It was lovely to discover that Literary Nymphs has reviewed my festive story, First Christmas (part of the Tomcat Line series), and has given it 4 Nymphs.
“…story illustrating how even the simplest plans can change, adjustments are made and true happiness is sharing life’s ups and downs with your loved ones. “
http://literarynymphsreviewsonly.blogspot.com/2011/12/first-christmas.html
I had posted recently on the problem with my website and had finished by saying it was working perfectly – only to find that statement wasn’t quite accurate. It worked well – or not, depending on the fonts on the recipient’s computer, which I was unaware of until folk without the particular font let me know:) I have now made the necessary updates and I can now say – again – that the website is working perfectly (fingers and toes crossed!).
I was gratified to receive a lovely review for my recent release, Cold Fear, from MM Good Book Reviews:
“We feel their fear and hopelessness as they realize that rescue might not reach them in time and we feel their love as they both remember better moments. I will recommend this to those who love hot sex, pure love, a struggle for survival and a really good story.”
Follow the link to read the full review:
http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com/2011/12/19/cold-fear-by-stevie-woods/
I am delighted to announce I’ve finished re-creating my website and it is working perfectly. It took longer than I expected but hopefully upkeep will be easier and any future updates will be much more straightforward (fingers crossed). It really wasn’t a good feeling knowing that my main link to my readers was so unreliable, so I’m breathing much easier this morning!
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Cold Fear (An “Another Worlds” Story)By: Stevie Woods | Other books by Stevie Woods Word Count: 14000 Available in: Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Reader, HTML, Mobipocket (.prc), Epub
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On Alkya, a planet a long way from Earth, the Division of Investigation – Other Worlds – has set up a base where hundreds of personnel live and work. Among them are two men, Major Joshua Marsden and Lieutenant Matthew Ronson, who are part of one of the survey teams.
Dropping through the atmosphere to land on Theta for their latest survey, the ship is disabled by a strange energy force and crashes in an immense ice field. Matt awakens in the debris of the control room to find Josh and Dennis injured and the ship badly damaged.
Matt does what he can for his colleagues and attempts to repair the tear to the ship’s skin. But the men struggle to keep warm in the freezing temperatures, and when they discover their comm-unit isn’t working, it becomes a fight for their very survival…
Oh God, which wall did I slam into this time? I tried to move, I was too damn cold to stay lying wherever the hell I was, but nothing seemed to work properly. Besides the pounding in my head, which probably accounted for the dancing black spots behind my eyelids, my left leg was on fire and it hurt to breathe.
“Josh…”
Just the sound of his voice made me feel better and I forced my eyes open. Thankfully the spots faded somewhat. “Matt,” I said, although croaked would be a better description.
“Try to stay put Josh, I think your leg’s broken,” he said.
“No,” I said gruffly, “my leg’s definitely broken.” I looked around but that certainly didn’t make me feel better. “What the hell happened? And why is it so damn cold?”
“Not exactly sure what happened, except that we crashed in what looks like an ice field.”
“Crashed? Ice field? There was no ice field where we planned to land, wasn’t one for thousands of miles.”
“Yeah, but somehow you found one.”
“I’d have an answer for that except that I can’t think with this constant drum roll in my head.”
“I know, Josh. I can give you a painkiller.”
“Let’s hold that in reserve,” I sighed. With those things the cure can be worse than the pain. I glanced around at the mess that had once been the control room. “Where’s Dennis?”
“In the rear compartment. I’m afraid he’s hurt too. He’s still out.”
I tried to sit up and Matt helped me lean back against part of the console. “What’s wrong with Dennis?”
“Head injury, doesn’t look good. There’s been a fair amount of bleeding, but it had clotted before I found him. There’s something else too. The cold isn’t just because we crashed in this ice field, there’s a breach in the rear bay.” Matt sighed. “I patched it as best as I could, but I’m not an engineer.”
Matt handed me a jacket as he spoke and helped me struggle into it. He then passed me a pair of gloves and I swiftly pulled those on. He pulled the blankets up around me that had covered me when I was flat out on the deck.
“What happened when you reported in?”
“Ah, I haven’t. I couldn’t get anything from the comm. The main console seems to be dead.”
“What? Fuck!” I tried to get my head around everything he’d said. No question though, we were in shit creek without a paddle. “Help me get to the comm, see if I can’t do anything about that.”
