De-blog

Reunions : I really am beginning to wonder if it will ever be finished. Current word count: 195,000. Brief explanation: My last couple of Rainbow Snippets have been George’s reflections on his and Josh’s relationship, so this time, I’ve gone with (one of) Josh’s (many) reflections. Note: if you’re reading the Hiding Behind The Couch series from the beginning, this contains a spoiler for anything before The Harder They Fall (Season Three) ( Reunions is Season Seven). Here’s the snippet: We’re together. Josh laughed a little and shivered. These days, it felt as if they’d never been apart, but then, this was the calm after the storm: a week of hypomania, dip into hell bypassed. He felt happy and at peace, and he had the house to himself, which meant he could finally get on with his research. Josh had wanted to use his heightened cognitions to escalate his investigation, but George had made him promise not to. It wasn’t George being mean or bossy; for as much as Josh revell...

WIPpet numbers for 25th January, 2017: ((25*20)/17)-1=28 (short) paragraphs from Reunions The current word count is 192,000! Forget what I said about being finished in 200k. Ain’t happenin’! This scene follows on from last week’s WIPpet. WIPpet Context: Shaunna and Andy are an established couple with twin six-month-old daughters. It’s bedtime, and they’re talking to pass the time whilst Shaunna expresses breastmilk (she has something on her mind). Other characters mentioned in the snippet (Sean, Sophie, Josh and George) are some of their close friends; Josh is a psychotherapist. For readers of the series, this give a bit of a teaser of (some of) what’s in store in Season Seven. If you don’t want to know, look away now! * * * * * “Hmm.” There wasn’t a whole lot going on in their lives, but talking would stop her thinking and fretting. “Did I tell you about Sean and Sophie?” Andy frowned. “Dunno.” “Sophie’s going to London to do her PhD.” “Ah. So that’s what’s up wi...

Title: Regeneration Author: Louise Lyons Published: January 15, 2017 Genre: Gay fiction, science fiction, MM romance Length: 75,000 words Cover design: Simon Searle   Purchase Links: Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NAL4NJ8 Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01NAL4NJ8 Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/688822 Blurb: In the 23rd Century in the galaxy of Sigma Kappa, Kim Fortune was the first surviving experimental enhanced human—a regenerate. Aged fifteen, he escaped the lab and years later, his failings as a regenerate and the suspicion of regular humans, leave him lonely and lacking in self-worth. Stranded on an abandoned planet, the arrival of a stricken ship and its crew give him hope that he may finally find what he always longed for—love. Christian Novak is a successful regenerate with all the intended attributes—including lack of human emotion. Despite their immediate attraction to each other, Kim's failing confidence, ...

Reunions: yep, I’m still writing that beast of a WIP. Today, the word count stands at 186,321, which means I’ve written 13,000 words in the past week and I’m still no closer to finishing it! That’s how it feels, at least, because I’ve been patching holes rather than moving towards the conclusion. Brief explanation: This snippet follows on from last week’s: George is thinking back to the verbal bullying he went through in high school, as well as his mum, who is much ‘lovelier’ than she comes across here. OK, she’s not that lovely, but she means well. Here's the snippet: Josh the boy genius, who remembered everything—every cruel and kind word spoken, every fight, argument, every mundane moment. All those times he’d recounted events of which George had no memory, yet when Josh had said those words, playing down the courage it had taken to stand up to Suzie Tyler, they had tattooed George’s brain. You make me brave. He wished he’d been braver. He wished he could have done...

WIPpet numbers for 18th January, 2017: (18-1)*17=289 words from Reunions The current word count on this beastie is 182,500! I think it’ll be finished in less than 200k, but don’t hold me to that. I decided to go with this particular scene because daughter #2 brought her second tiny son home from hospital today. He was born six weeks early (tiny grandson #1 was twelve weeks early), and a short while ago, she was chatting to me on FaceTime whilst expressing, which she’s doing to keep her milk flow, and because tiny grandson #2 doesn’t like the right breast (I had this with daughter #1 – it’s rather fun to compare notes). WIPpet Context: Shaunna and Andy are an established couple with twin six-month-old daughters. Just prior to this scene, Shaunna and Andy were…well, you can figure it out from the first line. ;) * * * * * “I’ll get the machine in a sec,” he slurred, drunk on sex hormones. “Don’t worry about it. They don’t need me anymore.” “Whoa.” Andy lifted on one ar...

