A present for you

I’m working to get the Mountain books back up, which is presenting a couple of challenges. While I’m working on the novels, I do have one of the shorts up and running, and as a way to say thank you, I’m making it free to all of you who might not have seen it.

Mistletoe on the Mountain has been packaged with Snow on the Mountain, so that’s where you might have encountered it. Here’s a free-standing version for you, and I’m giving it away until December 25, 2019.

This is Jake’s first Christmas away from his family, and his first Christmas with Kurt. Jake’s shoestring budget doesn’t matter, because what Kurt wants most doesn’t come in a box. He’d like to stand openly with Jake as partners before the world, but Jake hasn’t come that far out of the closet. Wapiti Creek is hung everywhere with mistletoe, taunting them both with opportunities not taken.

Jake’s making a traditional Landon family dish for a Christmas pot-luck dinner with friends, but he’s short a key ingredient. Kurt manages to supply the missing ingredient for Jake’s recipe, but can Jake supply the missing ingredient for Kurt’s happiness?

Get it in epub or mobi here.

 

Alas, All Romance eBooks, we loved you well

All Romance eBooks was the site of my very first ebook purchase back in 2008, and I’m sad that the book I bought four days ago will be the last I’ll get there. Diversity in the selling environment is good: diversity in formats offered is also good.  We’re losing an important force in diverse venue and formats.

The announcement has just gone out that ARe is shutting their doors at the end of the month, which is only a few days away. Please, if you have books there, purchased but not downloaded, go download them while the archive still exists.

I’m even sadder the author of my latest purchase is not likely to be paid, or only paid a pittance.  ARe has already contacted authors and publishers that they’re unable to pay proper fourth quarter royalties. Indies have been offered ten cents on the dollar. Publishers such as Dreamspinner will duke it out for different terms, an advantage of having enough sales to warrant a lawyer to discuss the matter.  ARe hopes out loud to avoid bankruptcy and begs our indulgence in forfeiting 90% of the moneys owed to help them avoid this fate.*

Which sounds laudable, like we’re all friends helping friends, right? Except, this was a business partner, that was my money (and money belonging to other authors) they just suggested keeping, and their management issues are beyond any of our control. I’ve maintained my part of the business relationship with them: I buy bought books there expecting the authors to be paid their share, and sold books there, expecting to be paid mine.

Sales have dropped substantially there in the last few months, something I attributed to not having a new release via Rocky Ridge Books there in a while. This changed recently–with a Dreamspinner title, Diving Deep.  It pains me to ask someone not to buy a book, rather, please go through Dreamspinner directly, or Amazon, Apple, B&N, or Kobo: they’re reliable business partners.

It pains me even more deeply to take books down from sale, but given this announcement, I don’t have a lot of choice. Any of my books purchased through ARe since the beginning of October will probably never benefit me. I don’t know what will happen if I don’t accept their offer. The sum is small enough to make the experiment.

I am leaving The Boy Next Door up for the duration. This one is free, and my gift to readers.

I’m just sorry the duration will be so short.  December 31.

*Distilled (and tone sweetened) from a letter containing a stern injunction not to quote accurately.

 

Stories on the Go

There was a reason I was thinking about flash fiction recently. Unfortunately, it got lost in a sea of other thoughts, like Prep Work and its naughty cover woes, and the finishing touches on A New Man.

Then Kayla Jameth came along and distracted me with nekkid athletes.

I digress. Because how about some short shorts? Suitable for reading in those five minute chunks while playing hurry up and wait. Mini-stories to read on a mini-screen.

See, I’m in an anthology with Hugh Howey and Andrew Ashling and JT Hall, and…  And 97 other authors, who span any genre you can imagine, including some gay love to go with the science fiction and the paranormal and the humor and the mystery.

Nothing over 1000 words.  Totally free.  Available anywhere you get your books.  And you want to know how I can tell a romance in less than 1000 words.

(And okay, maybe see what Hugh Howey and Jamie Campbell did with their word counts.)

Barnes & Noble     |    Kobo    |    Amazon    |    Scribd    |     Apple     |   Inkterra

Scrum — now free at all venues

Thanks to everyone who turned me in: your efforts have paid off. Amazon price-matched Scrum, something I didn’t realize until approximately 1800 other people in the US and the UK found the story.

Due to some peculiar formatting on the Amazon dashboard, I miss the”free download” column when I set the screen to print large enough to read. To get everything on the laptop monitor at once shrinks the screen to 3 point type, and maybe you guys can read that, but I can’t.

This morning I scrolled over, because, might as well. So I was more than a little surprised that there had been well over a thousand downloads on Amazon US, and more than 600 at Amazon UK. Every country site had downloads, except Australia, which might be a function of time zones.

This makes me happy, because I wrote this story as a gift to readers, and wasn’t pleased at all that Amazon insisted on a price tag. For the folks who were kind enough to spend the 99 cents, email me a copy of the receipt and I will send you a little something for your troubles.

But now that the story is free in all venues in its pretty packaging, swing by your favorite ebook store (unless it’s Barnes and Annoying, because they don’t do teh free unless you go through Smashwords, and I don’t, yet) and grab a copy.

Try  Apple , Kobo,  Amazon or All Romance Ebooks, where you can get your choice of MOBI, PDF, or EPUB, And enjoy.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

One look at the Canadian rugby star now playing on his local team turns Robin Isley into a super-fan. He’ll attend practices, cheer every game, and bleed with every tackle, but he won’t come close enough to get an autograph or say a few words.

Yves Dubois’ team runs faster, passes better, and scrums harder when Robin watches: they’ve been winning steadily. Yves has a blinding smile for Robin after practices, but never stops to talk.

Robin needs to know if Yves’ grin is only joy in the game. Finding out will be Robin’s birthday milestone, but first he needs to give himself the gift of courage.

This short story also appears in the Goodreads M/M Romance Group’s “Love Has No Boundaries” anthology volume 10.

Freebie story, up at last

Well, after all that cover angst, I finally made a selection. I bought the pic for the whole body position — I liked the way he was lifting the luna moth and getting out of its way. (It wasn’t a moth originally, heh.) So Dilo’s comment reminded me why I chose it to begin with, and the balance with the open space is better. I could fiddle with stuff like this until the cows come home, and have to rein myself in.

But the story is up, and ready for download. If you have the Don’t Read in the Closet Anthology, either Vol 3 or the GayRomLit edition, you have this story, but not the pretty packaging.

Here’s the link at ARe, where you can find your choice of EPUB, MOBI, or PDF.  Enjoy! I’m going to put it up at Amazon too, and if you’d all like to hit that button that says “Available at a lower price elsewhere” then you might save some unsuspecting buyer $0.99. Any money I accidentally make while Amazon is noticing this discrepancy will go to Change.org.

*************

As a boy, Kyle worshiped his teenaged neighbor Raymond; now Kyle’s a young man with deeper feelings. The casual meetings that sustained him will be over soon—Raymond’s parents are moving from the old family home.

The weeping willow tree in Raymond’s back yard is a place of transformations: from caterpillar to beautiful moth, from child to youth to adult. The old tree might retain enough of its childhood magic to open Raymond’s eyes and let him see the loving man where the adoring child once stood.