All I Want Is You

Merry Christmas everyone and Happy Holidays!

I have the PDF available for download at Goodreads. All I Want Is You. Once I figure out how to do it, I'll post a link in the Free Reads section of my website.  Here is the blurb:

It’s been a year since Ash Gallagher and Eli Hollister moved in together and they’re still going strong. Only a visit to Eli’s family in Tennessee threatens to put a damper on their second Christmas together.

Ash wants a ring on Eli's finger before the New Year, but he’s not sure if his impulsive, free-spirited lover is even interested in marriage. And with family trouble brewing, Eli wonders if his family will ever come to accept who he is.

Eli thinks that all he wants is to get through this holiday season with his sanity intact. Little does he know, Ash has plans to prove to prove him wrong.

Six Sentence Sunday - All I Want is You (Plus Cover Art)

I thought for this Six Sentence Sunday I'd introduce Gareth. He's Eli's cousin, best friend and will be one of the leads in my next Mountain Boys story whenever I get around to writing it.

* * * * *

Eli caught Gareth in a rough bear hug and as always seeing him again was like all the intervening months between visits fell away. Gareth hadn’t changed one bit from the battered boots, worn jeans to the scruff on his cheeks. There might be a new tattoo or piercing, but the blue eyes, and the heartfelt welcome in them, remained the same.

Gareth gave him another hard squeeze, then stepped back to take Ash’s proffered hand and pull him into a hug. “This is who I really wanted to get my hands on. Shame on you Eli for sequestering him in the Great White North and depriving the rest of us red blooded American gay men from the opportunity to appreciate.”

* * * * *

And this my friends is the beautiful cover that Fae Sutherland made for me for the Christmas story. Didn't she do an amazing job? I love it.

Wednesday Updates

Hello everybody. I cannot promise I'll update every Wednesday, cause let's face it, you know my track record. I have the attention span of a kitten who O.D. on catnip. I'm also as slow as molasses when it comes to writing and editing so if there hasn't been any significant progress then I probably won't post and I give you all permission to slap me around a little. I need something to keep me honest.

On that note, today I finished the rough draft of the Christmas story I'm writing for Eli and Ash. It came in at seven chapters and just under 20,000 words. So tomorrow I'm diving into edits and fleshing out the details. And I'd dearly love to find an image this weekend to use as the cover. Fae Sutherland said she'd make up my cover and she does a fabulous job. So that's my first December project.

The other project is finishing up the 2nd draft of "Make Me Whole" my slightly magical statues, little bit of reincarnation set in a museum in Seattle. I just got back my husband's comments on a scene I was concerned about so I hope to finish up the edits in this section in a week. It should be doable, there are no more scenes to add here. So fingers crossed that it stays quiet and I can get some work done.

On that note I leave you with this picture of the Balsams. It's one of the last grand hotels and right now it's closed for renovations and I'm really hoping that it will reopen again. There are no words to describe how beautiful the place is. It's located at Dixville Notch, not far from my Grandmaman's place. I had wanted to have a few scenes of Eli and Ash there sometime, but I never did get to work it in. Ah well. They're there in my dreams.

Picture Monday - Great Smoky Mountains Tennessee

So, this is the second blog in two days. It must be the sign of the apocalypse.  I'm not one to talk much online as you can tell, I prefer to talk in person. I don't even get on the phone much. But I've decided to try and make more of an effort. When I find pictures that inspire me to write stories I figured I'd try to post them on Mondays. Since I'm currently working on Eli and Ash's Christmas short, which is set in the Great Smoky Mountains and introduces Eli's best friend and cousin Gareth, I thought I'd start with pictures taken from where the story is set. Eli is taking Ash to Tennessee to meet his parents. Eli's never taken a man home to meet his parents so it's a big deal for him and Ash, well, Ash is holding onto a surprise of his own.
 

Six Sentence Sunday - All I Want For Christmas Is You

I had toyed with the idea of posting the rough first chapter of my free xmas short today, and the second chapter in a week and so on up until Christmas. I posed the question on Twitter and the consensus is that you'd rather wait and get the whole in. So I'll post the first six sentences for Sunday and tomorrow I'll post some pictures that inspired me.  So here you go. I hope you enjoy!

Love, Margie

* * * * *

“I can think of a hundred things wrong with this picture.” Eli gestured toward the windshield and the mist filled valley that dropped off to their right revealing the tall mountains covered in a mix of evergreens and trees bared for the winter.

Ash tore his eyes from the gorgeous panorama and looked at Eli, a smile tugging on his lips at the look of disgust on his partner’s face. Eli didn’t fool him one bit. He lived for views like this. If they weren’t here to visit his family he’d be enjoying every minute of this trip. In fact, Ash would consider himself lucky if he managed to get Eli indoors at all.

Happy Halloween - New Release

Ghosts in the Wind

 

Cover Art - Reese Dante

Andrei Cuza and Dean Marshall celebrated their tenth anniversary only to have their happiness shattered by a random, insane event: On his way home from closing a business deal, Dean stops on the parkway to help a young mother with her flat tire, and her ex arrives, murders them, and takes off with his two kids.

