hey, what’ll you have?”

This new arrival was just Floyd’s type—tall and lanky, with shaggy dark hair and those bright blue eyes. Floyd felt something ping inside him. It was an intense reaction, one he’d never experienced before, and though it confused him, his smile widened. The stranger returned Floyd’s smile and leaned in over the bar to be heard above the music, bringing those gorgeous eyes and full, soft lips tantalisingly close.

“I’m supposed to see Shawn Frost?” His voice was deeper than Floyd had expected, and it seemed to reach right down inside Floyd’s tight black pants and grab him by the balls.

“Shawn?” Floyd repeated, more to hear that deep voice once more than for clarification. As the owner of Dudebaker’s, Shawn Frost was not only Floyd’s boss, but also a trust fund baby with a more severe case of boyfriend ADD than Floyd had himself. And it looked like Shawn had already finished with his current twink of the week and was about to move on to this new hot number. Floyd cursed his luck of meeting him after Shawn then realised the man was leaning even farther over the bar and still talking to him.

His Dream Lover by Lee Brazil
“It’s my half day today.” As though having time off means you’ll be away from the hospital. Dr Oliver Gideon perched on the edge of the uncomfortable chair beside the bed in room 32B at Beachport Memorial Hospital and searched the pale face on the pillow for any sign that his words had been heard.

The night nurse had turned the patient’s face so he looked into the room. If he could see, that was. The comatose man’s eyelids remained obstinately closed after six months of long sleep. There wasn’t even a flicker of eye movement that Oliver could latch onto and pretend the patient dreamed, or merely slept. Those lids lay stubbornly still, immobile as the rest of the man.

Coma. It was supposed to have been a short-term state induced to enhance the body’s natural healing processes following Joseph Caldwell’s surgery. Instead, hours had stretched into days, and days into weeks, and still the man slumbered on, if sleep it could be called.

It didn’t matter that the patient’s eyes refused to open of their own accord. Oliver knew they were slate grey, almond-shaped and, when he was conscious, they telegraphed every emotion the man felt. Oliver knew that, because he’d stared down into those eyes on an operating table six months before, seen the interest in the grey depths turn to fear when he’d caught sight of the gas mask. Fear wasn’t unusual in his patients—he had a practised litany of words designed to ease the uncertainties of patients who were scared of losing consciousness.

Some people feared spiders, some feared the unknown. Joseph Caldwell, he sensed, feared losing control. He was a man who was accustomed to being careful. His whole being screamed caution and reserve, from the precisely trimmed hair to the neatly plucked eyebrows. If he peeked into the plastic carrier that held the man’s belongings he would surely find a pair of highly polished dress shoes, neat slacks, a button-down shirt and a tie. Even his build was a perfect balance of casual fitness, muscled but not buff, lean but not thin.

The patient had lost muscle and fat though over the ensuing weeks. Allowing his gaze to wander down the thin frame, skipping guiltily over the IV needles and catheter tubes, Oliver counted the man’s breaths for a minute. Each breath raised the thin sheet reassuringly, establishing Caldwell’s claim to life. Persistent, tenacious, clinging to life. He might look waxen and pale, but Joseph Caldwell lived, and that was something.

The Line by Angel Martinez
“Easy,” Rafael whispered, stroking soothing circles on his meal’s stomach. “Deep breaths.”

The young man beneath him whimpered as Rafael scraped glistening fangs over his throat. With his hands bound tight to the headboard, the human had no way to fend him off and the tang of fear sent spears of delicious desire through Rafael’s core.

The meal squirmed again and Rafael hissed in exasperation. “Hold still, Denny! Do you want a chunk ripped from your throat?” He thrust hard, pegging his dinner’s prostate. Denny arched and yelped in delight.

“Rafael, beautiful Rafael, please take me. Take all of me. Take what you need.”

Why, oh, why do they have to get so melodramatic? With a firm hand on Denny’s forehead, Rafael licked his pulse line, preparing the skin. He snapped his hips with each thrust, pleased when Denny’s legs wrapped around his waist. Precision was the key. Certainly, a vamp could just stab his fangs in and suck the life out of a meal, but where was the fun in that? Life was a buffet and it was so much better to be able to come back for seconds.

