HUGE Dreamspinner Press Sale Now Through July 31st!!

Dreamspinner Press is having a huge sale now through July 31st! 25% off everything in the store and $1 ebooks! Hurry over to see if you can snag some great reads!

Dreamspinner Press Website

~J.R.~

Announcement: Christmas in July Prize Pack Giveaway Winner & Re-Release Information

 

Happy August 1st everyone! I received over 25 entries into my contest and I couldn't be more excited to see such a response to my give away. :)  I loved reading about everyone's dreams and what they are grateful for in their lives. It brings a lot into perspective as we always let the small day to day things let us forget what's important. So many of us end up regretting not stopping to enjoy the little things we take for granted every day. 

Just to give you insight on how I choose my winner - I don't do the rafflecopter thingy, not even sure how to, and this was not about who I thought had the best answer because everyone's answer was the best. I like to make things fair so I take the number of entries I have, enter them into a spreadsheet by name or email in the order they were received and use a random number generator to choose my winner. With the posts here and the posts received on Twitter/FB/Google +, the number is 20 and that is Denise Dechene! Congratulations, Denise! I will also notify you on Facebook! 

 

It makes me happy to see so many who participated and I want to say thank you to everyone for sharing your thoughts with me. 

As for the re-release information, the two stories I received the rights back from 'the publisher who shall not be named' (affectionately dubbed Voldemort Publishing during a conversation at Rainbow Con) have been accepted by another publishing house. Once the contract has been signed and returned to them I will let everyone know which house and the tentative re-release date of these two stories. Great news, right? :)  

Swift's Temptation

Fragments of a Unicorn's Soul

They even have brand new, more fitting covers! Both of which were designed by the wonderful and sweet Sara York who I can't thank enough for putting up with my nitpicking during the process. 

 

So for those of you who didn't wish to purchase books from that publisher, you will now have the chance to read either one you may have missed!

Once again Thank YOU to everyone who helped celebrate DSP's Christmas in July event and participated throughout the month of July. I know all authors appreciate every single one of you, because without you, we would be nothing. 

Kisses, 

JR

DSP Christmas in July Celebration! - His Salvation only 99c! (GIVEAWAY)

Today is officially Christmas! Well... in July at least! :)  Dreamspinner Press is having a HUGE sale this month to celebrate Christmas in July. As you can see from the banner, all holiday stories are 25% off while everything else is 20% off! Great deal, right? Well they've sweetened the deal by making several stories each day only .99c and today is when you can get my book His Salvation for only .99c! If you haven't read it, head over to pick it up now. Every day they have new stories for .99c so make sure to check into the site each day for some great reads to add to your list. 

Since 2010 I have been blessed with the opportunity to live out my dream as a writer and have had multiple novels and short stories published. It's a very humbling and very amazing thing to experience. Every time a new contract comes or the next cover is shown to me, I can't quite stifle the giddy 'child on Christmas morning' feeling I get. When I see how many people have read my stories and even more so the ones who loved them it makes me want to pinch myself to see if it's real. Every day I spend with my readers on Facebook or Twitter, or the ones who take the time out of their busy days to email me, is like receiving a new gift. I am also grateful for my health, my family, my every day job (even though it takes away from my writing), my furbaby's health, and waking up each day to know I get to experience them all over again.

(not the official cover yet!)

And I have been blessed once more this year with another upcoming novel from Dreamspinner Press. The follow up to Chasing Seth featuring the ever loveable Nick Cartwright and the arrogant ass Thayne Whitedove. Look for Forgiving Thayne release information in the coming months. Due out in Sept/Oct this year!

  

To offer my own Christmas in July gift, I am having a mini give away. I want to know what you're grateful for in your life. Have you accomplished your dream? Do you have a wonderful family? What about a great job you go to every day? What makes your life worth getting up every morning and facing each new day with a beautiful smile and a happy heart? Tell me in the comments below, on my Facebook Page (LINK), or Tweet me on Twitter (twitter link) to enter! No restrictions on country either. So anyone can enter. You must post your comment by no later than 11:59:59 pm Eastern Standard Time July 31st to be eligible to win.

 

What's the present? Well it wouldn't be a present if it wasn't a surprise, right? ;)  I promise you'll love it!

Happy Christmas in July, everyone! Gift yourself by checking out the .99c month long deals over at Dreamspinner Press. There's still six days left in the month. ;)

Author Spotlight: Lex Chase on Her Novel Pawn Takes Rook

Hello Earthlings! I’m Lex Chase taking over JR’s blog today. So thanks for having me JR! I’m the author of superhero romantic comedy Pawn Takes Rook, the first installment in the Checkmate series. There are some things about authors that you may have never known, or may delight you. So today, I am talking about the five facts/quirks/oddities about yours truly.

