Sunday, March 7, 2021

Sunday's Sport Stats: Give Me More by Gen Ryan



Summary:

Sometimes love is worth the risk.

Flynn Coleman has spent his entire life playing professional baseball. When an injury forces him into physical therapy, he fears he’ll never play again.

Sean Myers is a recent college graduate with a love of sports and a new degree in physical therapy. When offered an internship at a prestigious rehab facility, he stumbles upon his favorite baseball player and crush, Flynn Coleman.

Sparks fly and both men are unable to deny the attraction between them.

When Flynn makes Sean a proposition he can’t refuse, will they be able to survive with their careers and hearts intact?

Original Review January 2018:
Baseball has been Flynn Coleman's entire life but when an injury requires physical therapy he fears it could be career ending.  Sean Meyers has landed an internship of his dreams but when his new client is none other than his favorite ballplayer and crush, Flynn Coleman he fears being able to table said crush.  Mutual attraction runs high but will they stick to professionalism or will they take that forbidden leap?

With baseball season just around the corner, Give Me More is a perfect read for lovers of the sport but the heat and connection between Flynn and Sean make this an equally perfect read for those who may not be fans of the game but are fans of a well written tale of forbidden love.  Okay, "forbidden" may be too strong a word choice but crossing that line between therapist and client/patient is definitely not morally doable but it certainly adds just the right dash of spice.  Being a fan of baseball myself, Give Me More just added a little dose of "YAY" to my day as football is nearly done and here in Wisconsin winter is still with no end in sight, this short story/novella just put a smile on my face.

As for Flynn and Sean, well its pretty obvious that their attraction is there from the very first meeting and although I would have loved to seen their story grow with perhaps more time and to see where their future lead, there is only so much you can put into a short tale.  Quite frankly I found it to be the perfect length, now having said that if we were to revisit the pair and see where they are five or ten years down the road I would be first in line to read it but if this is all we see of Flynn and Sean, its a well written tale that put a smile on my face and I can't ask for more than that.  Give Me More is the first time I've read this author making for a great introduction and I will definitely be keeping Gen Ryan's work in my sights.

RATING:



Flynn
My ears buzzed. My entire body tightened in frustration. The past week I’d drowned myself in any bottle of alcohol I could find. It made everything numb—the pain, my mind. It all faded away as the alcohol swirled inside my stomach.

“Flynn, are you listening? You have multiple fractures in your scapula. Surgery is the only option.”

I pounded my fist on the exam table. Coach jumped up and glared at me.

“Surgery? You mean placing pins in my shoulder and doubling my recovery time?” I shook my head. “Not an option. I need to be ready for the season.”

Coach motioned for the doctor to leave. Here it comes, the lecture of a lifetime. I slumped back against the table.

“Coleman, this is what has to happen if there’s any hope that you’ll make a recovery.”

I snickered. Hope. I never was one to believe in that shit. I was bitter, broken in every sense of the word, and now I had to have hope?

“Bullshit. There’s no guarantee that this will make it so I can play again. You’re asking that I trust that doctor with my life!” I raised my voice, my chest heaving with all the fears I’d drowned in alcohol all week. “Baseball’s my life.”

Coach patted my leg. “I know, son. Do everything you can to get back to your life. Have faith.”

I rubbed my eyes, hoping this all was a bad dream that I’d wake up from.

“I can’t see faith. I can’t hold it in my hands like a bat and feel its weight against me. It doesn’t exist. I trust you though, Coach. What should I do?”

“Trust the doctor. Have the surgery.”

I called the doctor back into the room. With one last reassuring nod from Coach, I knew what was best.

“Let’s do it.”

The doctor continued to talk about the surgery and what to expect. I was terrified. My entire life I’d taken chances, straddling the line between the right and wrong sides of the law. That was nothing compared to what was in front of me. I wasn’t a patient man. Having to wait months to see if the procedure had worked was going to be torture. But for the love of the game, I’d being willing to do anything to be home again. My team was the only true family I’d ever had. Playing ball was the only place where I felt like I belonged.

* * * * *

I pulled up to the rehab facility, grinding my teeth. I didn’t want to be here, mixed with others who were suffering through some injury. Others who felt sorry for themselves. I’d had enough self-pity to last a lifetime.

My surgery had gone well, but the true test would be these next months. My doctor wanted me to start rehab as soon as possible to increase my odds of a full recovery. I wanted to stay holed up in my house and drown my sorrows at the bottom of a bottle. But here I was, ready to torture myself for however long it took.

“Go in there and show them that Coleman motivation. Put your all into it and give ‘em hell.” Coach tried to encourage me as I stepped out of the car. I clutched the door, wanting to say ‘fuck it all’ and head home.

“You got it, Coach.”

I slammed the car door and Coach drove off, leaving me to handle this shit on my own. Get your head in the game, Coleman. You got this. I did a quick little jump around, gearing myself up. I figured if I treated this like I approached a baseball game I was bound to do well.

“Jesus.” A man stumbled on the sidewalk, the papers in his briefcase flying everywhere. I bent over to help him gather his stuff, nursing my bad shoulder. He stood, his glasses balancing on his nose like at any second they’d slip right off. They were wide-rimmed and black, almost hiding the green of his eyes. Pushing them up with his finger, he gave me a smile.

“Thanks,” he said, a slight blush creeping on his tanned cheeks. I did a quick once-over, trying not to be too obvious that I was checking him out. He was attractive. Not like the extremely fit guys that I went for. But his glasses made him look innocent and his damn nervous smile was contagious. For a minute, all my troubles seemed to disappear as I watched him try to get himself together.