Pleasure building at the base of his spine and jaw, Rafael punctured through delicate skin, leaving two surgical-calibre entrance wounds. Hot blood hit his tongue as he fastened his mouth over the holes and sucked. He moaned and bucked, losing rhythm but not enthusiasm as the blood hit his system, sending wicked pleasure through his groin and head. Denny’s wail as he came could have been unpleasant, but he was only aware of it in a distant, sensually drowned way.

Rafael let his body collapse atop his lovely meal, finally still and dazed, as he released the coagulant from his feeding gland. Rule number five, always lick your plate clean and don’t leave a mess behind.

“That was transcendent,” Denny whispered into his hair.

Transcendent? Really? What century is this again? “Glad you enjoyed it. You were very tasty.” Rafael eased his cock out of Denny’s wonderfully tight ass and reached up to undo his hands. “Stay right there and go to sleep. I’ll see myself out, sweets.”

Author Bios:
Hank Edwards
Hank Edwards’ humorous erotic novel, Fluffers, Inc., which introduced his Fluffers, Inc. characters, is available from Lethe Press in both print and e-book format, along with the sequels A Carnal Cruise and Vancouver Nights. His Up to Trouble series of suspense novels include Holed Up, Shacked Up, and Roughed Up. He has also published the gay marriage romantic comedy Plus Ones, all available from Loose Id in e-book format. His noir gay romance novella Hired Muscle is available from Silver Publishing.

All three books of his paranormal Venom Valley Series are now available from Wilde City Press: Cowboys & Vampires: Venom Valley Book One, Stakes & Spurs: Venom Valley Book Two, and Blood & Stone: Venom Valley Book Three. The series follows Josh and Dex who battle vampires and zombies in the American Old West as they realize just how deep their feelings for each other reach.

He also has self-published two short story collections, A Very Dirty Dozen and Another Very Dirty Dozen, each of which contains 12 sizzling short stories, along with a number of "Salacious Singles," erotic short stories, and his medieval time travel romance Destiny's Bastard.

Hank is a member of the Story Orgy writing group, and has published several short stories written based on prompts: With This Ring, Mistletoe at Midnight, Cross Country Foreplay, A Gift for Greg, and Bad Boyfriends: The Cheapskate. Find his blog at www.hankedwardsbooks.com/hankerings.

More than three dozen of his short stories have appeared in various gay erotic magazines and anthologies, find the complete list on his website. He lives in a suburb of Detroit with his very patient partner of many years and their two cats who distract and inspire him on a daily basis.

Em Woods
All about little ol' me? Hmm. Okay, the normal stuff first. I currently live in the Midwest near Detroit, Michigan with my husband and two sons who are ten and seven years old. All three keep me on my toes. I work in the automotive industry making sure all the parts inside the car look pretty along with handling all the paperwork that goes along with that (you'd be amazed at how much there is!).

Not so normal stuff now. I am an eclectic soul, having lived in three out of the four corners of the United States. I can count as personal friends people from many walks of life (dare I say, some are family too?). I think this is what allows me to see past the things that make us different to the things that make us alike. Hence, I am a person who will accept anyone for what they are, almost to a fault sometimes.

I love angst (as you very well know if you've read one of my stories). I adore digging into an issue, touching on it and those people it effects, and then giving it a happily-ever-after. Research is probably one of my favorite parts of writing. Finding out new facts, meeting new people while I do that…asking them questions they would never expect.

Lee Brazil
My family moved a lot when I was young. A constant stream of new schools, new locations and new people made my family and my books my only constant companions. As a child I was swept away into incredible worlds with the turn of every page, from Camelot to Sherwood Forest, the deck of a whaling ship, or the frigid Alaskan tundra. Every book I read spurred new adventures…if only I were there to turn left when Lancelot went right, or some such.

