Give-Away on ARe

ARe (All Romance e-Books) is releasing a set of eleven novellas this month, all "bad boy" romances by a variety of writers. A few of them are even m/m, which is great -- ARe is very supportive of GLBT romances.

They're doing a big promotion/give-away thing, too -- the top prize is a $50 gift certificate for ARe, which is enough to buy all eleven e-books with some cash left over. I get most of my romance e-books from ARe (I'm still Neanderthal enough to prefer PDFs, and that's one of the formats they offer) so this is pretty cool. Anyone else who's into romances, head over to the Bad Boys Giveaway page and check it out.

Angie

Drawing Winner

I put the names of everyone who commented on my guest post on Jessewave's about what love looks like into a pot and pulled out Sirius's. She gets her choice of one of my published e-books.

Congrats to Sirius, and thanks to everyone who came to hang out with me. I had a great birthday, because I am a geek and spending my birthday with friends online is cool. :D

Angie

Over at the Torquere LiveJournal Today

I'm hosting the Torquere LiveJournal Community today, talking about Emerging Magic and anything else that comes to mind. We have candied bacon, so come on over and hang for a while.

I'm going to do a drawing tomorrow for a $10 Torquere gift certificate; for every post of mine you comment on over there today (up through noon Pacific time tomorrow) you'll get a slip in the drawing. I'll be posting throughout the day, so check back a few times, or just wait till later and do it all at once -- maybe during a gap in the Olympics coverage or something. :)

Angie

Blogging at Torquere

I'm hosting my publisher's blog today, and I'll be giving a $10 Torquere gift certificate to one of the commenters. Check out my first post for details, and a discussion of holiday and climate and assumptions. There'll be more posts later in the day for more chances to win. (Except I'm going to bed as soon as I have all this posted, so the next one won't be for a while. :) )

Angie

Artist Wanted

For anyone with an artistic bent, Josh Lanyon is looking for a cover for a short story. He's getting the rights back to an anthology story soon and plans to self-publish it. Drawing/painting/photomanipping isn't his thing, though, so he's holding a contest -- if he chooses to use your cover, he'll pay $50 for it. (I know that's not a lot, but it's pretty much the going rate on this end of the industry.)

Luck to anyone who gives it a shot. :)

Angie

Anniversary Contest

Torquere has been around for seven years in September, which is, like, practically pre-Gutenberg for a small e-press. :) They're having a contest to celebrate -- a scavenger hunt, with a Nook as the major prize, plus a bunch of smaller prizes. Check out the contest page (the last link below, at the bottom) each day in September to participate in the anniversary celebration and try for some great free stuff. :)

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Torquere Press Celebrates 7th Anniversary!

Seven years?! No, we can hardly believe it either. Seven years of bringing readers the best, the sexiest, the most romantic GLBT fiction. And to celebrate, we're giving away prizes -- great themed gift baskets, gift certificates for free books every day, and a scavenger hunt that will give readers a chance to collect a deck of cards that will win big -- a Nook from Barnes & Noble!

Readers will get the chance to "collect cards" by visiting each participating author's website, blog, or Facebook page. By collecting all the cards and filling in the form, players have the chance to win free books daily, a gift basket once each week, (including BDSM, werewolf and ménage themed baskets), and be entered in the grand prize drawing for the Nook.

We'll also be having random sales via our blog GLBT Romance, Facebook, and Twitter

With bestselling GLBT romance authors like Chris Owen, Tory Temple, Kiernan Kelly, P.D. Singer, Sean Michael, and B.A. Tortuga, you'll have a blast playing along. Just log onto Torquere Press's website, check out the contest page, and start hunting!

So, ya feel lucky, dude? Let's play!

Raffle

Today and tomorrow, PD Singer, Mara Ismine and I are taking over the Torquere Social community on LiveJournal to celebrate the release of our mini anthology, Walk the Plank. A number of the posts -- well, most of them so far -- are marked PIRATE RAFFLE in their titles. If you comment on those posts and participate in whatever activities we've got going there, you'll be entered into the drawing for one of three free copies of the anthology. For each post you participate in, you'll get one chit in the hat; hang out with us both days and you could really stuff the raffle. :)

The first Pirate Post is here, with Mara on watch alone for a while 'cause she's in England. I chime in here with a story from my misspent youth [cough] and an invitation for others to share, for a raffle entry.

We'll be around all day today, and tomorrow through midnight Eastern or so. Come hang with us, have fun, and enter to win one of the free anthos!

Angie

Come Spend the Day

I'm driving the bus over on Torquere Social today, so come on over and hang out with me. I'll be posting a series of questions and contests, and collecting names of folks who participate into a hat (well, probably a bowl, but close enough) and drawing a name for a five dollar Torquere gift certificate. (You can get about half my backlist for five dollars, so if you've wanted to try my stories but haven't had the money, this'd be a great opportunity. :D )

I'll be posting throughout the day, so check in whenever you're around. [wave]

Angie

In the Mail

I just got a cool certificate in the mail today (or yesterday now, I guess) from EPIC, for being an EPPIE finalist. It's really nice, around 10x13 or so (I'm too lazy to dig up a ruler) on parchmentish paper, with full-color printing. It came in a folder, too, rather than just being stuck into the envelope. I think my husband was more excited than I was, LOL! We're going to get a frame for it and hang it in the computer room. :D

I didn't know the finalists got certificates, so it was nice to get. Good on the EPPIE committee for doing this.

