Story Picture Monday – Make Me Whole - Warren Cup

I love going to museums and seeing old things and seeing the things that I've studied and read about. In college I took a lot of Art History courses and Washington, DC is blessed with many free museums. One of these days I would love to travel overseas and visit some of the museums in London and Paris. One of the things I’m dying to see in person is the Warren Cup. A friend of mine went to London last year and took these pictures of it for me.

Six Sentence Sunday – Make Me Whole

I’m back in the editing game after a couple of hectic weeks at work and getting over a post-holiday bad cold. This is going to be the week of busting ass on this 2^nd draft of museum/statue story that I have been working on forever it seems. There have been so many interruptions this year that I’ll be relieved when I can get Galen and Nick off to betas readers. So without further ado, here is this week’s Six Sentence Sunday. Actually it’s nine sentences, but who’s going to quibble?

* * * * *

“After you were cursed, did you get to see him at all?  Did you have any of those moments in your lifetime?”

Lykon looked back toward Dexios, his eyes far away.  “Just once, as I was dying.  She relented and he held me until the end.”  He looked back at Galen, his eyes penetrating.  “I wasn’t alone, do you understand?”

Galen nodded.  Oh yeah, that he understood.

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.