About to start the daunting and hitherto impossible (for me) of working on two books at once.
Theres the OMIGOD I’m writing with Joey W Hill book (holy crap, its a real thing!) Then there’s the folder of ideas, outlines, and partially finished manuscripts on my laptop.
Time to get it in gear!
…it’s been so long since I posted I have to learn WordPress all over again!
It’s been, once again, an eventful year. One of the coolest things to happen though is – I hate to “say it out loud” lest I jinx it – imwritingabookwjoeyhill!!!
Yep.
I’m. Writing. A. Book. With. Joey. Hill.
Holy crap!!!
So prepare yourselves for smexy vampires, unquiet ghosts, and lots of yummy man sex.
Back to the laptop, y’all 😘
Yes. I suck. And not in a good way. I’ve been on a bit of a social media hiatus. I’ve repossessed all my solo books except one category length ( if you haven’t read Light a Candle yet, WHY NOT? 😢), and two shorts, (C’mon. EVERYONE likes a porny Santa and a sexy drag queen!). I have stuff “in the works” (by which I mean I have a bunch of outlines, partial outlines, and grandiose ideas that are gathering dust), and I really haven’t felt much like an author.
And, God help me, I’ve been in school. Grad classes. Kill. Me. NOW.
But.
I’m starting to seriously tinker with my parts of Masks: Shadows & Kink, book 2, and I know Lex is looking at hers, too. And I’m seriously looking at a collaboration with a new partner; one I’m pretty excited about, when I’m not overwhelmed with school work. (Five assignments this week. FIVE. And that doesn’t count the three chapters and six articles worth of reading!)
Anyway.
I’m trying to get my author on, so just maybe I can manage to get something out before 2020!
In the meantime – I have this awesome picture of Gandalf with his fauxhawk, and #1 Sis says with the right caption, it could go viral. Clearly *I* have nada in the creativity department going on, so I thought I’d toss it out to the peanut gallery.
Send me your meme via email to vj.summers@yahoo.com. I’ll put my favorites (I wanna say 5, but I’m not sure if 5 people will even read this 😢) and have a vote. The winner will get their choice of either an e-copy of my naughty December 26th story Santa Claus is Coming or a character named after them in my next book.
I’m on my way Up North to get my Bliss on, and I’ll be coming back to an avalanche of home work, so let’s say I’ll post the pics for voting Monday, and the winner next Friday.
And here he is… My bee-you-ti-full boy!
Do your worst!
First – I hope everyone had a fantabulous Easter (or Sunday).
Second – Don’t forget this is the last week Amber Quill will be around 😢 Be sure to back up your libraries, and grab whatever books you’ve been pining for!
Third – This is the over-sharing part.
So, I’ve been pretty AWOL online since just after Christmas. Without going into details (I’m sick of living it; I won’t subject you to reading it), I took a pretty hard spiral down the rabbit hole of my anxiety and depression. I had (and still have, really) nothing positive to say, and I very strongly do not want to be *that author*, the one who spends all her posts bemoaning her life. (Which isn’t to say I don’t want to know when my friends are struggling. PLEASE let me know when you need support. It’s a total double standard, I know. But I spent nearly 40 years listening to my mom gnash her teeth and wail over the hell that was her life. I can’t bear the thought of being my mother.)
To sum up – I did not die, nor was I abducted by aliens. (Bummer) I have had some contact with folks on my RL page, and got a wonderful card from Crystal Marie that came at the perfect time.
Huge thanks to those who’ve checked in on me – yes, when I go walkabout there’s usually something wrong 😕
So, I’ll be back posting soon, I hope. In the meantime, here’s Easter Eye Candy!
I’m a little bit heartbroken and kind of crushed. I have Chrissy Brashear (and Heather Osborn) stories that I’ll tell another time. A time when my heart isn’t so sore.
I’ve talked many times how Joey W Hill’s ROUGH CANVAS was the first m/m *and* the first BDSM novel I fell in love with… But m/m was never EC’s strong seller (to my eventual personal disappointment), and many of my go-to m/m authors came from Samhain.
KA Mitchell. Oh. Em. Gee. I discovered her during a *really* tense time in my life – my Goddaughter was in a bad situation and had come to live with me, I was fighting for her on so many levels, AND working in what was, in reality, an at-risk school. I think I went a good week w out sleeping at one point.
KA Mitchell probably saved my sanity that summer. I started w CHASING SMOKE, and then worked my way through her entire backlist. COLLISION COURSE remains in my top 5 comfort reads of all time.
JL Langley. The Englor books. LOVE. Passionately.
Jordan Castillo Price. She’s only got the one book there, HEMOVORE. I got the impression it wasn’t universally embraced, but I loved it, and it led me to the Wild Bill & Michael stories (Also on my comfort read shelf!) & PsyCop – I actually LITERALLY finished re-reading the 7 main books this afternoon.