Even before I started putting my what if's on paper, I was telling myself stories. As I grew, the stories changed, and the focus changed from wild adventures and feats of daring to simpler, more enduring themes. Today I write about what I believe is one of the most basic of human needs…the need to love and be loved.

Silvia Violet
Silvia Violet writes erotic romance and erotica in a variety of genres including sci fi, paranormal, and historical.

Silvia Violet can often be found haunting coffee shops looking for the darkest, strongest cup of coffee she can find. Once equipped with the needed fuel, she can happily sit for hours pounding away at her laptop. Silvia typically leaves home disguised as a suburban stay-at-home-mom, and other coffee shop patrons tend to ask her hilarious questions like "Do you write children's books?" She loves watching the looks on their faces when they learn what she's actually up to. When not writing, Silvia enjoys baking sinful chocolate treats, exploring new styles of cooking, and reading children's books to her wickedly smart offspring.

Angel Martinez
Angel Martinez currently lives part time in the hectic sprawl of northern Delaware and full time inside her head. She has one husband, one son, two cats, a love of all things beautiful and a terrible addiction to the consumption of both knowledge and chocolate.

Angel's alter ego writes the all-ages science fiction - Sandra Stixrude.

Havan Fellows
I annoy, love, respect, scare, seduce, hurt, anger, infatuate, frustrate, flatter, envy, amuse and tolerate everyone. I just do it better in writing thanks to a little thing called...edits.

Okay no, seriously...I'm a simpleminded person who enjoys the escape from real life through a book. I write with the group Story Orgy and hope to continue doing so for a long time. I also am privileged to be with the Pulp Friction writers, creating intermingling books in a world all our own.

I recently took the drastic step of quitting my EDJ (evil day job) and am now living in the gorgeous desert in Arizona making a go at this writing stuff full time...and I can't see me regretting this decision ever.

Just like every other red-blooded human--I get a little bouncy when I get mail (any kind too...email, comments, private messages...you wanna do it, do it with me *winks*). So feel free to drop me a line--whether it's on my blog, twitter, Pinterest, or you track me down on FaceBook or Google +...it's easy to catch someone who wants to be caught. :)


Hank Edwards
AMAZON  /  ARe  /  GOODREADS
EMAIL: hankedwardsbooks@gmail.com

Em Woods
FACEBOOK  /  TWITTER  /  WEBSITE
BLOG  /  PINTEREST  /  ARe  /  GOOGLE PLAY
EMAIL: em.woods.erotic@gmail.com

Lee Brazil
BLOG  /  PINTEREST  /  SMASHWORDS  /  ARe
EMAIL: lee.brazil@ymail.com

Silvia Violet
FACEBOOK  /  TWITTER  /  WEBSITE  /  BLOG
ARe  /  YAHOO  /  CHANGELING  /  iTUNES
SAMHAIN  /  AMAZON  /  GOODREADS
EMAIL: silviaviolet@gmail.com

Angel Martinez
WEBSITE  /  LAZY BEAGLE  /  ARe
EMAIL: ravenesperanza@yahoo.com

Havan Fellows
GOOGLE PLAY  /  GOOGLE+  /  ARe
EMAIL: havan.fellows@ymail.com



AMAZON US  /  AMAZON UK  /  B&N
KOBO  /  iTUNES  /  GOOGLE PLAY  /  ARe


Shadow in the Sea by Sheila A Nielson

Title: Shadow in the Sea
Author: Sheila A Nielson
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Release Date: July 15, 2015
Summary:
When sixteen-year-old Sadelyn Hanson washes up on the shores of Windwaithe Island, her beauty and the strange marks on her wrist make superstitious locals suspect she is a mermaid. Feigning amnesia, Sade hides a far worse secret: she was sailing to her own murder trial when she was thrown overboard by the real killer, the cunning and cruel Captain Westwood.

Sade’s quiet effort to rebuild her life on the island is threatened when she meets an actual young merman. Unable to speak his language, Sade still longs for the warm companionship he offers, despite the locals’ dire legends about merfolk and their dark magic. But her confused feelings for the impossible boy become the least of her problems when Captain Westwood’s ship docks at Windwaithe. With nowhere to escape, Sade must trust in the one person who doesn’t fear the merfolk. A woman who had dealings with them herself—years ago.


