Release Day - "The Lion and the Crow"

the-lion-and-the-crow-cover "The Lion and the Crow" released today!  This novella was written for the "Love Has No Boundaries" event sponsored by the m/m romance group on goodreads and it is FREE.

Blurb:

This is a tale about two medieval English knights—Sir William Corbet, aka the Lion, and Sir Christian Brandon, aka The Crow. In a time when duty was everything, personal honor was more valued than life itself, and homosexuality was not tolerated by the church or society, how can these two men reconcile their deepest, most secret yearnings to love another man?

Sir Christian was raised in a household where he was hated for his unusual beauty and for the sake of his parentage. Being smaller than his six brutish half-brothers, he learned to survive by using his wits and developing a gift for strategy. He feels little loyalty to the system that’s abused him since birth.

Sir William, a large and fierce warrior, has pushed his unnatural desires down all his life. He’s determined to live up to his own ideal of a gallant knight. But when he takes up a quest to rescue his sister from her abusive lord of a husband, he’s forced to undertake a journey with Christian. It’s a partnership that will test every strand of his moral fiber, and, eventually, even his understanding of the meaning of duty, honor, and love.

Links:

Read this novella for free right now online for members of the m/m romance group (it's free to join):

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1354989-the-lion-and-the-crow-by-eli-easton-6-4

In a few weeks the ebooks will be available for download for free to anyone here (and I'll also put them on this website):

http://www.mmromancegroup.com/

The goodreads page for this book:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17855574-the-lion-and-the-crow

My blog page with an excerpt from this story can be found here.

Eli

Author Spotlight: Jamie Fessenden -- Reviewed

I'm going to be interviewing author Jamie Fessenden shortly here on my blog.  Before I do, I wanted to review a couple of my favorite books of his. 11514958

"We're Both Straight, Right?"

Blurb:

Zack and Larry have been best friends since middle school and are now college roommates. But when Larry hears that other guys they know are getting paid to have gay sex on camera, he convinces Zack that they could pick up some quick, easy cash by being in one of these films… together.

If Zack thinks making a gay porn film with his best friend is disturbing, he is absolutely horrified when Larry proposes they “rehearse” for the film so they won’t be nervous in front of the director. As the they fumble their way through a checklist of sexual positions and acts, Zack finds himself seeing Larry in an entirely new light—a very sexy new light, and possibly a romantic one, as well. But does Larry feel the same? Or is this all for easy money?

Eli's Review:

This was my first Jamie Fessenden story and I loved it.  I'm kind of a sucker for a gay-for-you storyline (when it's well done) and this one is super cute and sort of a double gfy since initially both characters are supposedly straight.  There's something very sexy about young guys experimenting and testing out their sexuality.  Larry and Zach two college age guys who 'practice' sex together in preparation for doing some gay-for-pay porn--and find out that maybe their relationship as best friends could turn into something more.  The sex scenes are fresh and 'real', the characters are funny, and the relationship is sweet.  What more could you want?

The Christmas Wager

"The Christmas Wager"

Blurb:

To discharge a debt to his friend, Andrew Nash, Lord Thomas Barrington returns to the family estate he fled six years earlier after refusing to marry the woman his father had chosen. To Thomas's dismay, Barrington Hall is no longer the joyful home he remembers from his childhood, and his young niece has no idea what Christmas is.

Determined to bring Christmas back to the gloomy estate, Thomas must confront his tyrannical father, salvage a brother lost in his own misery, and attempt to fight off his father’s machinations. As the holidays near, Thomas and Andrew begin to realize they are more than merely close friends... and those feelings are not only a threat to their social positions but, in Victorian England, to their lives as well

Eli's Review:

I have this strange dichotomy in romance. When I read het romance I adore regencies. But when I read m/m (which is the bulk of what I read) I prefer contemporaries. Of course, a romance set in regency England between and man and a woman is a much different beast than a romance in the same era with two men. Homosexuality was illegal and regarded as a terrible perversion. That's not necessarily the sort of angst I want to deal with while enjoying a sexy romantic romp.

But Jamie Fessenden makes it work in The Christmas Wager. It's a well-written story that has a lot of the things I love about regencies:

* It's Christmas in a great country house featuring boughs of evergreens, a Christmas dance, dozens of Christmas trees, and a Yule log. * The romance is between a Lord's second, estranged son and a wealthy-but-not-titled young friend. * It has lovely British characters -- jolly and loyal servants, the workaholic brother, the brother's dead wife and neglected child, the belligerent father who walks around with his shotgun and his hounds, the lady of the manor who is externally placid but secretly wise, etc. * One MC is resisting his long-time desire for the other MC; that MC is clueless. * Hunky male MC(s). * Bathtub scenes, adjoining rooms, sex. Say no more.