1.      Tabletop Roleplaying Games Got Me Into Writing

In my much younger days, I was a pen and paper gamer. Rolling up characters, creating their backstories and skills all got me thinking about worldbuilding and storytelling. I wasn’t into AD&D so much because of the sheer amount of math and dice rolling involved. But Cyberpunk 2020 by R. Talisorian really got me into creating stories taking place in the world of Cyberpunk’s Night City. At 13, and inspired by this, I created my first original world of cyborgs, genetic experiments, and gene splicing, and asking the question of What Is It To Be Human. Very complicated stuff for a 13 year old. But as an adult, I’m back to trying to find an answer to that very question in a new Cyberpunk novel.

2.      Speaking Of The Math In AD&D, I Have A Learning Disability In Math

Math. Ugh. Math. I didn’t learn I was math disabled until college algebra and had to be tested to prove it. My mom used to tell me stories of how when I was little and had math worksheets from grade school, I’d just sit and cry and couldn’t explain why. It wasn’t until much later I realized that numbers read like gibberish to me. I can hardly add and subtract and frequently have to check my work on a calculator. I can’t tell time on an analogue clock. At all. 

3.      Before I Was A Writer, I Was An Artist

I had always been telling stories and making up characters since I was young, but I was always drawing the characters over writing their epic tales. I had dreamed of being a comic book artist, even attended Savannah College of Art and Design to hone my craft, but when I realized I was hopelessly outgunned in how to ‘play the game’ I left. Something had to give. My sanity was sadly the thing that gave. One of my professors who I stayed in touch with always said in class, “Have a Plan B.” Writing became my Plan B. I don’t have a Plan C.

4.      I Got A Degree In Journalism For Novel Research

This December I’m graduating with a bachelor’s in journalism. How the hell did that work? At SCAD, I worked on the school paper there and was rather fond of the journalism process. And in hindsight, as art students we pretty much got away with murder. When I left, I had started a novel and one of the characters was a war correspondent. Seeing as I needed to finish college with some kind of degree, and I wanted to get a better view of the inner workings of a journalist… Off I went.

5.      I Name My Cats After Famous Artists

Fact: I’m a cat person. Pathetic Fact: I work the weird things my cats do into casual conversation daily. Honest to God Truth: I love my furbabies more than anything.

It all started thirteen years ago when I adopted a female grey and white ragamuffin kitten with a peculiar vacant stare that I ended up naming Dali Salvador Rorschach. Because she was an ink blot test in the style of a Dali painting, makes sense right? Just go with it. Dali was the best cat ever. She was very docile, friendly, and was quite clever despite her vacant stare. We called it her “Duh Face” because she always looked like she was going “Duuuuuuh…” Dali sadly passed away three years ago, but my family remembers her fondly and knows there will never be another one like her. Now, we have a tuxedo girl named Rembrandt, or Remmi for short. I secretly think she’s the devil. She is really cute, but she’s smart, insanely clever, and can be quite the creep. She’ll sit across the room and stare at you like she’s pondering killing you in your sleep.

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 Pawn Takes Rook: Blurb

The first time Hogarth Dawson sees superhero Memphis Rook, he comes to Hogarth’s rescue by cracking the heads of two thugs like eggs into a skillet. Hogarth is utterly smitten, but he soon discovers the superhero Power Alliance has ejected Rook for failing to protect a civilian.

Hogarth devises a plan that will reinstate Rook and might even earn Hogarth a place in Power Alliance roster. But what he expects to be a simple few missions rescuing kittens and helping little old ladies cross the street turns into a shocking reality of citywide chases, foiling robberies, and facing his ex. Then Hogarth discovers the beating Rook saved him from wasn’t a chance attack. It’s possible Hogarth is just a pawn in Rook’s game….

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Pawn Takes Rook: Excerpt

When I first saw Rook, he was cracking the skulls of two goons like eggs into a skillet. I sat there like a freaked out choir boy on my butt between the trash cans lining the alley behind Ted’s TV Tabernacle, gazing in awe and wonder. Rook had hands that could mold steel like Dollar General Play-Doh. He did just that by wadding up Random Thug Number One’s Louisville Slugger into a sadistic snowball and beaned the guy right in the ear. Getting snow in your ear has to be the most excruciating sensation in existence. I can’t imagine getting Kentucky’s finest steel shoved into your noggin. 

I don’t remember if I screamed. I likely did. Totally did.

Random Thug Number Two went flying past me in an expert over-the-shoulder throw, his open mouth smacking wetly into the bricks. Broken teeth bounced over the sidewalk. Random Thug Number Three ducked behind the trash cans opposite me. He popped up once in a while, hidden behind the mound of bags and cans. His alligator eyes inched over the unfolding scene from the safe vantage point of the trash bag swamp.

