#gaycoffee


Last night I had the strangest dream: I was all frothy and bitch-slapping mad at editor and fellow manlove romance author Kate McMurray about the structural state (or lack, thereof) of my current contemporary project. I’ve had to temporarily put it on pause, and I guess my subconscious was more bummed than I realized about taking a break from the writing. Or Kate was, and we have a never before discovered telepathic connection. *shiver*

SO now that I am awake, I need coffee. And people, I have discovered the bestest coffee. It’s Gay Coffee. GAY COFFEE! What better way to immerse yourself in gay culture and perk yourself up at the same time, right? And this is some good shit, yo. Roasted to order, fair trade, organic, whole-bean goodness. And for those of you who are coming to GayRomLit, I talked to the lovely, awesome owner of Gay Coffee and she is sending me samples! They’re going to grind it up for me and wait to send it when the date draws nigh (and drawing night it is!), so it’s at the peak of freshness and everything!! If you will be there in Albuquerque, come and hit me up for some Gay Coffee goodness!

Soapy studs: this week’s episode of Boxer Falls is by Jeremy Pack, and he’s introduced a mystical twist to the murder and mayhem that’s been afoot lately. Come check it out on the Goodreads M/M romance group. Next week? Damon Suede handles the men of Boxer Falls. I have an idea of what he has planned. I do believe it will be a little bit twisted. Stay tuned.

Until next week, I’m off to bitchslap Kate McMurray (no, I’m TOTALLY kidding you guys. Kate’s a friend, and she’s lovely).

Guest Post: Writing Characters With Character by S. A. Garcia


Many thanks to S.A. Garcia for guest blogging with me this week! And be sure to check out her awesome episode of Boxer Falls this week on the M/M Romance group at Goodreads!

What would writers do without willful characters and their demanding ways?

During my writing, willful characters often pop into existence. A neighbor who has never emerged from their house opens the front door and wham, becomes an important secondary character. The one liner mailman worms his way into his own storyline. A gallery owner created to supply comic relief evolves to the point where he is special enough to deserve a spin off story. They want their time alongside the main character parade.

What do you do with a character who falls from the sky?

Believe it or not, Fabion, my character from “An Elf for All Centuries”, fell from the sky. His dramatic entrance into my writing world is fitting considering his drama queen status. He fell from the sky during a strange dream, landed splat in a mud puddle, started cursing, and needed a home. I hope the silly word mansion I constructed for his diva personality pleases him.

Other characters entered my life in less dramatic scenarios. Amando from “Temptation of the Incubus” always seemed to exist for me. Many moons ago, I read horror magazines like Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella. Anyone remember Vampirella, she of the skimpy red outfit and flowing black hair? I certainly do. Okay, enough drooling. When I was a kid, I had subscriptions to these magazines. Bless my parents. I remember reading a story about a succubus giving up her life to save her dying human lover. The story stuck with me until years later I decided to use the story as part of a far larger story based around a male incubus and his human lover. Enter Amando and Mads into my world.

Amando and Fabion have too much in common. They are both full of self-worth, sexy and own no problem in accepting their sexiness. Someday I want to lock them in a room and see what happens. Aw, come on, they will have sex. That’s a no-brainer.

Prince Linden and Alasdaire from “Canes and Scales” are another pair who has always been with me. In fact, they have been in many people’s minds. They are the fairy tale pair, the star-crossed noble and slave who fight past restraints and torment to love. They are an eternal pair descended from a common love of romance and the happy ever after ending, well, happy until something wicked comes along to screw up their romance. In their sequel, something comes at them like a screaming demon. Poor souls.

Speaking of souls, my characters Tristan and Marius from “To Save a Shining Soul” are another good example of the fairy tale pairing. A demon and a misplaced divinity student in Hell fall in love. They are definitely an archetypical pairing, geesh, probably something found in cave paintings. Good and evil hooking up. Tristan and Marius are as simple and as complex as that concept.

In my novel that won’t be out until September, my characters Carl and Marcelino are another variation on an archetypical pairing, the pot-smoking college professor and the sexy student. Granted they are a variation on the older man chasing the younger man trope, especially since Carl the professor is, in certain ways, less grounded than the younger Marcelino. No matter what, I had a blast writing them together.

