New release: Coin Tricks

My new novel Coin Tricks is available now!

Cover illustration by Kazi.

Wire's too huge and intimidating to find love… but that doesn't stop him dreaming.

His size has defined his whole life, from his jobs as a bouncer and store security to his brief and unsatisfying relationships. But beneath his scary appearance, Wire's kind and loving. He cares for his family and his dog and imagines a future with a goat at his side.

Then he catches Sid stealing soap.

Sid's a cute librarian and aspiring magician, raising his sister alone and stealing when he can't make ends meet. Wire should report the theft to the cops, but instead he takes food parcels to Sid, and an unlikely friendship forms. Sid is shy and scared at first, but with time he reveals his inner strength and the burning ambition that makes him the opposite of Wire's laid-back aimlessness.

Wire falls hard but can't bring himself to do anything about it. He's never been anything more than disposable to goats, and he can't bear to have his heart broken by his only friend. And years of trying to be different can't hide the fact that Wire was raised to be rough, to think with his fists and ask questions later. He keeps making a bad impression on Sid without meaning to, running the risk of losing Sid before they even have the chance of finding something more together.

They have to struggle with work and their families and the weight of the past, trying to unite their very separate lives to create something new and beautiful. Wire knows his dreams of love are just that: Dreams. Sweet but impossible. But that doesn't stop him dreaming…

Coin Tricks is a standalone M/M romance novel with a HEA and no cliffhangers.

This is a very exciting day for me because I've been editing this novel since early 2014 and I am so glad that I get to share it with everyone!

The cover is illustrated by the incredibly talented Kazi.

Coin Tricks is available through these links:
Amazon
Smashwords
All Romance eBooks

My first Zinefest

A few days ago I had my first stall at Hamilton Zinefest! It's not New Zealand's largest zinefest, which quite frankly is a good thing because Auckland Zinefest is so crowded that I was afraid of even entering the building last year.

A zinefest is a place to sell and swap zines (self-published books/comics/diaries/art etc). I have been attending zinefests every year for as long as New Zealand has had them, and I grew up reading library books about zines and dreaming of making my own. So it was greatly exciting to have my own stall!

I displayed five novellas/short story collections under two pen names, as well as cloth patches. All my zines had handmade custom covers which was really fun, but omg printing is expensive. I was nowhere near covering printing costs, let alone the buses to and from the fest. But no one is into zines for money, and I got to meet a lot of incredible people and have some great conversations. Plus I went home with about four billion new zines and posters. I count that as a successful day.

One of the highlights of the fest was bonding with my queer socialist punk stall neighbors. They had Socialist Review, I had a stack of End Zero Hours stickers and glitter. It was a match made in heaven. 

Excitingly, my most popular item was the patch that says 'punks respect pronouns' in my handwriting which looks deliciously like the One Direction font. I made a 'zines are awesome' patch specifically for the fest, but I guess the crowd know when they're being pandered to because no one even picked it up.

I'm planning to attend at least one more zinefest this year - Auckland Zinefest, the terrifyingly popular one. The ideal zine would be priced under the cost of printing a novella, so I'll never have much commercial success. But I love getting to talk to zine folks. I especially enjoy talking about romance novels and their place in culture, and the detrimental effects of benevolent sexism. It's an important conversation and one that I think most people who don't read romance have never thought about.

Plus, I love finding new zines!