Tag Archive: Stone Cold


Rainbow Snippets, September 10, 2016 — STONE COLD (SoulShares #8)

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September 10, 2016

Maelduin1

Good afternoon, Snippetteers! — sorry so late today, it’s been a busy morning and afternoon and it’s not over yet. But here I am, and here Maelduin is (fine to look at, isn’t he?), having just had his first attempt at what he thinks is a final seduction deflected by Terry. This, needless to say, is not a situation with which most Fae are at all familiar, even Fae of a House considered cursed with an inability to love.

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How had matters spun so far out of his control, in less than a day? A lifetime’s work and self-discipline, consummated at last, would have been wasted and worthless, had he not come through the Pattern… but the act of coming through the Pattern had robbed him of every fruit of that discipline, left him cursed and clumsy and helpless.

Helplessness was not a state any Fae could bear. One of the darkest of the many words as’Faein for torture, danamhris, came from an ancient root meaning, simply, ’to be done unto.’ Maelduin could not endure it. Would not.

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And here are a few links for you —

Rainbow Snippets, your home on Facebook for all kinds of LGBTQIA* goodies: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RainbowSnippets/

UNDERTOW, the latest book in the SoulShares series, the story of Mac and Lucien and Rhoann: http://ow.ly/M6uk3045A6q

And here’s a surprise — I found out this week that the first book in the SoulShares series, HARD AS STONE, is coming out in German on November 1! (And what a pretty cover!) Here’s a pre-order link: http://ow.ly/YPC73045AcU

has-german-edition

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Rainbow Snippets, September 3, 2016 — STONE COLD (SoulShares #8)

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September 3, 2016

Rainbow Food

Hello, Snippetteers! — this week’s snippet (seven sentences again, can we maybe see about adding another stripe to the flag?) is from STONE COLD. It’s the morning after Terry and Maelduin’s first, erm, encounter, and Maelduin has just gone off into the kitchen to make the two of them something to eat. For once, I don’t think any more background than that is needed. *winks*

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“How are you going to eat with that on your face?”

For a second, even lying flat on his back, Terry felt dizzy, as if the bed had opened up and dropped him into a bottomless pit. Maelduin’s words were ordinary, but there was nothing ordinary about the way he said them — the other man’s voice was suddenly smoking hot baritone sex.

Terry’s hand was shaking as he took the pillow off his head. He hoped Maelduin didn’t notice. I really, really need to get hold of myself. The tall, lean blond was just another one-night stand.

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And here are my links for the day —

Rainbow Snippets on Facebook, your home for all kinds of LGBTQIA+ goodness: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RainbowSnippets/

UNDERTOW (SoulShares #7), the latest installment in the SoulShares series: http://ow.ly/twlY303RWFY

A SUMMER’S DAY, a Shakespearean m/m anthology benefiting the It Gets Better Project, which includes my short story, “Deeper Than Did Ever Plummet Sound”: http://ow.ly/Y9N7303RWJZ bow Snippets

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Rainbow Snippets, August 27, 2016 — STONE COLD (SoulShares #8)

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August 27, 2016

bandaids

Hello again, Snippetteers — it’ been a wonderful couple of weeks, immersing myself in the Irish music scene, but it’s great to be back! I’m afraid I have another seven-sentence snippet for you this week (but maybe since I’ve been gone for two whole weeks, I might be forgiven for an extra sentence? *winks*)

This snippet is from STONE COLD, my WIP. Terry has just brought Maelduin home with him, and they’ve just had sex for the first time. And Maelduin, in a show of thoughtfulness unusual for a Fae (though Terry has no idea that’s what he is) has offered to clean Terry up afterward. Terry’s just told him where the washcloths are (a cupboard above the bathroom sink) and Maelduin’s rolled out of bed to go get one. Oh, and another thing Terry doesn’t know is that Maelduin is apparently under some kind of curse of clumsiness — all he knows is that Maelduin is both the most gorgeous guy and the biggest klutz he’s ever seen in his life.

