Blog Hop Against Homophobia and Transphobia

HAHAT 2014

Hi, everyone!
Happy International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia!

I’m glad to be a part of this Hop and I’m happy you decided to stop by my little corner of the world wide web.

I was going to write about a conversation that I had a few days ago about discrimination in Poland, but then I saw this video earlier today and decided that THIS, this is my post. So here you go:


(brought to you by Arcade Fire & Andrew Garfield)

GIVEAWAY!

In celebration of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia and as a part of the Hop, I’m running a giveaway. You can win one of two copies of “Running Off the Edge”, my Winter Olympics m/m love story. To enter, you have to leave a comment on this post (please include your preferred format for e-books).
The giveaway ends May 25th. I will contact the lucky winners by e-mail.
Edit: the lucky winners are Rissa and Wendy H. Congratulations!

RunningOfftheEdge_200

After the knee injury, Liam O’Connor, the former gold medalist, is no longer able to compete at the Olympics. He’s in Sochi as an assistant coach for another male figure skater and hopes to avoid Eric Lanney as much as possible.
Meanwhile Eric is back to compete for gold in pair skating, but is that the only thing that will be important to him? Maybe when the former lovers meet again in Russia, they will both learn that a gold medal isn’t the greatest prize you can win at the Winter Olympics.

For more messages from the participants of the Hop, check out the site: HopAgainstHomophobia. There are well over hundred giveaways involved, too!
To learn more about the day in general, check out the IDAHOT page here: official site.

Running Off the Edge: One Month Later

Wow. I can’t believe it has been a month already!

A few days ago I thought I should write a post for the occasion, summing up all the things that happened. I won’t lie, it’s mostly for my own sake, so I wouldn’t forget the details later on, but maybe someone else would find it interesting. I know I love to read about other people’s writing process and behind-the-scenes stuff.

If I had to pick one word to describe everything, it would be bizarre. There’s still a little part of me that can’t actually believe I got published, and I had several “WTF/THAT IS CRAZY” moments.

Seeing my book on MLR site, for one. Then seeing it on Amazon. Finding my book on Goodreads was an experience, too (I still haven’t claimed it there, though. I should do that). Not to mention hitting the bestseller list on AllRomance site! Wohoo!

Oh, yeah, and I guess you know you “made it” when someone pirates your book? Check.

There was also a lot of firsts. First guest post and first interview, first five-star review, first one-star rating (ouch)…

What I loved about the whole process, too, was how amazingly supportive the m/m writers community has been to me. Fellow writers offered congratulations, support, and helped to spread the word about my book. I was, and still am, incredibly grateful for that.

Last but not least, my productivity went up another level, fueled by all the excitement. Which is great, because I hope to have many more releases in the future. Here’s to living the dream! 🙂

Running Off the Edge is OUT!

RunningOfftheEdge_200

After the knee injury, Liam O’Connor, the former gold medalist, is no longer able to compete at the Olympics. He’s in Sochi as an assistant coach for another male figure skater and hopes to avoid Eric Lanney as much as possible.
Meanwhile Eric is back to compete for gold in pair skating, but is that the only thing that will be important to him? Maybe when the former lovers meet again in Russia, they will both learn that a gold medal isn’t the greatest prize you can win at the Winter Olympics.

You can get your copy here: RUNNING OFF THE EDGE at MLR Books
You can also read the first chapter here.

Blog Hop & Giveaway – What Makes Us Hot For Sports Romances?

Sports romance blog hop button

I’ve been wondering lately what is it about sports romances that makes them so hot for us, readers (and us, writers!).

Exciting circumstances are definitely a plus. Put your characters at the Olympics*, World Cup, World Championship, Wimbledon, or even Nationals, and the stakes are high already! Readers love to root for their favorites. We want them to win – the other guy’s heart, most of all, but not only that.

But I think the most important thing is who the character is. What does it tell us about a person when we know they are professional athletes?

They are persistent and hard-working. They spend hours upon hours, day after day, for years, preparing their bodies for the challenges of competing. They push their limits, they don’t give up, they try again and again.

They are willing to make sacrifices for something they really want. “I’m sorry, I don’t have time for sleeping in/that party everyone goes to/marathoning The West Wing again, because I have practice”. They’re committed.

And, on a shallow note, but let’s be honest here: professional athletes are usually pretty hot. They are fit, they are in shape, they are dreamy.

So when we know someone is persistent, hard-working, willing to make sacrifices for things they care about, and also dreamy? The question from the start turns into: How can you not find this hot?