Ghosts have haunted Andrei all his life. He bears the guilt for his sister being stuck in limbo, because ghosts are frozen at the moment they died, unable to adapt to the changes in their living loved ones. When Dean returns to Andrei as a ghost, the double punch of losing him and having to watch him founder if he doesn’t move on is almost more than Andrei can bear.

Despite dangers in limbo—Jackal Wraiths that devour souls are hunting him—Dean isn’t going anywhere until he helps Andrei track down the missing children. Andrei is in danger as well when he pays dearly to feel Dean’s touch one last time. Time is slowly running out as Dean and Andrei try to say good-bye while they track a killer who’s more than happy to kill again.

A Bittersweet Dreams title: It's an unfortunate truth: love doesn't always conquer all. Regardless of its strength, sometimes fate intervenes, tragedy strikes, or forces conspire against it. These stories of romance do not offer a traditional happy ending, but the strong and enduring love will still touch your heart and maybe move you to tears.

 

 

It's 25% off today for Dreamspinner's Happy Halloween sale. 

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3323

Plus, see an excerpt and a picture drawn by my husband of the monsters at Paranormal Paradigms: http://pparadigms.blogspot.com/2012/10/inventing-creepy-crawlies-meet-jackal.html

"Ghosts in the Wind" Excerpt

This is from the opening chapter.  I was in love with Dean and Andrei from the outset.  I just loved the way they were together, friends as well as long time partners.  The edits aren't completely done so if there are any mistakes, I apologize.  I hope you enjoy.

* * * * *

Dean tugged on a pair of track pants and paused in the bathroom long enough to pull back the curtain and land a satisfying, wet smack on Andrei’s ass. He danced out of the way laughing as Andrei spun with an indignant squawk to take a retaliatory swipe at him. “Ever vigilant! Dude, after all these years you’d think you’d have learned. Be happy I didn’t toss in cold water this time.”

Andrei jerked the shower curtain closed again. “You should be happy I’ve got too much shampoo in my hair to chase you down and beat your ass.”

Dean snickered and paused at the mirror to run a comb over his cropped hair. “Got me shaking there, babe. Seriously, I’m terrified.”

Coming Soon on Halloween from Dreamspinner Press!

First off the cover because I'm absolutely in love with it.  Reese Dante is amazing.  She took what I had in my mind and made it so much better.

DC OutWrite

Yesterday I went to the DC OutWrite Book fair down on U Street with Jo from the Goodread group.  I don’t know why I didn’t bring my camera yesterday that was short sighted of me since Dreamspinner Press had a table there.  I had the pleasure of seeing Andrew Grey and his husband again as well as meeting John Simpson and his husband, Michael Murphy, Greg Hogben and Elizabeth North, the owner extrodinaire of Dreamspinner Press!  Plus I picked up books, I am such a sucker for books and July was so busy with work that I’ve had little time to read or write or edit.

All of the authors had recent releases out.  John Simpson & Robert Cummings had Murder on a Queen, Greg Hoben had The British Devil, Michael Murphy had Little Squirrels Can Climb Tall Trees, and Andre Grey had Unconditional Love which is another story in his Seven Days series.  I love that concept.

I’ll admit I was a bit disappointed it was so hot because Ben's Chili Bowl was right across the street and in all the years that I’ve lived in the DC area I haven’t had a chance to go.  I had been looking forward to it, but my appetite disappears when I’m hot. 

Jo and I met many other local authors and as soon as I can locate all the promo material I collected I’ll post about my experiences with them.  It’s a nice mix of fiction and non-fiction.  They also had readings next door.  Despite the lack of air conditioning I would definitely go again next year.

Birthday Contest

Good morning everyone.  It's my birthday today and I feel like celebrating so I'm doing a giveaway.  Leave your email address, the title of one of my books that you'd like to have, and why that particular book interests you and you'll be entered to win a free copy of that book.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Margie

Summer’s Back and the Pool is Open

 Summer is not my favorite season, that would be fall, but ooohhh, I do love the start of summer when it’s not too hot and humid yet.  I love going to my mom’s house, where all the neighbors gather in the driveway under the cypress tree with dueling grills and a stream of little edibles coming out.  If I could find a way to move back onto that court I would.  On one corner is my mother-in-law, in the center is my parents and there are two other families who have been there since the neighborhood was built.  The flower girls at my wedding lived across the street and are now in college and their senior year of high school.

Six Sentence Sunday

I am going to be wrapping up the rough draft of my cursed statue story, Make Me Whole, this week.  I have a chapter and an epilogue to write.  Then I’ll take a week or so to flesh out this sci-fi idea I got last week.  I’ll work on the notes and the characters a bit so it can percolate in the back of my head.  Once I get the second draft of the statue story done, Galen and Nick are off to beta readers.  I hope to have them submitted by the beginning of August at the latest.

