The End of So Much For Me

Yesterday was the end of Amber Quill Press. It still fills me with a lot of sorrow to write out those words. 

Back in 2007/2008 when I took a chance and entered their then publishing contest I never expected to get anywhere. I'd been writing for years and at that time had no success getting a publisher.  I used to write hetero romances but one day started reading gay romances, sometimes called M/M, and my love affair began. 

The story I submitted to the contest was called The Squire. It combined my new found love of M/M with my love of medieval romances. 

I officially sent my entry for the "Heat Wave" contest on January 01, 2008. 

What a shock it was to me when on February 29, 2008, I received the following:

It is my pleasure to inform you that the manuscript you recently submitted into our 5th Annual Heat Wave Contest, THE SQUIRE, has been selected to receive an e-publishing contract with Amber Quill Press.  Congratulations!  With more than 200 entries this year, the competition proved fierce, so pat yourself on the back for a job well done!  

I surely read that email a hundred times certain it was a mistake. It wasn't. The Squire was published in June of that year and thus began a long history of publishing with them. I released more than 20 titles with them over the years, many of them, like The Squire, very good sellers for me.  Car Wash, Most Likely to Succeed, At Long Last, the Only Series, Sutter's Bay, man, I could go on. 

Those early years were especially fond ones for me and it was a pleasure working with my editor, Catherine, and all the others at AQ, especially Trace who was always phenomenal.

I have no idea what the future holds for me and all my orphaned books other than the ones I have already noted here but I'll always remember my time with Amber Quill as a happy and successful time.

Evernight Birthday Blog Hop, Oct 08-12

Welcome to the Evernight Publishing birthday blog hop!

Evernight Publishing opened its doors two years ago. In those two years we’ve signed over one hundred and sixty authors and published over three hundred books. From paranormal to contemporary, we’ve had more best sellers than we can count and made thousands of people smile, sigh and gasp. So, as a thank you to all our readers and everyone who has supported us, we’re holding this blog hop and we have a whole lot of prizes to offer you.

Here's how it works... the more blogs you hop to (shown below) the more chance you have of winning prizes. Each author on the hop is offering a prize and Evernight is offering the following grand prizes, a Kindle, a $100 Amazon gift certificate, two Evernight swag bags (which includes a tote, a tee, vouchers, a mug and other coolness) and a personalized Facebook banner. To be in with a chance of winning the author prize simply follow the blog you're visiting and leave a comment which includes your email address. Each entry on each blog is then counted towards the grand prize draw. The more entries you have, the better your chance of winning a grand prize! You also get extra points for liking the Evernight Facebook page. Just make sure you let us know in the comments that you've done so.

Good luck and happy hopping!

Hello, I am Shawn Lane and am an author of M/M Romance Fiction. For the Birthday Blog hop I'm giving away a copy of both Loving the Boss and the follow up related story Loving the Assistant (which does not release until November, so you will have to wait until the release to receive the second half of the prize) to one lucky commentator.



Here's the list of participating authors in Evernight's Birthday Blog Hop - 

Also...

I also wanted to mention I got a lovely review for At Long Last from Barbara who runs a really lovely blog called Happily Forever After.

Check it out if you get the chance. http://booklover125.blogspot.com/

Rainbow Reviews 2009 Author Extravaganza

In the month of August, Rainbow Reviews will be celebrating their second anniversary. During the month a different author of the GLBT genre will be featured every day on their blog with a special treat for readers to have a chance to win a free copy of one of the author's books.

Here is a link with more information and the participating authors. Hope to see you there in August. It should be loads of fun.

http://rainbow-reviews.com/?page_id=1542

New Work In Progress

Working on something new. I hope to have it done and off to Amber Quill by the end of the Independence Day Weekend here in the United States. If I can manage, shortly after I should have a release date. Will post further details as they become available.

New story is called, Sweet Reunion.

Frequently Asked Questions

1) What are you working on now?

I am working on Ticket to Ride. The story premise is that just as a has-been rock star is looking to make his come back his boyfriend announces he is leaving him. Then the boyfriend ends up being murdered. I have no idea of the length. It’s supposed to be finished by September.

2) Anything else?

I’m also working on Pieces. It’s a story of depression and moving on from grief and finding or re-finding new love. One hero’s boyfriend killed himself and he’s having trouble moving on from that and it’s going to take him falling in love all over again with his first love to get his happily-ever-after.

3) Sorcerer’s Lover 2 just released, do you have any more sequels in the works?

Sorcerer’s Lover will definitely have a third installment. In the third one, the war between Benedict’s brothers, James and Henry, will heat up and at least one of them will look to using Warin’s powers to become king. I am anticipating late 2009 or early 2010 for that one.