I’ve just uploaded a short Free Read, SOMETHING ROMANTIC, which I hope folk will enjoy! You can download it from: ALL ROMANCE EBOOKS SMASHWORDS and 1PLACE FOR ROMANCE
BLURB : Patrick and Adam have been a couple for one month and Patrick wants to celebrate the occasion with his lover by doing something romantic. Of course, what one considers romantic all depends….
EXCERPT : Even though he was tired he couldn’t help but wish Adam was here, but his lover was still at his conference in Washington. The last time Patrick spoke to Adam, about nine that morning, Adam had told him that he didn’t expect to be home until the next afternoon, but he planned to be home in time to have dinner with Patrick that next evening.
Patrick let the water run over his body as he contemplated what he would cook for dinner the next night. Adam was probably expecting to eat out, or maybe order something in, but Patrick had a more personal agenda in mind. Something special – something romantic. Would candles be too much?
He wondered if Adam would remember what tomorrow was. Probably not. Adam was pragmatic and it probably wouldn’t even occur to him to celebrate the anniversary of their first month together. But that didn’t imply it wouldn’t mean something to him. It would, just as much as it did to Patrick, but whereas Patrick would quite happily admit it, Adam would more than likely brush it off with some throw away line. He liked to pretend he wasn’t romantic, but Adam Petersen could be as romantic as the next man, and more so than some Patrick had known.
I’ve arranged to self-publish my paranormal gay romance set around the Golden Gate Bridge.
BLURB:
Out of work historian Anthony is working on the Golden Gate bridge project during the Great Depression when he meets Michael, and falls in love. He also decides to make a time capsule about the men he works with, but when Michael has a terrible accident, everything comes to a screeching halt.
In 2007, Paul is having dreams about his lover Jake being in grave danger. Will the content of the time capsule from all those years ago explain his fears?
The book is available from the following sources for only $1.49!
All Romance eBooks Amazon Kindle Smashwords 1Place For Romance
EXCERPT:
“He was you, Jake, in the dream. It doesn’t matter that he had a different name, he was you. Okay, maybe the clothes and the hairstyle were different but everything else about you was just the same, everything. You…he seemed to fall forever, tumbling over and over until he finally hit the hillside below. I saw his body all tangled up with the scaffolding. It was…” Paul shuddered.
“Hillside?” Jake asked.
“Yeah. Didn’t I say? He was working on the arch pylon near the south support towers.”
Jake was quiet for a moment; he couldn’t tell Paul but he was disquieted by the similarity of the position of the accident in Paul’s dream and the discussion he’d been having that evening with the other bridge engineers.
Paul reached forward, picked up the glass and downed the last of his whisky. “I had that dream for a reason, Jake. It’s a warning.”
Jake brought his thoughts back to the realm of common sense. “Paul, I only recently showed you the box in the South Tower and you were itching to touch. You’ve been talking for days about investigating the contents as soon as you get permission. It’s no wonder you dreamed about that time.”
Paul shrugged but didn’t speak and Jake went on, “Then tonight you search the web, read everything you can about the original construction, right? Are you really surprised you dreamed it? Okay, so you added the touch of you and me to it. That doesn’t really surprise me either,” he smiled. “You were still pretty much yourself in the dream. Not sure why you cast me as a riveter,” he said with a frown, his brow clearing as he added, “Oh, of course the bucket of rivets in the tower room. It was all just a projection, Paul.”
“No, it was more than that, Jake. I know what my dreams are usually like and this wasn’t one of them. I’m not letting my imagination run away with me here. This was so…real. Jake, I experienced six months in that…reality. Every single day for six months, three of them as your lover and,” he dipped his head and said quietly, “though making love with Mike was a little different.”
That piqued Jake’s interest. “Different, what do you mean? You said he was me, in your dream.” Lord, he hoped it hadn’t been better. God, what I am I saying, it was a damned dream!
Paul lifted his head and Jake saw the mischief in his eyes and was glad that at least he seemed to have gotten past his initial distress. “Well, showers weren’t as common in those days and we didn’t have one.” Jake grinned at this; shower sex was one of his favorites. “But Mike liked water as much as you do, so we bathed together and…”
“You had sex in the tub?” Jake grinned, licking his lips. “Tell me about it.”
Paul’s eyes opened wide but he smiled knowingly, “Seriously?”
“You kidding?”
