It’s Official! How to Save a Life to be Published by Loose Id

(c) istockphoto.com, Creativeye99 2012

I’m thrilled to announce that Loose Id will be publishing my next novel, HOW TO SAVE A LIFE. I don’t have a release date yet, but it’ll be sometime in 2013. I’ll post the details when I know more.

To give you a preview, here’s a brief unedited excerpt. It starts with Walter’s point of view, then we get to see a bit of Kevin’s.

Walter brushed the back of his index finger over Kevin’s lips. He’d always loved kissing. Even in his youth, when most of the guys wanted nothing more than the fucking or the sucking, he’d loved the kissing and touching and exploring. Kevin liked it too. He was sure of that. He’d felt it in the first kiss. And the second.

“I know what you want. And so do you.” Walter gave up on the touching and offered Kevin a little distance. “You’ve never been with a man, have you?”

“Yes. No. Yes.” Kevin blew the hair out of his eyes. “Yes, I have.”

“What? You get stroked off by another boy in junior high school?”

“No.”

“You did more than a teenage experiment?”

“Yes. Sort of.”

Walter moved in close once more. “I’m guessing it’s been a very long time, and you’ve been denying yourself what you really wanted most of your life—what you still want.”

It took a moment, as if he had to force his body to comply, and then Kevin nodded.

“You’re not out?” Walter asked. Without giving it much thought, the tone of his voice had shifted to something softer.

“No.”

“Do you have a wife?”

“No. I wouldn’t…” Kevin gestured with his hand between them.

“A girlfriend?”

“Yes. I mean, no.”

“Which is it? If you can’t remember if you have a girlfriend, then trust me, you don’t have one anymore.”

“I don’t. Have one anymore, I mean.” Kevin sucked in a deep breath. “Talking to you is exhausting.”

“Talking to you is entertaining.”

Kevin rolled his eyes. He sobered. Staring at Walter’s shoes, he said, “I left her. My girlfriend, Sondra. A couple of months ago.”

“I’m sorry it didn’t work out.”

“We’re still friends.” Kevin lifted his head. “We’ve been friends for a long time.”

“Which is why you stayed with her for so long.” Walter took another step closer. “And now?”

Kevin evaded his gaze again.

The silence stretched on between them. Walter wasn’t about to back down. He had years of experience pushing people for the truth.

Something told him with Kevin, there was a fine line between not pushing enough and pushing too hard.

KEVIN DID NOT want to talk about this. Yet a part of him longed to do just that.

Here, in this room, with a gay man listening to him, he couldn’t pretend any longer. He wanted to kiss Walter again, let his tongue wander over those lips, down along the skin of his neck to the warm flesh under his clothes, his chest, and lower to his abs, and even lower. He wanted to taste it all. He couldn’t hide from that fact. Not any longer.

He’d known for months now that he’d been heading to this moment. Whether he’d wanted to admit it or not.”

It had been easy to keep the promise he’d made in his youth. At least while he’d been with Sondra. He wasn’t a cheater. Now that she was gone, now that he was here, now that he’d felt this man’s touch…he was done holding back.

Walter cupped his chin and forced him to look up.

“I guess I can’t hide from it forever.”

“That’s good. You don’t have to hide. Not here. Not in this room. Not with me.”

 

After I wrap up working on the edits with my editor, I’ll share more snippets and there may even be a contest or two leading up to the release so stay tuned.

Meanwhile, I’ve got several other projects underway that are keeping me busy–so busy I’ve been hit or miss with blogging lately (in fact, I haven’t been online much at all), but I’m really digging the short piece I’m writing so that feels great. Here’s what I’m working on:

  1. MORE THAN JUST A GOOD BOOK part 6
  2. A Christmas short story (no title yet)
  3. Print versions of BREATHE and TAKE ME HOME (with new covers since the print versions will be self-published)
  4. MORE book 2 (with Luke, Richard, and Matthew)

More news to come on all those.

Thanks for checking out the excerpt. I’m off to celebrate with my honey for signing my fourth book contract. Have a good one!

 

A Story Preview in a Word Cloud

Last week I posted at Loose Ends (the Loose Id author blog) about Wordle, a neat web app that generates word clouds of any text.

I’ve created clouds using sample text from each of my books and added the Wordles to my website. Just a different way for readers to preview my stories.

I was surprised by some of the words that showed up in prominence. And some that didn’t.

MORE:

BREATHE:

TAKE ME HOME:

And here’s one for a preview of my next book release, HOW TO SAVE A LIFE:

Quote I Love: Courage

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, I will try again tomorrow.”

-Mary Anne Radmacher Hershey

October 6th Reader Appreciation Day Giveaway

Saturday, October 6th is another Reader Appreciation Day at the Sweet Spot Yahoo Group (hosted by me, SJ Frost, and Jambrea Jo Jones). Stop by to enter the giveaway, read excerpts, and chat with authors of M/M romances. The giveaway runs from 8 am – 8 pm EST.

Here’s how to enter the giveaway:

  1. If you haven’t already, join the Yahoo Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheSweetSpotMM/
  2. Watch the group page (or your email if you choose to receive emails from the group) on Saturday, October 6th for a message with instructions on how to enter. The subject of the post should read something like “Enter the Giveaway: Respond to this message for a chance to win”
  3. Reply to that message between 8am and 8pm EST indicating you’d like to enter the giveaway.

That’s it. You’ll be added to the drawing for your chance at a random prize. Winners will be announced via the group after the giveaway closes. Authors will be sent the winning email addresses at that time and will contact their winners directly.

So far, the following authors have generously donated these items. Thank you!

 

Complete List of Prizes

Hope you can join us at The Sweet Spot Reader Appreciation Day on October 6th.

Authors of m/m romances, if you’re interested in joining us for our next RAD, we’d love to have you. Send me an email and I’ll add you to our author contact list.

Playlist for HOW TO SAVE A LIFE

(c) istockphoto.com, MCCAIG 2006

Here are a few of the songs I listened to while writing HOW TO SAVE A LIFE (which has an updated blurb). For each song, some of the lyrics and/or the tone really spoke to me when it came to Kevin and Walter. The blend of passion, emotion, and suspense with this story led to an interesting mix of songs for these guys.

Most of the YouTube videos for these wouldn’t play embedded in the page, so I’ve linked to each. I tried to use the original artist’s version where possible.

 

All my blog posts with behind the story information are also available on my website.