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Shill shill shill XD
My M/M romance novel "Held For Ransom" is out! aka "the one with the ridiculous pun in the title" (Ransom is the name of one of the two main protagonists; I couldn't help myself)
Dreamspinner Press ebook and paperback
Amazon ebook and (hilariously out of print for absolutely no reason considering NO COPIES HAVE SOLD as far as I know) paperback
B&N ebook and paperback
There are a couple of (not particularly graphic, but definitely nsfw) sex scenes, just so you know. And because it is me, there is also a large ensemble cast, a whole lot of family stuff, and some hurt/comfort.
There is also one of those awesomely doofy romance covers with the floating heads above a basically unrelated photo; behold:
.... Which is exactly what I asked for and exactly what I got. I feel a need to point out that in the request sheet for the DSP art department -- who are, by the way, wonderful to work with -- one of the questions has to do with, basically, how much manflesh you want on your cover: clothed? shirtless? totally naked? THEY AIM TO PLEASE.
I'm having a release party today over at my Facebook and my LMW blog. In particular I'm giving away my ~custom art services~ (you could win a custom-drawn bookmark or small art piece on the topic of your choice!), and anyone here is welcome to enter to win, of course. Giveaway post on Facebook - Giveaway post on Wordpress.
(The post says I'm going to do a drawing at 3 p.m. and then run another contest for basically the same thing, but since the response has been light so far, I'll probably just hold off, collect all the entrants on the same posts, and do two drawings in the evening.)
Dreamspinner Press ebook and paperback
Amazon ebook and (hilariously out of print for absolutely no reason considering NO COPIES HAVE SOLD as far as I know) paperback
B&N ebook and paperback
There are a couple of (not particularly graphic, but definitely nsfw) sex scenes, just so you know. And because it is me, there is also a large ensemble cast, a whole lot of family stuff, and some hurt/comfort.
There is also one of those awesomely doofy romance covers with the floating heads above a basically unrelated photo; behold:
.... Which is exactly what I asked for and exactly what I got. I feel a need to point out that in the request sheet for the DSP art department -- who are, by the way, wonderful to work with -- one of the questions has to do with, basically, how much manflesh you want on your cover: clothed? shirtless? totally naked? THEY AIM TO PLEASE.
I'm having a release party today over at my Facebook and my LMW blog. In particular I'm giving away my ~custom art services~ (you could win a custom-drawn bookmark or small art piece on the topic of your choice!), and anyone here is welcome to enter to win, of course. Giveaway post on Facebook - Giveaway post on Wordpress.
(The post says I'm going to do a drawing at 3 p.m. and then run another contest for basically the same thing, but since the response has been light so far, I'll probably just hold off, collect all the entrants on the same posts, and do two drawings in the evening.)
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And that is a truly awesome cover. Just screams 'romance novel'.
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Wheee!
Re: Wheee!
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Actually, while I'm book shopping, if I may ask, do you have any recommendations? I've already purchased and read your other two items I've found (are there more? If you have a link to your collected print works, send it!) But I could use more to read. Capers and humor are a bonus (yes, there's a reason I love White Collar.) :)
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I don't have a whole lot of stuff out yet! The only books I have are Held For Ransom and Homespun. For where it's all listed, books are here and shorter fiction under my romance alias is here, as well as this page for my short stories on my other website.
Is it specifically recs for m/m novels that you're after, or for books in general?
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I will say, I am not a fantasy fan. And I have a visceral dislike for severe damsels in distress, and a strong side-eye for huge age ranges between guys and their female love interests. I started a romance novel which sounded great. It was post-apocalyptic! There would be survival and adventure! Then it turned out to be a 20 year old damsel in distress and the hunky 35 year old army ranger (or equivalent - can't remember the branch) who swooped in to take care of everything. Maybe it got good. Maybe she turned out to be awesome, interesting, and ended up saving the day. I'll never know because I deleted it from my kindle ASAP. I didn't have patience for that when I *was* 20. Now that I'm well past...nope.
These are still kind of broad guidelines, so I totally get it if you say "um, still not very helpful here." :) But if you have an author or series you'd like to push, I am all ears. :)
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I know you said fantasy is not your thing, but if you'd be okay with fantasy elements in a book which is largely a mystery/spy novel, I absolutely loved "The Rook" by Daniel O'Malley. The heroine wakes up without her memory, surrounded by dead people that she apparently killed. She has to fake her way through her life at a Torchwood-like organization, hiding her amnesia, trying to simultaneously figure out who she is and who is trying to kill her.
I am biased about this one because I know the author and I was one of the betas, but Zero Sum Game by SL Huang is really great - it's a fast-paced action/spy book with mild sci-fi elements, about a mercenary with supergenius-level math abilities who can instantly calculate trajectories of bullets, fast-moving vehicles, or her own body to perform apparently superhuman feats. No romance in this one (or in the above one that I can recall); it's all team/ensemble/action.
Some mystery series I like:
- Barbara Hambly's Ben January series (1830s New Orleans; I adore the characters and there is a really wonderful central m/f couple, as well as a ton of diversity in the cast). The first one is "A Free Man of Color".
- Lindsey Davis's Falco mysteries (hardboiled private eye mysteries set in Ancient Rome; funny and cynical with excellent historical details). The first one is "The Silver Pigs."
- Tony Hillerman's Leaphorn and Chee mysteries (contemporary police mysteries set on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico; excellent details of place, and tightly paced, intricate plots). These are less chronological than the other series mentioned above, and can probably be read in any order - in fact the first ones aren't really the best, as I recall. Jump in anywhere.
Other stuff:
Karin Lowachee's Warchild books (sci-fi) are excellent, although harrowing -- they are about war orphans and soldiers in an interstellar war, and contain just about every triggery thing you can imagine (rape, self-harm, PTSD, you name it). But they are really excellent, and have some of the most amazingly complicated character relationships -- such as an asexual teenager who is too traumatized to let anyone touch him, and his best friend, a former child prostitute who only knows how to relate to people through sex; or a queer space pirate and his nominally-straight (male) prison lover. These books do a lot of stuff that I've only ever seen fanfic do. The books in order are "Warchild", "Burndive", and "Cagebird".
You may already have read Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series, as they're widely known in sci-fi circles, but if you haven't, they are really excellent! She basically has managed to sneak into the military-sf genre with something that is, instead, a family generational saga IN SPAAACE.
"Kindred" by Octavia Butler is probably my favorite time-travel novel of all time.
"On the Jellicoe Road" by Marlena Marchetta is contemporary Australian YA with some romance elements, but otherwise it's best read knowing absolutely nothing about it -- at least that's how I went into it, and I was really glad I did, for reasons that are obviously too spoilery to mention. If you enjoy being surprised by books, and being thrown into the middle of a situation and having to figure it out, this book is so good. (I found the prose a little clunky, but I was willing to overlook that because the central mystery is so engrossing.)
As far as books which are just straight-up romance, "Speechless" by Kim Fielding is really good (m/m).
That ought to do for starters! (Yay books! :D)
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