Paul laughed then sobered. “I’ll tell you this, Jake, I have never had sex in a tub and that was so damned real I want to do it…again…with you.” Jake’s heartbeat increased at the need in Paul’s voice. “It was a pretty large tub, but still it was a tight fit for us and he knelt while he washed me…”
“Like I do in the shower,” Jake commented, his voice a rasp.
“Yeah, just like that,” Paul hold Jake’s gaze, a flush slowly suffusing his face. “Long strokes down my back and swirls over my chest with special attention to my nipples before you move oh so slowly down to my groin… and you know what a turn on that is.”
“Not so different then,” Jake said softly. He was now sitting on the edge of his seat.
Paul didn’t answer the comment but continued his description. “I washed him too and he was already hard when he positioned me in front of him virtually in his lap. He slipped his hand underneath me in the warm water and began to open me up. He was very slow and gentle and somehow half lying in that warm water it felt very erotic and when he thought I was ready he lifted me and, I know this sounds odd, but I felt as if the water was holding me as he slowly lowered me onto him.”
Listening, Jake was jealous of this other ‘him’ in Paul’s dream and wasn’t that weird.
“I wanted to help, wanted to move down to meet him but I couldn’t get any proper purchase and he told me to leave it to him. So he held me tightly and he pushed up into me…slowly at first but faster and harder until he was powering into me. The water was rising and falling, sloshing over the sides until the level dropped and it just made waves. I felt like I was riding on the water, and I felt…pressure surge through me, the heat inside me built and built until he shot into me and I came without even being touched. God, you were magnificent!”
Jake’s heart was pounding. “Crap, Paul I wish that had been real, that it had been me that made you feel like that.”
Paul blushed, “Yeah, me too. You really want to try it sometime?”
“Fuck yeah! We can try later if you want,” Jake said, his voice almost a growl. “My tub should be big enough, right?”
I am taking part in Ethan’s Gay Day today – and am offering a couple of ebook giveaways. Join us there!
Sunday, December 11th is Gay Day at my Yahoo Group. Gay Day is the one day a month when the best authors in GLBT Romance stop by to post excerpts of their new and upcoming releases.
The following authors will be generously offering giveaways you can enter to win:
Josephine Myles - Winter Warmers
Tara Lain - Mistletowed
Lex Valentine - Breath of Heaven
Jambrea Jo Jones - Freedom
Stephani Hecht - Choice from Backlist
PD Singer - Maroon: Donal agus Jimmy
Devon Rhodes - Let It Snow
Andrew Grey - Love Means… Healing
KC Burn - Choice from Backlist
AKM Miles - Scarcity Holidays
Geoff Knight - Together in Electric Dreams
K.M. Mahoney - Odd Man
Justin South - Santa’s Coming
Sara York - Surprise Sleep Over
Lee Rowan - TBA
Jon Treadway – Print copy of Surfer Boys OR Christmas Campaign e-book
Sloan Parker - Take Me Home
William Cooper - Christmas Gifts
EM Lynley - Wicked Good & Emerald:Rewriting History 1
JL Merrow - Wight Mischief & Camwolf
Stevie Woods - Cold Fear & First Christmas
Kimberly Gardner - Slave Master’s Choice & Too Soon For Love
Ethan Day - A Summit City Christmas
The authors below were feeling particularly generous this holiday season:
ZA Maxfield
One lucky winner will receive all three of ZA’s holiday themed stories: A Picture Perfect Holiday , I Heard Him Exclaim & What Child is This
JP Bowie
Is offering up his two newest releases: Christmas Wishes & He Ain’t Heavy
In addition he’s also offering up to one Kindle reader a choice between Time after Time or Trip of a Lifetime in Kindle format only
Last but certainly not least
Ally Blue
Ally is giving away her Christmas short: Christmas Future
In addition she’s giving away one copy of each of the books from her Mother Earth series:
Dragon’s Kiss (Mother Earth book 1), Shenandoah (Mother Earth book 2) & Convergence (Mother Earth book 3)
The amazing Authors below will be popping in and out to chat & post excerpts from their latest books:
Missy Welsh - Every Time a Bell Rings
Sara York - Working it Out
Andrea Speed - Infected
Lee Rowan - Tangled Web
Josephine Myles - Boats in the Night
Donna McIntosh - The Christmas Gift
Berengaria Brown - Perfectly Presented
Clare London - Media Naranja w/ Jordan Castillo Price
Ryssa Edwards - Rogue’s Christmas
KC Burn - Cop Out
Elizabeth Noble - Strays
Lily Sawyer - Somebody to Love
Kate McMurray - Across the East River Bridge
The day will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST in the Ethan Day Yahoo Group where we’ll be posting excerpts, running contests for free books, and chatting about all the new and upcoming releases from your favorite authors.