I tried to keep my personal life out of the media, but rumors had flown around that I was gay. I never confirmed or denied them, letting people play out what they wanted in their mind. I wasn’t ashamed of who I was. I’d gotten enough ass-whoopings in my lifetime from my father, who’d told me he wouldn’t raise a faggot for a son. Despite that, I embraced who I was and had the scars to prove it.

I had taken to the streets to support myself when my father kicked me out. Then Coach had found me on the field in high school and my life had changed. I hadn’t had much time to date since signing with the Blue Hawks, but I had fun. I loved having fun.

This man in front of me looked like he was fresh out of high school. His face held a youthfulness I remembered from when I first started playing baseball. He smiled, adjusting his bag over his shoulder.

“You’re Flynn Coleman. I’m a huge fan.” He looked at my shoulder and frowned. “I was so disappointed when I heard about your shoulder.”

“You and me both.”

He kept shuffling between his feet and averting his gaze.

What I wouldn’t give to screw that nervousness right out of him.

I itched for the control that I exerted in the bedroom. It was the same control I had on the field. Holding the bat, feeling its hardness, was just like how I approached sex. I had to be gentle at first but once I got loosened up, it was game on. I loved a soft cock in my hand with just my touch bringing it to life. I needed that feeling, that control again, any way I could get it.

“Do you work here?” I wanted to keep him engaged, find out just how big a fan he was. I didn’t usually mess around with fans. That could end disastrously. But I was out of the media for now due to my injury, and off the radar, so to speak. Maybe a little fling was just what the doctor ordered. Control. Release of frustration.

“Kind of. I’m an intern.” He mumbled something as he adjusted his bag again.

“Nice. Interning at a big rehab facility. You must be good.” I stretched out my arm, the dull ache I’d become accustomed to annoying the hell out of me.

“Well, I’m not the Flynn Coleman of this place but someday I hope to be.” He blushed again and rubbed his hand down his suspenders. It was so fucking cute how nervous he was around me. I’d had many fans clam up and get nervous but it was the combination of his glasses and suspenders that captivated me. He reminded me of Clark Kent. I was a huge Superman fan.

“I’m Sean by the way. Sean Myers.” He wiped his hand on his pants before holding it out.

I shook his hand, gripping it a little too hard. “I’ve got to head in for my appointment. See you around, Sean Myers?”

“Oh. Yeah. S-sure,” he stuttered. With a laugh, I waved, walking through the double doors. I glanced back as he stared in my direction, shaking his head in disgust. I grinned as he caught me staring, his lips curving into a nervous grin. I wasn’t looking forward to my months here in rehab but if I got to see Sean every day, my recovery had just gotten more interesting.

My balls ached, my dick twitching against my pants at the thought of seeing him again. He seemed innocent, way more so than I was used to. I thought of all the things I could do to him, stripping away the glasses and suspenders, showing him what some fun could add to his life. I needed a distraction, someone to take my mind off the possibility that baseball might be my past and no longer my future. Sean seemed to be just what I needed.

Author Bio:

Gen Ryan is an international best-selling author that spends her days as a forensic psychologist filling the minds of college students with everything they need to know to be good at their jobs. From profiling, to interrogation and ending with her absolute favorite, serial killers. Her nights, however, are spent crafting stories that will tear a reader’s heart out and twist their minds at the same time. 

She brings a unique twist to romance, a twist always rooted somewhere deep inside the character’s psyche.


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Saturday, March 6, 2021

Saturday's Series Spotlight: Four Bears Construction by KM Neuhold Part 1



Caulky #1
Summary:

Ren is in desperate need of a rebound fling. Lucky for him the smoking hot contractor he hired has just the tool for the job.

The last thing I want is another relationship, or another broken heart.

All I need are my bees and the occasional hookup to scratch the itch.

Okay, maybe meeting up with my hot contractor weekly is a little more than occasional. And maybe the way I'm starting to feel about the guy I've been anonymously chatting with online should concern me.

But CaulkyAF doesn't want to meet, and Cole doesn't want anything serious, so what's the worst that could happen?

** Caulky is book 1 in the Four Bears Construction Series and can be read as a stand-alone. This is a funny, steamy MM story guaranteed to make you laugh and swoon. Absolutely NO cheating and NO love triangle


Nailed #2
Summary:

My new neighbor is a total tool

He hated me from the second he laid eyes on me, and I don’t have the first clue why…

But, if he wants to hate me, I’m happy to give him a few reasons: mowing the lawn at dawn on the weekend, leaving garbage cans in front of his driveway, renting a petting zoo for my backyard...making a list of ways to drive him crazy is half the fun.

He deserves it with the way he’s driving me crazy right back without even trying— walking around without a shirt on, sweaty rippling muscles on full display, well-worn denim jeans perfectly molded to his...well, you get the idea.

My point is, if he wants a war, I’ll give him one.

***Nailed is an enemies to lovers, neighbors who can't stand each other, omg the anger banging, drool worthy, low angst story, which happens to be the second in my Four Bears Construction Series. It CAN be read as a stand alone. There are NO shifters in this series, only the OTHER kind of bears.


Hardwood #3
Summary:

I’ve spent forty-four years of my life telling the world I’m a carpet man. Is it too late to admit to myself and everyone else that deep down I’m really all about the Hardwood?

It took me over thirty-five years to admit to myself that I’m gay, another seven to find the courage to say it out loud to anyone else, and exactly thirty seconds to develop a massive crush on my daughter’s music teacher. It’s really not my fault, have you even seen those cute bowties he wears?

