If anyone out there has played The Sims 3, you probably know how addictive it is. I have learned this for a fact in the last two months. Shortly before Christmas, I finally gave in a bought the game I’d been avoiding for years. Avoiding because I knew it would suck me in. I was right. I’m obsessed. I have all the expansion and stuff packs and I’m eagerly looking forward to Showtime in March.

It’s no particular surprise that I got obsessed with one of my couples. No particular surprise that it was my first gay couple. They so frickin’ adorable! I didn’t take pics, but I should. I’ve gone on to other Sims, but these two are still my favorite.

Anyway, here’s an unedited piece that I wrote about the “first” meeting. In quotes because you’ll see in the story that they’ve known each other forever, but they’ve just rediscovered each other. There’s a part 2 to this too, but I’ll save that for another day.

For those who’ve played, this takes place in Appaloosa Valley and involves the Fox family. Dakota starts off a new game as a toddler and Eriyk is the son of the couple that I started the game with. I very carefully manipulated Eriyk and Dakota together and have now played a few different versions of them. One lasted through two adopted kids all the way to both of their tragic deaths. I was quite sad when that happened, tbh.

The text might be a bit off. Not much editing and I may have taken some knowledge for granted. But I hope it’s legible and fun.

Welcome to my obsession.

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

Holy shit!

All thought flew from Eriyk’s head at the sight. No, all thought but one. He’s so fucking gorgeous. There was no other way to describe the man walking up the steps onto his parent’s front porch. His hair, which used to be a sumptuous brown, glowed chestnut in the autumn sun. Clearly, it’d been dyed but it was a damn good job. And it showed off the white tips of his hair perfectly. The white tips that Eriyk never could decide — and had never been told — if they were a genetic freak of nature or from a bottle. Didn’t matter, the entire effect was breathtaking, especially since he’d cut his hair so that those tips just barely reached his chin. Eriyk had always liked Dakota’s hair long, but the short was better than he expected. It framed that gorgeous face, with it’s straight black brows, deep sable eyes and straight, patrician nose. And those lips. Eriyk could wax philosophic until world’s end about those perfect, dark pink lips, always drawn into a slight smirk. Continue Reading »

I will be unable to bring to you, dear readers, my usual scintillating blog post this evening. (Yeah, I know big words, so ha!) Anyway, I had a very minor outpatient procedure this afternoon, and I’m still feeling a tad groggy and kind of like I want to sleep for another day or so. Sorry to leave y’all in the lurch. I know I should’ve planned something ahead of time, I’ve just never been good at that.

On the up side, I’m pretty sure I didn’t say or do anything hideously embarrassing at the hospital. I would SO not want to be that lady who says the raunchy shit while under the influence and I was terrified I would be. LOL.

Now, I’m off to sleep for probably about ten or twelve hours :) Good night all, see you next week!
xoxoxo

Happy anniversary to me,

Happy anniversary to me,

Happy anniversary to meeeeeeee,

Happy anniversary to me!

Apparently, the traditional gift for five year anniversary’s is WOOD! Ha! How apropos! Five years ago, a little unknown named Jade published a little tale about furry alien catmen and their love for a very special human woman. Now look at me! Bet some of you are regretting buying the Felidae 1: Laithe’s Pride now! I’m like the energizer bunny and I’m not going away ;)

Changeling Press has been awesome enough to give away a little present for my anniversary so I’m going to share it with you! It won’t start for a few days but I’ll remind everyone again next weekend ;) From 2012-01-25 thru 2012-02-02 input code Felidae at www.changelingpress.com to receive 10% off one order, anything you can stick in the cart, with the purchase of any Felidae Series title.
 
And to celebrate, I’m posting a little tidbit from Laithe’s Pride that is sure to include some form of wood *snicker* and for your viewing pleasure… here’s a freaking fantastic representation of Laithe, Fahd and Rowan that PL Nunn drew up for me. Enjoy!

The Felidae 1: Laithe’s Pride Excerpt: Continue Reading »

Oh dear.

Hello everyone. This is Chef Agatha here on behalf of Jessica Freely. We’re both dreadfully sorry about what happened yesterday on Jan Irving’s blog (http://jan-revealed.livejournal.com/67337.html). I feel particularly responsible. I’ve been complaining about Jessica sending me on these promotional stops and I got a bit distracted yesterday by some meringue that simply would not stand up straight and I suppose Jan’s date just… slipped my mind.

