Tuesday, 14 April 2015
My Zombie Boyfriend One Week Countdown - Day Seven: Advance Reviews
It's the final day of the countdown, and here's what advance reviews have to say about My Zombie Boyfriend:
Fangirl Moments & My Two Cents - "This story took me totally by surprise."
Decadent Delights - "I really enjoyed this book and the writing style, so much so I’m going to check out the author’s other books."
MM Good Book Reviews - "This whole book and concept was well written and very nicely
executed."
Book Signing - Jasmine Lee
⋰⋱★⋰ BOOK SIGNING⋰⋱★⋰⋱
Author Jasmine Lee will be at the GRAND OPENING of the Rusk Public Library in Rusk, TX on April 14th from 11AM to 2PM!!
There will be MANY MORE Authors in attendance!!
If you live IN or AROUND stop by and say 'HI'
207 E 6th St
Rusk, Texas 75785
Contact
903-683-5916
www.singletarylibraryrusktx
Monday, 13 April 2015
BDSMonday - Lock and Key Cover Reveal
It's BDSMonday!
Today, as promised last week, is a very special BDSMonday. I'm very pleased to present the cover for my upcoming M/M BDSM romance, Lock and Key. It's the sequel to Boots and Leather (and it includes Boots and Leather, for those who haven't read it). I haven't had a kinky story out since Night Out, and it feels great to have a new one on the way. Since I wrote Boots and Leather, I knew I wanted to explore more of Gavin and Terry's relationship, and I'm thrilled to share more of their story with you.
Excerpt: Weighed down by groceries and a bulging duffle bag, I rang Terry’s doorbell.
“It’s open!” he called.
I left the bag in the entryway so he wouldn’t see it and brought the groceries to the kitchen. He was wearing jeans, an apron and nothing else, and he was sexy as hell. I wanted him to ravish me, right there, right then, but he was busily stirring and chopping and other mysterious kitchen pursuits—I’m not much of a cook.
“Don’t come into the bedroom.” I kissed his shoulder.
“Sure.” He gave my butt a quick pat before turning back to his frying pan.
Making sure he wasn’t watching, I carried the heavy bag down the hall to Terry’s bedroom and started unpacking my goodies.
I’ve known I was interested in BDSM for a long time, though I’d never had a play partner of my very own before Terry. Every now and then I’d see something in an adult store or on a website that I just had to buy, for private use or the hope that I would eventually find a top to play with. “Every now and then” adds up over the years, and soon the bag wouldn’t be big enough to hold everything.
I laid it all out on the bed so I could see everything and try to narrow down exactly what I wanted to do with Terry—or rather, have him do to me. As I pulled out each toy, I remembered the fantasy that had made me buy it.
Terry and I haven’t discussed roleplaying yet, and I was still too shy to mention it, and worried he’d think I was immature for wanting to play “let’s pretend”.
Simple was probably best. A scene that took too long to set up could use up all our energy before we’d actually played. I tossed almost everything back in the bag, except for my matching set of black leather wrist and ankle cuffs, and what had quickly become my favorite toy. It was a jockey bat; similar to a riding crop, but the leather tip was hard instead of flappy. Terry has used it in all sorts of ways—using it the way it was intended, flipping it around to hit me with the handle, striking my thighs or ass with the shaft like a cane, even holding it across the backs of my knees to pin me down.
“I’m ready,” I called.
“Me too. We’d better eat first, or we might not get around to it.”
I was restless. I wanted to play now, but I knew he was right. If we played, we probably wouldn’t leave the bed until morning, and the dinner he’d cooked would go to waste. With a final glance at the toys neatly arranged on the bed, I sauntered out to meet him.
“Are you sure you didn’t own a restaurant in a past life?” I asked, bumping him with my hip while I grabbed a plate. I thought about serving him, but we hadn’t discussed that level of D/s yet, so I only got food for myself.
“I’d go crazy in a restaurant, surrounded by people, everyone in a hurry. I couldn’t even do your job.” He was used to being his own boss; if he felt like working fourteen hours one day, he did. If he wanted to ride to the coast for the weekend, there was no one to stop him but his own deadlines.
***
I don't have a buy link yet, but be on the lookout for Lock and Key from Torquere Press on April 29th!
Sunday, 12 April 2015
My Zombie Boyfriend One Week Countdown - Day Five: Edward
Day five, and here's the last character to introduce: Edward.
Model: Aidan Turner |
My Zombie Boyfriend is told from Edward's point of view. At age four (and a half), his cat, Boo, died. He brought Boo back from the dead (not very well...he was only four and it was his first zombie!) and has had him ever since.
