Thursday, May 30, 2013

New Release: TO THE OTHER SIDE

All right, ladies and gentlemen! Here we go again! My newest book and my first gay fantasy story is available now at MLR Press! Woo hoo! You can view it HERE.

It's available in all ebook formats; pdf, epub, mobi/prc. It'll also soon be available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, AllRomance eBooks, and more! The print version will be coming in a few weeks.

It feels like it's been a really long journey with this story, but a good one, as well. I've always loved the fantasy genre, so it was great for me to work on a story with fantasy elements and combine it with my love for writing gay erotic romance.

I hope very much all who give this new venture by me a read, will enjoy the story!


Blurb:
Garrett Evergard is a finder of secrets. As a biologist and environmentalist, it’s his job to go into wild lands and uncover their mysteries in order to save them. In the Pacific Northwest, he races against logging lobbyists to save a section of temperate rainforest, but the forest seems reluctant to give up her secrets. Until a fateful meeting with a rare spirit bear opens the door to wonders beyond anything he’s ever imagine, the greatest of those being the beautiful man who comes to his rescue.

As a witch and Gatekeeper, Bryson Summers is used to living a solitary life. He lives between two worlds, Earth and Terra, feeling not fully part of either, and dreams of meeting someone who understands him. From the moment he sees Garrett, he believes – and hopes – he’s looking upon a twin soul.

Dragons, unicorns, and a witch with enchanting brown eyes, Garrett tries to make sense of a world so different from anything he’s ever known. But his mind and heart are open, and he finds himself drawn more to Bryson with each day they spend together. When Bryson and the gate that links the two worlds fall under threat, Garrett is willing to do all he can to protect them, even if it means facing down dark magic.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Hop Against Homophobia Winner!

All right, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for me to announce my winner from the Hop Against Homophobia! First, though, I want to give my thanks to everyone who stopped by, and took the time to read my post. Seeing so many of you share the belief that love and hope will be victorious over hate is further proof of love's strength. It will happen. Love will win, and it'll be because of caring people like all of you.



And now for the winner! As always, I used Random.org to select the winner, and that lucky person is...

Lena!

Congratulations! I'll be emailing you soon!

And again, my thanks to everyone who stopped by. I appreciate it very much <3

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Sneak Peek Excerpt: TO THE OTHER SIDE

Hey, ladies and gentlemen! I've been working hard the past week on the last round of edits for my upcoming release, TO THE OTHER SIDE, and I'm happy to say, things are looking good! I'm working on the galley, my last chance to make any changes to the book before it releases. Once I'm finished and send it back to my editor, that's it. The book will be completely out of my hands and ready to go into yours!

With its release date of May 31st fast approaching, I thought I'd share a little sneak peek excerpt from it. If you're a member of The Sweet Spot, you might've already seen this when I shared it last Saturday for Reader Appreciation Day, but I wanted to give everyone a chance to see it, so here it is!

And just a reminder, Hop Against Homophobia and Transphobia is still going on, and you can still enter to win one of my books, winner's choice of title, in ebook. All you have to do is leave a comment on the blog hop post, a couple of posts below this one. Also, if the winner would like TO THE OTHER SIDE, even though it won't be released when the hop ends, if the winner can wait a few days until it releases, I'm good with offering it as a prize.

I hope everyone who's been looking forward to this book will enjoy it! Only a few more days and it'll be live at MLR Press!


Blurb:
Garrett Evergard is a finder of secrets. As a biologist and environmentalist, it’s his job to go into wild lands and uncover their mysteries in order to save them. In the Pacific Northwest, he races against logging lobbyists to save a section of temperate rainforest, but the forest seems reluctant to give up her secrets. Until a fateful meeting with a rare spirit bear opens the door to wonders beyond anything he’s ever imagine, the greatest of those being the beautiful man who comes to his rescue.

As a witch and Gatekeeper, Bryson Summers is used to living a solitary life. He lives between two worlds, Earth and Terra, feeling not fully part of either, and dreams of meeting someone who understands him. From the moment he sees Garrett, he believes – and hopes – he’s looking upon a twin soul.

Dragons, unicorns, and a witch with enchanting brown eyes, Garrett tries to make sense of a world so different from anything he’s ever known. But his mind and heart are open, and he finds himself drawn more to Bryson with each day they spend together. When Bryson and the gate that links the two worlds fall under threat, Garrett is willing to do all he can to protect them, even if it means facing down dark magic.

Excerpt:
Garrett struggled through the black fog filling his mind. He could see the gray edges of it, knowing he was starting to come out of the dark labyrinth he’d been trapped in. He forced his eyes to open, and even though he only managed to part his lids to slits, the white light beyond stung and forced him to close them again.

He shifted on the bed, the warmth and softness of it and the blankets offering comfort to his aches, which grew in strength the more aware he became.

Garrett paused in his thoughts. Bed? Blankets? Where was he? A hospital? The last thing he remembered was the sunlight shining through the leaves, the chill of the stream water seeping through his clothes. Had he been found and rescued?

As his senses sharpened, he picked up someone talking, the voice male and gruff.

“He’s stable enough to be moved. Get him out of here.”

Another voice answered, also male, but younger, the tone deep and smooth, soothing and quiet. “We won’t know how stable he is until he wakes up.”

Accusation entered into the first voice. “By then it’ll be too late! He’ll find out!”

“Well, he wouldn’t be the first person who had. Obviously.”

