Coming this month!

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I’m holding the proof copy of the print edition for MORE THAN JUST A GOOD BOOK in my hands right now, and I’m about to start doing a final proof and formatting review of the e-book.

The e-book will be published to retailers the week of November 18th. It’ll be up on All Romance eBooks right away, Amazon can take a day or two, and it might take a few days to a couple of weeks for some of the other stores to add it to their catalogs. I’ll update my website with links as it becomes available.

Cannot wait to share the final result with everyone.

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Book Description

Shy, nervous Scott is a big book geek, and fellow student Mark is a bit controlling between the sheets. During one afternoon at the university library, they find they are the perfect match. Now they have to find out if they can keep on proving that some things are even more enjoyable than a good book.

As the two begin exploring their most secret sexual fantasies, neither can imagine walking away. With only one semester left before they head off in different directions, they discover it’s impossible to avoid their growing feelings for each other. When a desperate bully tries to destroy Mark’s chance at the career he’s always wanted and tries to keep him away from Scott, the two lovers must come to terms with exactly what it means to be in love with someone—and how to be brave enough to go after what it is they truly want.

This work contains graphic language and explicit sexual content between two men, including some light BDSM (spanking and bondage). Intended for adult audiences only.

Length: 164 pages in print format, 60,000+ words

 

HOW TO SAVE A LIFE now available in trade paperback

SP_HowToSaveALifePrint_tradecover_MdI’m pleased to share that you can now pick up a print copy of HOW TO SAVE A LIFE at AmazonCreateSpace, and Barnes & Noble.

HOW TO SAVE A LIFE
ISBN-13: 978-1492268963
ISBN-10: 1492268968

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BOOK DESCRIPTION

Reporter Kevin Price has a knack for tripping over his own feet. And everyone else’s. He’s in over his head undercover at the Haven, a swanky gay sex club, determined to find out why members of the club keep vanishing. Five minutes inside and he can no longer deny the truth about his sexuality. He turns to the one man he can’t get out of his head, the sexy ex-cop handling security. Too bad Kevin doesn’t trust cops. Not since the only night he let himself be with another man.

Walter Simon doesn’t do the club scene anymore. Not since he found love and lost it. That doesn’t mean he’ll let anyone hurt more innocent gay men. Even if that means going head-to-head with the klutzy, closeted, much-younger reporter. Kevin has information about the disappearances. Better to keep him close. And safe.

Neither is at the club to hook up or fall in love. Now they must work together amid their growing passion in order to uncover the truth before more men disappear.

Note: How to Save a Life features Walter Simon, a secondary character from MORE, but can be read as a stand-alone story.

 

EXCERPT

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.”

 

Interview, Giveaway, and More on Richard’s Story

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I’ve been interviewed at On Top Down Under Book Reviews as part of their First Blog-versary. These were a fantastic set of questions. I shared about the inspiration for some of my stories, what I’ve got coming out next, and some of what More #2 will include. There’s also a giveaway: winner’s choice of either e-book or print format from my backlist, including the new print edition of HOW TO SAVE A LIFE.

Comment on the interview post to enter. And be sure to wish On Top Down Under Book Reviews a Happy Anniversary.

The giveaway will be open until midnight (US) Eastern Standard Time Sunday, October 20, 2013. Good luck!

New Cover for Trade Paperback Release of How to Save a Life

Here’s a mock-up preview for the upcoming trade paperback version of HOW TO SAVE A LIFE.

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I’ve got the proof copy in hand and will be going through it shortly to do a final check. It’ll be available for order at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository, CreateSpace, and others starting in October. Sometimes it can take a few weeks for the various retailers to get it added to their catalogs.

 

Proof Copy

And just for fun, here’s a snippet from one of my favorite moments in the book…

Walter sucked in a deep breath, and the embrace turned fierce, like he wasn’t sure he could ever let go. He whispered, “I never thought I’d be here.”

“Where?”

Walter threaded a hand through the wet strands at the back of Kevin’s hair. “More afraid of losing someone than I’ve ever been. Wanting and needing someone more than…anyone.”

Kevin kept his arms wrapped around Walter, sweeping his palms over the damp skin of his back and broad shoulders, desperately needing to comfort and not wanting to face why. Or maybe he did. Maybe he’d been waiting for this moment all his life.

 

My Brother’s Best Friend: My new three-word scenario

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I had such fun writing this latest scenario about a guy who’s seriously crushing on his brother’s best friend. I know, sounds like a porn setup, right? It’s actually a sweet scene. You can check it out on my website or read it below.

7/6/2015: Edited to change story link and add the full text below.

My Brother’s Best Friend
by Sloan Parker

“You done with that pumpkin yet?” Leo was examining something on his computer. His eyes never left the screen as he asked me the question with as much interest as if he was talking to a telemarketer.

So much for confessing my feelings for him on Halloween.

We’d been seated across from each other at the kitchen table for the past hour, but until he’d asked about the pumpkin, neither of us had said more than five words. He had a trial to prepare for, and I had a pumpkin to gut.

