A Picture is Worth...

Swimming (The Swimming Hole), 1885

Sorry darlings, RL is cleaning my clock and Dark Divas and I aren't quite meshed yet, so posting has been sparse. Just for apologies, I offer you a whole lotta naked guys to look at here!

In some related news to our Thousand Word Thursday posts -- I just heard from an author that she got inspired by the jockey picture and wrote. And wrote. And kept writing. The piece ran way over 1000 words for here -- she sent it into her publisher, who said Yes! Oh Yes, like publishers should do when offered a fine story. So keep an eye out for JM Cartright's A Gentleman and His Jockey to come out later this summer! More news as it comes available. Gee I'm excited that JM got so inspired.

So, anyone inspired by our swimmers? A hundred to a thousand words about it (for some reason, no one writes drabbles, why is that?) will get your news, covers, and links up here.

A Picture is Worth...

It was Thursday, and somehow I managed to not hit "publish". Better late than never, so here is our prompt pic for the week.

Our last picture (of Mr. Rumpled and Confused) inspired a darling fic from Tam Ames, well worth the read. I am just so boggled by the talent that wanders by here.

This week's picture comes from the very talented Carole Cummings, who writes amazing epic stories and draws wonderful pictures. She also may possibly juggle flaming batons, a skill hard to translate to the internet, so we'll read and admire.

Dream, Carole's second installment of Aisling, is out from Prizm Press (also available at Amazon and All Romance eBooks), and it is a most worthy followup to part one, Guardian. I'm still writing the review, but let me just say, it was a "read straight through" read for me, and phoo on RL for interrupting.

Carole also has a short coming out from Dreamspinner in the not too distant future, and they used some of her artwork for the cover. Is this woman fabulous or what?

An author who has a story to tell on these two handsome gentlemen will have it posted here with news, covers, and links. Who's inspired?

A Thousand Word Thursday Story from Tam Ames

Late … Again

The light from the sun shining on my face was what woke me, I think. When I sat up with a jolt, I literally gasped in pain. My head felt like it was about to disconnect from my body. I grabbed my hair as if I could physically hold it on. I was swearing off tequila … and killing Marcus. Yeah, I could blame Marcus; he’d been buying all night, not my fault.

When my head had firmly reattached itself to my shoulders, I looked at the clock. Eleven fifteen. Not so bad, considering it was after four when we left the last place, and I didn’t have to be … Holy fucking shit! I was going to be late! This time my stomach gave a heave, and a lurch, and my head was suddenly a minor problem. Fuck fuck fuck! Why hadn’t someone woken me? Alan would never forgive me if I was late - if he even stuck around to see if I showed up.



I untangled myself from the hotel sheets, and raced straight into the shower. I took the time to shave, because it had to be perfect, perfect for today anyway. I grabbed the garment bag out of the closet, and groaned as the pieces in the bag came out one after another. Who the hell made tuxedos so damn complicated? What was wrong with jeans and a t-shirt?

When I had most of the outfit on, I thought properly, I was left with only the tie, and ten minutes. There was no way I could get the tie done up, and down to the courtyard in ten minutes. I shoved on my shoes, bunched the tie in my hand, and raced out of the room, realizing I’d left the room key and wallet in my other pants. I hesitated for a moment, but I had no time, and I began furiously pushing on the elevator button willing it to come faster.

I slumped against the back wall of the elevator, and ignored the knowing glances from the family with young kids. The doors opened in the lobby where I resisted the urge to hurdle over the youngest kid, then raced down the hallway to the courtyard waiting area. I had - I glanced at the large clock in the lobby – three and half minutes. I could make it. I grimaced at the untied tie in my hand.

Oh, Alan was going to be pissed. He was always early, I was always late. It was the way it worked for us. As I flew into the room, Alan turned and looked at me, his arms crossed. He, oh so casually, looked down at his watch.

“What? I’m on time. Almost.” I held out the tie. “I was, um, having issues, and I … oh shit. I’m sorry. I know you said be on time, and I planned on it, but then Marcus said we had to go out since it was my last night, and then I was sure I set the alarm, but maybe I set it for PM not AM, and no one came to find me, and I tried to hurry, but this damn suit as so many pieces, and my head hurts, but the tie makes no sense.” The whole time I’d been babbling, he’d crossed the room toward me, holding my gaze. Oh shit, he was going to change his mind. I just knew it.

That threw me into another bout of babbling. “Please Alan, don’t go. Just wait, can’t you forgive me? I’ll try harder, I will. I’m getting better.”

He stopped right in front of me, placed his hands on either side of my face, and looked into my eyes. “Hush baby. I’m not going anywhere.”

I think I physically sagged when I heard that. “You mean it? Really?”

“I’ve waited over two years for this day, I’m not about to leave now.” He leaned in to kiss me, and I thought my heart would explode. I grabbed him, and squeezed him so tightly he grunted. I heard snickers from the other side of the room, and realized both of our fathers, and our two best friends - including a damn smug looking Marcus - were standing watching us. I felt myself flush, but I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.

Alan gently pried the tie from my hand, and put it around my neck. “Come on. Let’s get this on, and get the show on the road.” He stopped, and stared at me for a minute. “I meant what I said, Cam. I’ve been waiting for this moment for over two years; since I saw you knock down that kid on the skateboard as you tried to catch the bus, which you missed by the way. Now today, I get to fulfil a dream, every day with you for the rest of my life.”