“What do you mean?” I demanded. My heart beat heavily against the back of my ribs. Had he heard about my impending trial from his father?

“I’ll bet you’re a mermaid,” James said.

I was so relieved by his ridiculous answer I laughed out loud. It was a tight unnatural sound, nothing like the way I used to laugh.

James lifted his chin to a lofty angle, clearly offended by my amusement at his expense. “There are such things as mermaids you know—especially around Windwaithe Island. I should know because a member of my family was once stolen away by one.”

Stolen away? I wrinkled my nose and narrowed my eyes at him in disbelief.

James’s eyes were a brilliant blue as he hurried on with what was obviously one of his favorite stories. “Lady Lauretta was my great, great—well she was a great, great something or other of mine—she was put under a spell by her.”

“Who?” I asked, suddenly overcome by curiosity.

A hush came over James’s voice as he spoke the words. “The Windwaithe Mermaid.”

My breath caught somewhere in my chest. When I didn’t speak, he continued. “They say the mermaid was beautiful beyond words, with dark green skin and a voice filled with terrible magic. She sang Lady Lauretta right out of her bed in the middle of the night, laying a powerful trance upon her. Lauretta’s father tried to stop the mermaid from taking her, but the creature used her powers to curse the island and call up a terrible storm—”

Noticing my face for the first time, James broke off in the middle of his story. “Are you all right, Miss Sade? You look ill.”

I did indeed feel sick.

I’ve never seen anything like her before? She’s exquisite. Like some elfin creature out of a fairy story… You heard the men who found her. She was just lying there in the surf—washed up out of the sea with nary a sign of a boat, like something out of the old tales.

Estelle spoke those words of me the first night I awakened in the Rousay cottage. I had not understood then—I did now. This was the curse Captain Westwood spoke of. A powerful curse straight out of the darkest depths of the sea itself. And they thought I had something to do with it.

I squeezed my hands tight into fists. “I’m not a mermaid.”

“If you don’t remember where you came from, how do you know?” James asked. “You might be the Windwaithe mermaid’s daughter or something.”

“Do I look like a mermaid?” I demanded.

James’s blue eyes took in all of me with a glance. He smiled shyly. “You’re pretty enough to be one. I’ve never met anyone with hair like yours—long, with all those braids woven in.”

I immediately regretted not heeding Estelle’s warnings about wearing my hair down in public. “If I were a mermaid, would I have two perfectly good legs?” I lifted my skirt just enough to reveal the tops of my two booted feet.

James grinned, gracefully giving way in his defeat. “All right, so maybe you’re not a mermaid.”

Your newest book, Shadow in the Sea is a follow-up to the mermaid novel, Forbidden Sea, published by Scholastic Press. Do you have to read Forbidden Sea first in order to enjoy Shadow in the Sea?
Shadow in the Sea is more of a companion novel rather than a true sequel to Forbidden Sea.  I knew this book would be the first time visiting Windwaithe Island for many readers—so I wrote Shadow in the Sea as a stand-alone. If readers decide they like Shadow in the Sea, they can always go back and read Forbidden Sea to find out what happened before.

Why mermaids? Or should I say, mermaids and mermen—since one of the main characters in Shadow in the Sea is a handsome merprince. 
I was first introduced to Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairytale, The Little Mermaid, as a child. My family had an illustrated version of the story and I used to look at the pictures in it again and again. I hated the whole lose-the-guy-and-turn-into-sea-foam-ending—so I would imagine my own mermaid stories to go along with the pictures. Ones with much better endings.

After I became a children’s librarian, I noticed that many girls who came in asked for mermaid books. We didn’t have a lot of them so the kids left looking very disappointed.  I thought to myself, Someone needs to write more mermaid stories. That’s when I realized that person could be me. When I finally got around to writing my mermaid stories, I found myself revisiting some of the things I’d first imagined about mermaids back in my elementary school days.