Edward grew up to become a medical student. His life is simple, and he likes it that way: school, weekly dinners with his parents, and training his necromancy with his mentor, Mariel. He definitely wasn't looking for the added complication of Kit.
Edward's life has been a fairly sheltered one, both socially and sexually. The only people he's slept with (to my knowledge...he's shy about these things!) are Mariel and Bone.
Kit is exactly what's needed to draw Edward out into the world--whether he wants to or not!
Here's Edward's board on Pinterest.
I feel as though Edward's playlist might require a little explanation, especially to non-Canadians. When I was growing up, you could hardly turn on a TV without seeing the National Film Board's animations of the Black Fly Song or the Log Driver's Waltz, and as Edward is only a few years younger than me, it seemed like an experience he would have had too. Edward's musical experience is limited, so the majority of his music comes from other people, like his father. His playlist is very nostalgic for the most part, with the exception of The Ballad of Serenity. Firefly is one of the few shows Kit and Edward can enjoy together. I drew most heavily on my own experience for this playlist: my mom didn't listen to a wide variety of music, so I basically grew up on Jesus Christ Superstar, Les Miserables, and Mozart.
Saturday, 11 April 2015
My Zombie Boyfriend One Week Countdown - Day Four: Kit
Wow, here we are on day four of the countdown already! Please join me in welcoming Kit!
Model: Taylor Hanson. |
Understandably, after waking up in a strange man's basement and being told he's a zombie, Kit is wary of Edward at first, and isn't convinced that Edward didn't kill him. It takes Kit a long time to warm up to Edward as he adjusts to his new afterlife...unlife?
Kit has quite a crush on Mariel, at least at the beginning of the book. (For her part, Mariel likes Kit, but she likes her zombies as, well, zombies. Kit is far too independent for her liking.)
My Zombie Boyfriend trivia: The Official Preppy Handbook, which I mention in the book, is a real thing. I read it while I was researching MZB and it is hilarious.
Not only does Kit have a Pinterest board, he also has a Tumblr. While I was creating both of those, I realized that Kit has many more hobbies and interests than I do...
This is a little embarrassing to admit, but Kit's playlist was the most difficult of all to create, for the simple reason that my wife and I aren't as cool as him. We don't follow popular music, and Kit definitely does. I only hope I've done him justice! (I've also included a song from My Little Pony because, not only is it a very Kit song, Kit watches MLP and is basically Rarity in zombie form).Friday, 10 April 2015
My Zombie Boyfriend One Week Countdown - Day Three: Mariel
Here we are on day three of the countdown, and I can't wait to formally introduce you to Mariel!
Model: Aïssa Maïga |
She has a Haitian accent and speaks Creole with her zombie servant, Pierre, but has never disclosed much to Edward about her past.
In the book, I chose to go with 'Vodou' rather than the more commonly seen 'Voodoo', because my research led me to believe it's a more accurate spelling.
My Zombie Boyfriend trivia: In her early design, before I started writing the book, Mariel had a daughter named Kamaria. For all I know, she's out there somewhere...
Here's Mariel's Pinterest board:
Enjoy a Mariel-inspired playlist! Creating this playlist had its own set of problems. A lot of the songs I wanted to add made me think of her, but weren't necessarily what she would listen to, which is what I was going for. A few of the songs, like Toccata and Fugue and The Witch Queen of New Orleans, I couldn't resist including...but I can also see her enjoying the music and laughing about it.
Thursday, 9 April 2015
My Zombie Boyfriend One Week Countdown - Day Two: Bone
Model: Andrej Pejic |
As some of you may know, My Zombie Boyfriend was originally conceived as a webcomic. Early on, we decided that we wanted Edward to have a contact at the morgue, because that seemed like a useful thing for a necromancer to have. In the book, Bone is Edward's ex-boyfriend, and they still consider each other friends.
Of all the characters in My Zombie Boyfriend, Bone has undergone the most changes. His original design was much less human and much more demonic-looking, but I pictured him differently when I started writing the book. He's now very small and pale, with very light hair that is, according to Edward's inside information, natural. There's speculation in the book that Bone isn't human, but Bone doesn't say anything to the contrary and Edward's never asked him. Speculation about what, exactly, he might be is open!
One thing hasn't changed for all the incarnations of Bone: he's creepy. Even though he plays a relatively small part in a book about a necromancer literally dating a zombie, and a zombie cat who occasionally loses bits of himself, I can say with certainty that Bone is the creepiest character. He doesn't just work in a morgue--he's really into death (which, let's be honest, is at least 90% of the reason he dated Edward in the first place). He also enjoys flirting with Kit, who is so not into him.
While Edward is decidedly vanilla, I apparently couldn't entirely keep BDSM out of my writing. Bone is definitely kinky, though his exact preferences aren't disclosed.
