Saturday 26 July 2014

Very Exciting Launch Day!

I have something new for you all to read! It's a novel! A novel with werewolves!! Romantic werewolves! It is a free novel with romantic werewolves!!!
Links, in the hopes that mobile users can avoid having to load all my excited gifs:
Jagged Rock on the MM Romance Group on Goodreads
Jagged Rock on Goodreads
MM Romance Group site (features all stories free for download, and you don't have to be a member)

Hey! I wrote a novel!! It's 97k and it's totally finished, and it's totally available for you to read!
Cover produced by Sue of the MM Romance group. Thanks so much, Sue!!
I am excited. I am going to dance around, and I am going to bring all the exclamation points with me.
All the excitement! All the exclamation points!! All the gifs!!!.
Found through The Hooded Figure in the Dog Park via giphy

Launch day!! Free novel! Free novel for everyone!!! Have phallic fruit emoticons!

Jagged Rock is the novel I wrote during March and April, for the MM Romance Group on Goodreads who have an annual free story event. My prompt was by Carey.
The prompt really caught my imagination and, better yet, it caught my follow-through too! It's been some time (read: years) since I've been able to finish anything more than a short story. And then Jagged Rock was started and finished in a couple of months!
This novel feels like a giant personal success for me. It was also a fantastic experience - stressful and exhausting and terrifying, but all in a good way! And, ultimately, it was rewarding.
I haven't had that much nerve-destroying fun since my first NaNoWriMo!
Here is a gif I found on the internet [on mashable.com, credited to paint-me-a-butt on tumblr but paint-me-a-butt on tumblr is a page about mortgages??]. This gif is appropriate because it represents both my excitement at having a new story for you, and also the process of writing that story.
So, there it is! My first fully finished story in years. Out of my head, and onto your screen. I really hope you enjoy it :)

Links again, just in case:
Jagged Rock on the MM Romance Group on Goodreads
Jagged Rock on Goodreads

Saturday 19 July 2014

Free stories are awesome!

In case anyone doesn't know about it yet, there is a MM romance group on Goodreads which hosts an annual free story event. Readers submit picture prompts, writers write amazing stories, and then they're all uploaded free!

Here are the stories on the group page, or if you're not a member of the group you can see them all on Goodreads here, or download them directly from the MM Romance Group site.

I really love this event. I love that it's free: I can feel that every story I read was written simply out of joy at storytelling, and a need to share stories with others. I love that all the stories are treated equally, regardless of the experience of the writer. I love finding new writers to enjoy in the future.

If you're interested in the stories I have personally read, you can see them all here. Nowhere near as many as I would like to have read - I am actually an astoundingly slow reader! But when I do get to finish a story, I enjoy it :) For a beautiful week there, before real life took over again, I was able to read every story as it came out. That was an incredible experience!

From the stories I've read, here are some I'd recommend:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22586077-the-case-of-the-insufferable-slave

The Case of the Insufferable Slave by Gillian St. Kevern

The Case of the Insufferable Slave is a slavefic, so it's not everyone's cup of tea. But it's also a stunningly well-written hardboiled detective story, with astounding control of language. It was very difficult to put this story down so I could go to work, let me tell you! 

To make an amazing story even more amazing, it's the author's first published work. I can't wait to see what else they have up their sleeve :)

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https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22385896-carte-blanche

Carte Blanche is a slow-building sweet story of a recluse falling for his friendly neighbor. The characterization in this story is just divine. Everyone is lovable and believable. I could quite easily read more about this pair, and I'm certainly interested in reading more by this writer!
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https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22401386-mr-jaguar

Mr. Jaguar byK.A. Merikan

Mr. Jaguar is an enemies-to-lovers novella about a down-on-his-luck mechanic being dragged into richness by the school nerd he used to bully. The main selling point for me is the angst of the jock character. His shame at the start of the book is hearbreaking and perfectly described.

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Also, stay tuned for my own contribution to the event! I wrote a werewolf novel, and I'll update when it's posted :)