Do you think there are real mermaids out there in the ocean somewhere?
You would be surprised how often I get asked that question. I, myself, am a complete skeptic, though, nothing would make me happier than to be proven wrong. I will say this—while doing my research for Shadow in the Sea I discovered there are a lot of people who strongly believe in mermaids—both in present day and historically.  In fact, the Orkney Islands have an extensive history when it comes to mermaid sightings. (Try Googling “Deerness Mermaid” sometime and see what you find!)

What part of Shadow in the Sea did you enjoy writing most? 
The Sea Prince, Araedyn, was the most complicated (and enjoyable) character to write in Shadow in the Sea. Because he speaks only merlanguage, I had to find other ways to communicate his story and personality to the main character, and the reader. As an author, I know a great many private details about my characters. Some of this information can’t be fit into the final story. In the first book, Forbidden Sea, I didn’t have time to flesh out Prince Araedyn the way I wanted to. Shadow in the Sea finally gave me a chance to bring the mysterious merprince front and center, the way I’d been dying to from the start.

Are any of your characters based on real people?
An author writes what she knows, so bits and pieces of real people do sneak in here and there. However, there is only one character in Shadow in the Sea who is completely based on reality. Dartemore, the horse. My grandfather owned an animal just like him while I was growing up. He was a one man horse who adored my grandpa and hated everyone else. If he could have slept at the end of my grandfather’s bed like a dog, he would have. When grandpa rode the horse, he lifted up his feet and let his tail fly high. When I got on him he tried to kill me. Every. Single. Time.

Fictional characters often find themselves in situations they’re not sure they can get out of. Have you ever found yourself in a situation like that? What did you do?
I almost drowned when I was young. I was swimming in a lake all alone. (A really stupid thing to do!) I felt something swim into my legs under the water—either a good sized fish or a water snake—I ‘m not sure which. I panicked, started thrashing around, and quickly went under. I remember looking down through the water and realizing that I couldn’t see the bottom because it was so dark and deep. Luckily, I was able to calm down enough to stop flailing and float back up to the surface before it was too late. I’ve had a phobia of fish and deep water ever since.  This made writing about merfolk who live fathoms beneath the surface of the ocean an interesting experience. There were times I had to take a break from writing because I would start to feel like I couldn’t breathe.

You are a children’s librarian as well as an author. Do you find this affects your writing in any way?
Children want to share their joy when it comes to reading. I’ve had the plots of far too many novels spoiled for me by eager young library patrons who just wanted to tell me everything about their favorite book. I don’t mind one bit. This has given me a unique understanding of what kids do and don’t like when reading a book. Sometimes, I find myself thinking, What would the kids at the library like to see happen in this chapter? then I write the scene accordingly. Kids love fun little details that don’t necessarily have anything to do with the book’s main plot. The game of Quiddich is a great example of this. In Shadow in the Sea, the Sea Prince has eyes that change color based on his emotions and moods. I recently had a young fan write me an email to ask if I could please make a list of every eye color and its corresponding emotion and send it to her as quickly as possible.

There is one other perk to being a librarian author. Kids will sometimes come to the reference desk and ask me for one of my own books—never realizing I’m the one who wrote it.

Have you written a book you love that you have not been able to get published?
A couple of years ago, I wrote a paranormal romance story about a haunted doll museum. It was much scarier and darker than anything else I’ve ever written.  It was so creepy one member of my writer’s group decided they didn’t want to finish it. That book is one of my favorites despite the fact that it may never be published.

What would Sadelyn, Shadow in the Sea’s protagonist, think about you if she could meet you?
After everything I put her through in this story--she would probably refuse to even speak to me. Sade would forgive me in time, but then find some sneaky way to let me know she didn’t approve of my methods of entertaining readers at her expense.

Author Bio:
Sheila never did figure out what she wanted to be when she grew up. She graduated from college with a BFA in illustration, has worked as a children's librarian for over eighteen years, and would eventually like to be a full-time author. Why pick one career when you can have many? Sheila lives with her two pets, a goffin cockatoo and a tiny toy poodle. She was born and raised in California but has come to also love her adopted home in Utah where she currently resides.