After everything it’s taken to get here, am I going to work up the nerve to come out to my ex-wife and my best friends? Am I ready to shake up my comfortable, simple life and take a chance on Watson? Or am I going to throw a wrench in my own chance for happily ever after?

***Hardwood is a steamy, seriously so much delicious tension, single-dad, gay awakening, low angst story, which happens to be the third in the Four Bears Construction Series. It CAN be read as a stand-alone. There are NO shifters in this series, only the OTHER kind of bears. 


Screwed #4
Summary:

I’ve had my fair share of less than proud relationship moments, but waking up married to my brother-in-law’s best friend is a new low. 

A drunken wedding to a man who already rejected me once? Check. A hefty bet about how long it will last? Check. My feisty new husband, determined to make our friends pay up? Double check.

I’ve never managed to make a real relationship last nearly a year, there’s no way Daniel will stick around long enough to win this bet. The only problem is the longer he stays, the more the lines blur between what’s real and what’s for show. Does he feel it too, or am I totally screwed?

***Screwed is a woke up married, faking it to their friends but also totally hooking up, sweet, STEAMY love story that happens to be the fourth book in the Four Bears Construction series. There are no bear shifters in this series, only the OTHER kind of bears.


Caulky #1
Dan: He lives! So, is the contractor there?
Ren: Yeah, and I DID oversleep. I answered the door practically naked, and  you’ll NEVER guess who the contractor was
Dan: Who??
Ren: The bar hookup from last month! There he was all tall and gorgeous just standing on my front porch like he owned the place, and I had clearly just rolled out of bed like an idiot.

He sends the laughing gif again, and I respond with one of someone giving the finger.

Dan: Oh my god, that’s too funny. That’s the same dude you kissed months ago, right?! You did say he was incredible in bed, maybe this is like a sign from god or something that you should let him fuck you again.
Ren: Sounds legit
Dan: He’s a contractor; if porn has taught me anything, it’s that if you ask him to check your pipes, you’ll end up getting gang banged by him and like three other hot dudes.
Ren: You’re thinking of plumbers

It’s best to pretend that exact same thought didn’t cross my mind less than five minutes ago.

Ren: Anyway, he looked kind of weirded out, so I’m thinking a repeat is NOT in the cards
Dan: Bummer
Dan: Well, there are plenty more cocks in the sea

I sigh and take a sip of my coffee, enjoying the way it scalds my tongue, bitterness filling my mouth. Henry hated that I took my coffee black. I could never figure out why he gave a shit how I took my coffee. After five years together, there were so many little things I let slide or chalked up to living with another person. But now that he’s gone, I have to admit, my life is a hell of a lot more peaceful.

Ren: Yeah but my dildo is—OH FUCK! I just realized my dildo is in the bathroom!!!!!

All the blood drains from my face. I didn’t just leave it sitting on the counter either, that motherfucker is suction cupped to the wall, right at the perfect height to fuck myself. Which is exactly what I used it for around three in the morning before collapsing into bed and falling asleep, trusting my damned alarm to wake me up in the morning.

Daniel sends that god damned laughing gif again, and I want to reach through the phone and strangle him.

Ren: This really isn’t as funny as you think it is. So much for getting my bathroom done. Between our hookup, my state of undress, and the dildo, there’s no way he’s coming back
Dan: I am literally crying I’m laughing so hard. People on the train are giving me the stink eye, but I don’t even care. I am actually dead right now.
Ren: I hate you
Dan: Ok, I’m sorry. Unless you want to go in there and grab your dildo and make it even more weird, there’s nothing you can do about it at this point. So, finish what you were telling me. You’re looking for someone to bend you over and rail you...
Ren: I don’t think that’s what I said, although…
Dan: *high five*
Ren: After Henry, I can’t see getting serious with someone again. I was so miserable with him, and I never even realized it. I don’t want to go back into that situation
Dan: Stick to casual. Sign up for M4M and get your single on.
Ren: Yeah, I think I might

The heavy clomp of boots has me looking up, my face flaming at the thought of Construction Man (that’s his superhero name, by the way) seeing my dildo.


Nailed #2
I feel like I’m living in a never ending loop of torture, brought to me by my neighbor who’s clearly Satan in the flesh. Did I die and go to Hell? Is that what happened? Because, at this point, I’d believe it. 

“What the hell?” I mutter as I step out onto my back porch, once again in nothing but my underwear. My half asleep brain is sure for a few seconds that I’m dreaming. There’s no way there are goats and sheep and fucking donkeys wandering around in his backyard right now, right? Rudy barks excitedly and tries to rush past me, but I manage to snag his collar. 

“You an ass man?” Stone calls with a grin, and I’m surprised I don’t give myself a stroke for how much effort it takes not to go over there and punch him. “Get it, ass?” he says, pointing to the donkey he’s holding on a leash.

“What the fuck is going on? Why do you have a whole zoo in your backyard?” Rudy whines and tugs as I hold tight to his collar.

“It’s my goddaughter’s eighth birthday, I rented her a petting zoo.”

“You can’t just rent a bunch of farm animals,” I argue.

Stone looks around pointedly at the menagerie. “I’m pretty sure I can.”

“Hey, quit it,” I shout at one of the goats who has wandered over onto my property and is now helping himself to the lavender bush I planted. “Shoo.”

“Edgar, come back over here,” Stone scolds the goat.

“Edgar? You know the names of every one of these animals?” I ask skeptically.

“No, but doesn’t he look like an Edgar?”