 

What about you? What do you like about sports romances? What have I missed? Tell me in a comment bellow.

Two people who comment on this post will get a copy of my Winter Olympics story, Running Off the Edge, on the day of the premiere, February 7th.

Edited February 7th: The winners of the giveaway are Kimberly T and Laurie T. Congratulations! I will send you the e-book shortly. 🙂

 

* I did put my characters at the Olympics, 2014 Winter Olympics to be exact. 😉 If you like sports romances and figure skating, I hope you’ll check out Running Off the Edge.

RunningOfftheEdge_200

Here’s the blurb:
After the knee injury, Liam O’Connor, the former gold medalist, is no longer able to compete at the Olympics. He’s in Sochi as an assistant coach for another male figure skater and hopes to avoid Eric Lanney as much as possible.
Meanwhile Eric is back to compete for gold in pair skating, but is that the only thing that will be important to him? Maybe when the former lovers meet again in Russia, they will both learn that a gold medal isn’t the greatest prize you can win at the Winter Olympics.

 
The story comes out on February 7th from MLR Press.
You can read the first chapter here: First Chapter of Running Off the Edge

 

Below there is the list of all the writers participating in our Sports Romances Blog Hop. Check them out, there are some great stories and giveaways waiting for you!

1. Cassandra Carr

2. Jami Davenport

3. N Kuhn

4. Liz Matis

5. VL Locey

7. Michel Prince

8. Jean Joachim

9. Kate Willoughby

10. Lily Harlem

11. Donna Gallagher

12. Normandie Alleman

13. Keira Andrews

14. Melanie Ting

15. Raw Talent Series

16. Bianca Sommerland

17. Suzan Butler

18. Megan Linden

Running Off the Edge – Read the First Chapter Here

With only a week left until Running Off the Edge will be published, I’m posting the first chapter of the story below. I hope you like it!

RunningOfftheEdge_200

Here’s the blurb one more time:

After the knee injury, Liam O’Connor, the former gold medalist, is no longer able to compete at the Olympics. He’s in Sochi as an assistant coach for another male figure skater and hopes to avoid Eric Lanney as much as possible.

Meanwhile Eric is back to compete for gold in pair skating, but is that the only thing that will be important to him? Maybe when the former lovers meet again in Russia, they will both learn that a gold medal isn’t the greatest prize you can win at the Winter Olympics.

 

And here’s the first chapter:

 

Liam looked around the mayhem that was the Olympic Village. People seemed to be going in every possible direction, and at least half of them apparently felt the need to bump into him along the way.

“How did I let you talk me into this?” he asked the woman responsible for him being in Russia at all.

“I told you that I’m not letting you lie in bed and cry into your ice cream for months and that you’re going with me.” Paula shrugged, pulling her hat down over her ears. “There might’ve been shouting.”

Liam nodded. “Yeah, sounds about right. Still, maybe my bed would have been a better choice after all.” No crowds. No cold. No reminders all over the place about what might have been. Liam switched from his right leg to the left and tried not to wince.

“As if you weren’t going to be glued to the ESPN broadcasts. This is better, trust me. Now shut up and tell me where we’re going. This map is useless.” Paula threw the piece of paper at his chest.

“I’ve got it,” Liam said after looking at the map and then at the surrounding area. “Come on.”

They moved through the crowd and finally found the sign pointing them to “Hall B2” where there was going to be an orientation meeting for the whole US team in about fifteen minutes.

“So,” Paula started, not looking up from her phone. “What do you think, should I go say hi to Eric when we get there, or should I let him do the work and find his mother?”

Liam loved Paula for a lot of reasons, and one of them was how she handled the whole Liam-and-Eric situation right from the start to the bad falling out and beyond. She made sure to keep in contact with Liam through the years, and a few months ago, she was the one who came to his apartment and told him to get his shit together. She made him an assistant coach on her team and dragged his ass to Sochi. He knew that Paula was giving him an out right now, a chance to avoid Eric that much longer. But there was no use in prolonging it; they were going to meet at some point, especially since the entire skating team had rooms on the same floor at their hotel. And it wasn’t like Liam was ever going to be ready.

“You should definitely make him work for it,” he told her. “Comes with mom privileges.”

Paula smiled at him and nodded. “Fine by me.”

When they came in to the big auditorium, it was already half-full, and it took them a long moment to locate Neil.

“Hi, Coach, hi, Liam!” Neil’s legs were bouncing, and Liam looked pointedly at the big coffee cup in Neil’s hand. “Hey, don’t judge, I’ve been awake for eighteen hours.”