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Rusty Knob by Erica Chilson

Title: Rusty Knob
Author: Erica Chilson
Genre: M/M Romance, New Adult
Release Date: August 25, 2015
Summary:
The townsfolk of Rusty Knob, West Virginia, see the Gillettes as ignorant wastes of space– worthless drunk sponges. As the youngest, Wynn may be a Gillette, but he doesn’t act, nor think like one. At only seventeen, he studies hard, plays basketball harder, and works the hardest.

Wynn is numb to his core, no longer feeling the hits that keep knocking him down to the ground. He’s unable to see the bright future laid out before him. Royce Kennedy, a distant relative, tries all he can do to save the youngest generation of Gillettes from the dark shroud of bitter ignorance infecting them via their neglectful upbringing.

Wynn’s studying is to the backdrop of drunken chaos, his relationship with friends and family are tainted by a narrow world view, and his life is filled with more questions than answers. His every dollar earned is bled dry come payday, only to have his parents piss it down the toilet or blow caustic smoke to billow in the air.

A warped sense of loyalty forces Wynn to be his family’s enabler, and he’s paying the ultimate price. With the support system of Royce, the mentor of the school district’s LGBTQ online community, and Wynn’s friends, they try to prove to Wynn he deserves anything he needs, whether he earns it or not. Growing up in an ignorant wasteland, he never learned love, friendship, and respect are unconditional, can never be purchased, and should never be abused.

Wynn Gillette is at a crossroads. One thing’s for sure, he cannot continue on this destructive path. Wynn has to end the only life he’s ever known, breaking the bitter legacy passed down from one generation to the next. One way or the other. Permanently.


“I get how hard this is for my friends and family now.” I lean forward, resting my elbows on my thighs, feeling hopeless– lost –and for once it’s not about me. “I can’t imagine… I can’t imagine the world without you in it.” My throat goes tight on me all of the sudden. Whether it’s a glare or a grin, I look forward to just being around Kade. Always have. “Jesus, this is hard. Why’d you do it, Kade? Why’d you try to kill yourself?”

Voice taut with painful emotions, “Grief mostly,” Kade breathes the words. “I lost my mom when I was real young, and my dad stepped up. I don’t think I’m capable of loving anyone as much as I loved him. He was a kind and gentle giant. Soft-spoken and patient. He was my daddy, my momma, and my teacher. Dad was my best friend– my hero. He was my world… and one day he was gone.”

Voice changing from soft to harsh, Kade gruffly grits out, “Logging accident at work. He was felling a tree, and the chainsaw kicked back. The tree fell in the wrong direction, and it landed on his chest– pulverizing everything beneath it.”

Tragic, there are no words, so I simply rest my hand on Kade’s knee like he had for me earlier.

“For hours on end, I would just sit and stare at the door, waiting for Dad to come home. Only thing was, he was never coming home again.” With a deep breath, Kade looks up and away, and then his eyes settle on Suicidal Tendencies again. “Still to this day, I’ll lay in bed, trying to remember the deep timbre of his voice, remember the way he smelled like sawdust and pine sap, or the way his eyes would crinkle up in the corners when he was smiling.”

Kade rests his hand over mine, twining our fingers together, seeking comfort. “Dad reminded me of a big bear. He was taller than I am now, with a wide chest and shoulders. But I was never afraid of him, even when I barely came up to his knee. He wore flannel, jeans, and huge work boots, and sometimes I dress like that to remember him.”

“I can’t imagine how comforting it would be to look in the mirror and have someone you love staring back at you.” I gaze at Kade, instinctively knowing he looks exactly like his father. “I want to punch my reflection sometimes, hating how perfect Gillettes look when we’re broken in every way that matters… but this isn’t about me. Your hair? Did your dad wear it long?”

Kade’s deep laughter stuns me stupid, causing a sensation I’ve never experienced to slither up my spine. “Dad shaved his head, hating how people would comment on his hair. My grandfather made some shitty homophobic slurs, so I started growing it out when I was seventeen as a way to spit in his face. When I visit him, I make sure to wear it down.”

