#the re-release

[sweetfirebird]

After an accident left him in chronic pain and his boyfriend abandoned him, Charlie Howard settled down to teach at a community college and hide from the world in his apartment. He takes care of his family, friends, neighbors—everyone but himself. He’s fine with his books and his cat, and sees his future as one without a partner by his side. That is, until a classic-film-loving twink named Will moves into the apartment across from him and throws flirtatious quotes from classic movies at him from his balcony. To Charlie’s surprise, lively, sexy Will does his best to get invited into Charlie’s apartment and then doesn’t seem to want to leave. Beneath the flirtatious exterior, Will has been looking for home since he was kicked out as a teen, and views the soft romances of old black-and-white movies as something he will never be able to have. Someone like Charlie, older, educated, kind and loving, in pain and achingly lonely, obviously wouldn’t want to keep Will around, much less let Will fuss over him, so he goes for what he thinks he can get, and makes it clear he’d like Charlie to be his new daddy. Charlie discovers it’s a role that suits him perfectly because Will needs care, and Charlie loves to give it. But Will has never stayed in one place for long. He’s never stayed long with one person, either. Charlie wants Will more with each moment they spend together, but to have him, he’ll have to risk the security of his quiet life. To be happy, Charlie will have to put his shattered heart in Will’s hands and invite him to stay. 

Play It Again, Charlie  available as an ebook and in paperback

(Originally published 2012. Second edition, 2020, features an additional epilogue.) 

[iamjaynaemarie]

Everyone knows me and my family are not really talking. Over one day in my life I was actually doing something they didn’t like–something to do with my book. I caught my sister outside watering her lawn on my way home the other day. We all live 5-10 minutes from each other, you know. Anyway, I know she saw me driving by. I thought she was out-of-town when I mailed her a letter she never answered about my yard. I had a massive asthma attack trying to work on it so I was asking for help. Nothing for a week. I was beginning to get upset, then I got a blessing in disguise.

OKAY…so, I was working on my book–touching up here and there. Got two packages today–Halt and Catch Fire Season Two and The Road to Middle-Earth by Tom Shippey, renowned Tolkien Expert that I found out has been living in my backyard for 2+ years. WOW..all of a sudden, I went to my kitchen and when I came back, there was a message on my iPad and iPhone. I knew the number. I began to panic, until I read it. “Reminder 12:30″. I was worried I might have missed something and was something wrong with my Dad–that would be pretty important. I didn’t answer because I wanted to see if I’d get another one and to make sure it really was my sister. I had been having a great day, you know, @fortunatelyclevercandy. I’ve never had so much excitement for Thranduil. People are chiming in as far away as Google Plus. Hard to keep up. Hours went by then it finally hit me like a bag of chattering teeth.

MY SISTER was TEXTING SOMEONE ELSE to GO somewhere–probably one or both of our nieces. She’s always trying to make them not like me much. And when they go out, I ask why didn’t you call me, I would’ve gone. She always says, “I didn’t know you were home.” RIGHT. I haven’t had a landline for three years! How can I NOT be home? My home phone is in my POCKET! My DAD knows that and he thinks Lee Pace still loves wearing a dress (if it makes him happy, okay) and needs to comb his rooster! HE’s the one that gave the nurse my NUMBER! IS SHE KIDDING ME? Oh, that’s rich! So it all finally caught up with her. Good news. I finally filed a complaint with the city about my yard–of the house that isn’t mine–and gave them their name and phone number! It is legit. I have a letter that says this isn’t my house, so why should I kill myself trying to help them when they ignore me, won’t let me near my father, and get pissed off because I have fans and they don’t? OH, I don’t think so. I thought she was calling to be nice and asking me to see my dad on Father’s Day. NOPE. Not at all. They better pray Sunday is a slow day with Thranduil.

Ooo..Aiwendil is mentioned in the appendix (you know him as Radagast).

Don’t be sad, Thranduil. You’re in there. The book’s named after you.

Oh, look, Aragorn’s in there too. And Legolas. Did we forget anyone except for everyone..

Thorin: Huh? What?