“There’s something seriously wrong with you,” I mutter. “Keep them off my lawn and out of my bushes or your ass will be over here planting all new ones for me,” I warn. A few butterflies flutter past, one of them resting on my lavender bush for a beat before floating away again, but even that isn’t enough to lower my blood pressure.

“Jack will be happy to,” Stone assures me with a serious nod before breaking into another grin. “Get it? Jack ass?” The donkey brays as if he’s in on the joke.

I hate to admit it, but that’s almost funny. But I’ll be damned if I give him the satisfaction of getting a smile from me. Not after he woke me up with some kind of weirdo Old McDonald role play at eight in the morning on a Saturday.


Hardwood #3
It must be nice to be handy. My kitchen sink has had a small drip for a year that I’ve pretty much just ignored because I don’t know what else to do with it,” he confesses.

“I can take a quick look next time I come over. I’m no plumber, but it’s probably something basic. You might just need a good caulking.”

“Tell me about it,” he agrees. “Oh caulking. Yeah, totally, that.”

I quirk an eyebrow at him and laugh when his face goes red. “If anyone’s mind should be in the gutter, shouldn’t it be mine?”

“There’s plenty of room down here for all of us,” he assures me.

I show him to the living room, realizing once we sit down that I left my laptop out and open when I left the house earlier.

“Oh shit.” I close it quickly so he can’t see what I was looking at.

“Porn?” he guesses. “Don’t be shy, if you found something good, you really should share it with your friends.”

“It wasn’t porn. Although, that goes both ways, feel free to send me any interesting porn links you find.”

“Honey, I’m not sure you want to open that floodgate. But if you’re feeling brave, I’m sure I could fill up your inbox with links,” Watson says, grinning wickedly. My cock perks up at the image of him enjoying himself with some porn. Without my permission, my eyes dart to the crotch of his pants.

He laughs again, letting me know I’m totally busted. “And you’re claiming I’m the one with my mind in the gutter.” He tsks and shakes his head. “So, if it wasn’t porn, what’s so secret on your laptop?”

“It’s nothing,” I lie.

“Come on, we’re best friends, you said so yourself.”

“I was setting up a dating profile,” I confess. “I didn’t finish it though. It’s probably a bad idea.”

“Let me see.” he insists, waving at me to open the laptop back up.

“It’s bad,” I warn, opening it up and logging on. I pass him the computer and sit back to wait as he reads my half-finished profile.

There’s a half smile on his lips as his eyes are glued to the screen. I watch as different emotions pass over his features as he reads— amusement, tenderness, a cringe or two.

“This isn’t horrible,” he says.

“It’s not great,” I hedge.

“No, it’s not,” Watson agrees. “It’s fixable though, if you’re serious about posting it.”

“I don’t know,” I admit. “I started it on a whim this morning while I was sitting here thinking about my friend’s wedding coming up in six months and how much I’d love to have a date to take.”

“You want my honest opinion?” he asks.

“Please,” I say emphatically, sitting forward with my elbows on my knees, ready to hear whatever truth he’s about to lay on me.

“These sites are great for hookups, but not so much for finding the kind of guy you’ll want to take to a friend’s wedding.”

I sigh. “I kind of figured as much.” Leaning back, I pull my hat off and toss it onto the coffee table, dragging my fingers through my hair. “Where do I go to find the kind of guy I’d want to take to a wedding then?”

Watson snorts a laugh. “Babe, if I knew that, I wouldn’t be forty and living alone with a hedgehog.”


Screwed #4
“What am I going to do?” he asks once he finishes drying his face. I take a second to look at his face, being careful not to touch it in case it is something contagious.

“Have you eaten anything weird? Or rubbed a plant all over your face? Oh my god, do you think you could’ve developed an allergy to Cole’s spunk?” I ask, horrified. Ren’s eyes go wide with terror that matches my own.

“Is that a thing?”

“How the hell should I know? I’m a paralegal, not a doctor. I’ve had sex with a handful of doctors, but I don’t think that’s going to help us here.”

“For the love of god, please focus. I look like I walked into a beehive,” he complains, looking at himself in the mirror helplessly.

“First, try to calm down, because you might have hives from stress,” I tell him. “Let’s go lay down and try to relax for a minute.”

“Are stress hives a thing?” he asks, following me out of the bathroom and into the sitting area of the suite. I guide him over to the couch where he flops down and starts fanning his face.

“Again, not a doctor,” I remind him, and when I see the panic rising on his face all over again, I rush to reassure him. “But Ollie’s on a mission to find some Claritin and cream, we can try.”

“Okay.” He takes a few deep breaths, but that doesn’t seem to do anything for the rash, not that I really expected it would.

“So, are you nervous about your wedding night? Being the blushing virgin you are and everything,” I tease. Ren swats me but smiles.

“We couldn’t have picked a better place for the wedding. Have you gone down to the beach yet? It’s amazing.”

“Not yet. Yesterday, Ollie and I were busy with the parents getting all the last minute things squared away for today. I’m glad we had the foresight to stay for a week after the wedding, because otherwise there wouldn’t have been much time to enjoy everything.”

“I want to go snorkeling,” he says.

“Not until your face won’t scare the poor sea turtles.”

“Oh my god, I hate you,” he complains.

The door to the room creaks, and Ollie cautiously pops his head in. “I come bearing Claritin.”

“Give.” Ren greedily reaches for it, tearing the package open and downing two of them.

“Ouch, that doesn’t look great,” Ollie says, eyeing Ren’s face with concern.

“Jeez, way to make the poor guy feel better,” I joke.

“I didn’t mean—” he rushes to soften the statement but Ren cuts him off.