Other characters such as torn-asunder, mmm, I love that term, Magus and Nick hope to see the light of day in my supernatural tale about the Shetlands. What about David and Nate, my poor characters stuck in a Victorian vampire mess? Or Petros, Rolfe, Nels and Aindrias, struggling to push their historical drama to the finishline? These poor men need freedom. I hope it arrives for them soon.

Then there is Patrice, a pushy little bugger who has been haunting me. He’s another bold character who introduced via a dream. He owns a leather bar/cafe, likes red leather pants paired with stiletto boots and fills in as a waiter. Patrice is proud of his round beer belly and seldom wears a shirt at the bar. Hard belly pinches turn him on. He is swarthy, black-haired, green-eyed, and handy with a switchblade. He hides a tattoo. Judging by his attitude, I know where he is inked. He displays one helluva tattoo, oh yeah.

Patrice keeps haunting me. He struts across the dimly lit bar carrying a menu to a man sitting at a back table. At least this character hasn’t named himself. The waiting man hasn’t ordered food since Patrice never reaches his table. Patrice struts but never arrives.

He performs this act on a regular basis. I often “write” myself to sleep, trying to work out a scene or where a story might go next. Even when I’m fretting over another story, Patrice insists on strutting with his menu.

I try to ignore him. Many other words need attention. Too many needy characters wait in line for editing and development.

Patrice wants to strut to the line’s front. Should I let him deliver the menu to the man at the back table? Damn, the second the menu slides into that man’s hand, the dude will name himself.

They will try to line jump but there is no way they are shoving past Magus, Nick, Petros, Rolfe, Nels and Aindrias. Their sheer combined angst will force Patrice and Mr. Table Sitter behind them. Before they act up, I promised Patrice and mystery man a place in one of my many plots in progress. I know where they will fit in.

Do you think they will be happy with my promise?

Cross your fingers. I do worry about Patrice’s switchblade skills.

Let’s hope my dreams bring less aggressive characters who act patient enough to wait their turn. It’s rough when a character displays too much character.

That seems like a good place to include an excerpt from “An Elf for All Centuries.”

BLURB:

Elf Prince Fabion enjoys the perfect supermodel lifestyle until wizard Matradorian chucks him back in time to save Henda, the sexy, powerful elf king. Since the death of his lover, Henda has lingered in a half-alive, half-dead state. Surprisingly, Fabion is a spiritual match for Henda’s dead lover, so only he can save the dying king.

Fabion uses his sexy bod and sweet lovin’ to revive the elf king. All seems well until he realizes that by saving Henda, his own timeline was destroyed and he must stay in this ancient land forever. Fabion pitches the biggest temper tantrum of any century.

Soon a new threat emerges which puts his life in fresh danger. Now who wants to kill him?

EXCERPT:

Henda body slammed Fabion into the sitting room table. Unnngh… wow, the hard, wooden table sure abused the spine. The frenzied Fabion was too busy holding on and gasping in wet, hot pleasure to protest. Fuck. Amazing. Did his powerful Henda have a cock or a telephone pole swinging between his thighs? Whatever this potent male swirled around in Fabion’s ass sure made Fabion experience twinkling stars, shimmering comets, and strange, lime-green light flashes. He imagined himself as a cup of coffee violently stirred by one long, hard spoon. Ouch, did those green flashes mean brain damage? His head had bounced off the sitting room wall pretty damned hard.

Crap-a doodle-doo-ooo-oo-ouch!

“Henda, what the hell are you—ooo—”

The powerful elf yanked him off the table and maneuvered them toward the bedroom. Fabion wrapped around Henda, laughed, and enjoyed the sexy ride down the hall. Yee-hah! As he walked, Henda continued jamming the pile driver into Fabion. Amazing. Yeee-haaa redux. The big dude hid hydraulics in his wicked cock!

Henda’s wanton actions stunned Fabion. Imagine, he had coaxed the stately big dude into acting like a rampaging sexual demon.

Pained ecstasy made Fabion whoop in amazement.

His smiling big dude gasped out a teasing question. “Am I too much for my youthful one?”