So many amazing authors. Those are just my eatly discoveries Excellent editing, by and large.
ZA Maxfield…
Gah!
And yes, selfishly, I’d hoped to be pubbed there someday, too.
My heart hurts for the authors and the readers. My heart hurts for Chrissy and her team.
My heart especially hurts for all the ePubs being crushed by the leviathan that is Amazon.
My Riptide book, Light a Candle came out at a rather tumultuous time in my life… Looking back, I can’t believe it’s been almost a year. Nine months – that’s a baby, y’all!
So, for me, a lot of the joy in the new release was shadowed by stuff happening in “real life”. And, as much as I love Will and Dusty (I really love Dusty… and Leo 🐽), I sort of projected some of those shadows onto the book, and forgot that… Well, I love Will and Dusty, lol. And the educator in me loved playing with Greek history (even when Joey was afraid of pedophiles popping up – heh, heh, heh.)
Well, some time has passed, and I have the distance to look at my boys and Club Deviant again, with fresh eyes. I like this book. (Is that conceited?)
But! I’m not the only one who likes it! I found out today from my awesome publisher and from my amazing friend that Light a Candle is a finalist in the National Leather Association – International’s PAULINE REAGE NOVEL AWARD.
Not only am I grouped w L.A. Witt / Lauren Gallagher and J.A. Rock, but I’m in a group w Laura Antinou. Great googly mooglies!
So, I hope you’ll check out NLA-I’s various contacts, and I *really* hope you’ll check out Light a Candle.
Congrats to all the nominees in all the categories – I’ll be reading some articles this week, I think!
To my beautiful K-Lee Klein AND her beautiful NEW RELEASE! Check out Lucky in Loveland at Amazon, and other fine retailers (like ARe) today!
So, as I’ve mentioned, the very classy Amber Quill Press will be no more as of March 31st. I am still heartbroken for my author friends who are losing a good home and, selfishly, for myself because several of my favorite authors have books there, and who knows how long before their books re-issue – I’m talkin’ to YOU Angel Martinez. I have books one, three and four! I NEED book two, dammit!
Speaking of Angel Martinez, I *highly* recommend her sci-fi, fairy tales slashed, and urban fantasy, much of which you can find at Amber Allure (AQ’s LGBTQ imprint). I hope you’ll check Angel’s stuff out. I’m pretty sure it’s on sale on the Amber site, and I *know* it’s on sale at ARe.
Here’s her latest cover – hot guy, ancient gods and magic… Book FOUR… (bk 2, grumble…)
I was so sorry to hear that at the end of March, Amber Quill Press will be closing it’s metaphorical doors. I’m sorry for the readers, because Amber Quill and Amber Allure published consistently quality stories. I’m devastated for the authors, because from everything I’ve heard, Ingrid Arbaiza, J. Kathe, Karin Story, and Trace Edward Zaber were a pleasure to work with and for. It’s a rare publisher who can make the artists feel personally important and valued while still keeping a *professional*, *trustworthy* operation. (Something many of us have been learning the hard way… 28 days and counting down…)
As sad as I am to see it happen, I want to give massive kudos to the Amber Administration for recognizing when it was time to close on a high note – too many e-publishers over the last few years have waited it out, juggled resources and staff, and in the end the losers are the readers who end up with substandard stories/editing/cover art (and GUILT, bc you love an author and want to read ALL THE BOOKS, but you aren’t sure s/he is getting paid, so you hesitate…*), and authors and artists who end up with missing royalties, indecipherable statements, and a situation where they can’t win whether they sit back and hope for the best, or vocally take it to the readers… Seeing Noble and Silver go down was like watching two impressive pleasure yachts succumb to the kraken. So, I’m so very pleased that it appears (at least from my place on the outside) that Amber is being fair with its authors. That’s huge.
So, for the next week or so, I want to highlight a few of my favorite Amber authors. I know a lot of their stuff’s been on sale at ARe, and it looks like it’s on sale on the Amber site as well.
Today I’m highlighting my dear friend K-Lee Klein. I love this woman SO MUCH. And she’s a pretty kick ass author. She’s got tons of books out there, but my favorite of her series’ starts with Unbreak My Heart (which I admit I originally bought for the cover, and cuz it was K-Lee, but ended up loving everything about the story!).
You can find K-Lee’s Amber back list at ARe, on Amazon, and HERE, on the Amber site. I hope you’ll check it out soon!
*I wouldn’t encourage people *not* to buy my books. I’ll either get paid or not, and I honestly don’t think actual sales will have anything to do with the check I get. That said, you could wait a bit on my solo stuff (28 days & counting!), and check out my stories at eXtasy Books, and the fabulous (they’re being *very* patient w my neurosis and screwed up family right now) Changeling Press . There’s some good stuff – both solo and co-authored.
Me. Today.
And in apology…
(Thigh highs: Ain’t Just for the Wimmens!)
VJ Summers Writes SMUT! 