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First ChristmasBy: Stevie Woods | Other books by Stevie Woods Word Count: 4000 Available in: Adobe Acrobat, Mobipocket (.prc), Epub |
Ian’s experiences with Christmas have never been particularly good and Mac wants their first Christmas together to be something special, a time Ian will always treasure. As ever, things don’t quite go according to plan.
Ian was sitting cross legged on the bed, working on his laptop, when Mac walked in from the bathroom. He had a towel wrapped around his waist and was using another one to dry his hair. He gave his hair one last rub and threw the towel back into the bathroom, just missing the hamper.
“Damn!”
“One of these days,” Ian said, “you’ll hit that thing.”
Mac shrugged but didn’t say anything. He began to get dressed. “You getting ready?” he asked a few minutes later.
“Ready?” Ian queried.
“Dinner.” Mac sighed. “With Neil and his wife, their anniversary, remember?”
“Is that tonight?”
“Lord, Ian, how could you forget? What’re you working on now?”
“Same as always. More clues to help me find the Ix-chel device.”
“I thought it might be something new to be so distracting. Come on, you’d better hurry.”
Thirty minutes later they were climbing into Mac’s car and heading across Chicago.
“Mac, how many years have they been married now?” Ian asked.
“Three. I know you’ve not known them long, but I thought-”
“Just wanted to make sure you knew,” Ian interrupted with a grin.
“Bastard!” Mac laughed.
“Nope. Parents are gone but I did have some.”
The passing comment had Mac thinking again about Ian’s background. Ian had no family left anymore with whom to celebrate the coming holiday. After his parents died, he had spent a few years being pushed from pillar to post by the system before he was finally taken in by his only living relative, his uncle Roger. Unfortunately, the old guy seemed more interested in training Ian to follow in his archaeological footsteps than being a father figure to a teenage boy. Not that Ian had objected; he’d been as fascinated by the subject as Roger. Still was, as Mac knew only too well. But Mac was pretty sure that holidays and celebrations had featured low on the importance scale in Ian’s small family.
Mac had never expected when he gave a lift to a stranded hitch-hiker than the man would become vital to his happiness. He and Ian might have only been together a little over four months, but, as far as Mac was concerned, Ian was now the most important part of his family. Okay, he didn’t have much of a family either. His parents were dead and the only relative left he liked, and had any contact with, was his Aunt Cecily, but she lived down in Florida now and he rarely saw her these days, though they did still write regularly. He smiled at the thought of the outspoken seventy year old lady who had always liked to shock her rather staid family. He decided he had to make an effort to go and visit her, and take Ian along. He was pretty sure they would get on famously. But not for Christmas; there wasn’t time to arrange that.
Christmas had never loomed particularly large in Mac’s life either, especially not since he left the service and worked hard to build up his business, but now he had someone special to share it with he wanted to enjoy it again.
Other than Ian, the people Mac considered as family where those of his choosing: his friends who helped him to run the Tomcat Line; Hank, Neil, and Leslie, and by association their respective families. Between them surely they could give Ian a Christmas to remember.
“You’re being unusually quiet,” Ian said. “What’s going on in that devious mind of yours?”
“You think I’m devious.”
“No, I don’t think it, I damn well know it.”
“Not on my own there, Professor.”
“Don’t think I didn’t notice how you avoided answering the question,” Ian commented.
Mac sighed. “It’s nothing serious, something I would prefer to discuss with you another time though.”
“Oh, now I’m curious- and not a little concerned.”
“No, there’s no reason at all to be concerned,” Mac reassured as they pulled into Neil’s driveway.
Ian pursed his lips but didn’t press further, though Mac expected a grilling when they got home later. He’d have to find a way to distract his lover until he’d time to make plans. Now how to distract Ian? Mac grinned as his mind provided him with various scenarios.
I was delighted when I received notification that I had been awarded an Honorable Mention in the Rainbow Award for the Best Gay SciFi/Futuristic category for my book OTHER WORLDS #1 – which contains the first three novellas in the Series: A Favor For A Friend, Lightning Strikes and Best Policy.
Other Worlds #1 is the print release and the three novellas are also available separately as eBooks – links as follows:
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