The author doesn't shy away from the realities of being gay in this era at all. But the romance still works out in the end and the angst, guilt, and shame levels are never so strong that they overpower the cozy pleasure of the read.

COMING UP:

Stay tuned for a podcast interview with Jamie.

Eli

 

 

 

June Heat: "Make a Play" and "Love Has No Boundaries"

I'm so looking forward to June!  There are two great collections that will be releasing daily throughout the month. 1.  Dreamspinner's "Make A  Play" Daily Dose:

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"Make a Play" is a "Daily Dose" from Dreamspinner.  Sign up for it and they will send you a m/m romance story every day in June.  The theme this year is sports-related stories.  Some great authors have stories in this line-up.

2.  The "Love Has No Boundaries" event

Throughout June and July, new stories will be released daily as part of the Love Has No Boundaries event.  The event is sponsored by the goodreads.com m/m romance reader's group.  These are FREE stories, by both new and established authors.

lhnb

 

I can't wait!

Eli

Christmas in May? Two new yuletide romances written

  christmas

 

Writers, like store merchandise buyers, must work several seasons ahead.  That's why I find myself writing sexy holiday stories in May.

I've just finished two novellas destined for submission to holiday anthologies.  Both are m/m romances with some heat and some sweet.  Here's a little teaser of both....

A Prairie Dog's Love Song --

Joshua always had the notion that he and his best friend’s kid brother, Ben, would end up together.  Ben’s a diehard cowboy, just like Joshua.  So when Joshua learns that Ben has moved away from their small Montana town to be a porn star in Vegas, he can hardly believe it.  He’s determined to finally declare himself and bring Ben home.  But Ben may not be as easy to tame as the Joshua’s ‘lost cause’ horses.

Ben Rivers always was a showman.  He won awards in 4-H and Rodeo competitions from the time he could walk.  When he got the chance to be a star—in porn—he took it.  He loves Montana and everything about being a cowboy.  But when news of his alternate identity leaks out he figures he’s lost his home town’s goodwill forever.  Clyde’s Corner could never accept an openly gay, ex porn star cowboy, could it?

It will take a lot of love and holiday spirit for Joshua to convince Ben that even old prairie dogs can learn a few new tricks.

Genres:  m/m romance, contemporary, light humor, cowboy, holiday

Blame it on the Mistletoe --

When  super nerd Fielding Monroe and skirt-chaser Mick Colman become college housemates, they're both in for a whole new education.  Mick is good at looking out for the absent-minded genius, and he helps Fielding discover all the childhood pleasures his strict upbringing denied him.  They become best friends.  It's all well and good until they run into a cheerleader who calls Mick the 'best kisser on campus'.  Fielding has never been kissed, and he decides Mick and only Mick can teach him how its done.  After all, the physics department's Christmas party is coming up with its dreaded mistletoe.  Fielding wants to impress his peers and look cool for once in his life.

Can Fielding convince his straight roommate to give him lessons in love?  Anything can happen at Christmas.

Genres:  m/m romance, contemporary, light humor, college, holiday

 

These stories will be out Christmas of 2013.  I'll post publication info when I have it.

Eli

 

Books I Love: The Art of Touch by Dominique Frost

artoftouch It's not often I find a new author that I immediately fan/follow, but I knew within 10 pages that I was going to be slavishly loyal to Dominique Frost. This is her only publication to date, alas, but hopefully there will be more.

Jared is a high-powered CEO who does nothing but work.  He's a total grump (aka asshole) and his domineering secretary schedules a massage to chill him out before he scares away all their clients.   The masseur is Kyle, a cute young twink.  Jared doesn't want to be there and tries to run all over Kyle but Kyle handles him like a pro and soon has Jared a puddle of relaxed goo.  Jared is determine it won't happen again, but it does.  Kyle can always put him in his place.  Needless to say, since this is a romance, the two eventually become a couple.

This is is a short novella (79 pages) but a fully satisfying story, great for a quick read with lots of humor and UST.

So why did I immediately fan the author? She weaves  a solid, delightful, super fun character and prose voice in this story. I don't typically like "jerk" characters but Jared grabbed my interest from page one because the writing is FUNNY and sly. Yes, he is a jerk at the start but in the way the Sherlock or House are jerks--fascinating and funny and genuine. I loved the story all the way through.