“I know, I look like shit,” he says. “And I’m seriously going to need one of you to look up whether an allergy to cum is a thing because I’m going to freak out if that’s what made me look this way.”

Ollie’s eyebrows shoot up, and I snicker as I type it into Google.

“Oh shit, it’s totally a real thing. Sorry, dude.”


Author Bio:
Author K.M.Neuhold is a complete romance junkie, a total sap in every way. She started her journey as an author in new adult, MF romance, but after a chance reading of an MM book she was completely hooked on everything about lovely- and sometimes damaged- men finding their Happily Ever After together. She has a strong passion for writing characters with a lot of heart and soul, and a bit of humor as well. And she fully admits that her OCD tendencies of making sure every side character has a full backstory will likely always lead to every book having a spin-off or series. When she's not writing she's a lion tamer, an astronaut, and a superhero...just kidding, she's likely watching Netflix and snuggling with her husky while her amazing husband brings her coffee.


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Caulky #1

Nailed #2

Hardwood #3

Screwed #4



Friday, March 5, 2021

πŸ“˜πŸŽ₯Friday's Film AdaptationπŸŽ₯πŸ“˜: The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan



Summary:

The novel of international intrigue and adventure that set the standard for the modern spy thriller.

One May evening in 1914, an ordinary Londoner named Richard Hannay receives word of an anarchist plot to assassinate the prime minister of Greece. A few nights later, the eccentric American who revealed the conspiracy is found stabbed to death in Hannay’s flat. With only the dead man’s encrypted notes to guide him, Hannay must try to foil the assassination attempt while outpacing both the police and the conspirators, whose dastardly plans extend far beyond one Greek politician. The fate of England, it seems, rests on one mysterious phrase repeated throughout the American’s notebook; just what exactly are the thirty-nine steps?

Buchan’s groundbreaking novel, the first in a series featuring Richard Hannay, was adapted by Alfred Hitchcock and paved the way for Graham Greene, Robert Ludlum, John le CarrΓ©, and many other masters of literary espionage. Lightning-paced, relentlessly clever, and politically insightful, The Thirty-Nine Steps is just as thrilling today as when it was first published a century ago.


CHAPTER 1
The Man Who Died
I returned from the city about three o'clock on that May afternoon pretty well disgusted with life. I had been three months in the Old Country, and was fed up with it. If anyone had told me a year ago that I would have been feeling like that I should have laughed at him; but there was the fact. The weather made me liverish, the talk of the ordinary Englishman made me sick. I couldn't get enough exercise, and the amusements of London seemed as flat as soda-water that has been standing in the sun. 'Richard Hannay,' I kept telling myself, 'you have got into the wrong ditch, my friend, and you had better climb out.'

It made me bite my lips to think of the plans I had been building up those last years in Bulawayo. I had got my pile—not one of the big ones, but good enough for me; and I had figured out all kinds of ways of enjoying myself. My father had brought me out from Scotland at the age of six, and I had never been home since; so England was a sort of Arabian Nights to me, and I counted on stopping there for the rest of my days.

But from the first I was disappointed with it. In about a week I was tired of seeing sights, and in less than a month I had had enough of restaurants and theatres and race-meetings. I had no real pal to go about with, which probably explains things. Plenty of people invited me to their houses, but they didn't seem much interested in me. They would fling me a question or two about South Africa, and then get on their own affairs. A lot of Imperialist ladies asked me to tea to meet schoolmasters from New Zealand and editors from Vancouver, and that was the dismalest business of all. Here was I, thirty-seven years old, sound in wind and limb, with enough money to have a good time, yawning my head off all day. I had just about settled to clear out and get back to the veld, for I was the best bored man in the United Kingdom.

That afternoon I had been worrying my brokers about investments to give my mind something to work on, and on my way home I turned into my club—rather a pot-house, which took in Colonial members. I had a long drink, and read the evening papers. They were full of the row in the Near East, and there was an article about Karolides, the Greek Premier. I rather fancied the chap. From all accounts he seemed the one big man in the show; and he played a straight game too, which was more than could be said for most of them. I gathered that they hated him pretty blackly in Berlin and Vienna, but that we were going to stick by him, and one paper said that he was the only barrier between Europe and Armageddon. I remember wondering if I could get a job in those parts. It struck me that Albania was the sort of place that might keep a man from yawning.

About six o'clock I went home, dressed, dined at the Cafe Royal, and turned into a music-hall. It was a silly show, all capering women and monkey-faced men, and I did not stay long. The night was fine and clear as I walked back to the flat I had hired near Portland Place. The crowd surged past me on the pavements, busy and chattering, and I envied the people for having something to do. These shop-girls and clerks and dandies and policemen had some interest in life that kept them going. I gave half-a-crown to a beggar because I saw him yawn; he was a fellow-sufferer. At Oxford Circus I looked up into the spring sky and I made a vow. I would give the Old Country another day to fit me into something; if nothing happened, I would take the next boat for the Cape.

My flat was the first floor in a new block behind Langham Place. There was a common staircase, with a porter and a liftman at the entrance, but there was no restaurant or anything of that sort, and each flat was quite shut off from the others. I hate servants on the premises, so I had a fellow to look after me who came in by the day. He arrived before eight o'clock every morning and used to depart at seven, for I never dined at home.

I was just fitting my key into the door when I noticed a man at my elbow. I had not seen him approach, and the sudden appearance made me start. He was a slim man, with a short brown beard and small, gimlety blue eyes. I recognized him as the occupant of a flat on the top floor, with whom I had passed the time of day on the stairs.

