JL Merrow

TODAY ONLY – May 14th.

The entire JMS Books catalog is 25% off!

Click here to start browsing now

*Sale runs 12:01 AM US Central May 14th – 11:59 PM US Central May 14th.

NEW RELEASES

Click here to view the entire catalog on sale.

And here’s a few other suggestions….

My May Day themed historical short story with paranormal overtones  Jack in the Green, is out today in its 2nd edition.  

It’ll be available exclusively from JMS Books (and at a 20% discount) for one week, then at all major e-tailers on May 10th.

Jack in the Green

Stranded in a remote country village in 1920s England by his car breaking down, shy young Arthur finds himself drawn to the rough mechanic who comes to his aid, Bob Goodman. Forced to stay until the May Day holiday is over, Arthur makes the best of it, enjoying the village procession and fete.

But the villagers seem to know more about him than they should, and there’s a second, darker, May celebration that starts when the sun’s gone down. In the drunken revelry that follows, Arthur is whisked off in a wild dance by Goodman, who plays the part of Jack in the Green, the spirit of the greenwood.

Dancing turns to loving, but is everything what it seems? And is one night all Arthur can have?

Note: this short story (approx. 7,500 words) was previously published as The Green Man but has been out of print for some time (because I’m bad at getting around to things). It’s been fully revised and re-edited (and has an eerie new cover!) but is substantially the same story as that previously available.

This time, we’re talking about gender – and specifically, writing a character of a different gender to oneself. Why not pop on over to the Thriller Roundtable and follow the debate?

And despite the very binary image, I also talk about writing a genderqueer character, Lex, who will appear in my 3rd Shamwell Tale.

My May Day themed short story with paranormal overtones set in the 1920s *pause for breath* Jack in the Green, is due out in its 2nd edition from JMS Books on 3rd May 2015, and the lovely Chris at Stumbling Over Chaos is offering a chance to win a copy. Just leave a comment on the giveaway post to be in with a chance!  Good luck!

Jack in the Green

Stranded in a remote country village in 1920s England by his car breaking down, shy young Arthur finds himself drawn to the rough mechanic who comes to his aid, Bob Goodman. Forced to stay until the May Day holiday is over, Arthur makes the best of it, enjoying the village procession and fete.

But the villagers seem to know more about him than they should, and there’s a second, darker, May celebration that starts when the sun’s gone down. In the drunken revelry that follows, Arthur is whisked off in a wild dance by Goodman, who plays the part of Jack in the Green, the spirit of the greenwood.

Dancing turns to loving, but is everything what it seems? And is one night all Arthur can have?

Note: this short story (approx. 7,500 words) was previously published as The Green Man but has been out of print for some time. It’s been fully revised and re-edited (and has an eerie new cover!) but is substantially the same story as that previously available.

The Big Thrill is the magazine of International Thriller Writers, and on the thriller roundtable today we’re talking about plotting v pantsing, or in other words, to outline or not to outline, that is the question?

Why not pop on over to join in the debate with me and a baker’s dozen of other thriller writers and ITW members ?

The random number generator has spoken, and the winner of a free e-copy of my first Shamwell Tales novel, Caught!,is:

Angela!

Angela, you should have received my email about your prize – if not, drop me another comment!

Thanks to everyone who commented and participated in the blog hop to raise awareness of some very important issues.

Visit All Romance Ebooks APRIL 15 for 25% off these two anthologies featuring stories by me, Clare London, Josephine Myles, Lou Harper and Chrissy Munder!

  And while you’re there, check out the hashtag AReBlast to find all the other publishers participating in the blast—you’ll find standalone stories by Clare London and many, many others.

Happy saving!

In case you think I’m being uncommonly tardy with this, you’re only half right – the prize draws were made, as promised, on April 1st and all the winners have been contacted, but I didn’t have a chance until now to announce the fact!

Prizes of ebooks were won by:

• Susana on Elisa Rolle’s blog
• Tammy on Sinfully Addicted to All Male Romance
• Waxapplelover (who put me straight on thinking wax apples weren’t real fruit!) on The Novel Approach 
• Trix on RJ Scott’s blog
• Sula on Josh Lanyon’s blog
• and Helena Justina on Charlie Cochrane’s blog

And the grand prize of a paperback copy of Relief Valve and a pair of rainbow wrist warmers was won by:

Al on Sinfully Addicted to All Male Romance 

All prizes have now been despatched – except Sula’s, as I haven’t heard back from them! Sula, if you’re reading this, please check your spam filter or get in touch with me on jl(dot)merrow(at)gmail(dot)com, please!

Thanks to everyone who joined in on the blog tour and made it such a fun event!

Autism doesn’t just affect children. According to a 2008 survey, just 15% of adults with autism are in full-time paid employment

– source, http://www.autism.org.uk/

For more facts about autism, and details of all blogs participating in the Autism Awareness Project, see RJ Scott’s master post: http://rjscottauthor.blogspot.com/2015/04/world-autism-awareness-day.html

Prizes! I’m offering a free e-copy of my first Shamwell Tales novel, Caught!, which features a young man who’s unashamedly a little different to most of us, to a randomly chosen commenter on this post (if you’ve already got it, I’m happy to offer an alternative of winner’s choice from my backlist.)  Just leave a comment below to be in with a chance – and please do check out the other posts on RJ’s list. I’m pretty sure there will be other prizes to be won! Good luck! 😀

You can run from the past…but the past runs faster

Behind Robert’s cheerfully eccentric exterior lies a young heart battered and bruised by his past. He’s
taken a job teaching in a village primary school to make a fresh start, and love isn’t part of his plans. But he’s knocked for six—literally—by a chance encounter with the uncle of two of his pupils.

Sean works in pest control, rides a motorbike, and lives on a council estate. On the face of it, he shouldn’t have anything in common with Robert’s bow-tie, classic-car style and posh family background. Yet Robert is helpless to resist Sean’s roguish grin, and a rocky, excruciatingly embarrassing start doesn’t keep the sparks between them from flaring.

Despite Robert’s increasingly ludicrous attempts to keep his past where it belongs, his past hasn’t read the memo. And soon his secrets could be the very things that drive Sean away for good…

Warning: contains the alarming misadventures of a pest control technician, a stepsister with a truly unfortunate name, and a young man who may have more bow ties than sense.

Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Samhain | ARe

Finalist: 2014 Rainbow Awards category Gay Romantic Comedy

ETA: I’ll be keeping the draw open for 2 weeks, to give people a chance to work their way through all the participating blogs, and picking a winner out of a (virtual) hat around tea-time on April 15th. 🙂

The lovely Charlie Cochrane, for her sins, has had to interview me twice lately! This time it’s for The Big Thrill, the online publication of International Thriller Writers.

You can find out here what it was really like studying Natural Sciences at Cambridge University, learn a bit more about Tom Paretski’s profession, and hear why I turned to crime.