JL Merrow

Yes, A Ghoul Like You is now available to purchase once more, and in an arresting new cover from JMS Books!  It has, of course, been re-edited and there’s been some very minor expansion, but it’s substantially the same story – just that little bit shinier.

Here’s the blurb, for those who missed it first time around:

Nothing says “I love you” like a stake through the heart

Niall’s just looking for a quiet life, ever since the botched vampire attack that turned him into a ghoul. He’s even trying to stay off the pleasures of human flesh.

Jamie’s a revenge-driven kid on a vampire killing spree, and he needs Niall’s help to survive. Somehow Niall finds his long-dormant conscience—and his libido—waking up. But Jamie’s luck can only last so long.

A visceral story of love (or something like it) among the undead.

Available in ebook from JMS Books, and at a 20% discount for the first week!

I’m delighted to announce that my latest novelette, It’s All Geek to Me, is now available to pre-order from those awfully nice people at Riptide:

Jez is on a mission of mercy: to replace a tragically deceased comic book for his injured best mate, Tel. Venturing into the temple of geekdom itself, the Hidden Asteroid bookstore in London, Jez is bowled over by the guy behind the counter.

Rhys is the poster boy for hot geeks: tall, gorgeous, and totally cool. Jez is desperate to impress Rhys, but lacking in confidence after a bad break-up, so he bluffs his way through the comic book jargon—then dashes back to the hospital to beg Tel to teach him how to speak Geek.

Tel’s happy to oblige, and Jez is over the moon when Rhys asks him out. He’s even more thrilled when they discover a shared love of rugby, something he won’t have to fake for Rhys. The question is, how long can Jez keep up the deception—and what will happen when Rhys realizes he’s going out with Fake Geek Guy?

Due out from Riptide Publishing 10th February 2014 and available to pre-order now.

I was delighted to find I’ve had a few nominations in the Goodreads M/M Group 2013 Members’ Choice Awards:

1. Favourite all-time m/m author

16. Best Action/Suspense/Adventure (Fall Hard)

17. Best Alternate Universe (Trick of Time)

19. Best Contemporary (Fall Hard)

22. Best Mystery/Whodunit (Fall Hard)

38. Best Humorous (Slam!)

If any kind persons would like to vote for me (or indeed, anyone else) the link is here (no need to be a member of the group):

http://www.esurveyspro.com/Survey.aspx?id=31dc63a9-f374-40b9-a220-b3aad4f2ba0d

And thank you!

I was absolutely over the moon to wake up this morning to the news that Slam! has won Best LGBT Romantic Comedy in the 2013 Rainbow Awards hosted by the tireless Elisa Rolle.

And Pressure Head came a very pleasing third in the category for Best Gay Mystery/Thriller.

I was delighted, too, to see good friends Lou Harper and Charlie Cochrane in the list of winners – Lou came first in the category Best Gay Paranormal Romance with her vampire tale Spirit Sanguine, and Charlie’s lovely story Promises Made Under Fire was just pipped at the post in the Best LGBT Historical category – with relative newcomer Elin Gregory coming in third.

Congrats to all the winners and runners-up – and a huge vote of thanks to Elisa and the RRW for running the awards!

I was tagged by the lovely Josephine Myles on FB, so here goes:

Ten books that have stayed with me – in no particular order, and omitting many more:

The Machine Stops – EM Forster

Gobsmacking prescience re the internet

Discworld Series – Terry Pratchett

Impossible to choose just one. And a masterclass in British humour

Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte

A real eye-opener after reading works by her near-contemporary, Jane Austen: all that passion!

The Italian – Ann Radcliffe

Her best, most complex villain, plus her trademark lush scenery and gothic atmosphere

The Good Soldier – Ford Madox Ford

Wonderfully rambling unreliable narrator – and a killer ending

The Story of Art – EH Gombrich

Enthralling and enlightening to one utterly devoid of an artist’s eye

Brave New World – Aldous Huxley

Shockingly modern

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – JK Rowling

Fantastically imaginative ideas

The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams

In all its many forms – I still can’t think of it without the radio show theme song playing in my mind

The Dresden Files – Jim Butcher

My two favourite genres, rolled into one hard-boiled first-person narrative

I’m not tagging anyone, but feel free to join in if you have a yen to do so!

