Ramblings of an Australian Writer

⋄ Evening Greetings from Australia! First post.

⋄ "Life and Nothing But" Excerpt and giveaway.

⋄ "Sunburnt Country" Excerpt and details.

⋄ "City of Gold" Excerpt and giveaway.

⋄ "Fire, Burn" Excerpt and details.

⋄ "Life and Nothing But" & "City of Gold" Giveaways reminder and chatter.

⋄ Winners of the giveaways.

I pimp because I love. meredith_shayne's novel set in the Australian outback with Aussie cowboys is out through Dreamspinner Press next week.



You can preorder it now, either in E-Book or Paperbook. If you like cowboys and Aussies or cowboys who are Aussies, you'll love this. I can say this with an informed opinion too, because I've read the first draft. :) So go, buy!

Today is the release of the First Time For Everything daily dose anthology. To buy the whole anthology of some thirty stories, head on over this way. There's over 1,500 pages of fiction in the full collection.

My story, City of Gold is available over here for $1.49US.

Summary: Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire, 1131 AD.

Gallienus has spent his life in service of his country, and now his scarred body is no longer up for the fight. Assigned to work the gates of Constantinople, he is charged with examining the cargo brought into the city from all over the world. Misahuen is part of the merchant train bringing wares from the Silk Road to trade, but it’s not Misahuen’s cargo that interests the wounded soldier. Gallienus thought his heart was too battered to love anything but his country. Does he have the courage to dream of a future beyond service to the City of Gold?

And for a small excerpt (Excerpt is PG rated; full story is NC17 rated for graphic m/m sex.):

THE day began just like any other. Gallienus, a veteran of the wars that had ended the previous year, in 1130, went to his postwar duties at the gates of Constantinople, the jewel in the crown of the Byzantine Empire. He limped up and down the lines of wagons carrying all manner of goods from the East for trade, inspected the packs and wagons, and waved merchants through to the city. He gave directions to the merchants’ quarter when necessary and detained those who were smuggling items prohibited by Emperor John Komnenos the Second. At midday, he ate a small meal and drank a tankard of ale with his fellow gate guards. He smiled ruefully as they talked about past wars and how lucky Gallienus was to have survived the violent conflicts with a limp and an ugly scar from a crossbow bolt to show for them. After the meal, he returned to his post by the gates, and the business of inspecting merchant pack trains resumed.

( Continue )

Join me and the other wonderful Dreamspinner Press authors who have stories in the First Time For Everything anthology at an all-weekend chat at Literary Nymphs. So please do come and join in this weekend for a great series of chats!

Happy Birthday Dreamspinner Press - May Specials
Now through midnight EST May 31, 2011.
20% off all ebooks in the Dreamspinner Press store.
A drawing each week for an ebook reader of the winner's choice: Kindle WiFi, NOOK WiFi, or Sony PRS 350SC
49.99 on the 2011 DD set - First Time for Everything until May 25

Week One Specials:
40% off all ebooks that are turning 4 with us:
A Summer Place
Cursed
To Love a Cowboy
Slight Details & Random Events
Caught Running
Diplomacy

Week Two Specials:
30% off all ebooks that are turning 3
Far From Home by Madeleine Urban
Alliance in Blood by Ariel Tachna
The Archer by Abigail Roux
Murder Most Gay by John Simpson
Love Ahead by Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux
Condor One by John Simpson
Sparks Fly by Clare London
Selfless by Michael Powers
Children of Bacchus by Andrew Grey
Cut & Run by Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux
Task Force by John Simpson
Covenant in Blood by Ariel Tachna
Irish Winter by John Simpson
True Blue by Connie Bailey

Week Three Specials:
Download the first book from seven of our most popular series FREE - a different book each day.
Sunday - May 15 - Condor One by John Simpson
Monday - May 16 - Litha's Whim by Amy Lane
Tuesday - May 17 - Cut & Run by Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux
Wednesday - May 18 - Promises by Marie Sexton
Thursday - May 19 - His Hearth by Mary Calmes
Friday - May 20 - Love Means... No Shame by Andrew Grey
Saturday - May 21 - Luke by Jan Irving

Week Four Specials:
All Dreamspinner Press Anthology ebooks 50% off!
A Brush of Wings
Curious
Games in the Dark
Know When to Hold 'em
Make Me a Match, Vol. 1 & 2
Making Contact
Mr. Right Now
Myths and Magic: Legends of Love
Necking
Reflections of Love
Riding Double
Sandals and Sodomy
Sindustry Vol. 1 & 2
Uniform Appeal

Check the Dreamspinner Press Homepage May 29, 30, and 31st for three special surprises.

First up: Lookee!





The pre-order of the First Time For Everything Daily Dose Anthology from Dreamspinner Press is now available and can be found here.

Summary: First Time for Everything

From true love's first innocent kiss to finally getting down and dirty on the kitchen floor, there's a first time for every sort of cherry to be popped. Whether discovering the ravenous thrill of sex or the heartwarming power of romance, these men are going to take the plunge and try something new—something romantic or kinky, daring or safe, passionate or relaxed, even comforting or scary—all in the name of love. The First Time for Everything Daily Dose package delivers 30 M/M stories about all kinds of first times.