Please write more, Ms. Frost!

Almost 1 million words of m/m romance -- FREE

lhnb  

The m/m romance group on goodreads.com is sponsoring a free fiction event called "Love Has No Boundaries".  Over 90 authors, some new and some well-known, are submitting stories for this event.  The stories will be available to group members throughout the month of June.   So far 60 stories have been turned in and they total almost a million words.

Here's a sneak peek at some of the stories:

Historical- 32,000 some violence, knights spies/secret agents, action suspense, adventure, explicit sex, first time, twinks, cross dressing, abduction/kidnapping, domestic abuse, friends to lovers, revenge, road trip, europe

Urban Fantasy- 34,600 husky shifters, family drama, humourous, sweet, men with children, fugly spiders

Fantasy- 39,500 dub-con, sorcerer, angels, demons, gods magic-users, soulmates or bonded, dubious consent, snarky banter

Paranormal- 40,600 fantasy, fae/fey/fairies, vampire, disabilities

Dystopia- 46,900 master/slave, bdsm, menage m/m/m, explicit sex, three some, cross dressing, bondage/discipline, acrobat, contortionist

Contemporary- 52,300 bdsm, bears, blue collar, fetsih-toys, grief

Fantasy- 103,800 History of past abuse, self harm mage/sorcerer, first time, hurt/comfort, friends to lovers, magic users, ptsd

To get in on the free story flow, join the m/m romance group on goodreads.  It's free to join and they have all kinds of snazzy challenges and events like this one.

I have a story coming out during this event called "The Lion and the Crow".

Eli

 

 

FREE m/m romance books from Dreamspinner all through May

Anniversary_TweetAway  

Dreamspinner Press, a publisher of some of the best m/m romance, is celebrating their six year anniversary this month.  They are having "TweetAways" all month.  That is, they post an announcement on their twitter that they will be giving away a certain ebook for the next hour along with a link to download the book on their website.  If you see the tweet and click on the link within that hour, you can get that sucker for zero smackeroos.  These are good books by authors like Andrew Gray, Amy Lane, Cardeno C. and many more.

[TIP:  I set up their tweets to be sent as text messages to my phone so I can be sure to see them!]

Here's their twitter account:

https://twitter.com/dreamspinners

Good luck!

Eli

 

Books I Love: "Organic Chemistry" by Andrew Grey

organicchemistry Andrew Grey is an incredibly prolific m/m romance author.  This novella came out last week, and I loved the blurb, so I picked it up right away.

One of the main characters is a young chemistry professor at a university and the other is a newly hired assistant football coach.  I have a soft spot for geeky, virginal characters and Brandon was all that and then some.  A genius who got his doctorate at 21, and has basically no social skills, Brandon has never really had friends and has no idea how to act around people without looking up social pointers on the internet.  Josh, a big, kind-hearted athlete, thinks Brandon is dorkily adorable and has infinite patience in getting him through the confusing pitfalls of dating.

I loved both characters and the romance was simply charming.  The requisite "angst sub-plot" with the department head was just enough to add a little tension but not so much that it detracted.  I liked the length too--about 150 pages on my ipad.  Enough to be satisfying but never a slog.

5 stars from me

 

What's New, What's Coming -- April 29, 2013

the-lion-and-the-crow-cover Just Finished:

I just finished my novella "The Lion and the Crow", a historical m/m romance about two medieval knights.  I wrote this for the "Love Has No Boundaries" event hosted by the m/m romance group on goodreads.  This story will be published FREE in Jun 2013.  I turned the final draft in on Friday.  Yay!  I'm excited about this story--it was the first time I've written in this time period.   I hope people enjoy it.  Here's the goodreads link.

Just Starting:

My next writing project is a new story called "A Prairie Dog's Love Song."  This will end up being a long short story or a novella and involves... cowboys and porn.  Yup.  I developed the idea for this story for a cowboy anthology submission, but I'm not sure if this story will end up going to that or elsewhere (as is often the case).  This is a contemporary with light humor and homespun charm.

Just Released:

Last week my first two published m/m stories came out.  "A Kiss in the Dark" in a Dreamspinner anthology called "Closet Capers" and a stand-along fairy tale story called "Before I Wake" from Torquere Press.  You can read blurbs and excerpts on my site by clicking on the book jackets to the right ("Before I Wake" is the one with mushrooms).

