Status Check

Okay. I'm a newbie m/m author - so new that I'd never tried to write an m/m story (not even slash fic) until January this year. So it's nearly the end of February now and I'm just going to do a little status check

M/m novelette Love Bites (about a man who has long suppressed his bisexuality and what happens when he 'comes out' to his best friend) was completed and submitted to Torquere Press 26/1/2010.

M/m novella And is Never Shaken (concerning immortal love, classical music and reincarnation) was completed and submitted to Dreamspinner Press 08/02/2010.

Love Bites was accepted by Torquere Press as a Single Shot on 15/02/2010. Contact now signed.

And is Never Shaken was accepted by Dreamspinner Press 19/02/2010. Contract now signed.

So far, so good.

Stuff I'm waiting to hear about:

M/m novella Ruby Slippers (featuring Ethan and Jamie from Love Bites as secondary characters and telling the story of a police officer and a drag queen) completed and submitted to Dreamspinner Press 21/02/2010.

Stuff I haven't submitted yet:

Short m/m story Precious Possession (about a relationship that goes wrong and how some ghostly intervention saves it) which I intend to send for Dreamspinner's 'A Midsummer Night's Nightmare' anthology, but haven't yet because I don't want to flood them.

Stuff I'm still working on:

Another m/m story (which may turn out to be a novelette, but feels more like a novella) called Red Sky at Night which is actually set in the UK (my first!) and concerns...I dunno, maybe ghosts or something, possibly fate. Lots of sea imagery. Not sure yet.

Huh. Looking pretty good there. Slightly concerned that I need to perhaps look at other publishers through, or else Torquere and Dreamspinner are going to be getting sick of me, at the rate I'm putting stuff out. I'll make a decision on that when I finish Red Sky.

Virgin Blogger

That's right. I'm a virgin. Be gentle with me.

My very first m/m novelette has just been accepted by the Mighty Torquere Press as a single shot. Hence this new blog, just in case anyone wants to know more about me when the shot comes out because Lord knows I'm on Google the minute I want to find out more about an author (and how frustrated I get when there's nothing to find).

I'll be providing links and more details as I get used to this whole blogging thing, and as the shot actually comes out. Some details now, in case anyone is interested:

Love Bites


'Love Bites' begins with James McKinley sitting down in an expensive French restaurant on Valentine's night with his long-time girlfriend. He has a ring in his pocket and a plan to make his dream of settling down and raising a family come true. Instead he ends up breaking up with Beth and being brought face to face with a part of himself that he has done his best to suppress since college: the part that wants to be held down and fucked hard, by another man.
 
James doesn't know if he can ever share the truth with his conservative family or his straight-as-a-dye best friend and business partner Ethan. So in an attempt to figure out if his fantasies are the real thing or just a phase, he heads out to Love Bites, a local gay club, hoping to get some action. Instead he gets the shock of his life - namely Ethan, who practically dry-humps him on the dance floor before realizing who he is.
 
Carried away by their long ignored sexual chemistry the pair share a blistering night of sex. But in the morning when they're nearly discovered by James' mother, James rejects Ethan and breaks the other man's heart. It's not long before James' realizes that he's made an awful mistake, but now he has to figure out how to come out to everyone his knows - and get the man he loves to forgive him so they they can work on the dream together.

I've been an avid m/m reader for about two years. First came an obsession with anime and manga, then, while reading Ouran High School Host Club, it struck me how intensely hot it was when Tamaki and Kyoya flirted with each other. It also struck me as a little strange that something like that should be in an ostensibly shojo manga, so I did a little research and discovered a whole new genre: shonen-ai, or yaoi. And I was HOOKED.

Very shortly I ran out of yaoi manga to read, and then a LiveJournal Pal suggested I try reading m/m fiction. I bought and downloaded Evangeline Anderson's 'The Assignment' and once again I was hooked. While many things about the genre made me cringe before I even realised there were terms for such cliches (Gay for You, non-con) there were many other things that I loved.


For two years I was content simply to read an enjoy the m/m genre, despite being a published author in another field (no, not telling). Then one day I had An Idea. 


It was one of those ones that hammers at the back of your skull with a pick-axe until you pay attention so - just for fun - I sat down and wrote it. I'd never written any kind of a short story before (I'm normally a novelist) and found it a revelation how much happiness it brought me to craft a novelette in under 20,000 words. The just for fun story turned out to be Love Bites.


Reading it through, I felt a tingle of excitement. It might have started out as just for fun, looking at it now it suddenly seemed more. It was no Josh Lanyon short story (bows down) but...well, it seemed pretty good to me. So, shaking with excitement, I submitted it to Torquere Press.


Frankly, being used to the way that print publishers operate, I didn't expect to hear anything for months, if ever, despite the friendly assurance on the website that you'd get a reply in 6-8 weeks. Imagine my shock when barely two weeks later I got a positive reply! They wanted it! They LIKED my little story! They wanted to PUBLISH IT! Hurray!



And that brings us up to this morning. Me thinks it's time to get to work on another m/m story now.