Another little bit of MZB trivia: originally, all of the characters had cats, not just Kit and Edward. If Bone were to have a cat, it would be a Ukranian Levkoy named Rasputin.
Here's Bone's Pinterest board (warning: some of these images could be disturbing to some viewers):
Follow T. Strange's board Bone on Pinterest.
Enjoy a Bone-inspired playlist! The challenge with this one was cutting it down to fewer than fifteen songs. I've been planning these playlists for a while, adding songs as I thought of them, and getting my wife to do the same (while our taste in music mostly overlaps, hers is a little Bonier than mine). When we went to narrow it down, he had over a hundred songs!
Wednesday, 8 April 2015
My Zombie Boyfriend One Week Countdown - Day One: Winston and Boo
With exactly one week to go until My Zombie Boyfriend's release, I thought I'd start introducing you to the characters!
First up are the cats, Winston and Boo.
It's funny, when I'm writing, how I won't realize the connections between things until much later. I didn't think of this until this morning, when I was planning this post. I was afraid of cats for most of my childhood, due to lack of exposure (my mom doesn't like animals) and a half-remembered incident involving a mother cat scratching me when I wanted to keep playing with her kittens. I now have two cats (well, a cat and an Eldritch Horrorpuss) and I love both of them very much. I hope that both my love and fear of cats comes across in My Zombie Boyfriend!
Phantom |
Lee
(I like that this picture is grainy because it makes it look like a Bigfoot sighting or something...)
|
Boo is Edward's childhood cat, who Edward raised as a zombie when he died. Aside from being a zombie, Boo is everything that's frightening about cats--he's mean, destructive, he lurks in dark corners, and he would definitely eat your body if you died. Despite all of that, Edward loves Boo completely and defends him against anyone who's repulsed by him. Boo was inspired by the Siamese cat, Saki, my wife had when we met. My wife was the only person Saki loved...and she'd still drop pins on my wife's face while she slept. You can find inspiration for Boo on Pinterest!
Winston is the blue British Shorthair kitten Edward gives to Kit for Christmas. Winston is the opposite of Boo in every way. He's sweet and friendly and meets Kit at the door when he gets home. Winston also has a Pinterest board. Lee, pictured above, was supposed to be a Winston-cat. Unfortunately, she turned out to be a Boo-cat. (But we love her anyway <3)
Room 1024 - Guest Post
I'm thrilled to welcome Erin McRae and Racheline Maltese to my blog today to talk about their new M/M BDSM release, Room 1024. Not only are they fellow Torquere Press authors, but you know I can't resist M/M or BDSM. Put them both together and...I'm totally there. I preordered this book as soon as it became available, and I can't wait to start reading it!
* * *
Our working title for Room 1024 was, for a while, Conference, because it’s set at a men’s leather conference in San Francisco and we’re very clever with titles. My partner looked over my shoulder one day and said “Oh, you’re writing another story about academics?”
“Uh. No.”
“...What are you writing about?”
“BDSM.”
“Oh. Huh. Why? I mean like, is that something you want to try?”
No, it wasn’t, which I told him, and then we chatted for about half an hour about stuff I’d learned while doing research. Because, yes, I had to do research for this story. My cowriter, Racheline Maltese, has a long history and experience with the BDSM community. Saying that I’d jumped into the deep end of the pool would be an understatement. It was as if I’d decided to write a story about baseball but the only things I knew was that the game existed, people watched it sometimes, and it involved like pucks and rackets?
Which is to say, I basically zero familiarity with all the cultures, subcultures, history, or intra-community debates of the massive web of people and practices that fall under the category “BDSM.”
Racheline sent me links to articles, and videos -- which I watched on my phone at work, because while my dayjob is a pretty liberal place, streaming a video on flogging best-practices on the company computer seemed not really the way to go.
My favorite moment, though, came after Racheline and I put a post up on our blog talking about the story. The next day I got a very long, somewhat concerned email from my mother. She wanted to know what about BDSM appealed to me -- why I was writing it -- and was this like that time I was really into Elves?
(I was a HUGE Lord of the Rings nerd when I was a teenager.)
And like, as awkward as that email was to get -- because really -- it was also my mom just wanting to know what my interests were. She’s always been supportive, of my writing career especially, and to her this was just one more Thing Erin’s Writing About that she wanted to ask me my mind about.
I wrote her a really long email back, explaining basically the same things I’d told my partner. BDSM wasn’t just about sex and whips and chains and like, whatever else she thought. (Like sure, those things are there, and they seem like they could be fun, but I wasn’t going to say that to my mother). It is about relationship structures and communication and negotiating agreements in -- hopefully -- positive and constructive ways. So, like, no, it wasn’t like the time I was really into Elves. But it was pretty cool nonetheless.
