New Release and Contest! - Other Side of the Line - And a Sale!

Caleb Hudson and Hal Zimmer became best friends the day they stood up against the schoolyard bully together. Life’s complicated enough with their friendship crossing racial lines in 1960s Charleston, South Carolina, but as time passes, they realize it’s more than their friendship that sets them apart from other kids. At first, Caleb denies his feelings for Hal could be more than companionship. He supports his friend when Hal admits he’s gay, but Caleb isn’t ready to face his own truth.

Hal becomes a staunch antiwar protester, and the divide between them widens after Caleb is drafted. But when Caleb returns from Vietnam, the time for denial is over. His homecoming sets off a series of events that force Caleb and Hal to confront their desires and what lines they’re willing to cross to get what they truly want out of life.

"Other Side of the Line" is out at Dreamspinner Press today! Leave a comment about what you liked about the story, or a favorite character, or a memorable moment that made you laugh, cry, or get mad and be entered in a contest to win a beautiful sweetgrass basket from the Charleston Market! The contest will run for the next 30 days. You can leave the comment here on the blog, or on my Facebook or Twitter. All comments count as an entry.

And from the 18th-20 "All Bets are Off" (including French & Italian translations), "Ghosts in the Wind" and "Make Me Whole" are only $0.99 at Dreamspinner. Enjoy!

Rainbow Awards and Reviews

Hello everybody, I'm so excited it's not even funny. I can't believe that both Ghosts in the Wind and Make Me Whole are finalists in the 2013 Rainbow Awards!

There are so many other wonderful books that are listed and I am so honored to be among them.

Now if only I could find the patience to wait till December. It's not my strongest suit, but GRL is around the corner and I'm so excited. This year I get to introduce my husband to some of the madness. Since we're going to be near his family, he's coming with me.

On other notes, I've received some fabulous reviews for Make Me Whole. I'm so happy, I fell in love with Galen and Nick, but I wondered if them working through their relationship issues would get to be tiresome, because they do work and then talk about it often. But I like to write about relationships that feel real to me and sometimes that means hashing it out.

So if you're of a mind to check it out and hear a little more about the boys, check them out.

Life Your Life, Buy the Book
Jessewave
Joyfully Jay

"Make Me Whole" - Release Day and Guest Posts

Cover art by Melissa Gay

Make Me Whole

 

 

My newsest book, a paranormal romance just came out with Dreamspinner Press today! I'm so excited. I hope you all enjoy Galen and Nick, Dexios and Lykon as much as I did.

 

 

Make Me Whole Ebook

 

Make Me Whole Print

 

 

After a grueling battle in ancient Greece, lovers Dexios and Lykon committed their lives to each other in the name of Goddess Cythera. After the war, fearing the strength of his love for Dexios, Lykon abandoned his vow and returned home. Heartbroken, Dexios called on Cythera, who changed him into four unfinished statues. In that form he would wait for his fickle lover to return, break the curse, and make him whole.

Thousands of years have passed when Galen Kanellis finds the disassembled pieces in the storeroom of a Seattle museum and makes them the focus of his new exhibit. Needing information, he contacts his ex-lover Nick Charisteas. Nick has a lifelong dream of finding the Dexios Collection, and the last thing he expected was for it to wind up in the hands of the man who broke his heart. As both men search for answers about the statues, worries of abandonment and fear of loss test their renewed relationship, threatening to separate them again—this time permanently.

And I'm on the lovely Joyfully Jay's website today with a guest post and maybe giving away a little something. :-D Stop on by and comment.

Joyfully Jay



One Week and Counting

Pre-Order Link, Cover Art by Melissa Gay

Hello everybody!

Whooohooo, Make Me Whole is going to be released one week from today. I don't know about y'all, but I'm wiggling with excitement. And during release week I'll be on Joyfully Jay that Monday and on The Armchair Reader that Wednesday giving away a copy each so stop by and check it out.

