While you’re there, my stories have also been nominated in a number of other categories. Thank you those whatever kind souls did that! Here’s a breakdown of all the categories my books are in, should you be so inclined:

Best Story that Should/Must have a Sequel:
Something Like Summer

Best Young Adult Characters (theme):
Something Like Summer
The Cat in the Cradle

Best Short Story 25 pages or 15K words or less (book):
Language Lessons

Best Free Story:
Flesh and Blood

Best Cover:
Something Like Summer

Best World Created:
Hell’s Pawn

Most Surprising/Unique Plot Device:
Hell’s Pawn

Best of luck to all those other talented authors and artists that made the list. The people have the power on this one, which I absolutely love. Let’s hope this is the first of many years for the M/M Group’s Member’s Choice Award!

Update: Some wonderful readers loyal to Ben and Tim have expressed concern about these characters having their happily-ever-after ruined. The “sequel” I have in mind would be a book retelling the story from Tim’s perspective, while also showing what he got up to in all those years apart from Ben. Without going into detail, I’m confident I can tell a new story that runs alongside the first book, one that gives us another chance to spend time with Ben and his friends.

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2. One of the main characters is an irresistibly sexy and charming demon. Another a scruffy Irishmen without a moral to his name. And then there’s the main character, who is searching for love and purpose, something we can all relate to.

3. Sex in the afterlife! Have you ever wondered what it would be like, or if it’s even possible?

4. The book deals with the religious beliefs of different world cultures, and presents the information in a way that’s fun to read and easily digestible. Just think how smart and worldly you’ll sound at the next party you go to!

5. Because you’ve already read tons of boy-meets-boy books, and it’s good to branch out occasionally and try something new.

6. Hell’s Pawn is an award winner, landing a Rainbow Award for Best Gay Fantasy and an honorable mention as Best Gay Novel of 2011.

7. My prices are awesome. Most gay themed books cost twice as much as mine, if not more. That doesn’t mean I skimp on the editing or presentation. You’re still getting a professional product, just at a ridiculously cheap price. Plus, buying this book will help keep me alive and fed so I can write that book you guys have been clamoring for. You know the one!

8. All the good reviews at places like Amazon, or even Forbes.

9. It may be fantasy, but the settings and characters are contemporary, and there is plenty of gay romance and hot guys involved. In a sense, it’s only fantasy because it’s such a wild tale.

10.

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Considering this, you can understand why I feel so proud to be recognized on that site. For once, Something Like Summer wasn’t the star performer. Hell’s Pawn won a Rainbow Award for Best Gay Fantasy and also won an Honorable Mention in the Best Gay Novel category. Of course the most popular kid in school didn’t go completely unnoticed. Something Like Summer scored an Honorable Mention in the Best 2011 LGBT Cover contest. My lovely husband has much to be proud of. His art was up against hundreds and hundreds (and hundreds!) of covers, with some really stunning work on display this year.

The biggest winner in the Rainbow Awards is the reader, since it’s not just the top sellers that are gaining recognition. A lot of overlooked books rise to the top through this contest, which means we can look over the list of winners and runners-up on Elisa’s site and discover great new books to read. But first, I’m off to buy some champagne!

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My Gay Book Club is a wonderful site for gay fiction that has been hibernating the last year. Now it has woken up, just in time for winter, but maybe Something Like Summer is to blame since it’s the book of the month. Head on over there, check out some of the old reviews and discussions, and visit the brand new forums. And while you’re there, share your thoughts about Ben, Tim, and Jace. They’ll be listening.

There’s a wee little store you might have heard of called Amazon, and the good folks there (that just happen to keep food on my table) chose Something Like Summer as one of 2011’s Best Gay Books. And mine just happens to be the cheapest book up there. In price I mean, not in standards.

On to other unstoppable couples, my next gay romance novel has returned from the editor covered in more red than Carrie on prom night. This is good, because it means we’re one step closer to a new release. By the time you guys are tired of sucking on your frozen digits and begging for a little spring heat, I hope to have a new book to help warm you up inside. And no, I still haven’t revealed the title yet, because I’m weird.