But I never dreamed that our villain would make an appearance in my place. But I should have. Nothing is beyond him.

Is everyone okay?

Whatever you do, don’t attempt to make that recipe that Akio gave you. But if you already have, or if you or anyone you know is under the influence of a similar malevolent power, here’s a good recipe to help with that.

Obsession Breaking Borscht

serves: one horde

Beef Shanks with bone

Cabbage

Beets

Carrots

Onions

One large can tomatoes

Brown Sugar

Lemon Juice

Gratitude

Love

Imagination

Self Worth

Serenity

Acceptance Continue Reading »

This past weekend, two awesome gay romance authors came to town to hang out with me – my friend D.H. Starr who I’ve known for a little while now, and Eden Winters who I just met but hope to see more of in the future. We had a wonderful time. We spent pretty much all day Saturday touring the Biltmore Estate.

I’ve lived in the Asheville area for more than 25 years, so I’ve been to Biltmore several times. Going there with Doug and Eden was cool, though, not just because it was FUN, but also because they pointed out things I hadn’t noticed before. Like how the master of the house back in the day was clearly hosting stable boy orgies in his massive bedroom every night *g* Or that there’s a good old-fashioned gay bath house in the basement. Party time!

Best of all, I loved Doug pointing out that the giant globe in the library is old enough to show borders that are much different than they are now, even some countries or whole regions with different names. On just the part facing us, we could see “Arabia” and “Persia”. All three of us wished we could climb over the velvet rope and explore the globe, looking for all the other differences we knew must be there.

Of course, there were plot bunnies galore. But those belonged to Doug and Eden so you’ll have to ask them. Heh.

By the way, the Joseph Ducreux meme-pic has nothing to do with anything, really, I just like it *g*

I’m excited about the Golden Globes tonight! I don’t watch a huge amount of TV, but every year I like to tune into this to see all the fancy folks in their finery, and find out who wins. That had me thinking about the movies and TV shows that are nominated this year so I thought I’d muse on that :)

1. First off, Morgan Freeman is a genius and I just love him. I recently watched Dolphin’s Tale and while I loved the whole movie, I thought he was great in it. There’s something so classy about him.

2. The Help was such a great movie. I didn’t get to see many of the nominated movies this year (yeah, that happens every year…) but that was one that had me from the start.

3. The nominees for Best Actor in a Drama are just begging to be slashed. LOL! Have you seen this? George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Fassbender, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt? I don’t care who wins, just get all of them on the stage together ;)

4. I love The Big Bang Theory. Love it. Enough said.

5. I’m dying to see what Ricky Gervais says. It’s bound to be an exciting night.

What about you guys? Are you planning on watching? Anything you want to see?

As some of you out there may know, I’ve been wanting to go part-time at the Evil Day Job for a long time now. A LOOOOOOONG TIME. Well, I have finally done it. I’m part-time now. Half-time, forty hours per pay period (a pay period being two weeks).

Let me tell you what, after too many years of trying to write around a full time plus job, finally having entire free days to get my writing done is pure bliss.

Because nothing is ever perfect, though — and because I like making lists *g* — here are my top five Things I Love and Things I Don’t Love So Much about working part time. We will start with the things I don’t love, in no particular order:
1. I am the most unorganized person on the planet, which means that so far I’ve gotten a lot of writing and editing done on my newly-expanded days off, but not much else. This is something I have to work on.
2. I have to pay more for insurance. Not a lot, but every bit counts, especially because of #3…
3. I make less money because I work fewer hours.
4. I also make less money because the position I’m in now gets paid less than my previous position. So all things considered, I make quite a bit less than I used to. Eep. But I wouldn’t have had any choice in any case, unless I wanted to go back to school, which I didn’t. Long story.
5. Less money coming in means less money in the retirement fund. So I’d better get rich writing before I have to retire, is all I’m saying.