Okay…more Gandalf…and some Olwë and Elwë aka Elu Thingol, father of Lúthien Tinúviel but that’s all I’m saying for now.

Oh, come on, Lindir…it’s not that bad. Elrond and his children and wife will be there..and his mother-in-law and father-in-law…never mind.

Okay, so we all know who the real star is, Dwalin. See you Sunday.

Yes, you will.

Dear Sister/s, I’m terribly sorry I missed you while you were pretending not to hear or see me and you are mad because I have fans. I would share with you but you have no idea who Thranduil is because you didn’t read my book I sent you. That’s okay. I’ll just have to live with the knowledge that you’re mad at me over a fictional character from an 80+ year old book written by J.R.R. Tolkien and he just happened to be played in the 2012-14 live-action New Zealand Tourism Video by actor Lee Pace…all 6′5″ of him. Oh, yes…he’s was good. What? Never heard of him? Ask our Dad. He’s well acquainted with him and his work and his rooster. But in case you missed ALL THE LETTERS and CALLS and EMAILS and MESSAGES you ignored on how your sister is doing these days here’s a little preview:

Yeah, I have no idea what that is…

Yep. That’s it. That’s Thranduil, Elvenking of the Woodland Realm. Subject of Book II: The Saga of Thranduil. 499 pages long and that’s without what’s coming tomorrow at 11:59 pm (Central Daylight Time)–check your local listings or something. Or just come here, or @tkwrtnewsfeed, Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, Google Plus, Instagram…yeah, I’ll remind you tomorrow. Funny thing is, it is actually a big deal. How that happened I don’t know, but it’s bigger than the last two times. Must be the first look Appendix. Someone already asked for an autographed first copy in print. I’m starting to get used to that idea now because I’m hearing that as far away as Ecuador, Italy, Ireland, Scotland, Britain, even Russia, and India and Africa. So, that’s what’s going down now. Have to wait and see because it’s still being read by some important people.

Wow. There you have it. I guess I’m done now. I have to go get ready Sunday and get ready to post new excerpts for Book I. Everyone got to meet Bard’s wife the last time in the Extended version. I am like so close to the world’s authority on Tolkien–so famous, he’s on Tolkien Gateway, y’all. And I just learned that Thranduil’s got 55 followers on Google Plus. So, I’m good. Solid. Ready to go.

OMG…she dialed the wrong number!!!! I can’t believe she dialed the wrong NUMBER…Someone up there LOVES ME. It’s about time!

[sweetfirebird]

Treasure for Treasure  Being(s) in Love #7

(The re-release continues! In fact, it’s almost complete!) 

In the nineteenth century, the dragon Dìzhèn put the small coastal town of Everlasting under her protection. Her family was supposed to carry on the tradition, but all of Dìzhèn the Great’s heirs eventually left rather than live in the shadow of such a powerful dragon, and to the people of Everlasting, the dragons are more myth than anything to rely upon. Only the youngest dragon of the current generation remains in the big house hidden among the trees: Zarrin, the softhearted disgrace of his family. He might be weak, small, and afraid, but he is determined to show the humans they have not been forgotten… and he will start with the human he has longed for since they were children. The problem is, Zarrin hasn’t been around any humans much, and can barely get this one human to talk to him. A lot of the people in Everlasting think grumpy outcast Joe should love to have a dragon trying to get his attention. But Joe refuses to cower in front of the dragons or suck up to Zarrin like everyone else. Yes, Zarrin is sexy, and oddly gentle for a dragon, and stares at Joe with a gaze so hot it makes Joe shiver. But hurt, mistrustful Joe can’t believe Zarrin’s promises and doesn’t realize he is the treasure Zarrin once let slip through his fingers. Now, to win Joe’s trust, and the trust of the town, Zarrin has to learn about humans and love, so he can be as brave and strong as Dìzhèn herself. Being(s) in Love: Magical creatures known as beings emerged from hiding amid the destruction of the First World War. Since then they’ve lived on the margins of the human world as misunderstood objects of fear and desire. Some are beautiful, others fearsome and powerful. Yet for all their magic and strength, they are as vulnerable as anyone when it comes to matters of the heart.