I am also intending to conclude Nick and Ray’s story from The Other Side 2 as well as get out Ray’s brother, Devon’s story at some point. Those are the only sequels planned at present.

4) You seem to write pretty fast. How do you do it?

I don’t know, really. It’s something I’ve always been able to do when forced but lately I have been slowing down a bit. Which is why I have only got Until the End of Time to release at the end of July for Amber Quill and Beyond the Norm to release in September for Dreamspinner Press. Nothing else is completed but as mentioned I am working on it.

5) Do you read reviews of your work?

Sometimes. I am learning the painful lesson some people just won’t like your work. I’ve gotten great reviews and bad reviews, but honestly I don’t see either kind affecting the sales for my books much. I know for myself, as a consumer, I don’t really pay attention to reviews on review sites when choosing books for myself.

I pay more attention to reader reaction than review sites and for the most part I have gotten very positive reader reaction to the majority of my stories. It’s always lovely getting an email from a reader or a comment on the blog from someone who loved my story. That always makes me very happy.

Any person who puts out their work whether it is writing or acting or painting is going to be subject to criticism. There are millions of people in the world and we don’t all like the same things.

6) Do you have a writing routine?

No. I don’t write for so many hours or force myself to work on any given day. I try to write every day but it just doesn’t work for me. I usually write at the day job at lunch during the work week. Sometimes at night when I come home and I am vegging in front of the television I can get a little more done. And on the weekends I might get 500 words done for the entire time. But if I am determined to write and finish something I will work a lot more and a lot faster. When I decided to do Until the End of Time I got 2,000 or more words done on that per day.

7) Do you plot or just write as it comes to you?

Well, every story is different. Right now as I am working on Ticket to Ride I am just writing it. Don’t know who the killer is or why or anything. I know the killer is not Chad or the cop-love interest, Jack. But for Beyond the Norm I pretty much knew where I wanted to go with that story when I started. Same with Trust. Those were both plotted in my head before I wrote them. I rarely ever sit down and write down a plot even when I do have the plot in mind. I store them in my brain.

8) When are you going to write the Regency lord and butler story?

I have visions of myself starting that in late summer or early fall. But it’s also entirely possible it will have to be pushed to early 2010.

9) Do you have any advice for aspiring writers of the m/m genre?

First, please read and enjoy the genre you are writing. Don’t just start writing it because you hear it is the hot thing. If you don’t enjoy the genre readers will know. I was reading m/m well before I ever penned the first one (Another Chance). The other thing is join writing groups, on line chapters are good if you can’t find a local one, RWA now has a Rainbow chapter, find a critique partner you mesh with, and finish the story. Endless re-writes of your beginning chapter will get you no where. In order to get published you have to submit. If you can’t find a critique partner, enter a few contests that will take the genre and get some feedback that way. Also, research publishers who publish what you write. Read their stories and get a feel for what they like.

10) Since your first published erotic romance, The Squire, came out a year ago is there anything you’ve done to promote your books that you think has worked?

Actually, I joined a reader’s site called, Goodreads. I was talked into it, really, by Ava March, but I am glad I did. I have been able to talk about different books we’ve all read or wanted to read in the genre and gotten some great recommendations I might never have known about without them. I’ve also met some really wonderful readers that I have become good friends with, Shellie for instance, and my favorite person in the universe, Shayne. I’m extremely grateful for their kindness and friendship. And I know both have convinced other readers to try my books and I can’t thank them enough for their support.

Jane Austen, M/M Romance, & Opposites Attract…

(by Ava March – official moocher of Shawn’s blog)

…three of my favorite things. I love Jane Austen. My favorite book of hers is Pride and Prejudice (which some of you may have picked up on already). I love M/M romances, and I love Opposites Attract story lines. And yes, all three things actually go together.

When I read Austen’s books, I can’t help but think that some of her heroes would be better suited to each other, than to their heroines. Not just my favorites, Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy, but also Mr. Knightley and Frank Churchill (Emma), and Edward Ferrars and John Willoughby (Sense and Sensibility). Of course, this could be because I tend to have M/M romances on the brain - I do write them and spend a lot of time mulling over new plots and characters. But Austen’s works are also prime ground for my overactive imagination because she tended to write one reserved/pragmatic hero and one playboy/easy-going hero. My personal opinion (and I’m no literary scholar) is that Austen used the two types of heroes to play off each other and drive the primary heroine to her ultimate hero.

I personally love to write gay heroes who appear as opposites but actually go together perfectly. I find the dynamics of such a pairing quite interesting. Letting the heroes smack into each other and bouncing back rather like the ends of a magnet, until they snap together like puzzle pieces. And no, not just in the physical sense. *g* But that moment when they realize how well they complement each others’ strengths and weakness, making each stronger when they are together.