If you want to see what the certificate looks like, Cat Grant posted a pic of hers. Mine's just the same, but with my info and book cover.

Angie

And the Winner Is....

Not me, but then I wasn't really expecting it. :) EPIC got the list of EPPIE winners up and Cat 15 was won by Rick Reed for Orientation.

I have to say that I was expecting Rick to win. Oh, not at first. I mean, "Spirit of Vengeance" is one of my favorite of my own stories, and I figured I had a decent chance. I wanted to check out the competition, though -- and besides, the finalists list was bound to have some pretty good books on it -- so I started reading the other Cat 15 finalists. I thought I still had a decent shot all the way to the end, when I read the last book, Orientation.

Not that it's last on the list, but it's the last one I read. Why? Because the plot summary sounds... well, I have to say, kind of iffy. It's a reincarnation plot, which can go either way, and the (gay male) protag's lover dies and comes back as a woman, which just has "Train Wreck" written all over it. I mean, you know? Maybe it's because I'm a writer, or maybe it's just because I've done a lot of reading, but for whatever reason I've noticed that there are certain plots or devices which are incredibly difficult to do well, and most writers who tackle them seem to end up in the weeds. This is one of those plots that a less than stellar writer could smear all over the landscape -- I had images of a "straight for you" sort of storyline, where the guy is gay but he loves the soul inside this woman so much that he turns straight just for her or something, which just.... No. You know? The gay community already gets enough crap from idiots who think they could just "decide" to be straight if they really wanted to, and said idiots don't need any encouragement.

But these problematic plotline types are also the kind that a really excellent writer can turn into gold, and that's what Rick did. He handles everything beautifully -- the characters sound real, the reincarnation device isn't too twee or completely woo-woo, and it isn't really the central pivot around which all the characters' development arcs turn. The secondary characters are appropriately well developed, even the protag's current lover in the here-and-now section; he's a selfish little druggie jerkwad who's completely consumed by and focused on his addiction, but Rick shows us (without rambling on and on about it) how he got that way and who he was before, and lets us see the shreds of the person he was still buried inside him. I empathized with him, and wouldn't mind seeing a book about him later on; I hope his recovery goes well.

There's a bit of action, but this isn't an action book and isn't trying to pretend it is. There's drama but it doesn't go over into melodrama. There's barely any sexual content, which is fine because what's there is what the story needs and no more, just the way I like it. There's just enough of everything, not too much, and it all fits just right and balances. And the last chapter is perfect -- I was holding my breath all the way to the end on the possibility of a straight-for-you ending, but Rick didn't go there, and where he went fits the characters and ties everything off just neatly enough.

Excellent book -- highly recommended. I don't at all mind losing to this one.

Angie

Trivia Contest!

I'm driving the bus at Torquere Social on LJ today and just posted a trivia contest. The prize is a Torquere gift certificate, so come hang with me today and see how many you can get right!

[EDIT: And we're wrapped. Thanks to everyone who came over to check things out. :) ]

Angie

Writing Challenge

[Significantly edited after clearing up a fairly major-ish misunderstanding. [cough]]

I just signed up for Aerin's 2009 Writing Challenge. :) It's easy enough -- you write 1000 words per month and post them on your blog. It's been a while since I haven't written 12K words per year (although the distribution was skewed pretty radically in '08) but hopefully this'll help me get through any dry spells. It'll also be a bit of a challenge to write 1000 words a month that I can actually post here. [cough]

Okay, not really, but I had to sort of laugh when I got to the "must post on your blog" part of it. [duck]

Aerin's giving away prizes and all, so go check it out, sign up, join us, show us what you're writing. :D

Angie

EPPIE Finalist

I just found out that "A Spirit of Vengeance" has made the EPPIE finals! (The EPPIEs are the yearly awards given by EPIC, the Electronically Published Internet Connection, basically an association for writers and publishers of e-books.) I'm ridiculously happy -- making the short list is a great honor and I can't stop smiling. :D

This was my first time entering and I was feeling kind of hesitant, but now I'm glad I did. Winning would be awesome, but just making the short list has me over the moon!

Congrats as well to my fellow Torquere author Tory Temple, who also made the finals for two of her books! Good luck, Tory!

Angie

And Done! Whew!

I finished the story I mentioned a few days ago, and I feel a thousand percent better now. It turns out I only added about ninety words to the thing before wrapping it. No sex, but then I don't add sex unless it's necessary, and in this case it wasn't. Hopefully not too many people will mind.