When he controlled his own gasping, Fabion nipped at Henda’s smiling lips. “Keep bringing it on, you wild thing! This is where I need you to be my perpetual motion machine. You can do me until I pass out. This is… you are… ooo, yeah, baby, please—”

Fabion squirmed in fresh joy. He bounced his ass up and down. He hoped his big dude managed not to drop him even as he tried forcing Henda to come before they reached the bed.

Loud gasps threatened their progress. “My love, I hate to admit the fact, but throwing you across the various surfaces exhausts even my royal stamina. Do you mind if we end our epic round of sex in our bed? I love ending in a traditional manner.”

“Traditional? You’re funny, Big Dude.” Fabion rolled his inner ass muscles.

“You are a lovely tease.” Henda carefully positioned them to drop in swift grace.

Fabion’s torso sunk into the bed. His pillow cradled his head. He stared up at Henda in amazement. “Big Dude, wow, what skillful aim. Thanks for not dropping me on the floor.”

“You act so dazed with sexual glory, I wonder if you would even notice.”

“You gotta point and wow, one fabulous point deep where it counts!”

Crooning in merry lust, Fabion arched his neck back and rolled his head against the feather pillow. He kept his long legs wrapped around Henda’s perfect waist. Wow-wowie. Yooowww, whatever happened deep inside him defined killer. “Hey, Big Dude, do that trick again.”

Henda chuckled softly and maneuvered his hips slightly to the left. “Is this what my darling one needs?”

“Woo, absolutely, Big Dude. Lover, are you sick of me—ooo, yeah—telling you how sublimely boffo you are?”

Another chuckle escaped Henda’s panting throat. “Boffo? Trust me, Fabion, you are the first one to call me boffo. I gather boffo is a pleasant thing to be?”

Fabion managed to laugh through his impending blast off. “Absolutely, Big Dude. Boffo ranks right up there with killer.”

Henda arched his back toward the ceiling. Yeow, perfect, the big dude slowly drove his cock back into Fabion in hard, incremental thrusts. His lover understood when to slow down the show. Excellent.

“You are killer boffo.”

Henda smiled over Fabion’s ecstatic face. “My dear beauty, you and I are going to sit down with a few bottles of, as you call it, tree sap vino and detail your strange utterances. How is killer a good thing?”

“Trust me, you studly elf, it is a compliment, like me saying ‘I dig how you do the nasty’. Crap, holy cats, lover, how do you make your amazing dick twist radically hard? Your new treat is wickedly hot.”

“My Fabion, tell me what pleases you, and I shall perform the act until you cannot stand the pleasure. I hate to sound boastful, but I can satisfy a lover for hours. Actually, since we act lively here, I fear I will not hold out as long as usual. I confess I am at physical limit.”

Whew, cool to realize Henda also suffered from exhaustion. Fabion felt less wimpy.

Thanks for reading and many thanks to Ellis for hosting me here today.

Who Am I?

Thirty years ago, I started writing m/m romance. My writing remained a secret lest my friends thought me a freak. Writing about men inserting tab A into slot B didn’t seem the norm for a female teenager. Reading Gordon Merrick, John Rechy and Larry Kramer helped me fill in informational gaps. Yes, I read those books only in my bedroom.

As the years progressed and I discovered my sexual path, I still wrote m/m romance, although the stories progressed from lurking in notebooks to hiding on the computer.

Now I am glad I kept the writing faith. Five published novellas and novels later, my life is a fun quandary of too many stories hindered by slow typing skills. I accept the silly challenge.

An Elf for All Centuries

S.A. Garcia’s World of Words

Facebook: Sandra Ann Garcia

Twitter: @SAGarcia_Writer

Blog: http://oscarsbruisedpetals.blogspot.com/

Love Bites: New M/M Free Read


So awhile back my critique partner suggested I try to enter a short story contest–you wouldn’t know it, but my thing is writing novels. Still, with my busy schedule novellas and short stories have turned out to be the bulk of my work thus far. With my busy schedule, it’s just easier. And I seem to be okay at them. So I entered this paranormal-themed contest, knowing it was a long-shot to enter with a gay romance story, but figuring I’d at least give it a shot. The story didn’t final,  and after sitting around in the proverbial drawer for awhile, I decided to post it as a free read. It’s very short vampire/shifter story (there was a word-count limit), and you  can check it out on Goodreads.  I should warn that there’s not really any smexing in this one, there just wasn’t enough room with the allotted word count–but since I tend to often write high heat level, I figured maybe it couldn’t hurt to write a story without any, for a change. ;) I hope you enjoy.