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Another silence, then water running, then silence again. And then a loud thunk. “Fola’magairl!”

Terry took one look at Maelduin, emerging from the bathroom clutching a wet washcloth in one hand and rubbing his head with the other, and immediately rolled over, presenting his ass for Maelduin’s ministrations and conveniently burying his face in the pillow to smother another gale of giggles. He felt weight on the backs of his knees and his thighs — Maelduin straddling him — and then the warm caress of a washcloth.

Wouldn’t mind getting used to this.

As if.

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And my usual end-of-Snippet links —

Rainbow Snippets, your home on Facebook for all kinds of LGBTQIA+ goodies: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RainbowSnippets/

Riverdale Avenue Books is offering SoulShares #1, HARD AS STONE, for 50 percent off through the end of August, with coupon code 8HAS2016: http://ow.ly/jll6303E0pL

And please check out A SUMMER’S DAY, an anthology of Shakespearean m/m romance stories in which I’m honored to have the lead-off story, with all proceeds benefitting the It Gets Better Project: http://ow.ly/KM1Q303E0xR

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Rainbow Snippets, July 30, 2016 — STONE COLD (SoulShares #8)

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July 30, 2016

RainbowShoes

Hello, Snippeteers! This week’s Snippet is from the WIP, STONE COLD. Terry, Josh’s business partner (and former lover, until the then-nefarious Bryce intervened) has met the apparently homeless Maelduin, and under the influence of a certain amount of Fae wiles and charm, has invited Maelduin up to his apartment. Terry is also an accomplished ballet dancer, who until fairly recently ran his own trockadero (all-male) ballet company in New York City. And this is what Maelduin sees when Terry turns on the lights. (Again, seven sentences…. no regrets, it was necessary. 😉 ) (And bragging rights go to anyone who can correctly identify both referenced ballets!)

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Terry’s walls were covered with images of human males, and Maelduin felt an actual physical ache in his chest at their beauty. Males in clothing as tight as a second skin, captured at the height of prodigious leaps, or in balances so exquisite as to be impossible without magickal aid, or so he would have thought. Poetry, given human form.

And several of the images were Terry. A younger version of Terry in chalk-white makeup and some sort of military-looking uniform with a red blazon on its breast, caught at the top of the arc of an amazing leap. And today’s Terry, in an elegant doublet that would have allowed him to blend in anywhere in the Realm, wearing tights leaving almost nothing to the imagination, cradling a rose in one hand and looking up at what appeared to be a balcony.

I want to be on that balcony, looking down.

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And a couple of links —

Rainbow Snippets on Facebook, for all your LGBTQIA+ reading needs — https://www.facebook.com/groups/RainbowSnippets/

And for the whole month of August (starting Monday, that is), HARD AS STONE (SoulShares #1) will be on half price sale at Riverdale Avenue Books. Yes, it’s a gateway drug, and you won’t be sorry! http://ow.ly/2z4a302Lugj

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Rainbow Snippets, July 23, 2016 — STONE COLD (SoulShares #8)

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July 23, 2016

Good morning-almost-afternoon, Snippetteers! I have a hot-off-the-presses snippet for you this week, just added last night to my WIP, STONE COLD (SoulShares #8). This one had to be seven sentences rather than six — I’m sure you can see why — and just by way of background, a “wellspring” doesn’t have anything to do with actual water, it’s a place where magickal energy wells “up” from the Fae Realm into the human world. They’ve been busting out all over lately, and they’re kind of a pain in the arse for our human and Fae protagonists. “Kevin” is Kevin Almstead, the human MC from book one, HARD AS STONE; the three “figures” are Mac, Lucien, and Rhoann, the triad from UNDERTOW (SoulShares #7).

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A brittle, musical chime filled the air, an instant before three dripping-wet figures appeared, sitting in the middle of a spreading puddle in the heart of the wellspring.

“That wasn’t so — oh, hell, Kevin!”