“I’m not saying anything.” Liam sat down next to him. For all intents and purposes, he should probably hate Neil at least a little. The youngest guy on the skating team, Neil took — earned, was given — a place that up until about six months ago Liam saw as his own. And that was a bitter pill to swallow, no question about it, but in the end, Neil was a really nice, hard-working, and talented guy, and Paula was a great coach. They both deserved to be here.

And Liam just had to suck it up.

“You better not be, or you’re not getting your own,” Neil said and took out the container from beneath his seat. There was a cinnamon latte for him and a double espresso for Paula.

“My man.” Liam inhaled the sweet smell of his coffee. Next to him, Paula was taking back all the bad things she’d said to Neil in the past.

“And what can I do to earn such approval, oh mother of mine?” came from behind them.

Oh. Here we go. Liam clasped his hands around the coffee cup before he made himself look up. Eric was hugging Paula and laughing at something she said, and God, he looked so good. Liam hadn’t seen him in four years. He was guilty of watching every damn competition Eric was in during that time, but television makes you look different. And in Eric’s case, television just made him look more serious, older. Now he wasn’t performing, and he was completely relaxed, grinning. He reminded Liam of the boy he once knew and fell in love with. It almost made Liam forget the last four years.

Almost. Because the moment his eyes landed on Liam, Eric’s smile lost all its warmth and turned into a polite, public one. Liam wondered how his own face looked right now.

“Hi, Liam. Hi, Neil.”

A nod. Not even a handshake, just a nod. It wasn’t supposed to hurt that much anymore, for God’s sake. Get it together, O’Connor.

“Eric.” Liam nodded and then leaned out of his seat to look at the woman standing behind Eric, the other half of their skating duo. “Hello, Andrea.”

“Hi, Liam,” she said, smiling at him, and he wished he could offer her a sincere one in return. “It’s good to see you.”

“Thank you.” And because someone somewhere decided to give Liam a break, the speaker decided to start the orientation.

“Hello, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Richard Walker, and I’m the coordinator of the US team for the 2014 Winter Olympics. Please, let me tell you about the upcoming events and arrangements, and then there’ll be room for questions.”

And he took off, covering everything from the opening ceremony to the menu preferences. Then there was time for the usual safety speech, and after covering all the typical points, Walker looked down at his notes and set them aside.

Liam would bet he knew what was coming.

“I was also obligated to remind you to respect the laws of the country that’s hosting us right now, regardless of your personal feelings.”

“Only for a millionth time,” Liam muttered, but Neil wasn’t keeping it quiet. He stood up.

“So it’s a no for gay sex on the podium, then?”

Half the room laughed, and Liam shook his head, amused. He punched Neil in the thigh lightly and grinned at Neil’s wink. When Liam turned to Paula, though, he saw Eric’s face and the way he was looking at him. It was a look Liam remembered well, and it wasn’t a good memory. But before he could say anything, tell Eric off once and for all, the short, blond guy from the bobsled team shouted, “Name the time and any other place, cutie.”

The room burst out laughing once again, while Neil turned red and sat down quickly. Walker patted the microphone to silence them all.

“Gentlemen, please.” He picked up his notes again. “Let’s just focus on the competition, okay? Remember why we’re here.”

“We’re not the ones bringing this stupid damn topic up again and again,” Liam said quietly so that only the few people next to him could hear it. Neil nodded his agreement. Liam purposefully didn’t look in Eric’s direction.

_____________

Running Off the Edge is coming out on February 7th from MLR Press.
It’s out! You can buy it here: MLR Books

It’s Happening! “Running Off the Edge” Out Soon!

I’m so, so happy to say that my short story, Running Off the Edge, will be published by MLR Press on February 7th, right at the start of the 2014 Winter Olympics! 😀

RunningOfftheEdge_200

After the knee injury, Liam O’Connor, the former gold medalist, is no longer able to compete at the Olympics. He’s in Sochi as an assistant coach for another male figure skater and hopes to avoid Eric Lanney as much as possible.
Meanwhile Eric is back to compete for gold in pair skating, but is that the only thing that will be important to him? Maybe when the former lovers meet again in Russia, they will both learn that a gold medal isn’t the greatest prize you can win at the Winter Olympics.

______

I’m so, so grateful to Kris Jacen, my editor, and everyone at MLR Press, who took a chance on a new author. Thank you all!
And thanks to Lex Valentine for my lovely cover art. 🙂

Four more weeks!