Reunions: the never-ending WIP. Sigh. Today, the word count stands at 173,100. It’s a mess, still not finished, but I do believe it’s getting there. That said, trying to find six sentences that make sense in isolation is getting a bit tricky. Brief explanation: George is thinking back to the verbal bullying he went through in high school. Here's the snippet: Of course it bothered him. He hated being gay first, everything else second. It was what he’d always loved about Josh; he wasn’t ‘gay George’ or ‘star footballer George’. To Josh, he was ‘just George’, and when Josh had taken on Suzie Tyler, it hadn’t been only for George’s sake. He’d given her hell on Shaunna’s behalf, and Kris’s, and Rob’s—the list was endless. You make me brave. * * * * * Rainbow Snippets is a group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week to share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation (no spoilers please...

WIPpet numbers for 11th January, 2017: 11th January - 11+1=12 paragraphs from Reunions Sean Tierney is one of the main characters from Hiding Behind The Couch , and first appears in Ruminations (Prequel #2). WIPpet Context: This scene is from a few pages after last week’s WIPpet : Sean is in Derry with his son, Dylan. They’re spending Christmas with Sean’s mum and his older brother, Finn, who was in a serious car accident in his teens and has a long-term disability and (subsequent) painkiller addiction. Erin is Finn’s girlfriend, a nurse practitioner, whom Sean knew nothing about until she turned up with Finn for Christmas dinner. Finn has gone for a lie-down; Sean and Erin are finishing up from washing the dishes. * * * * * For as much as Sean hated what Finn had become, he tried not to hate him , to keep an open mind. Whenever he heard of a new pain treatment, Sean emailed the information to his old GP, who, as far as he knew, was still Finn’s GP. In a way, he supposed...

I’m at a bit of a loss today. I’m still trying to…oh, I don’t know anymore, lol. Reunions is driving me nuts! So, I decided to step away from it for the purposes of this RainbowSnippet and go with something from the opening pages of Spread Your Wings (the opening pages being all I’ve written so far). Brief explanation: Spread Your Wings is the sequel to Champagne —my first novel, originally published in 2004. I wrote it in the mid-1990s, which was a very different era in LGBTQ fiction, added to which, the story covers the first half of the 1980s. Spread Your Wings is set ten years later (1995-ish).  Champagne doesn’t have even so much as a ‘happy for now’ because, honestly, none of the characters deserved it. Spoiler alert for anyone intending to read Champagne ! (Highlight below to read synopsis.) Champagne tells the story of Sammy, a young man who goes to London in search of his abusive father and instead stumbles upon a seedy revue bar, where he promptly falls i...

WIPpet numbers for 4th January, 2017: Going US style on the date - Jan 4 - for 14 paragraphs from Reunions Sean Tierney is one of the main characters from Hiding Behind The Couch , and first appears in Ruminations (Prequel #2). WIPpet Context: Sean has arrived in Derry with his son, Dylan. They’re spending Christmas with Sean’s mum. * * * * * Alas, Sean’s optimism was crushed when he heard the front door open, followed by the foreboding click of an aluminium crutch. A familiar cold sweat descended. “Was your bathwater a bit on the hot side, Sean?” Finn limped into the kitchen and grinned at Dylan. “You’ve shrunk since I last saw ye.” “All right, Finn?” Sean greeted neutrally and then was stunned to the point he muttered “Jaysus” by his brother’s embrace. “I’m not bad at all.” Finn gave him a good, firm pat on the back and released him. “Yourself?” “I’m grand. You’re looking well, Finn.” Finn nodded noncommittally, but to Sean’s eyes, he looked healthier and hap...

Am I going to rant? I don't normally. Haha. OK, I'm not going to rant as such , but I am going to make a number of points in this post that are powered by utter fury and frustration, but I'll do my best to remain objective and not shoot my mouth off. First up, in my last post - 2016 Writing Round-up Part 1: Those Jeffries Boys - I said "I've stuck to [taking Christmas off] with one exception, which was a Boxing Day discount event on All Romance eBooks . Obviously, that couldn't wait, but the twelve emails I've set aside can ." Well, what a total bloody waste of time that was! Between Boxing Day (26th December) and 28th December, All Romance eBooks went kaput. I won't go into the nitty-gritty, but what I can tell you is the email I received on 28th December, announcing the closure of the site, offered to pay 10% of royalties owed to authors and publishers. Authors for whom ARE acted as publisher were offered their rights back, and I believ...