Andreas has been a busy boy too, creating illustrations for the Cat in the Cradle sequel From Darkness to Darkness. The cover art is complete as well as half the illustrations. This time, instead of asking him to come up with an image for each chapter, I requested a handful that help bring key scenes to life. So far all the drawings for the sequel feature hot guys. Don’t tell anyone I said this, but I’m starting to think Andreas might be gay.

As for next month… Oh my gosh! That’s all I have to say for right now.

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All these things I feel make me strong, not weak: THE CAT IN THE CRADLE

I love you, so stop being afraid: SOMETHING LIKE SUMMER

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I’ve often said I’d rather write an entire book than a single synopsis. The same applies to choosing a title for a book. It’s so incredibly hard to sum up an entire story with just a few words. Impossible, really, so the best you can do is create an evocative title that makes a potential reader want to learn more. The working title of Something Like Summer was The Many Loves of Benjamin Bentley. A little long, but I liked it. Originally I planned on showing many more of Ben’s failed relationships, but then Tim and Jace ended up hogging the book. I was tempted to use the title anyway, until The Mysterious Case of Benjamin Button came out. Thieving Hollywood bastards! Suddenly I needed a new title. Thus began a month of me pestering anyone that would listen: Friends over email and phone, the checkout lady at the grocery store, and even Andreas in the bedroom. Inevitably, each clever title we thought up was already taken.

Then inspiration struck. Twelve Years of Summer. Perfect! Or so I thought. As a professional hermit, I don’t pay much attention to what’s going on in the world. My editor saved me/broke my spirit when she informed me of a recent movie called (500) Days of Summer. This time Hollywood had beat me to the punch. Their title was just close enough to make me appear a copycat—or worse—that I had written a parody. Back to the drawing board. I ate psychedelic mushrooms, fasted except for chewing gum, and conversed solely with small pebbles. Then I came up with it. Something Like Summer. But what does it mean? I recently posed this question on Twitter, and these are some of the replies:

@WanderingReclus (MacKenzie Stewart) said: “I thought the title meant to symbolize the heat and intensity of Ben and Tim’s relationship.”

@ladykatana70 (Stacia Hess) added: “because it makes you hot and sweaty..lol”

These two responses show why I wanted “summer” in the title. Summer conjures up visions of passion, heat, and sweat. The book is more romantic than erotic, but these associations also apply to intense emotion. But does the title mean more? Here are more responses:

@rolypolywoly (Alan) said: “Thought it might be ‘Something Like Summer’ ’cause the summer Ben & Tim meet is a starting point that reverberates through the story.”

@TaylorSalley (Taylor Salley) said: “Because summer is something really good that we all have a hard time letting go of. Much like Ben and Tim’s relationship.”

Leave a question for the reader to answer, and chances are, they’ll come up with something brilliant. I love the symbolism that these readers picked up on. I’m tempted to lie and say that’s exactly what I intended. My answer is much simpler. To me, summer is the time of year that I feel the best, both physically and emotionally. Perfect blue sky days when the sun warms my skin and makes the world beautiful—those summer moments make me feel sixteen again. There’s only one other thing that makes me feel so blissfully content. Love is something like summer.

There it is, my personal interpretation of the title, but that doesn’t make it true. The book has been set free and is out there in the world, romping through fields of imagination that no longer belong to me, and that’s how it should be. The title means what you want it to mean, and the story now belongs to you.




Er… Not legally of course.

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Something Like Summer is book of the month over on Goodread’s M/M Romance group. Readers have been chiming in on their opinions of the book, and I’ve been sharing some insights into the plot and the choices I made. If you’re not a member of Goodreads, I highly recommend it since there’s no better site to share and rank what you’re reading. The M/M Group over there is a wonderfully friendly place to chat about gay fiction.

Something Like Summer has also been the book of the month over at YAMM Books, a new site reviewing gay fiction that is young at heart. Many readers ask me for book recommendations. This site is the perfect answer. It’s a great source for books and authors you might not have discovered.

After a marathon of hunching over my laptop, I’m happy to announce the completion of a new novel. I’m not ready to release a title or synopsis yet, since this is only a first draft, but fans of Something Like Summer should be pleased as it’s another contemporary romance novel. And no, it’s not the oft requested sequel, but I think you’ll fall in love with these new characters just as much. Along with From Darkness to Darkness (The Cat in the Cradle sequel), I expect these two books to be released sometime next year.