Since I’m so close, I thought I’d share a little snippet in celebration and motivation.  Please excuse Nick’s language.  He’s a little upset right now and soaking wet to boot after a tussle that landed him in a fountain.  Being hounded by a statue that’s come to life hasn’t improved his mood much either. 

* * * * *

Blog Hop Against Homophobia

Hop Against Homophobia

Today is International Day Against Homophobia and I would like to think that because it's 2012 that we as human beings should be above discrimination.  Yet, as much as I would like to think that, as much as I can be an optimist, I see signs of discrimination every day.  I see it directed toward my husband and son because we're an interracial family.  I see it directed toward my cousin who is gay.  I see it directed toward members of my community who are suffering from mental illnesses.  And all of it hurts.  It hurts the individual, it hurts the community, it hurts everyone.  And it needs to stop.

Adorkable Totes - Kristair

And what really saddens me sometimes is that people just can't see it.  They can't see the damage they cause with careless remarks.  They can't see how close-minded their world view is. 


A friend of mine recently tried to commit suicide because of all of this isolation and misplaced hatred.  He felt so alone.  I wish he hadn't moved so far away.  I wish he had called me that night so I could've told him that he wasn't alone.  I love him.  I miss him.  I hope he finds a partner worthy of his generous heart.  I'm so thankful that he wasn't successful and that he found a friend close by that he could reach out to.  I just don't want to see it happen again.

Adorkable Totes - Triquetra

I'm joining in with a whole group of other m/m authors and organizations to celebrate this day.  We're all giving away prizes.  So click on the link above and visit them and see what they have to offer too.  As for myself, I'm giving away three prizes to three winners.  Two of them are books, ebook or signed print, winner's choice from my backlist.  And the third is something special that my cousin made for this day.  A painted tote bag with Kristair from my vampire trilogy on one side and the triquetra symbol on the other.  Please leave a comment with your email address and what prize you would like and I'll enter you in the drawing.  I'll draw and post a winner on the 21st.

Coming Soon

It’s so exciting to say this, but I have an upcoming release in the works.  I signed a new contract last week with Dreamspinner Press for my ghost story.  Ghosts in the Wind will be part of their Halloween line up.  Here’s the unofficial blurb:

Andrei Cuza and Dean Marshall just celebrated the ten year anniversary of their commitment ceremony only to have their happiness shattered.  On his way home from closing a business deal, Dean stops on the side of the parkway to help a young mother with her flat tire when her ex catches up with her.  Blake Olsen murders her and Dean and takes off with his two kids.

Andrei has been haunted by ghosts all of his life and bears the guilt for his younger sister Ileana being stuck in limbo.  When Dean returns to him as a ghost the double-punch of losing him and now having to watch him founder if he doesn’t move on is almost more than Andrei can bear.  Ghosts are stuck at the moment they died, unable to adapt to the changes in their living loved ones.

Dean has made a promise though and until he helps Andrei track down the missing kids, he isn’t going anywhere.  There are dangers in limbo that Andrei doesn’t know about, hounds that devour souls who succumb to their anger and they’re hunting Dean.  And dangers to Andrei as well, who pays a price so he can have Dean’s touch one more time.  Time is slowly running out as Dean and Andrei try to figure out how to say goodbye while they track down a killer who’d be more than happy to kill again.

Keep checking in and as I go through the editing process I’ll share more snippets and tidbits about Andrei and Dean.

Dreamspinner Press 5 Year Anniversary

Whoohooo, this month is Dreamspinner Press’s five year anniversary and I’m proud to have been there from year one.  To celebrate Dreamspinner is having a month long extravaganza with prizes and discounts.  Starting tomorrow, May 1-5, they will offer a 40% discount off all books (including in-stock paperbacks) by authors who signed with us during our first year of business. 

There are lots of wonderful authors to chose from: Rhianne Aile, Eric Arvin, Connie Bailey, Alix Bekins, Nicki Bennett, Giselle Ellis, Catt Ford, Shay Kincaid, Marguerite Labbe, Clare London, Dar Mavison, Anais Morten, Chrissy Munder, Zahra Owens, D.G. Parker, Abigail Roux, John Simpson, Fae Sutherland, Ariel Tachna, Madeleine Urban.

Watch the website, Facebook and Twitter regularly because there will be special flash sales/surprises on top of the announced ones.  Plus there will be newsletter blasts, you can find those at: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/newsletter/.

There are going to be several big giveaways as well.  Join Dreamspinner on the Literary Nymphs Yahoo Group on May 5th to get a chance to win a Kindle Fire.  One lucky customer on Dreamspinner’s website during the month of May will win an iPad! Each purchase from midnight EST May 1 to midnight EST May 31 constitutes an entry.  Finally, there will be a Meet the Author with Jeremy Pack on Dreamspinner’s Facebook page May 19^th.  One participant will be entered to win all the eBooks on their wish luck.

I hope you enjoy all of these goodies.  I already know that my TBR list is going to get much bigger.