After a grueling battle in ancient Greece, lovers Dexios and Lykon committed their lives to each other in the name of Goddess Cythera. After the war, fearing the strength of his love for Dexios, Lykon abandoned his vow and returned home. Heartbroken, Dexios called on Cythera, who changed him into four unfinished statues. In that form he would wait for his fickle lover to return, break the curse, and make him whole.

Thousands of years have passed when Galen Kanellis finds the disassembled pieces in the storeroom of a Seattle museum and makes them the focus of his new exhibit. Needing information, he contacts his ex-lover Nick Charisteas. Nick has a lifelong dream of finding the Dexios Collection, and the last thing he expected was for it to wind up in the hands of the man who broke his heart. As both men search for answers about the statues, worries of abandonment and fear of loss test their renewed relationship, threatening to separate them again—this time permanently.

I have a few other things going on this week. Tomorrow I'll be talking about "Dreams and Plot Bunnies," Wednesday I have a surprise :-D so be sure to stop by and check it out, Thursday I'll be discussing Kim Knox's new m/m release Agamemnon Frost. If you've never read her before, I'm telling you she's awesome.

Ooooh, and if you're interested in contest, the amazing C.M. Torrens is doing a giveaway on her blog this week. She's giving away a copy of her spicy little short "One Night to Change." Plus at the end of the month she's giving away a gift card to a commenter so stop by. http://cmtorrens.com/.

I think that's all for today. Edits are done, whoohooo, vacation is coming double whoohooo! So maybe I'll stop running around like a maniacal lemming.

Love,

Margie

Giveaways and Appearances Oh My!

There's been so much going on lately that I don't know if I'm coming or going. First I had edits for Make Me Whole then for Wild Pitch, then back to the first story and so on. Plus July is the busiest month of the year for me at the EDJ. No kidding, it's been crazy. But July is over and August is here. I've turned 39 and managed to lose a few more pounds so I feel like celebrating.

I have two giveaways going on at Goodreads, one for my old book Ghosts in the Wind, which is one of my all time favorites and the other for Make Me Whole since it's going to be released from Dreampsinner Press at the end of the month. Here's the link: Make Me Whole. I'm pretty excited. On top of all of that I'm doing my first public reading this weekend at the Outwrite Book Festival in DC. The reading and panel are taking place on Friday night and the Book Fair is on Saturday.

So if you're interested in a signed print copy of either book here are the links:

Make Me Whole
Ghosts in the Wind

 

More later.

Love,

Margie

Story Picture Monday - Make Me Whole

I'm waiting on the second round of edits for the museum story and I've got my official blurb back for it:

After a grueling battle in ancient Greece, lovers Dexios and Lykon committed their lives to each other in the name of Goddess Cythera. After the war, fearing the strength of his love for Dexios, Lykon abandoned his vow and returned home. Heartbroken, Dexios called on Cythera, who changed him into four unfinished statues. In that form he would wait for his fickle lover to return, break the curse, and make him whole. 

Thousands of years have passed when Galen Kanellis finds the disassembled pieces in the storeroom of a Seattle museum and makes them the focus of his new exhibit. Needing information, he contacts his ex-lover Nick Charisteas. Nick has a lifelong dream of finding the Dexios Collection, and the last thing he expected was for it to wind up in the hands of the man who broke his heart. As both men search for answers about the statues, worries of abandonment and fear of loss test their renewed relationship, threatening to separate them again—this time permanently.

New Cover Art - Make Me Whole

Isn't it amazing? This cover was commissioned by Melissa Gay and she did a fabulous job capturing the essence of the story. I'm so excited. Even the rough version that was originally sent blew me away.

I also received edits for the story on Friday so I'm hoping to get them done soon and hoping to get the official blurb. But for now, I'm content to ogle poor lonely Dexios a little bit longer.

Wednesday Updates – Submissions and Paperwork Oh My

Please excuse me if I come across a little punch drunk in this post. I’m coming off of several months worth of conventions, deadlines and… there was something else in that list but my mind seems to have let it fade away. Needless to say, it’s been a very hectic, but fun time and I’m ready for a bit of a break.