And now, again in no particular order, the things I love about working part time:
1. TIME. Glorious, glorious time. Whole entire days to WRITE, so I can put out more books for the wonderful, patient readers out there :)
2. With more time to write, hopefully writing income can make up for lost EDJ income.
3. I no longer have to get up at 5:30 five days a week! Especially since I tend to stay up until 11:30 or midnight and I’m not a person who actually does well on that little bit of sleep.
4. I don’t have to work weekends and holidays anymore! Yay!
5. I have regained my sanity at last.

no, really O_O

I’m excited to be writing! And that’s a very good thing! I have two projects on the go right now. Black Wolf is in the process of being rewritten, and now that I’ve finished with the existing bits I’m moving on to adding some new content. It’s going really well! I’m loving these two.

I’m also working hard on Broken Silence, although I want to kill the boys at the moment. They’re being extremely difficult and won’t talk to me about how they’re feeling. Which I guess makes sense, since they’re boys, but still! They need to get off their butts or I’m getting out the whips and chains lol! I wish my contemporary guys were more like my shapeshifters sometimes!

In other news, I have another story without a home. The Sirens Song anthology is no longer available, so I’m going to be thinking about what to do with my story, Aella. I might just republish it as is, or think about updating/expanding it. Whatever I decide, I’ll have an update soonish. Of course, if I decide to expand it it’ll be put further on the list, since I have Black Wolf, Broken Silence, Duck Fart and the new Nut Cream sequel all needing to be finished first. So, I’m leaning more toward just releasing Aella as it stands. I don’t like seeing my babies sitting on my computer when they’re finished…

Aella by Jade Buchanan
Aella is searching for strength. When the seals under her care start to die, Aella needs all the help she can get. She asks two mermen, Damon and Pythias, for their assistance but they have secrets about themselves they aren’t willing to share, and their help could come at a very high price. Can Aella trust Damon and Pythias?  Or will misplaced trust leave her under their spell, and in their control? 

So here we are. It’s 2012. A whole brand new year. They always take me by surprise, for some reason. Like I didn’t have a whole dang year to realize it was coming. Ha.

This year, I have finally gotten to switch to part-time at the EDJ. Yay! Celebration! I mean, sure, I’m making less money and paying more for insurance, but I have WAY more free time now. This means I can set myself some goals and maybe even meet them, for a wonder. Running a half-marathon, for instance. I’ve wanted to do that for ages. Maybe since I’m working part time now, I’ll actually find the hours in my horribly disorganized weeks to train for it. Mama Kris (a.k.a. Kris Jacen, my MLR editor) and I are looking at running the Asheville Citizen-Times Half Marathon in Sept. Eep.

Of course, the main thing exciting about part-time work is that I’ll have more time for writing. This is good, because I have PLANS. Right now, I’m working on edits for Graceland, which should be out this summer sometime barring any setback.
I’m also writing the first in a new series for Adrian and Greg from Love, Like Ghosts. I know I’ve talked about both the book and the series before *g* Working title of the book is Demon Dog, though that’s not written in stone. I don’t have a series name yet. Still pondering that.
I also want to write a horror novel this year. I have an idea for the plot. I also have a POV character and her pet tarantula, Maizie. Bits and pieces are being fleshed out here and there in between other things :) This would, of course, be my first EVER horror novel. It would be aimed at Samhain’s new horror line, though it remains to be seen whether or not they’d actually accept it.

Whether or not I get the second book in Greg and Adrian’s series written this year depends on circumstances. I don’t know how long it’s going to take to get the other books written or if anything else is going to come up in the meantime. I do plan to attend GayRomLit in October, provided there aren’t any issues with getting off work. I’d also like to attend RWA but that remains to be seen. All the cons I want to attend seem to fall on the days I’d normally be scheduled to work. Dammit. Sigh.

So what’s everyone got on tap for this year? What’s new and exciting? Or hell, what’s the same as ever and boring, or comforting in its same-ness? And while we’re at it, Happy New Year to everyone! Hopefully 2012 will be a good one :)

Available December 31 from MLR Press.

http://www.mlrbooks.com/books.php

Drag And Drop

By Kimberly Gardner

Blurb

Shimmering satins, lipstick and lace
Champagne countdowns and a midnight embrace
One man has a secret he’s too scared to speak
The other has dreams for the future to seek
Will they lay bare their hearts for one chance at bliss
And ring in the new year sealed with a kiss? Continue Reading »