Soap Up and Get Down!


This week’s episode of Boxer Falls, our free soap opera-style serial drama is up! The last episode of each month one of the head writers takes a turn at the wheel, either Damon Suede, Poppy Dennison, or myself. This week was my turn, and I decided to bring everyone’s favorite “it” couple back together. Here’s an excerpt:

…Quinn found his fingertips digging into the arm of his chair at the wistful tone in Oz’s voice when he talked about Yoshi, not to mention the reminder that the guy could have been killed not too long ago. Fuck it all to hell. He sank lower in his hair and rubbed a hand over his forehead. “Look, Oz, I—“ I’m sorry I was a dick that morning you wanted to hang out in bed. I’m glad you weren’t hurt worse in that wreck. I’m being a tool right now because the thing is I keep thinking an awful lot that maybe I was wrong when I said no second dates. Only, it’d be nice if I actually thought you’d be willing to be seen with me in public and stuff. Looking around this huge-assed office and your dad’s massive fucking mansion, I don’t see how I’ve got the first thing to offer that would possibly make you wanna do that. Sure as hell I ain’t gonna magically grow a set of bangin’ D-cups. “I think it’s real manly sounding when you talk about sports equipment like that.”

Oz laughed. A real, deep, rumbly laugh that Quinn liked the sound of more than he should have. He stood and it was like the office had gotten smaller and darker. His clothes rubbed and constricted uncomfortably. He wanted his T-shirt and his kilt and his boots back.

He jerked a thumb toward the door. “I’d better get back out there. Thanks for patching me up, Oz.” He held out a hand, an effort to be well-mannered and civil.

When Oz slid his palm against Quinn’s and blue eyes met green, the spark between them was back again. Undeniable.

“You don’t have to go yet do you?” Oz’s voice was almost a whisper. A dangerously low, guttural, sexy as all fucking hell whisper…

Read the rest and catch up on the other episodes at the M/M Romance Group, on Goodreads.

We have a winner…


 

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to comment on my Loving Kindness post for the Hop Against Homophobia. The winner, KimberlyFDR, will get a copy of two short stories from me. My Dreamspinner Press contemporary story about a one night stand that becomes much more, Feeling Neighborly, and a vamp/shifter short story entitled Under the Full Moon that’s not yet been released to the public. The latter was written for a short story contest originally, but I may eventually post it to Goodreads as a free read in the near future, just as I have my paranormalish/BDSM-inspired short story, Yes, Sir.

Right now I’m finishing up next week’s episode of Boxer Falls, and a contemporary M/M novel, tentatively entitled David’s Goliath which I hope to find a good home for soon.

Stay tuned…

 

Bits and Pieces and Naughtiness, oh, my!


Just a few quick catchup status update thingies: It’s been a busy winter at Chez Carrington, and I’m (still) busily drafting a contemporary novel. It’s quite different, I think, from what I typically write so I’m not sure how it’ll come out yet or where it’ll fit. And, yanno, life keeps happening and slowing me down. I have a good feeling about it though, so fingers crossed.

The latest episode of our free gay soap opera serial Boxer Falls is up, written by MJ O’Shea! It’s naughty, hot and angsty! Two of the young Boxer Falls residents put themselves on the wrong side of the law in the name of helping their friends. Geoffrey Knight is up next, and you are NOT going to want to miss out. We also have a newly updated BoxerFalls.com web site with all sorts of additional info. We hope to be posting back episodes in the near future but for now you can get caught up on the Goodreads M/M Romance Group.

This came out in January, but I missed it before now: My favorite bearish book reviewer, Tom Webb at A Bear on Books, published his list of 25 favorite M/M books of 2011 and I was super psyched to see my Mayan Mythology novella, Amor Prohibido, was #5 on the list! Thanks, Tom. :)

And for those of you who still prefer good old fashioned books to e-readers, and happen to be looking for a football-themed manlove anthology, The Touchdowns Anthology is now out in paperback and available at Amazon. This Ravenous Romance anthology features my first contemporary short story, After Party.

Get Yer Free Fiction!