It's wonderful to be out from under the guilt, though. I still feel bad that it took so long, but it's done now and that's what matters. I remember a saying around work (I used to work for an electronics company -- we did R&D and systems integration in the signal processing field) that twenty years from now, no one will remember if you were late, but everyone will remember if it didn't work. I was late, but it works, and hopefully that's what folks will remember. :)

Next deadline is my Halloween short for Torquere, due on the fifteenth. That's not very far away, but I feel optimistic about it. I did last year's in less time, and it got me my first review, which was pretty cool. And heck, at this point any deadline that's in the future is a good one. [wry smile]

Speaking of deadlines, Writtenwyrdd has extended the deadline for her contest to Monday, so we've got the weekend to come up with some awesome setting descriptions.

Angie

Writtenwyrdd's Bloggaversary!

Okay, anyone who can crank out 933 posts in two years, and keep them all interesting and helpful and full of cool links, definitely deserves to throw a party for it. So to celebrate two years of awesomeness, WW is having a contest.

Head over to this post and give her a 150- to 300-word narrative describing a different reality. (See the post itself for details.) Deadline is Friday the fifth, at 6pm. I'm figuring Eastern timezone just to be safe.

Congrats, WW!

Angie

Win a Kindle!

Torquere Press is five years old this month, and to celebrate they're holding a scavenger hunt with a chance to win a Kindle loaded with Torquere e-books.

Go here for the rules and a list of links to journals and web sites where participating Torquere authors have hidden a graphic. Find all the URLs where the graphics are hidden, fill in the blanks on the contest page, and enter to win!

If you want to start with me, my graphic is hidden on my LiveJournal, which is here. Luck!

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More Anniversary Freebies!

All through the month of September, there'll be free short fiction themed to the stages of a relationship, along with recipes and coupons, and clues to finding the scavenger hunt graphics. Check out Torquere's Anniversary Page every day for something new!

Angie

Contest Winners

Sorry this took so long, but I'm finally catching up. [laugh/flail] The winners of my chunk of the Pay It Forward contest are:

Shauna and Ello!

Each of you get to pick one of the following prizes:

1. Support New Writers -- two books by new writers. That is, writers whose first commercially published book came out one year or less ago, as of 15 March 2008. Mass market paperbacks or equivalent only, please.

2. Support Electronic Publishing -- a $15 gift certificate to Fictionwise, one of the major sellers of electronic books.

3. Try Something New -- two books from two writers whose work you've never read before. Try to make at least one of them in a genre you've never read before. You're not paying, so experiment! Mass market paperbacks or equivalent only, please.

It's not a first-come, first-served; if you both pick the same one, that's cool.

Then, you each need to run this contest in your own blog. You don't have to do it exactly the same way I did -- you can make people do something different, or just enter by commenting if you want.

Thanks to everyone who entered. :D

Angie

Drawing Deadline

Tomorrow (15 March, 11:59pm Pacific) is the deadline for entering my version of the Pay it Forward drawing. If you haven't entered yet, pop over and comment with your three goals. (Read the instructions!) There are only a few entries so far, so your chances of winning are pretty good. :)

Angie

Pay it Forward

All right, I won one of Sarai's prizes and now it's my turn to run the contest. :) I'm making mine a bit more involved, just because I'm that sort of person. [duck]

The Rules:

Comment to this post between now and 15 March and list at least three goals you have. If you're a writer then writing goals would be fine, but anything else will work too. The goals need to be specific, achievable, and have some sort of a time deadline.

"Specific" means that something like "Become a better writer" wouldn't work because it's too vague, but "Learn how to use semicolons" would.

"Achievable" means that the goal has to be doable, and be something you control. Becoming an Olympic athlete isn't something most of us will ever be able to do, for example; it's just not realistic. Winning a writing award is posssible but it isn't within your control; entering the competition, however, is. Getting three stories published isn't within your control, but submitting three stories to at least ten different markets each (or until they sell) is.

The time deadline means that there has to be some sort of timeframe in which you'll do whatever it is. It can be by tomorrow, by the end of next week, by this coming New Year's, by 2012 -- whatever. Long term is fine, but there needs to be some sort of timeframe you can plan around.

You don't have to report back; I'm not interested in checking up on anyone. I just thought it'd be fun and maybe even useful to formulate some specific, achievable goals and a timeframe for getting them accomplished. What you do with them after that is completely up to you.

After the fifteenth, I'll write the name of everyone who commented to participate on a slip of paper and draw two of them out of a bowl or something. This isn't exactly a heavy-traffic blog, so the chances of winning should be pretty good. :)

Winners will pay it forward by running this contest on their own blogs. (Note that you don't have to make people do anything in particular if you don't want to -- letting people enter just by commenting is fine.)

The Prizes:

The winners can select one of the following:

1. Support New Writers -- two books by new writers. That is, writers whose first commercially published book came out one year or less ago, as of 15 March 2008. Mass market paperbacks or equivalent only, please.

2. Support Electronic Publishing -- a $15 gift certificate to Fictionwise, one of the major sellers of electronic books.

3. Try Something New -- two books from two writers whose work you've never read before. Try to make at least one of them in a genre you've never read before. You're not paying, so experiment! Mass market paperbacks or equivalent only, please.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with! :D

Angie