Reviews this week:

"A Kiss in the Dark" in "Closet Capers"

Live Your Life By the Book blog  (4.5 stars for "A Kiss in the Dark", 4 stars for the entire anthology)

On Top Down Under blog   (5 stars for "A Kiss in the Dark", 4.25 stars for the entire anthology)

"Before I Wake"

Rainbow Book Reviews (5 stars on goodreads)

Have a great week everyone!

Eli

 

"Soft Pitch" -- a ficlet for the Day of Silence (Apr 19, 2013)

  DayofSilence_FacebookPROMOTED

I wrote a ficlet for the Harmony Ink site for the Day of Silence.  Harmony Ink is a publisher of LBGT young adult novels.  The Day of Silence was started by GLSEN to protest bullying in schools.

You can read more about the Day of Silence here.

And below is the link to my ficlet, "Soft Pitch".  This 3000 word super short story features characters from my upcoming young adult novella "Superhero", coming from Harmony Ink  in Jul-Aug 2013.

"Soft Pitch" ficlet

You can read more about "Superhero", including an excerpt, here.

Eli

"Before I Wake" released today!

Image "Before I Wake" released today.  This is a short story published in a fairy tale anthology called "Torqued Tales" from Torquere Press. It's available for individual sale as an ebook.

 

Here's a blurb:

Nurse's aide Jonesy is drawn to Michael, the comatose victim of a hate crime whose homophobic parents have rejected him. Jonesey sits with Michael, reads to him, and encourages Michael to wake up. Jonesy may not be the smartest guy in the world, but he knows Michael needs him. And if he also thinks Michael is the most beautiful thing he's ever seen, well, Jonesy knows better than to hope for things that can never happen. Michael is lost in a dungeon, a dark and terrifying place. His only comfort is the sound of a man's voice. Can Michael come back? Does he want to? Maybe Jonesy can convince him that some things are worth living for.

You can read an excerpt from this story here.

Here's a link to buy the story.

And here's the goodreads page.

 

"A Kiss in the Dark" released today! And on Sale!

ClosetCapersLG "Closet Capers", a Dreamspinner anthology featuring m/m romance stories with a light mystery theme, is out today! My story, "A Kiss in the Dark" is nestled lovingly in this choice little ebook (or paperback, if you prefer).

This is my first publication as a m/m romance author. I hope you enjoy it! Below is a blurb on the story.

Dreamspinner has a 20% off sale today for Earth Day, so it's a good chance to pick this up on sale.

"A Kiss in the Dark"

Lane Lester is a graphic designer who has a small business creating web sites in Seattle. At a holiday party hosted by one of his clients, the power goes out. In the dark, a man pulls Lane aside and kisses him as he’s never been kissed before. Lane can’t forget the passion in that kiss, and he goes on a quest to learn the identity of his mysterious admirer.

Lane has a few suspects, and his roommate, Dale, helps him remember details about the man through hypnosis. But when Lane finally discovers the identity of his admirer, it’s a shock. Lane learns that something that seems impossible in the light of day can happen in the tempting anonymity of the dark.

Read an excerpt here.

Eli

Cover for The Lion and The Crow

lionandthecrow FINAL COVER Cover for THE LION AND THE CROW

I have a new story I wrote for the goodreads, m/m romance group.  They have a big event running called "Love Has No Boundaries" where group members post prompts and other members can write a story based on that prompt.  The prompt I chose was submitted by Angel, and here is the prompt:

I've just won my spurs and a long, hard climb it's been. Being the youngest of seven sons gives you far too many sets of shoes to fill.  But there are things I haven't told my liege, things I can't tell him. These unnatural feelings must mean I harbor a demon. Yet, when I watch him on the practice field...I can't stop the yearning.

My story is called "The Lion and the Crow" and features two male characters who are both knights in the late 1200's in England.  One knight, Sir Christian Brandon, is a seventh son and has just earned his spurs (become a knight). The second, Sir William Corbet, is twenty-five and has been a knight for six years.

This story was a ton of fun to write, and I got to research all sorts of medieval goodness (and badness).  It was a time when to be homosexual was punishable by death.  I approached this story seriously and tried to really envision how two men who were born homosexual might end up dealing with it in that culture, both before and after they found one another.  Being two very different characters, they approach it in very different ways.  But the love they feel for each other is timeless.

I made this cover for the story.  It will appear, FOR FREE, on goodreads as part of their event sometime in May.  I will post here when it's live.  Meanwhile, I will be posting an excerpt in a few days.

You can enjoy MANY more free stories in May as part of this event on goodreads.  Here's a link to this group:

http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/20149-m-m-romance

Eli