'Can I speak to you?' he said. 'May I come in for a minute?' He was steadying his voice with an effort, and his hand was pawing my arm.

I got my door open and motioned him in. No sooner was he over the threshold than he made a dash for my back room, where I used to smoke and write my letters. Then he bolted back.

'Is the door locked?' he asked feverishly, and he fastened the chain with his own hand.

'I'm very sorry,' he said humbly. 'It's a mighty liberty, but you looked the kind of man who would understand. I've had you in my mind all this week when things got troublesome. Say, will you do me a good turn?'

'I'll listen to you,' I said. 'That's all I'll promise.' I was getting worried by the antics of this nervous little chap.

There was a tray of drinks on a table beside him, from which he filled himself a stiff whisky-and-soda. He drank it off in three gulps, and cracked the glass as he set it down.

'Pardon,' he said, 'I'm a bit rattled tonight. You see, I happen at this moment to be dead.'

I sat down in an armchair and lit my pipe.

'What does it feel like?' I asked. I was pretty certain that I had to deal with a madman.

A smile flickered over his drawn face. 'I'm not mad—yet. Say, Sir, I've been watching you, and I reckon you're a cool customer. I reckon, too, you're an honest man, and not afraid of playing a bold hand. I'm going to confide in you. I need help worse than any man ever needed it, and I want to know if I can count you in.'

'Get on with your yarn,' I said, 'and I'll tell you.'

He seemed to brace himself for a great effort, and then started on the queerest rigmarole. I didn't get hold of it at first, and I had to stop and ask him questions. But here is the gist of it:

He was an American, from Kentucky, and after college, being pretty well off, he had started out to see the world. He wrote a bit, and acted as war correspondent for a Chicago paper, and spent a year or two in South-Eastern Europe. I gathered that he was a fine linguist, and had got to know pretty well the society in those parts. He spoke familiarly of many names that I remembered to have seen in the newspapers.

He had played about with politics, he told me, at first for the interest of them, and then because he couldn't help himself. I read him as a sharp, restless fellow, who always wanted to get down to the roots of things. He got a little further down than he wanted.

I am giving you what he told me as well as I could make it out. Away behind all the Governments and the armies there was a big subterranean movement going on, engineered by very dangerous people. He had come on it by accident; it fascinated him; he went further, and then he got caught. I gathered that most of the people in it were the sort of educated anarchists that make revolutions, but that beside them there were financiers who were playing for money. A clever man can make big profits on a falling market, and it suited the book of both classes to set Europe by the ears.

He told me some queer things that explained a lot that had puzzled me—things that happened in the Balkan War, how one state suddenly came out on top, why alliances were made and broken, why certain men disappeared, and where the sinews of war came from. The aim of the whole conspiracy was to get Russia and Germany at loggerheads.

When I asked why, he said that the anarchist lot thought it would give them their chance. Everything would be in the melting-pot, and they looked to see a new world emerge. The capitalists would rake in the shekels, and make fortunes by buying up wreckage. Capital, he said, had no conscience and no fatherland. Besides, the Jew was behind it, and the Jew hated Russia worse than hell.

'Do you wonder?' he cried. 'For three hundred years they have been persecuted, and this is the return match for the pogroms. The Jew is everywhere, but you have to go far down the backstairs to find him. Take any big Teutonic business concern. If you have dealings with it the first man you meet is Prince von und Zu Something, an elegant young man who talks Eton-and-Harrow English. But he cuts no ice. If your business is big, you get behind him and find a prognathous Westphalian with a retreating brow and the manners of a hog. He is the German business man that gives your English papers the shakes. But if you're on the biggest kind of job and are bound to get to the real boss, ten to one you are brought up against a little white-faced Jew in a bath-chair with an eye like a rattlesnake. Yes, Sir, he is the man who is ruling the world just now, and he has his knife in the Empire of the Tzar, because his aunt was outraged and his father flogged in some one-horse location on the Volga.'

I could not help saying that his Jew-anarchists seemed to have got left behind a little.

'Yes and no,' he said. 'They won up to a point, but they struck a bigger thing than money, a thing that couldn't be bought, the old elemental fighting instincts of man. If you're going to be killed you invent some kind of flag and country to fight for, and if you survive you get to love the thing. Those foolish devils of soldiers have found something they care for, and that has upset the pretty plan laid in Berlin and Vienna. But my friends haven't played their last card by a long sight. They've gotten the ace up their sleeves, and unless I can keep alive for a month they are going to play it and win.'

'But I thought you were dead,' I put in.

'MORS JANUA VITAE,' he smiled. (I recognized the quotation: it was about all the Latin I knew.) 'I'm coming to that, but I've got to put you wise about a lot of things first. If you read your newspaper, I guess you know the name of Constantine Karolides?'

I sat up at that, for I had been reading about him that very afternoon.

'He is the man that has wrecked all their games. He is the one big brain in the whole show, and he happens also to be an honest man. Therefore he has been marked down these twelve months past. I found that out—not that it was difficult, for any fool could guess as much. But I found out the way they were going to get him, and that knowledge was deadly. That's why I have had to decease.'

He had another drink, and I mixed it for him myself, for I was getting interested in the beggar.

'They can't get him in his own land, for he has a bodyguard of Epirotes that would skin their grandmothers. But on the 15th day of June he is coming to this city. The British Foreign Office has taken to having International tea-parties, and the biggest of them is due on that date. Now Karolides is reckoned the principal guest, and if my friends have their way he will never return to his admiring countrymen.'