As deep a funk as he’d been in moments before, Kevin still had a hard time keeping himself from bursting out laughing at the look on Mac’s face. Rhoann had something of an aversion to clothes, and was getting his human partners accustomed to going without in private. And they’d all apparently come from their home away from home at the bottom of the Pool in Central Park, where clothing was less than optional — it was pointless.

“I’m not looking.” Not strictly true, but close enough for jazz.

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And, finally, a couple of links:

Rainbow Snippets on Facebook, your home for LGBTQIA+ goodies — http://www.facebook.com/groups/RainbowSnippets/

And if you’d like to read Mac, Lucien, and Rhoann’s whole story, here’s UNDERTOW (just out this week!!!):

Amazon: http://ow.ly/lndN302xps2
ARe: http://ow.ly/duNl302xpxb

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Rainbow Snippets, July 16, 2016 — STONE COLD (SoulShares #8)

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July 16, 2016

PrideSilk

Hello, Snippetteers! — I’m having SO MUCH FUN typing this, because Her Majesty Grace O’Malley the Pirate Queen of Ireland has decided my hands are the only place in this apartment fit for her to sit… this week’s Snippet is from STONE COLD, my WIP and the eighth book in the SoulShares series. This snippet stars Kevin Almstead, the human MC from HARD AS STONE (SoulShares #1), arriving at the Purgatory construction site just after sunset.

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Kevin eased his Mercedes into the gap between buildings that was eventually going to be the new Purgatory’s valet parking area. Letting the steering wheel glide back to center under his palms, he was happy to see that his hands had finally stopped shaking.

Fuck premonitions.

Switching off the headlights, he eased out of the car, quietly closing the door and locking it behind himself. Conall’s ward masked sound at least as well as it did sight, but it was a bare-bones, low-wattage affair, and Kevin didn’t trust it entirely. And some of the subcontractors occasionally had people on the construction site at night, to whom it would be awkward to explain the invisible back door into Purgatory.

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My usual couple of links is being expanded to four today, to cover a Very Special Occasion *grins*

First, Rainbow Snippets on Facebook, for more LGBTQIA+ goodies: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RainbowSnippets/

Order links for UNDERTOW (SoulShares #7), coming out July 19 (this Tuesday!!):

Amazon e-book: http://ow.ly/zJum302jq5T
Amazon paperback: http://ow.ly/xTJz302jq7R

And, finally, I’m throwing a party on Facebook, on release day, July 19, from 2:00 to 4:00 in the afternoon, Central US time, and I would LOVE to have y’all come! https://www.facebook.com/events/252662915117937/

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Rainbow Snippets, July 2-3, 2016 — STONE COLD (SoulShares #8)

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July 3, 2016

RainbowFireworks

Hello, Snippetteers! — sorry I’m late, I just got back this afternoon from CONvergence, a science fiction/fantasy/specfic/media convention I attend with my son every Fourth of July weekend. But here’s a bit from STONE COLD, the eighth SoulShares book. The book opens with Maelduin fighting for his life — I strongly believe in starting things in medias res…

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His opponent blurred into motion, leaping to the high ground, his sword raised despite his own evident exhaustion. Not to parry or defend, but to attack. And even at the limit of exhaustion, after a day and a night and a dawn of fighting for his life, Maelduin was breathless, in awe of the beauty of the other male’s lethal purpose.

His own purpose. His own face, his own form.

His opponent was a mage’s creation, a comhrac-scátha — a magickal ghost, a living mirror, with all Maelduin’s skill with a blade, all his grace, both natural and learned, as well as the wiles and unpredictability of living magick.

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And a couple of links for y’all —

Rainbow Snippets, on Facebook — home of more LGBTQIA delights: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RainbowSnippets/

And to get you ready for UNDERTOW (SoulShares #7), currently scheduled to debut on July 19, here’s a buy link for SoulShares #6, MANTLED IN MIST (in which you’ll meet Mac and Lucien, two-thirds of UNDERTOW’s main characters): http://ow.ly/5G3M301TgZd

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