That’s pretty much the underlying theme of a novella I just finished. In Convincing Arthur, one hero is the ultimate rakehell, just seeped in vice and debauchery, while the other is the workaholic solicitor. Shawn also uses opposites in a number of her books. The Other Side is a prime example, along with At Long Last, The Squire and Pulling Away, to name a few. And I also happen to know that Car Wash, which will be out in June, features a yummy pair of opposites. I love Kevin!!! He's so darn cute. *squee*

OK. Fan girl moment over, back to the post. Opposites and Austen. My personal favorite pair that never was is Bingley and Darcy. Darcy is so stuffy and reserved, and he’s not much of a social butterfly, to the point where he’s a bit intimidated to attend a country dance. But easy-going, sociable Bingley would be perfect for him, tempering Darcy’s rigid exterior. Darcy’s so aware of social standing whereas Bingley is so unassuming he doesn’t even realize he’s the object of every match-making mama. Plus, Bingley's the type to fall in love at first sight whereas Darcy has to analyze everything. The two men are the best of friends in the book, which emphasizes my belief that they’d be well suited to each other.

And Frank Churchill doesn’t really want Jane Fairfax. He’d be better suited to Knightley.

(and please excuse Frank’s hair – I don’t know what the stylists were thinking. Poor Ewan McGregor.)

My second favorite pair that never was is actually Edward and Willoughby.

All right, so that’s a rather brooding picture of Willoughby, but I think it’s hot so I included it. Perhaps this one suits the post better -

See...so happy. The devil-may-care playboy who takes Marianne for fast carriage rides about the countryside. And I think Edward would be a total missionary-man if left to his own devices (or if left with Elinor), so he needs someone like Willoughby to spice him up. *g*

So there you have it – why Jane Austen’s works inspire me to pen M/M erotic romances. Who is your favorite Austen pair that never was? Do you like Opposites Attract storylines, or do you have a different favorite? And what movies/books inspire you?

Thanks!!!

-Ava

Bound to Him, Loose Id

Object of His Desire, Samhain

Convincing Arthur, Loose Id/July 2009

www.avamarch.com

Trust by Shawn Lane is released

Brad Callahan has lived with regret for thirteen years. In college, he broke Justin Lowe’s heart by cheating. Justin hasn’t spoken to him since, but his love for Brad never died even if some wounds never heal. When Brad’s paramedic unit is called to an accident, he finds Justin in the wrecked car. Still in love with Justin, Brad visits his former lover and well-known mystery writer in the hospital. When Justin reveals he believes he was forced off the road and has been receiving ominous letters, Brad takes Justin home. Passion long held back ignites and they cannot resist being in each other’s arms. With someone wanting to tear them apart and Justin’s inability to trust Brad again, will love be enough to unite them forever?

Jasmine Jade Enterprises - Trust

Also Trust has had its first review posted at Erotic Horizon's blog: erotichorizon.blogspot.com/2009/04/review-trust-shawn-lane.html

The Hardest Part of a M/M Historical Romance…

(by Ava March, guest blogger and new official moocher of Shawn's blog)

No, not that! While I prefer my heroes hard in my m/m historical romances, I don’t find it particularly difficult to get them hard. No, what I’m referring to is the HEA (happily ever after) in a m/m historical romance, Regency-set romances to be specific.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Regency time period in English history, it technically began in 1811, when the king’s son (George, Prince of Wales) was appointed Regent, and ended in 1820, when King George III died. But since the king’s illness (i.e. madness) started earlier than 1811, an extended or greater Regency time period is commonly used and goes from around 1790 to 1830. I personally prefer to set my books around 1820, give or take a couple years. Why? Because men’s trousers became accepted as eveningwear around 1816. I prefer my men in trousers versus breeches or pantaloons (I mean really, what hero wears pantaloons and stockings with ‘pumps’????). Plus, I’m not a huge Napoleonic war buff. Therefore, I set the time frame for my stories accordingly.

The Regency is bracketed by the Georgian era (think powered wigs and highly stylized clothing – i.e. the movie Dangerous Liaisons) and the Victorian era (think uptight and VERY restrained). The Regency era is very elegant, with a strong emphasis on proper manners and spotless reputations. You get a mix of the extravagance of the Georgian era with the Victorian preoccupation with maintaining appearances. Makes for a very interesting time period to write in…at least I think so. And yes, I just had to throw the picture of Colin Firth from the movie Pride and Prejudice in there – I think Mr. Darcy just epitomized the Regency period. I've said it before and I'll say it again, it really is a shame Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley never hooked up. They would have been so great together!!

