De-blog

I should title this post ‘how not to release a story’… Yesterday (yep), I released A Snowy Ball —a short Christmas story featuring Arty and Jim from When Skies Have Fallen . I only decided to write it a couple of weeks ago, and given the date and everything, I decided to go ahead and get it out there. Why did I write  A Snowy Ball ? Quite a few readers have been kind enough to get in touch and tell me how much they loved  When Skies Have Fallen —and made my day in the process :)—some of whom mentioned they would have liked to read more of Arty and Jim’s day-to-day life. I’d have loved to include more of that in the novel, but the deadline didn’t allow it, and I was quite pragmatic in my storytelling (first time for everything). So that’s the first and most important reason. The second reason is that if I hadn’t written it, this year would have been the first since 2013 when I didn’t release a Christmas story, and I’m a fan of Christmas stories myself. Lastly, I...

Every Monday, iCal nags me. De-Blog...De-Blog...De-Blog...every half an hour until I either dismiss it (which defeats the purpose of me having set it to nag me in the first place), or I write a blog post. Today. I have so much to say, and I don't know how to make the words. So. I'm going with factual, probably a little bit rambling, and heavily edited to leave out the ranting. Last Monday evening saw the 28th Lambda Literary Awards ceremony take place in NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. Seeing as it was in NY and I am in the UK, for me, it was the early hours of Tuesday morning when the awards were announced. I watched them via the @LambdaLiterary Twitter feed. I actually shook Nige awake to tell him. I won! My historical romance, When Skies Have Fallen , won the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Romance, which IS exciting. I'm still in a daze, but it's sinking in. I think. I added the medal to my cover, and my lovely author friends pestered me to ...

Typically, I was out of the house when the email came with a link to the announcement of the 28th Lambda Literary Award Finalists .  I am delighted and a tiny bit gobsmacked that my novel, When Skies Have Fallen , is a finalist in the Gay Romance category. Congratulations to all! And thank you to the Don't Read in the Closet team - this book was made possible because of you. Beyond that, I'm speechless, so I'm going to post an excerpt and leave it at that! (p.s. the ebook is free - paperback also available: Purchase/Download Links on Beaten Track ) * * * * * “Good evening to you, Corporal.” His voice, a slow, deep rumble, startled Arty from his remembering. His breath caught in his throat as he fought to reply. “A good evening to you also, Sergeant…Johnson, isn’t it?” “Sure is.” The man held out his hand for Arty to shake. “Technical Sergeant Jim Johnson, at your service.” Arty reciprocated: “Corporal Robert Clarke.” The palm against his was big, rough ...