Rook surveyed the alley, making sure he had gotten them all. He snorted a puff of steam with menacing satisfaction at seeing one guy out cold and another on the fast track for full dentures before sixty. Then he came to me. Now, when I say he was smoldering, that’s totally what he was doing. Smoke rose off his tattered trench coat in ethereal coils. Rook’s smoking frame could have been caused by the chill of the oncoming winter and the steam of sweat, but it definitely added to the sexy first impression.

His eyes, oh my Christ on a cracker…. They were not quite blue, not quite green, but like that girl on the National Geographic cover. Those haunting Afghan eyes.

“Are you okay?” Rook rumbled in a perfect antiheroic growl while reaching for my hand. His fingers, broad, callused, and strong, hung there long enough to cue the musical montage in my head. I couldn’t believe it. The one and only Memphis Rook had swaggered into my mugging, ready to bust heads. It was like he planned it, really. Or our universes collided in some awesome poetic way that I can’t think straight at the moment because holy crap, those hands are huge!

That’s when Random Thug Number Three opposite me decided to ruin the amazing moment, popping up like a spring-loaded Halloween skeleton and launched at Rook.

Rook turned in a smooth whoosh of muscle and fabric, and I shrieked as the knife skewered into his gut. He latched onto his killer’s knife hand in surprise.

“Oh God, oh God, oh God!” I screamed. I knew in that infinitesimally dark moment, I was going to die alongside the guy who fought in vain to save my life.

Confused, the thug glared at him, then to his captured wrist, and back again. “W-what are you?” he stammered as courage ran down his pants leg.

Rook released him. The thug held up the knife with the blade crumpled onto itself like a bullet impacting a Kevlar plate. The thug backpedaled, falling backward over a black plastic trash can after slipping on a greasy Five Guys burger wrapper. He screeched, twisting in an about face, and ran like a kid who had spilled orange juice on his dad’s vintage Playboys.

Then Rook turned those Afghan eyes on me, and the musical montage returned. The sleepy, sultry lyrics to “Dream Weaver” crooned in my head along with the accompanying halo of sparkles. His hand, those powerful, thick fingers, reached for mine….

And then he flat fuck fell over in my lap like a Buick dropped from low earth orbit. Steam rose from his body in the not so sexy eau de parfum of burned rubber and gasoline. He lay there, crushing my pancreas while out cold.

And that’s how Memphis Rook fucked up my life.

By coming into it.

Where To Buy:

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3643

Goodreads:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17404975-pawn-takes-rook

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Lex Chase

Lex Chase is a journalist by day and a writer by night. Either way you slice it, she makes things up for a living. Her style of storytelling is action, adventure, and a dollop of steamy romance. She loves tales of men who kiss as much as they kick ass. She believes it’s never a party until something explodes in a magnificent fashion, be it a rolling fireball of a car or two guys screaming out their love for one another in the freezing rain.

Lex is a pop culture diva, an urbanite trapped in a country bumpkin’s body, and wouldn’t last five minutes without technology in the event of the apocalypse. She has learned that when all else fails, hug the cat.

She is a Damned Yankee hailing from the frozen backwoods of Maine residing in the ‘burbs of Northwest Florida where it could be 80F and she’d have a sweatshirt on because she’s freezing.

You can find her on those Facebook and Twitter things at:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LXChase
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Lex_Chase

And her blog at http://lexchase.com.

Author Spotlight: An Interview with Pinkie Parker

 Today's Author Spotlight is on Pinkie Parker! Please sit back and enjoy the interview, read the blurb for her upcoming release and make sure to comment to let her know you stopped by. :) 

*****

Welcome Pinkie, can you tell us a little bit about your background?
I was born in the southern United States, and I “inherited” the nickname “Pinkie” from my paternal female relatives (the oldest female child is always “Pinkie”). No one is quite sure how that tradition got started, but I also have cousins named Bootsie and Newtsie, so we are a slightly eclectic bunch.

I had my first short story published in 2004 through a college literary magazine, and Dreamspinner Press published my first m/m short story this year with two more on the way.

When did you start writing m/m romance and why were you drawn to it?
I first started writing m/m romance at age twelve. It began with fanfiction for the Japanese animation Sailor Moon. I had been watching the American dub of the show when a friend showed me the original Japanese version. In the original, two of the main villains in the first season were male lovers. However, the show had been censored for American audiences by the U.S. distribution company, and one of the males had been airbrushed to have breasts and was given a female voice actor in order to make the romance “acceptable.” Watching the original, I realized that the love between the two characters was the same, regardless of gender. As I began writing, I wanted to explore that, and I have never really stopped.

Do you write full time?