Happy Sunday, folks! A copy of my boy-meets-vampire novella Immortal Valentine is being given away over at Reviews by Jessewave today! Stop by and leave a comment for your chance to win.

Episode 8 of Boxer Falls, a gaytime drama is up at the Goodreads M/M Romance group! We’ve got amazing, weekly, FREE m/m drama written by the likes of Damon Suede, Poppy Dennison, Amy Lane, Mary Calmes, Eden Winters, and many more guest authors yet to come.

This week’s episode was written written by me, and it’s a pretty steamy one–here’s an excerpt:

…Oz’s jaw unhinged and his eyes lost focus. Before he knew it Quinn’s cock was hitting the inside of his cheek. He readjusted to get his teeth away—he knew that much at least—and oh, hell, he wanted to swallow the thing whole. It was heavy, and solid, and perfect in his mouth.

Up above, Quinn shifted and a bar stool rocked like the guy was leaning his weight on it. “Shit, Oz—”

Sure. Yeah. Fucking. He responded with an “Mmm-hmm” and put some suction into it, working his hand to spread the excess saliva around and challenging himself to get the head as far toward his throat as he could. Quinn seemed to have the courtesy to stay still and Oz was gratified by appreciative moans and groans and fingers clutching and the back of his head.

–BAM!–

“Holy—” Oz looked to the window where the noise had come from. He pulled away with his blood rushing in his ears. Swiped a hand over his mouth. Shit. Shit! What if pictures of this get splashed around? This is the sort of stupid impulsive thinking-with-your-dick move your brother would make, Oz, for God’s sake.

Quinn cocked his head and took a step forward, gaze trained on the window. “S’okay, Oz.” There’s a tree close to the building. Branch hits the window sometimes if it’s real windy.” He laughed. “Probably gonna crash through the glass one of these days.”

Oz didn’t realize how much tension that bump on the window had injected into his muscles until the redhead’s easy smile and explanation made it all leak back out again. Tree. Wind. Right. Jeez. Quinn stepped forward and Oz rubbed that hipbone that fascinated him so, and next thing he knew Quinn’s dick was back to making friends with his tonsils. This time it wasn’t fear jacking up his pulse…


Woo! I just love those two. ;) If you haven’t checked out Boxer Falls, I hope you’ll stop on by. Also, we’ve had a couple of folks mention that they had difficulty locating the message thread. When you enter the M/M romance group, there will always be a link at the very top of the discussion threads, where it says “Moderator Spotlight.” Mod Lori very awesomely updates this for us each week with the latest episode but if you click the link it actually takes you to a convenient list of ALL the episodes, so it’s an easy way to find everything. We also plan to have a newsletter up soon, and I’m going to update my site here with links to all the episodes for easier access. :) Hope to see you in the discussion thread!

Vote for The BEST Romance Novel of 2011


For those who may not have heard, Damon Suede’s Hot Head has been nominated by Goodreads as one of only a handful of candidates for Best Romance of 2011. His is the only LGBT romance nomination, the only romance written by a male, and the only one of two not published by NYC powerhouse publishers. And he’s up against mainstream mavens such as Nora Roberts and J.R. Ward, who I LOVE and admire greatly–but wouldn’t be an amazing leap for our genre if Hot Head were to win? Please consider supporting Hot Head in particular and/or gay romance in general, by voting here (voting ends 11/30/2011!): http://www.goodreads.com/award/choice/#56966-Best-Romance

Hot Angels and Cool Demons Blog Tour, Day 2 (Win Free Books!)


Just a quick note, Amor Prohibido is being read as the book of the month in the Goodreads M/M Romance Group! After you’ve read the book, come join the discussion, here!

What do you think of, when you think of an Angel?

In Amor Prohibido, Pakal is an immortal spirit guide. .. An angel, of sorts.

Once mortal, he was bound and ritualistically drowned a thousand years ago to honor the Mayan rain god. Unlike the angels that we think of in Biblical terms, Amor Prohibido deals with Mesoamerican mythology, and Pakal now walks the earth as a man of flesh and bone. He is able to interact with others. He’s able to help mortals with their problems, he’s able to have sex, and he’s got some very major flaws. As angels sometimes do, he falls…in love with the mortal Jacob, for which he risks banishment to the Mayan Underworld, where he would confront…

The demon gods.