'That's simple enough, anyhow,' I said. 'You can warn him and keep him at home.'

'And play their game?' he asked sharply. 'If he does not come they win, for he's the only man that can straighten out the tangle. And if his Government are warned he won't come, for he does not know how big the stakes will be on June the 15th.'

'What about the British Government?' I said. 'They're not going to let their guests be murdered. Tip them the wink, and they'll take extra precautions.'

'No good. They might stuff your city with plain-clothes detectives and double the police and Constantine would still be a doomed man. My friends are not playing this game for candy. They want a big occasion for the taking off, with the eyes of all Europe on it. He'll be murdered by an Austrian, and there'll be plenty of evidence to show the connivance of the big folk in Vienna and Berlin. It will all be an infernal lie, of course, but the case will look black enough to the world. I'm not talking hot air, my friend. I happen to know every detail of the hellish contrivance, and I can tell you it will be the most finished piece of blackguardism since the Borgias. But it's not going to come off if there's a certain man who knows the wheels of the business alive right here in London on the 15th day of June. And that man is going to be your servant, Franklin P. Scudder.'

I was getting to like the little chap. His jaw had shut like a rat-trap, and there was the fire of battle in his gimlety eyes. If he was spinning me a yarn he could act up to it.

'Where did you find out this story?' I asked.

'I got the first hint in an inn on the Achensee in Tyrol. That set me inquiring, and I collected my other clues in a fur-shop in the Galician quarter of Buda, in a Strangers' Club in Vienna, and in a little bookshop off the Racknitzstrasse in Leipsic. I completed my evidence ten days ago in Paris. I can't tell you the details now, for it's something of a history. When I was quite sure in my own mind I judged it my business to disappear, and I reached this city by a mighty queer circuit. I left Paris a dandified young French-American, and I sailed from Hamburg a Jew diamond merchant. In Norway I was an English student of Ibsen collecting materials for lectures, but when I left Bergen I was a cinema-man with special ski films. And I came here from Leith with a lot of pulp-wood propositions in my pocket to put before the London newspapers. Till yesterday I thought I had muddied my trail some, and was feeling pretty happy. Then ...'

The recollection seemed to upset him, and he gulped down some more whisky.

'Then I saw a man standing in the street outside this block. I used to stay closed in my room all day, and only slip out after dark for an hour or two. I watched him for a bit from my window, and I thought I recognized him ... He came in and spoke to the porter ... When I came back from my walk last night I found a card in my letter-box. It bore the name of the man I want least to meet on God's earth.'

I think that the look in my companion's eyes, the sheer naked scare on his face, completed my conviction of his honesty. My own voice sharpened a bit as I asked him what he did next.

'I realized that I was bottled as sure as a pickled herring, and that there was only one way out. I had to die. If my pursuers knew I was dead they would go to sleep again.'

'How did you manage it?'

'I told the man that valets me that I was feeling pretty bad, and I got myself up to look like death. That wasn't difficult, for I'm no slouch at disguises. Then I got a corpse—you can always get a body in London if you know where to go for it. I fetched it back in a trunk on the top of a four-wheeler, and I had to be assisted upstairs to my room. You see I had to pile up some evidence for the inquest. I went to bed and got my man to mix me a sleeping-draught, and then told him to clear out. He wanted to fetch a doctor, but I swore some and said I couldn't abide leeches. When I was left alone I started in to fake up that corpse. He was my size, and I judged had perished from too much alcohol, so I put some spirits handy about the place. The jaw was the weak point in the likeness, so I blew it away with a revolver. I daresay there will be somebody tomorrow to swear to having heard a shot, but there are no neighbours on my floor, and I guessed I could risk it. So I left the body in bed dressed up in my pyjamas, with a revolver lying on the bed-clothes and a considerable mess around. Then I got into a suit of clothes I had kept waiting for emergencies. I didn't dare to shave for fear of leaving tracks, and besides, it wasn't any kind of use my trying to get into the streets. I had had you in my mind all day, and there seemed nothing to do but to make an appeal to you. I watched from my window till I saw you come home, and then slipped down the stair to meet you ... There, Sir, I guess you know about as much as me of this business.'

He sat blinking like an owl, fluttering with nerves and yet desperately determined. By this time I was pretty well convinced that he was going straight with me. It was the wildest sort of narrative, but I had heard in my time many steep tales which had turned out to be true, and I had made a practice of judging the man rather than the story. If he had wanted to get a location in my flat, and then cut my throat, he would have pitched a milder yarn.

'Hand me your key,' I said, 'and I'll take a look at the corpse. Excuse my caution, but I'm bound to verify a bit if I can.'

He shook his head mournfully. 'I reckoned you'd ask for that, but I haven't got it. It's on my chain on the dressing-table. I had to leave it behind, for I couldn't leave any clues to breed suspicions. The gentry who are after me are pretty bright-eyed citizens. You'll have to take me on trust for the night, and tomorrow you'll get proof of the corpse business right enough.'

I thought for an instant or two. 'Right. I'll trust you for the night. I'll lock you into this room and keep the key. Just one word, Mr Scudder. I believe you're straight, but if so be you are not I should warn you that I'm a handy man with a gun.'

'Sure,' he said, jumping up with some briskness. 'I haven't the privilege of your name, Sir, but let me tell you that you're a white man. I'll thank you to lend me a razor.'

I took him into my bedroom and turned him loose. In half an hour's time a figure came out that I scarcely recognized. Only his gimlety, hungry eyes were the same. He was shaved clean, his hair was parted in the middle, and he had cut his eyebrows. Further, he carried himself as if he had been drilled, and was the very model, even to the brown complexion, of some British officer who had had a long spell in India. He had a monocle, too, which he stuck in his eye, and every trace of the American had gone out of his speech.