Summer reading fun! A story delivered automatically to your bookshelf each day in June. Over 1,500 pages of fiction selling individually for a total $81.20. Buy the package early and save:

April - $39.99 May - $49.99*

*Sale of packages for daily delivery ends May 25.

Beginning June 1, stories will be available individually as priced or as a bulk package for $54.99.


In other news, Less Than Three Press and Freaky Fountain Press have both bought my short stories for two anthologies, Something Happened on the Way to Heaven from Less Than Three, due for release in July and a mythology anthology from Freaky Fountain, due for release later this year.

And now to get back to writing!

My short story, City of Gold, which is a historical m/m romance set in Byzantium, has been accepted for the Dreamspinner Press anthology, A First Time For Everything. I am delighted to say the least, I have a lot of love for this piece (even if it's taken me a while to find a name for one of the two main characters!) and am currently in the research stages for a sequel which I hope to be of novel length, rather than a nap-size daydream line length. This is my happy face :D.

Now all I need to do in terms of not so fun research is figure out the tax thing. ATO, you are my only hope. /Star Wars. (And deal with blood tests and other tests this week, but those aren't related to writing and I'm trying not to dwell on them overly much.)

I've submitted two stories this month, one to Dreamspinner Press and the other to Noble Romance. Now, while I try not to think about them (this never goes well, I am a talented worrywart!), I turn my attention towards the Freaky Fountain Press Heavenly Bodies anthology.

I had an idea for what to do for my story for this late last night, around 3a.m., which led to getting out of my comfortable, warm bed and surfing the net looking for the specifics to see if my idea would actually be feasible. It is, which fills me with glee, and I found lots of awesome stuff in my quest for Biblical archaelogy sites and got sidetracked quite a bit. (Gate of Ishtar, I'm looking at you.) Anyway, I'm doing a quick refresher on the destruction of Sodom and Gormorrah story then, after a good night's sleep tonight, writing will begin tomorrow. Huzzah!

Unrelated to writing, I can't recommend the following movie enough. I bought it on dvd, sight unseen, based entirely on a recomendation from jerusalemorbust and the fact that it is a/historical and b/stars an actor/singer I particularly like (Yoo Seung Jun aka Steve Yoo.) The film is Jackie Chan's latest, his 99th film, and is called Little Big Soldier. If you like Jackie Chan films, history films and foreign films, this is for you. It's brilliant and the best $10AU I've spent in a while.

It's nearly Christmas now, three more sleeps! So to everyone, a very merry Christmas and holiday season.

I am a writing machine!

Okay, not really. However, I completed NanoWriMo this year, coming in at 50629 words. I managed to finish a story for submission to a Valentine's Day themed anthology due by the 8th January 2011, which is called Life And Nothing But.

Currently, I'm working on a story for submission to the Dreamspinner First Time anthology, called City of Gold. I'm finding this is difficult to write when it logically should not be. It's set in the early twelfth century in Constantinople, during one of the short periods of peace of the Byzantine Empire. I know the history and the material, what I didn't know or wasn't entirely sure about, I've researched. (I've also found myself embroiled in a debate about semantics between medieval Latin, medieval Greek and medieval Russian, which, while fascinating, wasn't really what I was searching for at the time!) I've dug into information about the Silk Road and trading with the Byzantine Empire in 1130, when my story is set, I like my two protagonists, I know what the conflict is going to be (laws of the time were very strict regarding homosexuality in Byzantium, but that wasn't the case in other parts of the world), and I'm excited to have this wonderful history backdrop in which to set my story.

Yet it's proving extremely difficult. I don't know why, but I don't like it. I just want to be able to write it, but my inner history pedant keeps getting distracted. Which isn't a problem per se, because I do love a good afternoon of link hopping. I don't know. I have writer's nerves, I think. I need to step away for the afternoon and not think about it, I think.

At least the Valentine's story is with my lovely proof-reader/editor of awesome, so that's one good thing. Tomorrow - or tonight - I'll get back into my historical m/m.

The quickie I submitted to Dreamspinner Press has been accepted for publication. If you don't have an account with them you can create one and request the newsletter during sign-up. If you do have an account, just log in to make sure you've signed up for the newsletter.

Echoing others here on my flist, DSP is having a contest on their site at the moment:

The Easter Bunny has been hippity-hopping around Dreamspinner Press’s web site, leaving Easter eggs hidden in various places. There are twenty-five Easter eggs on different pages. If you want to hunt for them, email the names of the products where you find them to ariel@dreamspinnerpress.com before 6 PM Eastern Time on April 1 to be entered in a drawing for $50, $25, and $10 gift certificates. The winners will be announced the evening of April 1. See if you can find them all!

And so now, to bed. For it is 1am and I really must stop this cycle of going to bed around 4am and waking up three or so hours later.