A Picture is Worth...

That's gonna leave a mark. Tell us about it, in 100 to 1000 words, and I'll post covers, links and blurbs for you, and if another picture inspires you, great, just let me know which it is at CryselleC At gmail DOT com. Meanwhile, the rest of us will sit here and wince.

A Thousand Word Excerpt from P.D. Singer

*************************
From The Rare Event

“Ricky, who do you think is going to be hurt worst if this trade goes bad?” Jon had used his “speaking to a lover” voice without realizing it until the last word left his lips.

“Edgar.” Ricky snorted. “He takes it right in his fat ass. With the rest of the investors, but him worst.”

“He loses money. What do you lose?” If Ricky would think, Jon would use his persuasion any way he could—his voice remained soft.

Ricky cut himself short. “My—”

“Your previously accrued bonuses that are still invested here, your job, your prospects of a job in finance, because he’s vindictive. He’ll make sure the closest you end up to big money again is as the driver of an armored car.” Compared to all those things, small matters like the fortunes and security of his colleagues didn’t bear mentioning, so Jon didn’t. “Lose any noticeable chunk of ten million borrowed dollars, and he’ll find a way of making you pay it back personally.”

“You’ve been keeping score?” One side of Ricky’s mouth twisted back.

“I know how much capital you control and what you’ve bought—I can do the math.” He could, too, but peeking was faster.

“Assuming that you’re right and I’m wrong, which everyone is, even though I’m not, how would you have me fix this?”

“Best case would be that you bought married puts when you bought the stock, but since you didn’t—”

“Back to that old monogamy thing again, huh?” Ricky interrupted.

“You know what that is!” Jon snapped. Ricky was too experienced a trader not to buy the stock at the same time as the options. Jon wouldn’t let him turn the subject.

“Yes, I know, but what I also know is that the stock would have to rise another couple of bucks before I’m in the black after I buy that.” Ricky voiced a more valid objection.

 “Better than losing enough to buy a whole street of those houses Lasker builds,” Jon countered, “which is what you’ll do since you’ve married the position. You can buy the puts now, for some price that’s low enough to not crimp your profits, since you think a fall to that level is out of the question, or you could put a stop-loss order on, which will cost you a flat fee.”

“And even if it’s triggered, it may still be too late.” Ricky slid closer to Jon, who had no room to scoot away, trapped as he was against the desk.

“So buy the options. But do something.”

Ricky was too close now, and came to his feet, leaning on the arms of Jon’s chair, close enough to breathe into his ear. “I’ll buy the options if you’ll make mad passionate love to me on the couch right now.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hedge fund trader Ricky Santeramo has it all: money, looks, and fellow trader Jonathan Hogenboom. The two couldn't be more different: Jon is from old money, while Ricky clawed his way out of blue-collar New Jersey. Jon hedges his positions; Ricky goes for broke. Jon likes opera and the Yankees; Ricky prefers clubbing. Jon drinks wine with dinner; Ricky throws back a beer. Jon wants monogamy… but Ricky likes variety. 

Bankrupt airlines are facing strikes, the housing market is starting to crumble, and Jon can’t wait any longer for Ricky to commit. One last night alone and one last risky trade make Jon say, “Enough.” Then Jon’s old friend Davis comes to New York City, ready for baseball and forever. The whole world is chaos, but there are fortunes to be made—or lost—and hearts to be broken—or won.

Faced with losing it all, Ricky must make the savviest trades of his life and pray for a rare event. His portfolio and Jon's love are on the line.

Find it at Dreamspinner, at Amazon, and All Romance eBooks.

Find PD at her blog/website, playing word games, grading scammers and spammers, and talking about books. http://pdsinger.com

************************************

Hellagood book here, just sayin'. Cryselle

Hunting for Clay by N.J. Nielsen

Title: Hunting for Clay
Author: N.J. Nielsen
Publisher: MLR Press
Length: 24,000 words


Two years have passed since Clay and Hunter met on that fateful morning in Tello’s Diner. Getting passed the fact Clay was stalking Marlowe was the easy part. Clay Montgomery’s life changed for the better the day he found the man who was meant to be the other half of him. Hunter understood him well, and knew how to give him exactly what he needs to be happy. Hunter Weldon knows what he wants, and just how to get it. For two years he has loved the man in his arms and now it was time to up the ante.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hunting for Clay follows on from another work which I have not read, although there is enough backstory included here that I didn’t feel lost. Two established couples, Hunter and Clay, who are the primary couple of this story, share a house with Marlowe and Angelo. They’re all friends now, and have a pleasant, easy-going friendship.