Why’d I buy the thing anyway?

Because I’d always been a sucker for the holiday. As a kid I’d loved the costumes, the candy, going to my Grandma’s for a tall glass of cider, and trekking with my brother through the fallen leaves that covered the sidewalks of our neighborhood in search of those rare houses with the king-size candy bars.

Those fond memories were why I’d thought tonight would be the night I’d work up the courage to tell Leo I no longer thought of him as just my older brother’s best friend, to tell him I was seriously crushing on him.

I had been since the night my brother came home to the apartment we shared and announced that Leo was going to crash in our spare room for a while because he and his wife had separated.

“He’s gay,” my brother added as if that was all the explanation I needed. Maybe he thought all gay men instantly understood each other and didn’t need to speak at all.

But I did need to speak. It was driving me crazy not telling Leo how I felt.

He’d been staying with us for months now. Most nights my brother went out with whatever girl he was seeing, leaving Leo and me alone. We’d have dinner together, then he’d get some work done or suggest we rent a movie. Sometimes we’d just listen to music and shoot the shit for hours. I wasn’t usually as tongue-tied as I was now.

Of course, we’d never before discussed how much I wanted to suck his dick.

“Blake?” He leaned forward and snapped his fingers in front of my face. “You in there?”

“Yeah. What?”

“Did you finish it?” He gestured with his head to the pumpkin on the table.

The bumpy, orange surface before me only had one triangular eye carved into it and nothing else. I hadn’t had the focus to do more than that. “Sure. It’s done.”

Even without a mouth, the pumpkin seemed to be laughing at me.

Leo stood and stretched his arms over his head, giving me a glimpse of his stomach as the bottom edge of his T-shirt rose above the top of his jeans. I wanted to lick that skin, use my lips to trace the line of dark hair disappearing into the jeans that were unbuttoned at the top. I wanted to know if he wore boxers or briefs underneath, and if he was as controlled in bed as he was during the day in the courtroom. Or did he let go when he fucked? I wanted to know how it felt to have those serious, dark eyes staring at me in bed.

I licked my lips as he came around behind me to get a look at my pathetic carve job.

“That’s just about the scariest jack-o’-lantern I’ve ever seen.”

I elbowed him in the thigh. “Shut up.” I wanted to reach back and stroke that thigh with the palm of my hand. I held still.

He didn’t. He placed an open hand on the table beside the pumpkin and leaned over me so he could get a better look.

He was close; his chest made contact with my shoulder on his every breath. Neither of us spoke for a minute. Maybe two.

He didn’t need to stare at that stupid one-eyed jack-o’-lantern that long. There wasn’t much to see.

Maybe tonight was the night, after all, and maybe he wasn’t going to tell me to fuck off like I’d feared.

I turned my head his way. He did the same until we were eye to eye, and in that moment I knew. He wanted me the way I’d been wanting him.

The air in the room seemed to come alive with energy, like a spark of lightning had zipped through the space.

“Blake.” He breathed my name more than said it.

Then he moved with amazing assurance and speed. I couldn’t have stopped him if I’d wanted to. He tugged me out of the chair and backed me against the refrigerator behind us. I hit so hard, the upper freezer door popped open and smacked me in the back of the head. I didn’t care. He was touching me.

His mouth covered mine.

I wrapped my arms around him, clutching his back, dragging him closer, desperately wanting to memorize every inch of his body under my hands, every moment of the consuming kiss. Because that one kiss might be all I’d get.

As if I had a gift for prophesizing, he pulled back.

But he didn’t go far. He leaned in again so his forehead was pressed to my left temple. “I’ve waited so long for this.” He kissed my cheek, my earlobe. “Years.”

What? Did that mean… “So before?”

He looked away, toward the table and the pumpkin still sitting there with that taunting eye. Then he met my gaze again. “Yeah. Long before she and I called it quits.” He nuzzled the side of my neck. The scratch of his dark stubble on my skin had me very aware of his touch as he kissed his way up to my ear. “I think I’ve wanted you since the day I met you.”

We’d met when I was sixteen, when he and my brother had been freshmen in college.

Which meant… He’d wanted to be with me for over ten years.

“I just didn’t know how to accept it,” he added. “I pushed it aside, went on with my life. Only, my life was all a lie.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why tonight?”

He laughed. “I’ve been trying to make a move for weeks now. Just couldn’t figure out how. Never came on to a guy before, never kissed one.” He shook his head, glanced at the table again. “Watching you there, I couldn’t resist. You just looked so damn adorable carving that thing.” He kissed me, taking his time now, his hands exploring, his soft, wet tongue brushing against mine. Then he was backing me across the kitchen, moving us toward the hallway, toward my bedroom.

Passing by the table, I caught a glimpse of the single carved eye socket of that stupid, beautiful pumpkin—the best damn jack-o’-lantern on the planet.

“I love Halloween,” I murmured as my lips brushed his again.

Copyright (c) September 2013 by Sloan Parker

Read more 3-word scenarios and other free fiction by Sloan Parker