All right. Enough of the primer on the Regency and of my own fantasies involving Bingley and Darcy. Back to the topic of this post. In the Regency time period homosexuality was not just frowned upon by Society, but it was illegal. If you were convicted of ‘buggery’, you could be sentenced to death. And yes, they did have trials and they did hang men if convicted. In fact, the executions were public affairs and people gathered outside the prison to watch the poor fellow(s) die. Rather gruesome afternoon outing, if you ask me, but I guess there were some back then who found watching an execution a form of entertainment. The newspapers of the day seldom used the term ‘buggery’ in articles about trials and convictions. It was commonly referred to as an ‘unnatural crime’ – just further drives home how they thought of homosexuality.

Therefore when it comes to writing a m/m Regency-set romance, the whole ‘could get hanged if word got out’ thing is something that authors can’t ignore. It’s a constant opposing force acting on the romance. Add to that Society’s expectations that men of good families marry well (not necessarily for love, but to form alliances with other families, increase a family’s wealth or land holdings, etc) and the preoccupation for maintaining a spotless reputation, and it makes crafting a HEA for a gay couple very difficult. If a man held a title or was an heir to a title, then it was expected he marry and produce the required heir and a spare. Duty to one’s family was very important, and ingrained in men at a very young age.

So, given all that, is it possible to have a HEA in a Regency gay romance? Of course. But it is a challenge, and it most certainly had to have been a challenge for gay men in the time period. The constant need for discretion, to keep their love for one another behind closed doors, the fear of being discovered…it must have been a horrible truth to have to live with, and I can just imagine that it tried many a relationship.

Are you wondering yet how a gay couple could realistically have a HEA? I hope so, as I’m going to give you some examples from my own work, and from another author’s work. In Object of His Desire, Arsen’s a titled lord (the Marquis of Somerville) yet he has no desire to marry. Realistically, while most lords married, not every titled lord married. In Arsen’s case, he didn’t wish to marry, and was willing to let the title go to one of his brothers' sons. Conveniently, he had four brothers, one of which already had an heir. So, the title would stay within the immediate family. As for the social pressures, Arsen had had enough of London and wished to remain at his remote Durham estate (in northern England). Henry, the other hero, was the 3rd son of a country gentleman. Since his family wasn’t titled, he didn’t have the huge pressure to produce an heir in the event his elder brothers died without issue (i.e. didn’t have any kids or only had daughters). The book ends with Henry agreeing to remain at Arsen’s country estate, where they would have greater freedom than in London, but would still need to be careful. Arsen had servants, and while they were loyal, one can never predict what employees will do (disgruntled employees and all that). So no heavy make-out sessions for Henry and Arsen at the breakfast table, but at least I tried to craft it so that the constant pressing threat of discovery would be lessened.

Another example would be Bound by Deception. The two heroes, Vincent and Oliver, are both second sons to marquises, and as such are aware of the expectations placed on men of their station. In Vincent’s case, he was also very concerned about appearances. He strove to be the perfect gentleman, so his desires for Oliver were contrary to his own expectations of himself, and something he needed to come to terms with before the two men could have their HEA. Bound by Deception ends with Vincent coming to terms with his desires, and Bound to Him continues their relationship. It picks up six months after Bound by Deception, and in it I tried to give a glimpse for what it could have been like for a committed gay couple in Regency England. Of course, Vincent is still very concerned about appearances, and their relationship is further tested by the social expectations of the time period. Duty to one’s family, and all that. And, of course, you’ll have to get the book when it comes out on April 28th to see if the two men are able to maintain their HEA.

One last example for you, and it’s different than my own works because it deals with a widower. In Shawn Lane’s Another Chance, both heroes are titled lords. Aubrey, Viscount Rothton, has a title though it’s not much of one anymore. One night during their last year at Oxford, Aubrey and his friend Daniel had a scandalous encounter in a carriage. But before their relationship could go any further, Daniel’s father unexpectedly died and Daniel became the Earl of Greystone. He married and produced the required heir and a daughter. Years later, his wife passes away and he’s left a widower. He and Aubrey reconnect, yet even though Daniel has already satisfied the ‘heir’ requirement, there are still many obstacles in the path to their HEA. Since he has children who will someday move about Society, he needs to keep up appearances and continue to move about the ton. Plus, well, he has children who live with him, so he needs to keep his relationship with Aubrey hidden from them, as well. Both men are left knowing that their relationship will not be an easy one, and that they likely won’t be able to see each other often, but it’s a reality they accept in order to be together.

So you see, a HEA in a Regency-set romance is possible, but it is a challenge to craft one that is realistic to the time period. Personally, I find the HEA the hardest part of a gay historical romance, but also the most satisfying element of the story. If a relationship can survive in the Regency, then it must be very strong and meant to be. A true love match.

All right. So what do you think? Do you like to read Regency m/m romances? And if so, what attracts you to them?

Thanks!

-Ava

----------------
Object of His Desire, Samhain

Bound By Deception, Loose Id

Bound to Him, Loose Id/April 28th 2009

www.AvaMarch.com