“Rebel,” I mutter with a smirk.

Kade squeezes my hand, signaling the happy portion of our conversation has met its end. “When I talk of suicide, I tell everyone it was because my grandfather was a drunk bigot who abused his faggot grandson. But that’s not the entire truth. Three months after Dad passed, I woke up so terrified I had pissed the bed. I couldn’t remember… I couldn’t remember my father.” Kade’s voice is lifeless yet panicked, as if he’s nothing but a ghost of himself.

“I could remember nothing of him. Not even what he looked like. I was so distraught, I didn’t realize I could just reach for his photograph. Instead, I took my grandfather’s hunting knife to my forearms.”

I gaze at the zombie gnome, and its name hits me so hard I recoil backward. “You’re not tempted to do it again, are you?”

“Sometimes,” Kade admits the truth like it doesn’t wound me. He leans back upright again, and rests an elbow on his thigh, keeping our hands connected on his other leg. “I miss Dad to the point I feel alone in this world.” Kade’s voice hitches, forcing him to pause. “But I know he would be furious at me for trying to kill myself.”

“He’d blame himself,” I mutter, another realization dawning.

“Just like Warren is blaming himself right now. Royce too, ya know?”

“I get it,” I gulp out. “Sometimes I want to kill myself because I was so goddamned stupid for trying it the first time. I know it makes no sense, but I have to punish myself somehow.”

“There’s a reason you’re alive. It’s best you deal with that fact,” Kade orders. “We all have a reason for existence. I’m still here to save others like me. It’s why I became a teacher, but I’m waiting for the guidance counselor position to open up. When I applied, all we had was first grade available. I was qualified.”

Author Bio:
Erica Chilson does not write in the 3rd person, wanting her readers to be her characters. Therefore, writing a bio about herself, is uncomfortable in the extreme.

Born, raised, and here to stay, the Wicked Writer is a stump-jumper, a ridge-runner. Hailing from North Central Pennsylvania, directly on the New York State border; she loves the changes in seasons, the humid air, all the mountainous forest, and the gloomy atmosphere.

Introverted, but not socially awkward, Erica prides herself on thinking first and filtering her speech. There are days she doesn’t speak at all. If it wasn’t for the fact that she lives with her parents, giving her a sense of reality, she would be a hermit, where the delivery man finds her months after expiration.

Reading was an escape, a way to leave a not-so pleasant reality behind. Reading lent Erica the courage she gathered from the characters between the pages to long for a different life. Writing was an instrument of change, evolving Erica into the woman she is today- a better, more mature, more at peace thinker.

Erica has a wicked mind, one she pours out into her creations. Her filter doesn’t allow all of it to erupt, much to her relief. Sarcastic, with a very dark, perverse sense of humor, Erica puts a bit of herself into every character she writes.


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Release Day Blitz: Turn of the Moon by LP Dover

Title: Turn of the Moon
Author: LP Dover
Series: Royal Shifters #1
Genre: Paranormal, Shape Shifter Romance
Release Date: August 24, 2015
Summary:
One girl. Two wolves. Promised to one. Destined for the other.

To escape the cruel, overbearing, Kade, the Yukon Pack alpha she’s been promised to, Bailey Whitehill flees her home in search of a new life, one of freedom where she can make her own choices. However, Kade will stop at nothing to make her his and begins the hunt.

As Bailey starts her new life, everything she’s known to be true, is not. Time is of the essence and choices have to be made or consequences suffered. Not only does Bailey fear Kade, but another danger lurks deep in the recesses of the forest. Unbeknownst to her, that danger is what she’s been searching for all along. At the turn of the moon, her fate hangs in the balance . . . and it’s up to her to make the right choice.



