JL Merrow

The annual Women and Words Hootenanny has begun, and already there are shedloads of books up for grabs – including a copy of my forthcoming f/f fairytale, Capture the Moon.

Most, but by no means all, prizes are likely to be of the Sapphic persuasion, so if that’s what floats your particular rainbow-coloured boat – and even if it’s not –  head on over and leave a comment on the hootenanny post to be in the draw. Good luck! 😀

And there will be new giveaways every day until Christmas, so make sure you keep heading back to Women and Words!

Capture the Moon

Accompanied only by her faithful piglet Ferkel, country girl Adrien disguises herself as a boy and sets out on a journey of discovery—not least to evade her several suitors. Rescuing a young monk, Felix, from brigands, she agrees to accompany him on his journey to the King’s castle to present the princess with a telescope he has made.

Princess Selene has sworn to marry only one who can give her the moon—but does she mean it literally? As Felix loves another, Adrien, still dressed as a man, takes the telescope in his stead. Adrien falls in love with the lively, beautiful princess and is amazed to find Selene loves her in return.

But will Selene’s love die when Adrien reveals her true gender? And in any case, two women cannot be married—can they?

Due out 31st December 2016 for the first time as a standalone ebook:

 JMS Books | ARe | Smashwords

(This story was previously published by Less Than Three Press in Fairytales Slashed Vol. 4 and has had only minor changes for this edition)

…which is why today’s snippet is taken from my Christmas short story, A Pint of Beer, A Bag of Chips, and Thou:

And then there he was, the man I’d been waiting for. Did I say his hair was iron grey? If I hadn’t been too busy playing my saxophone I’d have bitten my tongue. Pure silver, that hair was, and underneath it, his face looked shockingly young: clean lines, chiselled jaw with just a shade of stubble. I reckoned he’d be about my dad’s age: perfect.

I’ve always gone for older blokes—there’s a lot to be said for an experienced man. Most of it gasped out in words of one syllable when you’re a mite distracted at the time. He was shorter than me, but muscular, heavy-set.

Probably fucked like a pile driver…Did I say that?

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Don’t forget to check out the rainbow snippets Facebook group for more little excerpts from a whole host of talented authors.

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I was delighted to see that Blow Down, #4 in my Plumber’s Mate Mysteries, has done pretty well in Elisa Rolle’s 2016 Rainbow Awards – it came second in the Dorien Grey Award for Best Gay Mystery/Thriller, and fifth in the overall category of Best Gay Book!

To Love a Traitor, my 1920-set historical romance, was also a runner-up in the Best Gay Book Category, and romantic comedies Lovers Leap and Out! both made it to the finals, receiving Honorable Mentions.

Many thanks to all involved with the awards, and especially to Elisa Rolle, who does so much to promote our genre, and LGBT causes generally – the 2016 awards raised over $14,000 for LGBT charities, which is absolutely amazing!

Congratulations to all the winners!

I don’t know about you, but I love a bit of historical fiction around Christmas. I blame Charles Dickens, personally – in fact, for years I used to re-read his Christmas Books around this time of year, and I often get the urge to dip into some classic Sherlock Holmes over the holidays. So today’s snippet is taken from my historical novella Poacher’s Fall, which is set at Christmas time in 1922:

Here, our young hero Danny is attempting to cut some mistletoe to cheer up his widowed mam:

Taking his knife from his boot and shoving it between his teeth for ease of access, Danny began to climb. It took him a couple of goes before he grasped the lowest branch, but once he’d done that, he was able to swing himself up onto it. Blinking snowflakes out of his eyes, Danny reached for the next branch, and the one after that, and soon he was level with the clump of mistletoe he was after. It looked a sight farther along the branch from here than it had from down below. Wishing he had some gloves, Danny started to inch along toward it.

Suddenly his foot slipped.

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Don’t forget to check out the rainbow snippets Facebook group for more little excerpts from a whole host of talented authors.

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…over at the very lovely Elin Gregory’s blog today where she’s asking me about my love of Jane Austen and my story in A Certain Persuasion

She’s also included an excerpt from my story, A Particular Friend, which is a lesbian romance based on Mansfield Park (and no, Fanny is not involved *g*).

This is Trans Awareness Week, so to celebrate, today’s snippet is taken from my novel Out! (3rd in my series of romantic comedies, The Shamwell Tales – and I’m also celebrating finishing writing #4, which has the provisional title of Spun! and should hit the shelves sometime in 2017). Out! features as a secondary character Lex, who is non-binary and uses they/their pronouns.

Here’s Lex musing on relationships to Patrick, who they work with:

“I just think you never see what people are really like before you go out with them, so you might as well get on with it. Saves time, dunnit?” Lex looked up, face earnest. “And well, before you go out with someone, you sorta build them up in your head, don’t you? Like, you start thinking they’re all brilliant and well fit and stuff. So when you finally go out with them, yeah, and they’re just like a normal person who farts in bed and picks their nose, right, you’re gonna be way more disappointed than you would of if you’d just gone out with ’em straightaway.”

“Bollocks,” [Patrick said.] “I don’t go putting blokes on a pedestal.”

Lex looked at him thoughtfully. “Nah, s’pose not. You’re more the he’s a wanker until proven innocent sort.”

And there’s still time (until around Sunday teatime) to enter the draw to win an e-copy of Out!, which you can do by leaving a comment on my post over at Trans Fiction Week: Gun Control.

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Don’t forget to check out the rainbow snippets Facebook group for more little excerpts from a whole host of talented authors.

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Available in ebook and paperback:    Samhain | Amazon | ARe

My post for Trans Fiction Week is now live, and there is an e-copy of my romantic comedy Out! (which features a non-binary character) on offer. All you have to do to be in the draw is pop on over and leave a comment on the giveaway post:

Gun Control

(And no, it’s not what you think!)

As yesterday was Armistice Day, and tomorrow is Remembrance Sunday, today’s Rainbow Snippet comes from To Love a Traitor, my historical romance set in 1920, with characters still very much affected by the Great War:

“George?” Matthew’s voice was hoarse. “George, what are you doing here?”

“I heard you cry out. I think you had a nightmare.”

“God, George… I was back there in the dugout, when that wretched shell landed and it collapsed… Oh Lord—you don’t want to hear about this. I’m sorry, George. Just being a bit of an idiot. Sorry to have woken you.”

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Don’t forget to check out the rainbow snippets Facebook group for more little excerpts from a whole host of talented authors.

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To celebrate the recent release of A Certain Persuasion, an anthology of stories set in and around the writings of Jane Austen, featuring LGBTQIA characters, I’m over at the Macaronis blog today talking about a couple of Regency ladies, the Ladies of Llangollen, who were so famous in their day they even merit a couple of shout-outs in stories in the anthology! 😉

They were devoted friends – but were they more than that?

Read more at the Macaronis blog