 

I know I mentioned that I recently signed a contract with Dreamspinner Press for Make Me Whole which I think is coming out sometime in August. I just finished the paper with details for the cover and somewhere in the last couple of weeks I did the paperwork for the blurb. Thank the lord for people who write blurbs, if it were up to me it wouldn’t sound nearly as interesting. So I’m hoping, soon, to have things to share with you. Plus I heard that the translation for All Bets Are Off into Italian is going well too. I’m still ridiculously excited about that.

I believe I mentioned my baseball themed novella, which I did end up naming Wild Pitch. (Hee that rhymes. See K-lee, sometimes I can rhyme!) I finally finished that on Monday night after spending three days in Myrtle Beach for XCon. The best part about the trip was getting to hang with William Cooper again (who is always fun) and meeting Michael Knost who shared a table with my husband.

So that’s the newest info. Later on this week I’ll download some of the pictures from the cons and share them so you can see the depth of my geekiness. If you haven’t already figured it out. I’m sure you have, I’m pretty blatant about it.

 

Six Paragraph Sunday - Make Me Whole

Hello everybody, Happy Mother’s Day to all the mother’s out there. We had a nice low key day, my husband made breakfast, my son fetched coffee with me. Then we had two dinners, one with my mom and sisters, then immediately after, with my mother and sister in law. Needless to say I’m stuffed silly, but we all had a good time together.

In honor of Mother’s Day, I’m posting six paragraphs instead of sentences from Make Me Whole. Galen is waiting at the hospital for news of his friend and is desperate need of some comfort from his mother.

I should be getting edits for the museum story soon. I’m looking forward to diving back into their story. 

Updates - Lots of Exciting Things Lately

Though of course as I sit down to write this, some of what I wanted to report is slipping my mind. I need a cute keeper, or at least write these things down as they come to me. Oh well, the first exciting news, which might not really be news since I'd already twittered it, is that All Bets Are Off is being translated. I'm so excited that I haven't been able to contain myself. :-D I can't wait to see how it looks. First, it'll be in Italian, but Spanish, French and German will follow.

Story Picture Monday - Galen and Nick

 Wow, this might be the last Make Me Whole story picture Monday since I'm going to be submitting this week. I'm going to kind of miss these two. They were a pain at times, but I really grew to love them.

So the first character is Galen Kanellis. In my original plot Nick wasn't supposed to show up until the very end as the reincarnation of Dexios. So Galen was the first to occupy my thoughts. I don't normally like blond's all that much, but I loved this guys cheekbones, the sweep of his hair and that sensual mouth. I actually had this picture from the beginning. He's a little too unapproachable pretty.

Six Sentence Sunday – Make Me Whole

So I finished the 3^rd draft on Saturday and now I’m working on finishing up the synopsis and blurb and doing a final read through before it’s due on Thursday. So I thought I’d celebrate by sharing the first two paragraphs of the first chapter.  Enjoy!

* * * * *

Galen Kanellis stared at the four huge unmarked packing crates that filled the museum’s small storage room to the point where he had just enough space between each crate to slip through to open them. He scratched his head, frowned and tried to remember what he’d ordered that would take up so much room. They were good on supplies for the studio, and the gallery gift shop had more than enough stock. Besides, nothing he ordered would’ve come in crates about to fall apart.

“Suzane,” he called out to his personal assistant as he grabbed a crowbar. “I thought we weren’t going to have the pieces for the new exhibit shipped until Ella had a chance to do the mural. Are any of the boys still here? I’m going to need some help.”

