Z.A. Maxfield

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Guest – Llyod Meeker with Stone and Shell Excerpt

November 28, 2016 by William Cooper

stoneandshell-f5001

Title:  Stone and Shell

Author: Lloyd A. Meeker

Publisher:  NineStar Press

Release Date: November 28, 2016

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 11000

Genre: Romance, Anthology, Seasonal, Holiday

Blurb:

Eight-year-old Howie Evinger is convinced that his dad would be happier if he found a new husband. Howie would be happier, too. And somewhere out there in the city of Vancouver, there’s the right man for his dad to love. But how to find him? That’s a problem, especially if you’re just a kid and your dad says he doesn’t want another husband.

With the help of his quirky aunt, Shanna, who calls herself a Buddhist Wiccan, Howie builds his very own solstice altar with cool symbols to support his search. It has a candle, a feather, and a twisty stick, plus an agate for his dad, and a scallop shell for his new husband. Share Howie’s solstice adventure as he learns how real magic requires courage and patience as well as symbols.

Purchase

NineStar Press | Amazon | Goodreads

Excerpt:

Stone and Shell

Maybe the stone and the shell were too close to the candle. Howie wasn’t sure how this stuff worked. He studied his Solstice altar, made out of a wooden TV tray covered in a piece of dark green cloth. He felt nervous, like sitting in a surprise math test he hadn’t prepared for. He had dreams like that sometimes. He hated math.

If he left his objects too close together, would his wish cover enough territory? Vancouver was a big city. He pushed his glasses back up his nose and frowned. Shanna, who was really his aunt Shannon, even though she didn’t let him call her that, would know how it worked.

She’d taught him about symbols last week, which was a totally cool idea. Then she helped him build his Solstice altar and told him to place his symbols wherever he felt was right for them. The problem was he didn’t know how to place them so his wish, which sat like a giant lump inside him, would come true. It hadn’t occurred to him to ask her about placement rules for wishes.

Dad was working late tonight, and the house was a lot nicer when someone was home already. Back when his dad and Joel were together, they’d had a big Buddha statue, which was the first thing anybody saw when they came in the front door. It was like having a friend waiting for you to come home. Joel had taken it to Toronto with him, and the house felt different without it. He’d told Dad he didn’t mind that it wasn’t there anymore, but he actually did. He didn’t want to be a wuss and complain, though. His best friend, Ricky, was lucky. The Liu family had a gold Buddha set up in their house with all kinds of beautiful stuff around it, even incense. Howie liked the smell, but it made him sneeze sometimes.

Shanna would come soon, and he’d help her get dinner ready. Usually on Dad’s late days, all three of them would eat together, which was nice. It was lasagna tonight, Howie knew, because Dad had made it on the weekend and had frozen most of it for nights like this.

So when Shanna got there in a bit, he’d ask her how Solstice altars worked. She’d know what to do. She’d told him all about Druids and the Solstice and the Celts who were Howie’s ancestors. When he said he thought his grandparents were English, Shanna got a little mad and said just because someone is born in a barn, doesn’t mean he’s a horse. Howie didn’t get it entirely, but he’d stuck with being from the Celts after that.

He was doing pretty well with the altar, as far as he could tell. He’d found objects representing the four forces, which Shanna said every altar needed. He’d found a tiny pure white gull feather with really pretty fuzz near the bottom that moved even when you blew on it just a little. That was for air, and he had a twisty stick for earth. The candle was fire, of course. And then there was water. That part was easy; he already had the little scallop shell and the agate, both from the ocean.

Trouble was, he didn’t want to talk to her about his wish again, or that the stone on his altar also represented his dad, and the shell was a new husband for him because it was smooth and beautiful inside. The shell would hold the stone, and give it a place to be really happy again.

He’d already told Shanna months ago that his biggest wish was for his dad to find a new husband, and she’d kissed his cheek and laughed, her eyes shiny with what he could tell were almost-tears even though she didn’t say so, whispering that was a lovely but awfully big wish for an eight-year-old boy to carry. Howie didn’t mind how big the wish was. He wanted it to come true more than anything else in the whole world.