Best I was able to find out the Mayan Underworld is seen as a large city beneath the earth. And it is overseen by twelve powerful demon gods called the Lords of Xibalba. Hell itself has nine levels, the worst of which is Mental. Word is, when healers would pray to banish diseases, they sent those bad boys to Mental. And that level of the underworld was overseen by Ah Puch, a demon god with the head of an owl and a decaying corpse for a body (hot, huh?).  In Amor, Ah Puch has a teensy bit of a crush on Pakal.  *shiver*

And these demon gods, they like to play with mortals the way a cat likes to play with a mouse before devouring it. When a mortal gets banished to the Underworld, the demon gods make them fight through six deadly houses of fear: the Dark House which was pitch black inside, the Cold House which was full of bone-chilling cold and rattling hail, the Jaguar House full of hungry jaguars, the Bat House full of shrieking bats, the Hot House full of fires, and the Razor House full of knives that moved about on their own.

Sounds impossible, right? But hey! If they make it through, there’s a chance these folks will be allowed to be free of the underworld. If not? Well, cue the sad trombone music. They may experience the kind of permanent death that banishes them to one of the nine levels of the Mayan Hell for an eternity of demon torture.

So, what about the immortal Pakal and the mortal Jacob? Do they fall in love? Of course they do, it’s a romance. So do they confront the Lords of Xibalba and fight through the houses of fear? And how?

Here’s an excerpt:

Their interactions were so comfortable and easy that Pakal had to remind himself repeatedly that Jacob was his spirit charge, not a friend. Not a lover. Every now and then Jacob’s warm, chocolatey gaze found Pakal’s, and it was as if he were a better man just for having borne witness to that soulful stare. Gods, what he wouldn’t give for them to be just two ordinary mortals. Pakal shoved the foolish longing aside, but it was insistent, like a hungry stray dog.

Eleven hundred years was a long time to be alone.

The gentle breeze playfully ruffled Jacob’s hair while he chatted about his favorite music (techno), his feelings about animal cruelty (con), his feelings about American football (pro), and his favorite foods (Chinese pork buns, and Swiss cheese fondue). Pakal, in turn, discussed the local culture, the history, and the cave formations. Many times he caught himself assisting Jacob in a far too friendly manner, and each time their bodies touched Pakal was overcome by the sensation of their being so…in tune, with each other. He would almost swear their pulses beat in the same rhythm. Yet through it all, Jacob’s posture was still overly controlled. Tight.

They were plodding carefully through a large corridor of stalactites and stalagmites that gave the appearance of a giant shark’s mouth, when Jacob stepped absently and slipped. Pakal grabbed Jacob from behind, just narrowly preventing him from being impaled on the business end of a sharp, vertically jutting piece of rock. Many a tourist had landed at the nearby clinic for such accidents.

“Shit.”

“I warned you to be careful of where you stepped. It’s slippery in here.” Pakal’s breath was heavy, and he was panting right in Jacob’s ear. His heart thudded against the thinner man’s back. Their bodies vibrated together as if they shared the same skin. They were dangling over a great precipice just then, and for the life of him Pakal was too caught up in the thrill to truly care about the consequences. He tightened his grip around Jacob’s naked waist and his light slipped from his fingers into the water. It was stupid. It was dangerous.

It was too late.

The thought was interesting, but fleeting, as Pakal’s hand dipped inside of Jacob’s loose, surfer-style swim shorts.

“Holy, Jesus. What are you doing?” The words held a note of obligatory protest, but even as he said them Jacob’s ass pushed into Pakal’s crotch, and his forearm and head came to rest against the curve of the cave wall. Both men breathed heavily, totally in sync.

“Keep it down,” Pakal whispered. Gods, Jacob’s cock was smooth. Deliciously soft and hard at the same time. “You’re so tense. I’m helping you to loosen up.”

Jacob’s breath hitched. “Someone could come by here any minute.” Yet even as he said it, Jacob’s hard length fucked faster into Pakal’s wet fist. His dick was perfect against Pakal’s skin; it was long and thin, with only a small amount of soft hair at the base. Pakal’s fingers strayed for a moment to roll Jacob’s weighty sac in his hand, and he longed to feel it inside of his mouth.

“Better be fast, then,” Pakal breathed.