Two of the men’s families have serious issues with their gayness, which unfortunately requires much sneaking around for them to spend any time with their younger brothers. Both younger brothers are gay as well, which complicates things further. The subtext of the story is what makes a family? and the efforts everyone makes to spend time with the younger brothers is a large part of the story.


Unfortunately, the theme tends to wander through several subplots that meander through in little snippets, but 80 pages/24K words isn’t enough to explore all of them, so none gets examined in any detail. This gives a “slice of life” feel to the story rather than a coherent plot arc. A large number of secondary characters sail in and out, again, too many to spend any real development on in this length. The overall effect is a series of mostly unconnected events, although the arc becomes more evident in retrospect. But no sooner does one start reading a bit of one character’s actions than someone else waltzes in to take attention.

The style of the writing was making me uncomfortable in a way that took a while to identify: the language is very simple and without contractions in the dialog. This may suit other readers better than it suited me, but I felt like I was reading something meant for middle grades on style, but for adults on content.

Hunter reached down and gave the plug in his arse a twist and relished in the way Clay moaned. “I will be back in a second to help you, love.”

The contrast was jarring, and was not improved with numerous proofing errors, enough to become intrusive. I can cope better with constant endearments if the rest is done correctly.

The Aussie slang was fun, I now know what “full as a goog” means, and it helped to give a nice sense of place as well as characterization. (A goog is an egg, and the saying implies you've eaten or drunk too much.)

The element of BDSM-lite didn’t feel consistent, because while Hunter and Clay trotted out the toys, Hunter “couldn’t live with himself if he ever hurt Clay,” which was said in the context of getting out the nipple clamps and ball gag.

The ending is very happy – it all comes together in one huge celebration that resolves absolutely everything in the story, from the big family issues to the relationship. It was cute but hasty, and involved much handwaving on some major problems.

The story was certainly ambitious in what it was attempting, but with a main couple, two secondary couples and some strays looking like they’d get paired off, and some absolutely enormous issues, all in 80 pages, this is a sweet rush-through with little depth. 2 Marbles

A Thousand Word Thursday Story from Tam Ames

Promotion Possibilities

“Really, Kyle, if you want to make Vice-President, I think you know what you have to do.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Mr. Leslie.”

“Come now, Kyle. I think you know very well. We talked about his just last week. At the staff party.”

“But, but, that was, it was… It was just a joke.”

“Mmm. A joke. You believe I thought you were joking? When you said you’d give your left nut for a promotion?”


“Well, yeah, of course.” Kyle swallowed hard and tipped his head down avoiding Mr. Leslie’s eyes.

“You should know better by now, Kyle. I don’t joke.” When Kyle peeked up he would have sworn he saw a glimmer of humor in the man’s eyes, but he said he didn’t joke.

“You should know, that as boss, I play things straight.”

Kyle’s lips twitched, but he cleared his throat. “Um, well, what exactly do you expect?”

“Oh, um,” Mr. Leslie paused and Kyle frowned slightly and tipped his head. Mr. Leslie stood up from where he had been leaning over Kyle in the leather office chair. “I want you to, um, well…”

Mr. Leslie stood humming and hawing and Kyle rolled his eyes. “Do you expect me to service you sexually?” His voice held a slight air of exasperation.

“Yes! Yes, that’s it.” Mr. Leslie’s eyes brightened. “I think you should get on your knees and service me.”

Kyle sighed and shook his head slightly. “And what will you do if I don’t.”
“Well, I’ll, I’ll fire you. Yeah. That.”

Another eye roll and a sigh slipped out of Kyle. “Fine. I need my job; I have a family to feed.”

“Yeah, that’s the spirit, Kyle, way to take one for the team.”

“Oh my God.” Kyle groaned. “Okay, you have to uh, move back.”

Mr. Leslie took a step back and there was a sudden hiss and a screech. “Jesus Christ, Tippy, move the fuck out of the way if you don’t want me to step on you.” The cat streaked from the room.

Kyle covered his face with his hands, his shoulders shaking. Finally he looked up with a grin. “You totally suck at this, you know.”

The man’s shoulder sagged. “I told you it was stupid. I feel like a dork, and this tie is gross.” He pulled irritably at the unfamiliar fabric around his neck.