When Cameron takes his submissive boyfriend Noah to a gay men's leather convention in San Francisco, Cam expects to spend the week exploring their relationship and experimenting with non-monogamy. What he doesn't expect is to run into his own former dom, Lou, in an embarrassingly public reunion.
While Noah is enthusiastic about the opportunity to play with the former international leather title-holder, Cam is more wary. He and Lou have unfinished business. A four-way encounter with Lou and his sub Stephen could be great fun—or it could show Noah that Cameron can never quite be the dom he wants and needs.
As Cameron and Noah work through the uncertainties in their relationship, Noah is offered everything he ever wanted, in a completely different way than he ever expected, leading all four men to discover that sometimes the only way forward is to revisit the past.
Erin McRae and Racheline Maltese are authors of the gay romance series Love in Los Angeles, set in the film and television industry -- Starling (September 10, 2014), Doves (January 21, 2015), and Phoenix (June 10, 2015) -- from Torquere Press. Their gay romance novella series Love’s Labours, set in the theater world -- Midsummer (May 2015), and Twelfth Night (Fall 2015), is from Dreamspinner Press. They also have a story in Best Gay Romance 2015 from Cleis Press and edited by Felice Picano.
Racheline is a NYC-based performer and storyteller; Erin is a writer and blogger based in Washington, D.C. They write stories and scripts about the intersection of private lives, fame, and desire. You can find them on the web at http://www.Avian30.com.
Social Media Links:
Joint Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Erin. and.Racheline
Erin’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/erincmcrae
Racheline’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/racheline_ m
Erin’s Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/ author/show/8323893.Erin_McRae
Racheline’s Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/ author/show/1015335.Racheline_ Maltese
Erin’s Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Erin- McRae/e/B00M7A0SVC
Racheline’s Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/ Racheline-Maltese/e/B001JRVS2C
Buy Link:
Torquere Press: http://www.torquerebooks.com/ index.php?main_page=product_ info&cPath=200&products_id= 4373
Monday, 6 April 2015
BDSMonday - Pedicures
It's BDSMonday!
One of the ways I like to serve my Sir is by giving pedicures--sometimes with nail polish, sometimes without.
For those of you who've never given a pedicure, here's how I do it:
- remove any old nail polish thoroughly
- soak feet in warm water for 10-15 minutes. Add Epsom salts or any other commercial foot soak (we like lavender Epsom salts)
- use exfoliating cream/callous grater
- rinse feet
- clip toenails straight across to help prevent ingrown toenails
- file toenails to smooth any rough edges
- push back cuticles. Use cuticle moisturizer if they don't push back easily after soaking
- use a loofah or pumice stone (we prefer a pumice stone) on roughened areas. Make sure skin is very moist before using the stone. You can put lotion directly on the stone before using
- slather on more lotion and place feet in plastic bags. Wrap warm towels around them or put on thick socks (we usually use socks) and let the lotion soak in for at least 15 minutes
- remove plastic bags and massage leftover lotion into feet
And voila! Happy, relaxed feet and happy, relaxed sub. It's a great way for both of us to unwind, and a way for me to offer practical service.
Stay tuned next week for an exclusive BDSMonday cover reveal for my upcoming M/M BDSM romance--Lock and Key! Some of you may remember Boots and Leather. Lock and Key is the sequel, and it will also re-release Boots and Leather for those of you who missed it the first time around.
Labels:
BDSM,
BDSMonday,
books,
Boots and Leather,
cover reveal,
fiction,
gay,
kink,
kinky,
M/M,
my life
Thursday, 2 April 2015
Swag Pack Giveaway!
Hey everyone! Less than two weeks until My Zombie Boyfriend's release, and I just couldn't wait to start doing giveaways.
To win the lovely swag pack below:
1. Preorder My Zombie Boyfriend from Torquere Press (you're eligible if you've already preordered)
2. Comment below - copy and paste your order confirmation information. Example:
"Thanks for shopping with us today!
The following are the details of your order.
Order Number: 141830
Date Ordered: Saturday 21 March, 2015
Click here for a Detailed Invoice
Products
1 x Room 1024 (Book)
Book Format eBook $2.99
---------
Sub-Total: $2.99
: $0.00
Total: $2.99"
I'll be picking a winner on release day - April 15th. I'll add other buy/preorder links as I get them, but I only have the Torquere link for now.
Swag pack includes:
- helpful literature about the undead
- a personalized card signed by Kit and Winston
- $15 Starbucks gift card
- Jelly Babies
- Zombie Zoo Boo keychain plush
- rubber duck light switch plate
- Zombie Strong bracelet
- My Zombie Boyfriend magnet
- my gratitude
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