Out on April 28th! Up for preorder before then. 

Amazon and Smashwords

Also available in audiobook through Audible

[sweetfirebird]

His Mossy Boy- Being(s) in love #8

(The re-release is almost done! Wooo!) 

Years ago, Martin Dyer nearly died in the woods outside Everlasting. A beautiful, inhuman creature saved his life, but Martin has done his best to forget it ever happened. He spends his time in a haze of weed as he avoids his emotionally abusive mother—and the way he feels about men. Martin is already a weirdo in his isolated small town; he doesn’t need a sexuality crisis, too. He’s a mess, but someone—or something—always seems to take care of him, usually a tall, sarcastic deputy by the name of Ian Forrester. No one knows much about Ian, which is how he and his family have preferred it since before Everlasting existed. Ian has resigned himself to a lonely life. He might dream of Martin, but it’s only that—a dream. Martin doesn’t like men, and even if he did, he doesn’t like Ian. No one does, because Ian keeps his secret, and his distance, by being prickly. But the dragons and their magic have returned to Everlasting, shaking the entire town and leaving Martin questioning what he might be able to have if he sobers up and faces the truth. Now, anything seems possible, even a happily ever after for two men who never expected one. Being(s) in Love: Magical creatures known as beings emerged from hiding amid the destruction of the First World War. Since then they’ve lived on the margins of the human world as misunderstood objects of fear and desire. Some are beautiful, others fearsome and powerful. Yet for all their magic and strength, they are as vulnerable as anyone when it comes to matters of the heart. 

Available for pre-order now

Out on May 12!

On Amazon and Smashwords

The audiobook will also be available hopefully soon. (Waiting on Amazon, basically.) Getting the paperbacks out is next on my list!

(Also, no you don’t need to read the books in order, but you can if you want. They do often feature or mention characters or events from the others)

[sweetfirebird]

Sweet Clematis -Being(s) in Love #9

Clematis attracts attention whether he wants it or not, and in response, he's turned himself into the ideal fairy, or, at least, what humans think is the ideal fairy. He works hard to embody every fairy stereotype. He can be a sulky prince or a submissive flirt, slutty and arrogant, or silly and soft. Everyone wants him, just not for long. Well, everyone except the fairy Clematis secretly adores. But Clematis has never expected a happily ever after. Then another fairy curses Clematis to be seen as he really is, and Clematis is terrified. He knows the truth, that all there is to him is beauty and sex. That’s all that anyone has ever wanted from him. Even his happiness, what fairies call someone who shines more to them than anyone else ever could, does not want the mess that Clematis knows he is beneath the glitter. Except now there is magic in the air, and everything Clematis has done to protect himself from the cruelty of the world no longer works. He’s been cursed, or so he thinks. But he forgot that a fairy’s power lies in truth, and that fairy curses are often blessings in disguise, and happiness might be within his grasp, after all. Being(s) in Love: Magical creatures known as beings emerged from hiding amid the destruction of the First World War. Since then they’ve lived on the margins of the human world as misunderstood objects of fear and desire. Some are beautiful, others fearsome and powerful. Yet for all their magic and strength, they are as vulnerable as anyone when it comes to matters of the heart.

Up for pre-order now! Available as an ebook May 26th! 

On Smashwords and Amazon 

Also available as an audiobook (once ACX approves of me taking over the rights) 

Please pay attention to the content tags on this one (visible in the samples on both the Zon and Smashwords), Also please note, of all the Beings books, this is the only one where I think some kind of background knowledge of at least one of the other books might help you before you read it. You don’t have to. But I think it would help. (A Dandelion for Tulip is the closest in the timeline, but A Boy and His Dragon or the Firebird might also do.) 