What Others Are Saying:
“The storyline was excellent and I wasn't bored at all. The pacing was smooth and kept my attention.” ~ Author Andrea Heltsley

“Holy Mother of Alpha Males! Need a new book boyfriend?! look no further.” ~ Goodreads Reviewer

“Overall, Turn of the Moon was a great read and definitely a must read for fans of paranormal and romantic suspense alike. I can't wait for the next book in the series!” ~ Life With 2 Boys

Author Bio:
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author, L.P. Dover, is a southern belle residing in North Carolina along with her husband and two beautiful girls. Before she even began her literary journey she worked in Periodontics enjoying the wonderment of dental surgeries.

Not only does she love to write, but she loves to play tennis, go on mountain hikes, white water rafting, and you can't forget the passion for singing. Her two number one fans expect a concert each and every night before bedtime and those songs usually consist of Christmas carols.

Aside from being a wife and mother, L.P. Dover has written over fifteen novels including her Forever Fae series, the Second Chances series, the Gloves Off series, and her standalone novel, Love, Lies, and Deception. Her favorite genre to read is romantic suspense and she also loves writing it. However, if she had to choose a setting to live in it would have to be with her faeries in the Land of the Fae.

L.P. Dover is represented by Marisa Corvisiero of Corvisiero Literary Agency.


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Matteo by Rachael Orman

Title: Matteo
Author: Rachael Orman
Series: Rossi Family #1
Genre: Dark Erotic Romance
Release Date: August 8, 2015
Summary:
Being born into slavery, I never thought my owner, my very mother, would sell me. And she didn’t.

Until Matteo.

I was tormented, struggling to come to terms with my new life then he narrowed it down to two things.

Pleasure. Pain.

The man confused me at every turn with his unexpected and unattainable desires.

If only he’d speak to me.

If only he’d tell me how to avoid upsetting him.

If only I could please him.

**Disclaimer: This is a DARK erotic Italian Mafia story. There are twisted behaviors in this book not everyone will be able to handle. Explicit, violent, and sexual scenes are involved. Not for the wary of heart.**


     A shiver ran through me. I was chained up in his basement. I’d never been restrained in such a way before. Madam never resorted to such means since she knew I never would’ve run. I had no desire to live free of enslavement. It was all I knew and all I wanted. However, feeling the cool breeze in the room and the even colder restraints on my skin made me wonder if maybe I had thought wrong all along.
     “I can see from the look on your face that you’ve never been locked up before, and I see that’s where Madam went wrong with you. No, you didn’t want to escape, but you don’t know how to behave. No, you don’t truly know the extent to which a punishment can go. Don’t worry, that is going to change starting now. This will throw a wrench in my initial plans for you, but I refuse to let you go now. You are mine and will be forever, so get used to the idea.” Matteo leaned against the wall in front of me, sliding his hands into his pockets as if we were carrying on a completely normal conversation. He appeared entirely at ease while I struggled with all the new emotions flooding me.      After a moment of staring at me, he pushed off the wall and stood close enough I could feel his body heat.
     He reached down to pull his erection from his dress slacks. Sliding his hand over it slowly, he dragged the tip over my mouth.
     “Suck it. Get me off and I’ll leave you alone for the remainder of the night. Fail to do so and I will start your punishment now,” he said as he shoved the hot, hard, musky flesh into my mouth.
     I wanted to cry out that I thought the lashings from the belt had been my punishment. Instead, I sucked him down my throat and bobbed my head along his length the way he’d shown me he liked it done. The longer I sucked, the more my lips became numb and the more I realized that I really had no idea what being a slave was like.
     Finally, he groaned and his release filled my mouth and throat before he pulled back. As he tucked himself into his pants again he yanked my hair so I was forced to look him in the eye.
     “Welcome to the Italian Mafia way of life, bella.”



Author Bio:
Mother by day. Writer by night. I spend a majority of my day with my children and reading while my nights are filled with the sound of the keyboard as I work on my next work.

I have written in nearly every LBGT category as well as the traditional erotic romance category.

I love to try new things and learn from every piece of work I write. I'll write just about anything once to learn from it. I've even ventured out of my normal erotica genre into Monster Erotica. Doubt you'll find me writing anything not erotic as you can barely get me to even read something out of that category, but then again, you never know what I might try next.

Never stop learning. Try everything at least once.


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