…is out now, and you can get your copy at http://www.theromancereviews.com/ezine.php

There are oodles of excerpts, articles and giveaways inside – including an article by me:

Tall, Dark and Dangerous

(Or Loki v Egil: the Bad Boy Smackdown)

in which I take a lighthearted look at the similarities between Marvel’s Loki and Egil Skallagrimsson, a genuine old Norse guy who is dear to the hearts of more than one of my Fall Hard Characters.  Enjoy!

We may not get to eat the turkey over here in Britland (boo!), but we can get hold of some fantastic Black Friday deals (yay)!

LOOK OUT for the Pink Squirrel Press anthologies, both at HALF PRICE this weekend!

SUMMER LOVIN’ and WINTER WARMERS

Brought to you by Clare London, Josephine Myles, Lou Harper, Chrissy Munder and me, each anthology has five great contemporary m/m stories. At $1.99 for Summer Lovin’, and only $1.49 for Winter Warmers, you really can’t go wrong!

And here’s a few more deals to check out:

At ALL ROMANCE EBOOKS, go to the advanced search at the top of the Home page (screencap below) and enter #AREBLAST for all the books on special offer.

At DREAMSPINNER PRESS:

At JMS BOOKS:

All e-books, all lengths, all formats, in all genres, are 40% off starting on Black Friday and running through Cyber Monday!
Stock up on your favorite authors today! Visit JMS Books or Queerteen Press to save on all e-books ALL WEEKEND LONG!

At TORQUERE PRESS:

Use code "blackfriday" to get 25% off the ENTIRE store until midnight at prizmbooks.com or torquerebooks.com!

I’m delighted to reveal the cover for Relief Valve, the sequel to Pressure Head, which will be out from Samhain Publishing on 25th March 2014:

(couldn’t resist putting them together *g*)

Isn’t it lovely? And I am insanely chuffed to have a cover quote from the one and only Josh Lanyon  – reproduced here so you don’t have to go all squinty:

JL Merrow brews another smart, sexy, ever so English mystery romance with cream, sugar, and more than a dollop of universal appeal. 

Josh’s Adrien English mysteries were among the very first m/m books I read and loved, long before I ever thought of actually writing my own m/m mysteries, so to say I’m thrilled is something of an understatement!

…from The Romance Reviews:

wonderful, well-paced, sensual…Ted and Jem were both so sweet that I just wanted to reach in and hug them both. Victorian and modern-day London were both brought vividly to life, just as both characters were… It’s an engaging read and easy to get lost in for a few hours – 5 stars, Annetteg, The Romance Reviews

Trick of Time came out right at the start of 2013, so I was rather chuffed to see it’s still getting some attention!

Back from a fun, if exhausting, weekend spent in the delightful company of Charlie Cochrane, Stevie Carroll and Liam Livings at the Festival of Romance in Bedford.

Charlie and I manned (womanned?) a GLBTQ stall at the Romance Fair in the Corn Exchange – Charlie came up trumps by dashing out to the market for emergency pashminas when it emerged that our tablecloth was too short and –horrors! – our table was not decently covered!

Fits of the vapours thus averted, we settled down to hand out free sweeties and, hopefully, increase visibility of the genre.

One visitor to the stall was the lovely Patrick Darcy, who was certainly doing his own bit for increased visibility – I wish I’d got a picture of him in his t-shirt!

Another picture I really should have taken: Stevie dolled up to the nines (I have no idea where the nines actually are, but she was definitely dolled up to them) in a gorgeous fifties-style dress for the Romance Ball in the evening, where awards were handed out, wine was quaffed and we boogied on down to Chap-Hop artist, Professor Elemental. He was entertaining, but a little too fond of tea for my liking…

The following day was the conference, with some interesting presentations by publishers (all of them fronted by glamorous young ladies who looked like they should be starring in their own romances) and a very professional-looking freelance editing team, Ruston Hutton. I took part in a Q&A session on The Romantic Hero, which was a little squeezed for time but contained an interesting perspective from US author Lynne Marie Hulsman on how in harsher times, women want a more caring kind of hero. But the alpha male, it seems, is still firmly on top…

I’ve always felt that my characters don’t really fit the classical definition of romantic hero, and certainly aren’t alpha males, which either made me a very good, or a very bad person to have on the panel (no comments, please!). And of course, although I’d prepared for the panel, much as one of my characters would have, I managed to come up with my key message while driving home in the sunshine: you can keep an eye on trends and what the readers want, but at the end of the day, you have to write a romantic hero you yourself can connect with or it’s probably going to show.