 The simple answer is yes, but, sadly, I am not always writing fiction. Usually, I am being crushed beneath archival material for research.

How long did it take you to get published? Was your book/novella accepted on the first submission or did you have to submit to more than one place before it was accepted? 

I have been trying to get published in starts and stops since I was about eighteen years old. After getting a lot of rejections, my college’s literary magazine published a short story of mine in 2004. After that, I gave up the idea of being an author while I was getting my undergraduate degree. In 2011, while doing some thesis research, I began to write again, and, after nine months of submitting to a dozen or more  publishers, Dreamspinner Press published my short story “Curtain Calls” in their Snow on the Roof anthology.

What event(s) in your life helped you to decide to become a writer? 

 I think that I have spent most of my life alone with my own imagination. I do not have any siblings, and I have always been a bit of a loner. Writing my characters having social lives became a lot easier than having one of my own.

Are you the type of writer who edits as they go along or do you finish and then go back to the beginning to start the 'polishing' process?

I do edit as I go, but it slows me down terribly.

Do you write from experience or are you the type who researches a subject until you feel you know it inside and out?

As a cultural historian, my brain will not leave me alone unless I have thoroughly researched everything I want to write about. In my upcoming short story “Joie de Vivre,” I had to research several French locations along with recipes. I even tried cooking a few of the dishes that I wrote about to limited success.

How do you come up with the title of your works? Is it during the writing process, before, after? Do you outline or fly by the seat of your pants when you start a new piece?

I would have to say that most of the titles do come about during the writing process, usually when I am doing an overall outline of the story.

How much of yourself do  you incorporate in your characters? Is it intentional or does it come out subconsciously? Do you ever use people in your life for inspiration?

I do not see much of myself in my characters, but I am told that many of my characters speak like me. I have a tendency to overuse the word “indeed” in my regular speech, and my characters do it as well, so I have to be mindful of that. It is probably more common for me to use people in my life for inspiration. When I spot a quirk or a unique mannerism in my colleagues, sometimes that gets thrown into the mix during my character creation process. In “Joie de Vivre,” the character Henri has a lot of mannerisms that come from a close friend of mine, particularly the weird way he eats bread.

 What do you hope your reader feels or experiences as they read your work?

I hope that my reader feels like that they are truly experiencing a vignette in someone else’s life. I hope the atmosphere is tangible, and the emotions relatable. I try to strive for a sense of genuineness in my work.

Since your first publication, has there been any surprises or funny/interesting stories you'd like to share?

When I visited my family for Christmas, my  grandmother kept asking to see my story that was published in the Snow on the Roof anthology. While there are members of my family that know that I write romance fiction, my grandmother does not, and it made for a very awkward holiday.

What are you currently working on?

I am currently writing a fantasy novel set in medieval England, so I am doing a lot of research into the fourteenth century.

How do you overcome writer's block?

I start working on my academic writing. Imagining all those far off places and time periods I will never get to experience usually recharges the old inspiration batteries.

Do you like to read as well as write? What types of books do you enjoy? Do you ever find yourself incorporating pieces of books you've read into your stories?

I love to read, but I am normally stuck reading economic records from the eighteenth century. For pleasure, I enjoy fantasy novels, such as Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files or George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. I think that enjoying those books inspired me to write a fantasy novel myself, and I adore the world-building process.

Where does your inspiration come from?

History inspires me most of all, both for fiction and nonfiction writing. Reading the letters of Katharine of Aragon or even the records of the menagerie at Versailles under Louis XIV gives you glimpses into a different world. You can become attached to people and places in ways that are hard to describe.

Any special projects coming out soon that we should watch for?

“Joie de Vivre” will be featured in Dreamspinner Press’s Closet Capers anthology, coming out on April 22nd, and another short story, “Luck of the Dice” will be published in DPS’s 2012 Daily Dose anthology.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I spend an inordinate amount of time on the Internet, watching video game reviews. I also love to draw comics and make delicious baked goods.

Please tell everyone where to find you  on the internet.

https://www.facebook.com/PinkieRaeParker

http://pinkieparker.tumblr.com/

http://pinkieraeparker.wordpress.com/

 

My story "Joie de Vivre" will be featured in the upcoming Dreamspinner Press anthology, Closet Capers, which will be released on April 22nd.

Story Blurb:

Aspiring restaurateur Jules hopes to honor his aunt’s memory by placing one of her recipes on his menu. However, while visiting the farmhouse he inherited from her, he discovers her treasured recipe box has disappeared and encounters a host of needed repairs that make staying in the house impossible. When a childhood antagonist, Henri, reappears, can Jules take him up on his offer of help… and maybe more?

Buy Links:

Paperback- http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3770&cPath=55_767

E-book- http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3769&cPath=55_767