* * * * *

I’ve kind of missed blogging more often. It had been fun. When I’m editing it is very consuming, add in the day job, and mommy/wife things and the first thing to go is the website. But now that it’s done, I’m free to inflict myself upon here for awhile. :-D

Belated Update

I'm sorry I've been quiet the last couple of weeks. Work has been very hectic. One of the other legal secretary went off to explore the Maldives. (She has the most amazing adventures. I keep telling her that she needs to write a juicy memoir about all the things that she's done, and she always laughs at me.) But since she was gone, I had my attorneys and her attorneys and they've kept me hopping. Yay for some overtime and extra money, but it certainly wore me out. And when I got home, I tried to cram in what writing and editing I could. So it's been crazy.

Wednesday Updates

I have been a busy, busy bee lately. My boys were sick over the weekend so they occupied a lot of my attention. This was the first time my son ever had the stomach flu and I'm pretty sure he was convinced that he dying. (He's a tad on the dramatic side.) And at work one of the other legal secretaries is out exploring the Maldives for the next two weeks, so I have her attorneys to support as well. It's been hectic, so hectic.

Wednesday Updates

Whoohoo, I finished the 2nd draft of "Make Me Whole" today and sent it off to beta readers. Which means I suppose that I need to finish the synopsis and work on the blurb. While I'm waiting to get back some feedback on the draft I'm going to start doing some research on my next project. Amber Allure has a call out for Gothic Romance and I've had an idea percolating in the back of my mind for a couple of years now. I can't wait to dive into this one.

Soundtrack Monday - Make Me Whole

So I’ve been posting pictures related to Make Me Whole for the last couple of weeks and I thought I’d change it up a bit and talk about soundtracks this week. I love music. I find it more inspiring than just about anything else. Certain songs will trigger stories, though that’s not the case here. This story was inspired by a couple of friends and they know who they are. However, it doesn’t mean that I haven’t still found songs that make me think of this story. 

Six Sentence Sunday

Thankfully, last weekend my husband helped me figure out a plot hole that had been nagging at me for weeks with Make Me Whole. I finally feel like I’m on the downward end of this 2^nd draft. So I thought I’d give you a little something fun for this Six Sentence Sunday. Galen really puts himself in a predicament, but oh boy, I think he’s going to enjoy every second of it.

Story Picture Monday - Make Me Whole - Meet Amy & Rory

Amy

Nick is a lonely man with more than one abandonment issue. So it's not surprising that he'd have some pets. The cockatiels fit
in with his sometimes busy schedule. The geek in him, and his mancrush on Rory Williams is what prompted him to give the birds their names, Amy and Rory. These two like to listen to the radio that Nick will turn on for them. They'll bob their heads to the music. They also like to have the windows open in the morning. Here's a little bit of them interacting with Nick. 

Rory

Rory glided into the kitchen and landed on his shoulder.  His talons dug through the thin t-shirt as he shifted and found his balance.  Amy called out to him from the living room and Rory answered with a series of whistles and ended his talk with a gentle nibble on Galen’s ear.

“Oh you have time for me now is that it?” Nick said.

When I was younger, I used to do household chores for a lady down the street. I think I made $.50 an hour. She was a sweetheart and she had two cockatiels too, though both of hers were gray. They’d glide through her apartment too and loved to hang out on her big mirror in the bedroom. They really are beautiful birds.

Six Sentence - Make Me Whole

This week’s Six Sentence Sunday is also from Make Me Whole. Galen has some issues with driving and Nick is trying to help him with it in a driving lesson. Enjoy.

Galen found himself putting the car in drive and it crept forward a few feet. His heart started hammering. He gripped the wheel tighter. “Hey.” Nick touched his wrist and Galen heard the concern in his voice. “It’ll be okay. Trust me.”

“It’s not you I don’t trust.”

Story Picture Monday - Make Me Whole - Renovated Museum

Today I wanted to introduce Galen’s pride and joy, the museum that he’s sunk his entire inheritance in. Before I knew the city they were in I knew that I wanted Galen to renovate something interesting, something with history. Originally, it was a warehouse, but I discarded that quickly. Then my husband suggested that I use a cab depot, which I toyed with at first, but I had a hard time envisioning it.