For a chance to win a FREE copy of Amor Prohibido as well as books from each of the other fifteen authors in the Angels and Demons blog tour, leave a comment below! And be sure to stop by all of the other authors on the tour for more chances to win! Jay Di Meo has the schedule, here.

Can’t wait to see if you’ve won? Amor Prohibido is available for purchase at Amazon.

One Giant Leap for Gay Romance Kind…


For those who may not have heard, Damon Suede’s Hot Head has been nominated by Goodreads as one of only a handful of candidates for Best Romance of 2011. His is the only LGBT romance nomination, the only romance written by a male, and the only one of two not published by NYC powerhouse publishers. And he’s up against mainstream mavens such as Nora Roberts and J.R. Ward, who I LOVE and admire greatly–but wouldn’t be an amazing leap for our genre, if Hot Head were to win? Please consider supporting Hot Head in particular and/or gay romance in general, by voting here (voting ends 11/30/2011!): http://www.goodreads.com/award/choice/#56966-Best-Romance

Today’s Quickie: Rock It, Baby!


Hey all! The M/M Romance Group on Goodreads  is having their monthly book of the month group reading poll, and someone was lovely enough to nominate my novella, Amor Prohibido. As I’m still a new author, it could use a little help in the polls, and I’d be SUPER appreciative if y’all could pop over there and help me rock the vote!

http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/55830-which-book-would-you-like-selected-as-our-november-book-of-the-month-gro

Also, I was giving away a free short story at GayRomLit and I ran out of copies. If you wanted one and didn’t get it, please email me at EllisCarrington@Gmail.com. Thanks, everyone!

Where’s My Happy Ever After, Beeyotch?


Recently a Twitter buddy wrote an amusing and insightful blog post entitled “Screw Your Ever After.” This is a sort of rebuttal to that post.

In recent memory, a stone’s throw from where I live, a woman threw her young granddaughter off of a bridge. No one knows why. The girl, 2 years old, died. Another woman accidentally ran over her two children with her own car. The youngest was killed. A man forgot his sleeping infant son in their vehicle carseat, and that child died from hyperthermia. Because the boy was adopted and because of the nature of the child’s death, this couple may never get to have another child. We just passed the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and I was not far from where the plane struck the Pentagon on the tenth anniversary of that ugly day, which was quite a stunning reminder of the hateful attacks that occurred. And as I write this, we are a day away from the anniversary of the death of Matthew Shepard, a beautiful young man whose murder was so horrific and heartbreaking I can hardly stand to think about it.

What’s my point here? Life can be beautiful, but it can be terrible and ugly and tragic, and unpredictable. It can be depressing as hell. If I allow them to, things around me can begin to look very bleak–something I can’t afford, as my day job is raising two children who haven’t yet been touched by all that ugliness to go out into the world and be good citizens.

The thing is, when I read, I read to escape. To find that proverbial happy place. I read to be taken on a journey, to feel that “good ache,” and to experience the highs and lows along with my protagonists–I don’t want to read a story that’s nothing but 300 pages of my characters skipping through daisies. I do want that happy ending to be earned. I want them to have to battle bad guys or demons or maybe even each other. But at the end of the day I want them to kiss and make or up make love and I want to close the book (or turn off my Kindle, more likely) and know that things are probably going to work out okay. Is it realistic? Maybe not, but hell, that’s why we call it fiction.

In a couple of days I’ll be leaving for the GayRomLit retreat. Could. Not. Be. More. Psyched. And I owe a huge thank you to the M/M Romance group on Goodreads for holding a contest to give away the plane ticket that’s allowing me to attend this shindig. I’m a survivor of abuse and assault, and M/M romance is my escape from all the ugliness that I mentioned, not to mention the stuff that’s in my own head. The opportunity to meet with the writers who have created those stories and other readers who love M/M as much as I do, is such a thrill. THAT is how much the Happy Ever After means to me. I once wrote a 1300 word flash fiction story, and still made sure it ended happily. THAT is how much the ever after means to me.

I grok that not every writer wants to write romance or happy endings and not every reader wants to read it, and that’s totally fine. Diversity, it’s what makes the world go ’round. But in an uncertain world, some of us need to know once in awhile that things turn out okay. We need the romance.

So…where’s my ever after, bitch? ;-)