JL Merrow

I’m delighted to say the second (and final) part of my f/f fairytale, Capture the Moon, is now available for serial subscribers to read at Less Than Three Press.  (Links to previous parts of serials are available for new subscribers)

When country girl Adrien disguises herself as a boy and sets out with her faithful piglet Ferkel to seek her fortune, she little expects to meet a beautiful princess—and what’s more, fall in love with her! Selene, for her part, has despaired of finding anyone to love, and has vowed to marry only the man who can bring her the moon. But does she mean this literally, or does she have her own secret desires?
An old-fashioned fairy tale…well, sort of!

The story will be available in book form as part of an anthology, in ebook on August 15th and in print from September 2012.

Ooh, haven’t done one of these in aaaaages.

I was tagged by J Rocci, who gave the rules as follows:

Go to page 7 or 77 of your latest work. Read down to the seventh line and then post online the next seven lines or sentences. Then head off and tag seven more writers.

This is from page 7 of my current WIP, provisionally titled Slam! (page 77, disappointingly, proved to only have one line on it!).

Slam!

My lungs seized and I doubled over. I managed not to fall, but only because the wall was right behind me and the rubbish skip propped me up on one side. My violin was easily prized from my weakened fingers as I struggled to breathe.

I thought they were going to hit me again, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. I curled up tight, my empty arms over my head. Oh, God. I was going to die. I wondered if Stinky Cheese Guy would cry at my funeral. Would he even bother to turn up, the bastard?

Then a new voice rang out in the alleyway. A strong voice, booming with masculine authority.“Oi! Leave him alone!”

And I tag… anyone who wants to do it.

Gay Lovers Volume 4 is a mini-anthology of 3 stories from Xcite, including my m/m/m short Kit Bag.  (previously published in the Boy Fun 1 and Safe and Sound anthologies). And you can grab it free on Kindle from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com from June 18th-22nd! 

Kit Bag

Kit’s a US expat working at a British gym, trying not to be too obvious about ogling two muscular guys who always come in together.  Then one night it’s just him and them, and Kit finds out in the changing rooms just how much they appreciate his attentions…

I’m delighted to reveal the cover art for my next novel, Pressure Head.

And here’s the blurb:

Some secrets are better left hidden.

To most of the world, Tom Paretski is just a plumber with a cheeky attitude and a dodgy hip, souvenir of a schoolboy accident. The local police keep his number on file for a different reason—his sixth sense for finding hidden things.
When he’s called in to help locate the body of a missing woman up on Nomansland Common, he unexpectedly encounters someone who resurrects a host of complicated emotions. Phil Morrison, Tom’s old school crush, now a private investigator working the same case. And the former bully partly responsible for Tom’s injury.

The shocks keep coming. Phil is now openly gay, and shows unmistakable signs of interest. Tom’s attraction to the big, blond investigator hasn’t changed—in fact, he’s even more desirable all grown up. But is Phil’s interest genuine, or does he only want to use Tom’s talent?

As the pile of complicated evidence surrounding the woman’s murder grows higher, so does the heat between Tom and Phil. But opening himself to this degree exposes Tom’s heart in a way he’s not sure he’s ready for…while the murderer’s trigger finger is getting increasingly twitchy.

Warning: Contains a flirtatious plumber with hidden talents, a cashmere-clad private investigator with hidden depths, and an English village chock full of colourful characters with plenty to hide.

Due out in ebook from Samhain Publishing 18th September 2012.

And in other news: I’m also rather ridiculously chuffed about this:

You won’t be able to read the little plaque, but it says Verulam Writers’ Circle Fiction Prize, which I was thrilled to bits to win last night for a piece of short fiction! 

You may now colour me absolutely terrified I’m going to break the thing before I have to hand it over to someone else next year…

Yes, in honour of my birthday (what do you mean it was just a coincidence? *g*) New Sun Rising has been released on Kindle.  (Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).  ALL PROFITS GO TO THE JAPANESE RED CROSS working to help people devastated by the 2011 tsunami.

Over 60 contributors have donated their works – stories, poems, and original art -  to New Sun Rising – Stories for Japan, in order to heighten the awareness of the plight of the Japanese people.
This anthology is not about the disaster, but celebrates the beauty of the Japanese culture, environment and people. It’s about hope, passion and commitment.

The anthology contains my short story Ice Maiden.

The Olympic torch will be trekking through the Trossachs today, so why not pop on over to Carry the Torch for a scenic post from me?

Ah, the bonny, bonny banks!

Delighted to say the first part of my f/f fairytale, Capture the Moon, is now available for serial subscribers to read at Less Than Three Press.

When country girl Adrien disguises herself as a boy and sets out with her faithful piglet Ferkel to seek her fortune, she little expects to meet a beautiful princess—and what’s more, fall in love with her! Selene, for her part, has despaired of finding anyone to love, and has vowed to marry only the man who can bring her the moon. But does she mean this literally, or does she have her own secret desires?
An old-fashioned fairy tale…well, sort of!

The story will be available in book form as part of an anthology, in ebook on August 15th and in print from September 2012.

Good to see Richard Stevenson honoured for Red, White, Black and Blue – I haven’t got that far reading the Donald Strachey series, but it’s on the tbr pile and I’m sure it’ll be as good as the others.

I’ll also be checking out Dying to Live, by Kim Baldwin & Xenia Alexiou, the winner in the Lesbian Mystery category and Taken by Surprise, by Kenna White, the winner for Lesbian Romance. Both of these seem to have an opposites attract theme, which my readers will know is something of a favourite with me.

I was also glad to see the winner in Gay Romance, Every Time I Think of You, by Jim Provenzano, has a disability theme – or as one of the reviews put it, “daring to show that disability and sexuality aren’t mutually exclusive” – Ray Aguilera, former editor of Bent Voices, on Amazon.

Sad to say, Lesbian Cops didn’t win in the category it was nominated in – but the competition was tough, and it’s still one darn fine anthology with a collection of uniformly superb quality stories (plus, heh, one by me).

For a full report and list of winners, see here.

Yes, the Hard Tail blog tour is now over – so I get to pick a winner for the giveaway!

And the winner, courtesy of random.org, is…..

*drum roll*

Michelle, who commented on my post on Well Read, and who should by now have received an email from me.

Thanks to everyone who commented on the tour! I had a great time talking with you all.

After an exhausting *g* 2 weeks of promo, what better way to wind down than by getting back to nature?  Today I’m visiting Jenre over at Well Read and talking about Hampshire’s New Forest, where Hard Tail is set.

Why not pop along and share your favourite country retreats?

All commenters on the blog tour posts will be entered into a draw for winner’s choice of an e-book from my backlist, PLUS a gift certificate for $25 from Amazon (or the e-book retailer of your choice). The more blog tour posts you comment on, the more chances you get! See my website here for full itinerary. Good luck!

Draw closes TOMORROW at around noon, GMT.