Kyle chuckled, and reached out and hooked his fingers in the belt loops on Simon’s pants, well, Kyle’s pants. Simon would rather spend his money on his bike than on a suit. Kyle tugged him closer. “Come here, baby.” He wrapped his arms around Simon’s hips and nuzzled his face into his stomach. Simon loosely wrapped his arms around his shoulders.

“You tried. I appreciate it.”

He looked up to see Simon’s bottom lip sticking out. “Next time let me be the naughty bike messenger, and you can be the customer with no way to pay for the delivery.” Simon reached up and tugged at the tie again. “At least I don’t have to wear this damn thing.”

“You look hot. But fine, next time you can wear the bike shorts.” That wasn’t such a bad concept. Those shorts looked awesome on Simon.

Tippy was back, rubbing up against Simon’s leg. Oh how quickly they forget. Simon gave the cat a gentle nudge with his foot. “And he’s getting locked in the bathroom. What a buzzkill.”

Kyle looked up and Simon and winked. “Well, I still need my job, Mr. Leslie.” He batted his eyelashes like a teenage girl.

“Well, I still need a blow job, so I think we’re even. Hop to it, Mr. Future-Vice-Present.”

“Yes, boss.” Kyle grabbed the zipper pull with his teeth and heard Simon groan. Three years and they were still having fun. Breaking in the new desk chair was great. Kyle thought they just might need a new kitchen table soon. That had definite possibilities.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh, jeez, Tam's done it again! For more of her humor, find the freebies at her blog
and a couple of shorts at Torquere. She's usually reading something m/m good and talking about it at Brief Encounters.

Goodreads Giveaways

Some authors are giving away hard copies of their books! Click on the cover to go to Goodreads to enter. The Rare Event ends in less than 2 days, so if you're interested, don't wait. The others end in a few days to a few weeks. (I have my copy of Diversion already, and it's really good.)

A Picture is Worth...

Shouldn't these guys be working? An author with an explanation should send 100-1000 of ficlet or excerpt to CryselleC AT gmail DOT com, with links covers and news, and I"ll post it here.  Meanwhile, we'll be drooling.

The Dragon Tamer by Ana Bosch

Title: The Dragon Tamer
Author: Ana Bosch
Cover Artist: Shobana Appavu
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Genre: fantasy, bitterweet
Length: 43 pages



Drake, a dragon master of the tamer clan, was barely a man himself when he saved the life of a youth burning with fever. Aedan, a fire mage, has dragon blood mingled with his own, creating such a tempestuous and volatile personality that it can literally burn him from the inside. Though Drake was able to calm the tumult enough to give Aedan a few years of peace, he knew that as the boy came of age, the fire in him would ignite once more.

When, years later, the effects of his fiery impulses force Aedan from the mage clan, his path crosses Drake’s again. Once more taming Aedan with a connection that joins them body and soul, Drake promises to protect Aedan forever—but he fears the day when “forever” might come to an end.

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Let me tell you a story about the most powerful, most fearsome dragon I’ve ever tamed.”

This short, bittersweet tale starts out as if we are sitting at the storyteller’s knee. The narrator, Drake, belongs to the tamers, one of several warring clans, and he specializes in dragons. He encounters Aedan as a youth, burning up from the volatility of his dragon heritage; his father had bonded with a dragon, (this is in no way kinky, just non-Mendelian), and had a child with a fire mage, a dangerous combination. His dragon attributes manifest in his temperament, not as shapeshifting.


Aedan grows older and has a mage lover – both are ambitious and long to lead the mage clan, which brings them into armed conflict after a series of double crosses. Aedan ends up in Drake’s care again, and while they become lovers, safety is never assured, because Aedan is a wanted man in his home clan.

The story’s structure starts in first person, as Drake begins to tell his the story, but flips into a distant third person, at times omniscient view point, as we hear parts of the story that Drake could not have witnessed. POV isn’t entirely stable through this section, and it’s a relief to drop back into first person when Aedan is once again with Drake and his clan. The flipping is somewhat disorienting.

It’s not entirely stable that this is a tale of Drake’s personal pain, he doesn’t interject his thoughts or feelings into the part of the story that he must have known from Aedan’s tales, which puts considerable distance into the story. Still, the epic of mage against mage has to be part of the region’s history, although parts are very personal indeed.

So while there is some unclarity in the purpose of this tale and the world building is a bit infodumpish at the beginning, there is both an epic of love gone wrong and a new love found, a love and a sense of honor great enough to merit a great sacrifice. It’s worth a sniffle at the end.

The cover art is extraordinary even by Dreamspinner standards, very fitting to the story. 3 marbles