There’s a new interview with me over at Diary of a Gay Erotica Author where I talk about satisfying myself (huh-huh-huh) and how readers have the power to make or break a book.

On a more personal note, today (September 27th) is my wedding anniversary. Andreas and I tend not to make a big deal out of it. We prefer to celebrate the day we first met, but since I love the big guy, I thought it was worth mentioning here. We plan on going out to eat to celebrate, because getting fat together is one of the coolest things about being married.

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Those were the cornerstones of Hell’s Pawn, but there were plenty of inspirations that came while actually writing the book. Music is always an influence. Every book I’ve written has its theme—a song I play to get me in the right mood. I discovered the song for Hell’s Pawn halfway through writing and while binging on a German group called Alphaville. Their song, For a Million, is every bit as weird as my story and some of the lyrics fit all too well.

“For a million years they dream
And the fog conceals and hides
and eats our souls
Before they open up their eyes again
How far we’ll be”

 
I mentioned weird, right? This verse reminds me of the foggy hidden underbelly of Purgatory, or the poor souls trapped in the dome surrounding it, sleeping until someone can free them. Then there was this verse:

“Oh I love to dance
Under an alien sun
Along the dunes with you
I kiss you in the sand”

 
I had already finished writing the Egyptian part of the story, but I liked the idea of Rimmon and John dancing along the dunes together and added it to the narrative. Did they kiss there? Man, I don’t think they did, but you know John wanted to. And then there are lines about time running out, about refusing to stop loving someone, even if you have to leave them behind… but the story does a better job explaining that than I could here.

Speaking of love, check out that handsome angel up there! That’s Archangel Uriel. Although his part in the story is small, I stared long and hard at this image while thinking about angels. I loved that his wings are colored instead of boring white, which encouraged me to make all the angels that way. Just think how pretty they would be if they had feathers like tropical birds instead of boring old white.

And finally, down the street from our apartment in Berlin was a small copy shop. Bobby the English Shepherd worked there. Okay, so his owners did, but I would often make an excuse to have something printed, hand the files over, and spend the next ten minutes rolling around on the floor with him. I’ve always loved dogs—even though it’s been awhile since I had my own—so I was very happy to give John some animal companionship in the form of Bolo.

As you can see from these few examples, there are all kinds of inspirations that contribute to a story’s creation. Every sexy demon, little ceramic soldier, or seedy coffee shop in Amsterdam has their own anchor to the real world, which just goes to show how strange reality can be when you tell the story in the right way.

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As for the story, I did another rewrite and had the book edited again to bring it up to par with my other releases. There’s even some new content! A few scenes have been flushed out, the story matured ever-so-slightly to get away from the Young Adult taboo that causes so many adults to tremble and flee. But wait, there’s more new stuff! Andreas designed a glorious fantasy map that covers the northern portion of the Five Lands. The southern map will be included in the second book.

That’s right! Now we’re finally to the kittens reference. The Cat in the Cradle is now part of the Loka Legends series. I wrote the second book earlier this year, and rarely have I ever been so excited about a project. For those that haven’t read the first book yet, much of it has to do with Dylan and Tyjinn and the love they feel for each other. I wanted to continue Dylan’s story and see where the growth he experiences in the first book would take him. I don’t want to give anything away, but believe me—if you don’t read the first book you’ll be missing out on an amazing sequel.

As always, buying options are to the right. You’ll find them below Hell’s Pawn, which is still king right now. Or you can learn more and read free chapters on the book’s product page. I hope you guys will join me for my first series. Something tells me it won’t be my last.

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Sounds like a pretty weird book, doesn’t it? Well, it is, but you’ll find the same comfortable elements I put into all my stories. There’s romance, gay main characters, ill-advised humor, and most of all, adventure. This isn’t Something Like Summer though. I know you guys are hungry for more of that style and I won’t disappoint you, but for now, I hope you come along with me as I try something new.

Buying options are to the right. Tree friendly eBooks are the cheapest at only $2.99. Paperback costs a bit more at $12.99, but Amazon is always generous with a discount. You can find the cheapest paperback price over on the right.

Once you’ve read it, please come back and tell me what you think. If it turns out you love Hell’s Pawn, please leave a review to help spread the word. Many humble thanks in advance! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to pen more stories for you guys!

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