A man falsely suspected of killing a spy races across Scotland handcuffed to the beautiful blonde who turned him in.

Release Date: August 2, 1935
Release Time: 86 minutes

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Cast:
Robert Donat as Richard Hannay
Madeleine Carroll as Pamela
Lucie Mannheim as Annabella Smith
Godfrey Tearle as Professor Jordan
Peggy Ashcroft as Margaret
John Laurie as John
Helen Haye as Mrs. Louisa Jordan
Frank Cellier as Sheriff Watson
Wylie Watson as Mr. Memory
Gus McNaughton as Commercial Traveller
Jerry Verno as Commercial Traveller
Peggy Simpson as Maid
Matthew Boulton as Fake Policeman
Frederick Piper as Milkman(uncredited)
Ivor Barnard as Political Meeting Chairman(uncredited)
Elizabeth Inglis as Pat(uncredited)

Awards:
BFI Top 100 British Films(1999) - #4




Author Bio:
John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir PC GCMG GCVO CH was a Scottish novelist, historian and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation.

After a brief legal career Buchan simultaneously began both his writing career and his political and diplomatic career, serving as a private secretary to the colonial administrator of various colonies in Southern Africa. He eventually wrote propaganda for the British war effort in the First World War. Once he was back in civilian life Buchan was elected Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities, but he spent most of his time on his writing career, notably writing The Thirty-Nine Steps and other adventure fiction. In 1935 he was appointed Governor General of Canada by King George V, on the recommendation of Prime Minister of Canada Richard Bennett, to replace the Earl of Bessborough. He occupied the post until his death in 1940. Buchan proved to be enthusiastic about literacy, as well as the evolution of Canadian culture, and he received a state funeral in Canada before his ashes were returned to the United Kingdom.


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Wednesday, March 3, 2021

Release Blitz: Openly Yours by Colette Davison

Title: Openly Yours
Author: Colette Davison
Series: Offbeat Shifters #2
Genre: M/M Romance, Paranormal
Release Date: March 2, 2021


Summary:

Falling in love was the easy part. When we have to face more tragedy, will it bring us closer or drive us apart?

Now the tour is over, Isaac has to adapt to depending financially on someone else for the first time.

When my world gets thrown into turmoil again, I need to learn that relying emotionally on others isn’t a bad thing.

We have to face our biggest challenge together—creating a different dream from the one we had envisioned.

Openly Yours is an m/m paranormal romance with a loving tiger shifter, a  sweet monkey shifter, enthusiastic family members, and lots of cuddles. Whilst it is set in an alternate universe where omegas give birth, there are no pregnancy or birth scenes in this book.

Trigger warning for scenes revolving around infertility.



“You had news. Is it about the Arches?”

I grinned, unable to keep it from him.

“They accepted our offer?”

“Yes.”

Jesse bounced up and down in my arms, squealing excitedly. “That’s fantastic!”

“We’ve got to get all the building and land checks done and a survey, so it’s not a done deal yet. But all being well, our youth centre is one step closer to opening.”

Jesse grasped my face and kissed me hard. “It’s exciting, isn’t it?”

“Very.”

His eyes widened. “You should invite your dads to come and stay so we can show them the Arches.”

“I’d been thinking about that.” I carried him over to the sofa and sat down with him on my lap. “Maybe it’s about time we moved out of this flat.”

Jesse tilted his head to the side. “Why?”

“Well, right now, if we want to invite my family down, they have to stay in a hotel.” I paused, measuring my next words carefully. “And at some point, we’re going to have a family, Jesse. There’s not going to be room for children in a one-bedroom flat.” I stroked my thumbs over his lower back. “You wanted a house filled with music and the patter of tiny feet, remember?”

Jesse nodded, but he didn’t speak. His eyes were brimming with tears, and his chin wobbled.

“And I wanted a big bath.”

That made him laugh. “We need a huge bath.”

I stared into his dark eyes. “I want to find our forever home, Jesse. And I want to get married.”

Jesse frowned. “We can’t, not until—”

I silenced him with a kiss. “We know roughly when your heats will be. We can plan around it. We’re already mated. You know I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Now I want to show everyone else that—your family and mine.”

“And the world?” Jesse asked. “Because we’re not gonna get a cosy little wedding.”

I smiled. “The whole world. I’m yours, Jesse, now, always, and openly.”

Jesse gasped. “I’ve got it!”

“Got what?”

“The title of the song I’m going to write for you.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Will you share it with me?”

He smiled mischievously. “Nope. I think I’m gonna keep it a secret.”

I tickled him until I reduced him to a giggling, writhing wreck on my lap. Then I flipped him onto the sofa and lay over him, tickling him more until he was gasping for air.

“Now are you going to tell me?”

He put his hands around my neck as his breathing slowly returned to normal. “‘Openly Yours’.”

I nuzzled his nose with my own. “That’s beautiful.”

“So are you.”

We looked at each other, my heart filling as I saw how much love radiated from his eyes and smile. I kissed him, teasing his mouth with my tongue. “Let’s set a wedding date and start looking at houses.”

Jesse nodded. “Okay.”




Author Bio:
Colette’s personal love story began at university, where she met her future husband. An evening of flirting, in the shadow of Lancaster castle, eventually led to a fairytale wedding. She’s enjoying her own ‘happy ever after’ in the north of England with her husband, two beautiful children and her writing.


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