He pulled the agate pebble back from the candle a little way, but kept it nestled against the shell. Farther from the candle felt right, but the pebble and shell shouldn’t be that close yet. Who knew how far apart they really were? He pulled them apart a few inches, hating the new gap. Even so, the distance felt right. For now. He’d put them closer together soon.

Filed Under: author friends Tagged With: Anthology, Holiday, Llyod A. Meeker, NineStar Press, Romance, Seasonal

Guest – Book Blitz – Snowed In

March 3, 2016 by William Cooper

Snowed In MM Banner v2

Snowed In, An M/M Anthology

by DC Juris

Contemporary, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Menage/Poly, Anthology


Blurb:

snowedinMM1400Snowed In is a wintery blend of frost, snow, and romance from eight of Torquere Press’ M/M authors.

Winter storms are dangerous, and in Celibate Cold by Lynn Townsend, Topher finds himself stranded in one when his car slides into a ditch. Alone and scared, he tries to walk home in the blizzard but ends up at Chase’s house, desperately in need of help.

Can an accident on Luke and Tom’s annual hike lead to them becoming more than good friends? Find out in Jessica Chase’s Falling for Love!

In This Winter’s Night by Kassandra Lea, Barry is devastated when he realizes he spends more time talking to his horses than his boyfriend—but that’s about change.

These snow angels have a devilish side! Huey and Tommy think their neighbor Marshall would be a naughty, fun addition to their snow day in Snow Angels by Leigh Ellwood.

In Snow Job by Logan Zachary, winter doesn’t always come with a chill—sometimes it’s smokin’ hot! For Lance and Leo, snowbound and icicles are about to take on whole new meanings.

Beau and Leon are two strangers on a chairlift. When Leon—the “experienced” skier—laughs at himself, Beau looks at him in a whole new light in Taking the Fall Line by Tray Ellis.

In Snowy Reunion by Emjay Haze, Steven wonders if he even has a boyfriend since Jonathan walked out after their last argument. But Jonathan surprises Steven during a ski trip and it just might save their relationship.

Seeking the elusive Yeti is Joel’s passion, but he finds more than he bargained for in Adventures of a Yeti Hunter by L.J. Hamlin.

Find it on Goodreads | Torquere

 

Excerpt:

Celibate Cold by Lynn Townsend

Chase squinted. Of course it wasn’t a yeti, he thought. But the creature who was stumbling in his direction was covered in snow from the thighs down and his coat was thick with ice crystals. He had a hat crammed low down over his ears, but no gloves, and his sleeves were crusted with more snow. He’d probably fallen a few times, to judge by the smears of white down his front.

By the time Chase had identified the intruder as being nothing more than a man, his visitor was nearly to the porch. The man’s teeth were chattering so hard that he couldn’t seem to force intelligible words out. Chase caught a few mumbled syllables.

“Well, you look like three miles of bad road,” Chase said. He helped the man up the stairs and then impartially started brushing snow off his back, not really paying attention to where his hands were until the man startled when Chase’s hands came down on his ass, smacking snow away.

The stranger whirled, his brown eyes wide.

Chase held his hands out to his sides, harmless. “No point in trackin’ that all in m’house, man, and you look a bit chilled to do it yourself.”

The man nodded, stomped off his feet as best he could, which wasn’t very well. Chase sighed. The guy was wearing fucking Oxfords, for Christ’s sweet sake. He’d be lucky if he had any toes left at all. Fool.

“Sex,” the man said.

“What?” Chase had to have misheard that. He stuck a finger—snow covered, and cold—into his ear as if to clear it out. Or wind up his brain. “What did you say?”

“Six. Six miles of bad road.”

Giveaway

Rafflecopter Prize: eBook copy of Snowed In, an M/M Anthology
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Filed Under: author friends Tagged With: Anthology, Snowed In, Torquere Press

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