[sweetfirebird]

A Boy and His Dragon

Being(s) in Love Book Two

Arthur MacArthur is in desperate need of a better paying job. Before Arthur dropped out of school to support his younger sister, he loved being a research assistant at the university, and becoming a personal assistant to a famous historian like Dr. Jones is a chance for Arthur to, sort of, live his dream again. But though Arthur was told Dr. Jones is a dragon, one of the most powerful and least understood of the beings, he didn’t anticipate what that could mean—or that he would be so immediately attracted to his boss. Dr. Philbert “Bertie” Jones is a brilliant historian, but he can’t keep track of the days of the week, much less find his own notes without help. His house is a hoard of books and antiques, and yet unlike all the stories about vicious, possessive dragons, he seems to have no problem with Arthur taking over the clutter and setting the house to rights. In fact, he seems to delight in it, treating Arthur as if he is something precious. Arthur isn’t sure what to make of that. There is nothing special about him, even if Bertie disagrees. Dragons are supposed to collect treasure, and Arthur isn’t treasure, is he? Being(s) in Love: Magical creatures known as beings emerged from hiding amid the destruction of the First World War. Since then they’ve lived on the margins of the human world as misunderstood objects of fear and desire. Some are beautiful, others fearsome and powerful. Yet for all their magic and strength, they are as vulnerable as anyone when it comes to matters of the heart.

Available on Smashwords and Amazon February 18th. 

Audiobook (of the first edition) available on Audible. 

[sweetfirebird]

Little Wolf - Being(s) in Love #4

The re-release continues with... one of the most popular, and tricky, of the books. (Read those content tags though) 

LITTLE WOLF!

For five years, Timothy Dirus has lived on the run, in fear of his family. Kept away from other werewolves by his uncle, Tim knows almost nothing about his own kind except that alpha werewolves only want to control and dominate a scrawny wolf like him. But when Tim finds himself in Wolf's Paw, one of the last surviving refuges from the days when werewolves were hunted by humans, he immediately draws the attention of its sheriff, Nathaniel Neri.

Nathaniel is the epitome of alpha wolf: powerful, intimidating, and the most beautiful man Tim has ever seen. Tim should be terrified. But everything Tim feels says that Nathaniel is safe and good and right, if only Tim knew what that meant.

Tim isn’t sure what to trust—what he was told by his uncle, or his instincts. He’s not even certain what his instincts are, and feels like a failure of a were in a town like Wolf’s Paw. But Nathaniel is patient and willing to wait while his little wolf figures out not just how to be a wolf, but that he is more than a match for this particular alpha.

 Being(s) in Love:

Magical creatures known as beings emerged from hiding amid the destruction of the First World War. Since then they’ve lived on the margins of the human world as misunderstood objects of fear and desire. Some are beautiful, others fearsome and powerful. Yet for all their magic and strength, they are as vulnerable as anyone when it comes to matters of the heart.

Available March 20, 2020 as an ebook (paperback to due out later)

on Smashwords and Amazon

Also available in French and as an audiobook

[sweetfirebird]

The Firebird and Other Stories: Being(s) in Love #5

A Being(s) in Love Anthology

Magical creatures known as beings emerged from hiding amid the destruction of the First World War. Since then they’ve lived on the margins of the human world as misunderstood objects of fear and desire. Some are beautiful, others fearsome and powerful. Yet for all their magic and strength, they are as vulnerable as anyone else when it comes to matters of the heart.

 In 1930s Paris, magnificent Kazimir the firebird never expects to find love but is drawn to a writer with a haunted past. Upon returning from fighting during World War Two, a revered jaguar shifter finds Teo, a third-gender human, left on his doorstep. Early rock ‘n’ roll DJ Hyacinth the fairy shocks his listeners with his admiration for his quiet and very male human assistant. During the AIDS crisis, a leather daddy troll named Tank dreams of a settled life with the interspecies elf across the bar. Rennet the imp, who remembers too well how cruel the world can be, tells himself he’s content to stay behind the scenes for the sake of the human he adores—if only his chaotic, impish magic would stop getting in the way. And Miki, a shy human tending his poisonous and carnivorous plants, is convinced no one will ever want him, certainly not the handsome werewolf grieving for a lost mate. It will take advice from a being of inhuman beauty to convince him to try for what he wants, no matter the risk. Human or being, all must overcome fear to reach for love.

Out April 3rd! 

Smashwords and Amazon 

Also available in French and as an audiobook

(Reminder that the books do not need to be read in order, and that some people use this one as the starting point for whatever reason.)