I started to get teary eyed. Oh shit. Not in front of my dad. When I heard a sniffle, I saw my dad discretely wiping his eyes. Huh. Who knew he was a softie?

Alan finished with my tie, and straightened my tuxedo. “Okay baby. Let’s get this show on the road. We’re only ten minutes late, that must be a record for you.” I gave him a pouty face, and he laughed. “We have over a hundred friends out there, some anxious mothers, and a minister all waiting for us. Are you ready?”

I held his hand tightly. “I’ve never been more ready for anything in my life.” We got in formation, with the best men and our dads, and I took a deep breath. I meant it. Alan was the best thing to ever come into my life, and I wasn’t going to ever let him go, and I swore I’d work harder on being on time. Really I would. Sheesh, why does no one ever believe me?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aw, poor *snicker* boy! *snort* That was cute Tam!

Tam has more cuteness for us -- her new story, Winterlude, is out now from Torquere Press, and I have a shopping trip to make!

Eric hates the cold weather and his broken down car, which means venturing out on foot into the sub-zero temperatures. Navigating the icy sidewalks, he runs into Omar, literally. An impromptu hot coffee on the cold day finds that tattooed and pierced Eric, and government IT guy Omar might have more in common than they expected. When Omar is called away, before he can get the guy's number, Eric believes it may only have been a pleasant winterlude to temporarily distract him from the cold, or is there a possibility his winter will get a lot warmer?

Buy it here. You can check out Tam's news here on her blog.

Looking at a Trope

Now and then I have to push myself in a new direction. Reexamine why I think a certain way or like or dislike something. The unexamined life is not worth living and all that. Elsewhere in my ramblings here, I've mentioned that I don't care for soul mates as a trope.

So, in this new reviewing mode, I had to think about that. I've been running from the trope if it's explicitly stated ahead of time, and gotten grumpy if it popped up late.  Soul mates gets used a lot, especially with vampires and were creatures, and I come from a fandom background of  vampires and weres, so I don't really want to leave all that behind. Maybe I'm being too harsh.

Two books I've read recently have used the trope in wildly different ways. More extensive reviews to follow on both. Sorry about the reviewing silence, BTW, Dark Divas and I have been getting the details worked out, and I have a few reviews uploaded for editing, so hopefully we'll be back on track here shortly.

One book uses the trope so subtly that I didn't even realize it had gotten in there until just now. Very likely because the association of the two characters in certain ways was required by the greater plot arc, but getting sexual was their idea. They are fated, in a way that is about as big as it's possible for FATE to get, to deal with one another, but they are choosing how to do it. So I feel like the author did something truly new and unusual here. I'm waiting for more, not running away.

The other has vampires and werewolves, and you've seen the story before. So have I. Lots of times. One vamp, one wolf. Much sex. But it did make me think -- why exactly does this bother me?

Short answer -- because in all the "you are meant for me" posturing and sex, the probability  for the characters to do something magnificently stupid in terms of the greater plot is really, really high. Stupidity is not something I find attractive.

It happens a lot. And the rest of the time, I'm braced for it.

So, I guess I need to be more open about the concept in general, because I've just proven to myself that if it's done well, with something new and different, I'll like it. And if it's tired and obvious, I still probably won't. If it's the traditional method, even if done really well, I'm not sure I'll get over being braced for something preventable, but the surprise could be good.

Thousand Word Thursday

I still have some hope for an adventure for our jockey and owner couple from last week; we'll just have to be patient.

Now, this young man -- what's yanked him bolt upright? An author with 100 to 1000 words to explain will have it posted here with cover's links, and news.

Thanks to all who have swung by this last week. Getting ready to work with Dark Divas has messed with my timing, but next week, when all the details are ironed out, we should be back to a frequent review schedule.

I'm reviewing at Dark Divas!

This has been a very exciting week, because the lovely reviewers of Dark Divas have asked me to join them! I will still be posting here -- some things may be here that are not there, but not many, I hope. And my reviews will still post to Goodreads. All you kind souls who are still waiting to hear from me will have your patience rewarded by the cross-posting. And now, of course, it's all on me to do a really thoughtful job, better than before. It's a little scary!

Thousand Word Thursdays will continue as before, so please don't stop looking at the eye-candy and dreaming up stories. Everything will continue here as before, with the addition of Dark Divas.

Sharp-eyed readers will notice a name change in the header. It was pointed out to me that the name, which was a holdover from when this was a general yappy blog, was a credibility problem. I do take what I read seriously, but the old name made it look like I didn't. So I apologize to anyone who thought I was trying to belittle the genre, I'm not.

If I ever figure out what to do about links that already exist, I will update the url as well. Ideas are welcome, because neither Pam nor I are sure what we can do without inconveniencing a lot of people. Would it work to start another blog with the right addy, and then do duplicate posts? Is there an easy way to do that?

Thanks to all the readers, and all the authors who have had some faith in me.

A Picture is Worth...

A Gentleman By His Racehorse With Jockey Up On A Racecourse

Last week's picture of jazz players brought us a perfect excerpt from Azul: Bailame from Lee Benoit, who matched the text to the illustration so well.

This week's pic is brought to you because Ruler on Ice won the Belmont Stakes on Saturday. Tell me you don't love the horses flying at top speed and wiry men in bright colors atop them. Maybe a winner at 24 to 1 makes you feel rich and that all things are possible... (My horse did not win.)

Any author who has a little story, 100 to 1000 words, to tell about this gentleman and the jockey can have it posted here, with news, links, and covers.