Garrett lay unmoving, not that he was entirely sure how well he could move. He didn’t know where he was, but from the conversation, it sure as hell wasn’t a hospital. What’d happened to him? Had he been discovered by some backwoods people living in anonymity, and now his presence threatened that? Whatever it was, it sounded like he was in a bad situation and he needed to get himself out of it.

He didn’t know what to do. Should he alert them he was awake, or play dead until he could find out more about where he was and who these people were?

A soft thump on the bed to his right snapped him from his thoughts. He froze, holding his breath, straining his ears. His pillow dipped with something pressing down on it. He risked rolling his head slightly toward it, opening his eyes.

He shouted, flinging himself back toward the far side of the bed, nearly toppling over the edge. The cause of his surprise also let out a startled scream, reptilian hands flung upward as it tumbled backward off the bed.

Garrett sat upright, his breathing heavy. Footsteps pounded closer. Garrett looked toward the sound as the source crested the top of a flight of stairs. He met eyes of such dark brown, they appeared black, but even with the surprise and concern in the dark eyes, they were soft, gentle.

The man’s gaze darted from him to the floor on the right side of the bed. He rushed forward. “Wynny!”

The man slid down to his knees, disappearing on the other side of the bed. Cautiously, Garrett inched toward the edge, peering down at the man and the…lizard? No. Wait. The dragon.

No larger than a cat, the dragon pushed off its side to sit up, and was scooped into the man’s arms. Its scales were white, but as the light hit them, an iridescent sheen glistened over them. Two ivory-colored horns spiraled out from the back of the dragon’s refined, small head, which was held up on a long, slender neck. Triangular spikes, the same ivory color as the horns, ran down the back of its neck, back, and tail. The tip of its tail ended in a spear-like point.

The dragon raised one front leg, rubbing its head with its clawed hand.

“Are you okay?” the man asked it.

The dragon nodded.

“Flex your wings. Let me make sure.”

Neatly folded at his sides, the dragon extended its wings.

Each wing was more than twice as long as the dragon’s body. Delicate bones ran through them, held together by leathery white skin that had a slight pinkish tint as the light shone through it. Garrett looked to the man at hearing his sigh of relief.

“They look fine. Do you hurt anywhere else? Other than bumping your head?”

The dragon shook his head.

Garrett stared at the duo, amazed and confused by the interaction. The dragon—and that was a word that had passed through his mind way too much lately—seemed to understand everything the man said. And as for the man, he found himself feeling more enchanted by him, than by seeing another dragon.

Sweeping, sharp cheekbones accented the man’s Native American features. He looked young, probably in his mid-twenties at most. His raven-black hair hung straight and sleek past his shoulders. His left ear was pierced with a silver ring in the cartilage, a white feather and a black feather dangling from it. The light tan of his buckskin shirt and pants complimented his deep bronze skin tone. But it was the man’s eyes—the bottomless, dark eyes—with a lovely almond shape, that had his attention.

The man brushed a hand down the dragon’s back to the side of the spikes. “It looks like you’re going to be okay.” He looked up to Garrett, a smile curving his lips. “And it looks like our guest is going to be okay, too.” He glanced to the dragon. “The two of you startled each other, huh?”

The dragon nodded, tipping his head back to Garrett.

Garrett swore the dragon was smiling at him, and he got his first good look at the dragon’s eyes, a green radiant enough to shame precious emeralds, with pupils slit like a cat’s.

“How do you feel?”

The question asked by that quiet, calming voice pulled Garrett back to the moment. He looked to the man. “I’m…not sure. Physically, I feel like I got hit by a truck. Or, fell down a ravine, which I guess I did. I’m kind of lost for words on other things.”

The man laughed, deep and soft. Rising, he tucked the dragon in his arms. “I can understand that. You’ve just had a pretty big shock. And from my understanding, it wasn’t the first in the past couple days. But you’re safe here, so that’s one less thing for you to worry about.” He sat on the edge of the bed and offered his hand. “I already know your name, Garrett Evergard. It was on your driver’s license. But I should give you mine now that you’re awake. I’m Bryson Summers.”

Garrett slowly extended his hand, watching as Bryson’s long, slender fingers wrapped around it in a strong, but gentle hold.

“You look confused,” Bryson said.

A single, humorless laugh left Garrett. His voice was rough with disuse as he spoke. “That’s an understatement.”

Copyright 2013 by MLR Press and S.J. Frost

Friday, May 17, 2013

May 18th Reader Appreciation Day: The Prize List!




All right, ladies and gentlemen, here we go! I've got the AMAZING prize list for Reader Appreciation Day, which will be held this Saturday, May 18th, at The Sweet Spot! This wonderful collection of prizes has been donated by these generous authors as their way of saying "thank you" to the readers out there. There are links with each prize listed, so just clink on those to learn more!




Anna Lee - ebook copy of THE PRINCE OF GALERIR

Tyler Robbins - ebook copy of A BEAUTIFUL LIE

Willa Okati - ebook copy of IT TAKES PRACTICE

Willa Okati - ebook copy of MIGHTY CASEY (releases at the end of May, winner will receive their copy at time of release)

Lori Toland - winners choice of ebook copy of THE LONG CON or DANGEROUS SUBMISSION (also check out Lori's free spring fling read this weekend: ENGLISH CHAPS)

Michael Mandrake - ebook copy of winner's choice from backlist

JM Cartwright - ebook copy of BRAINY AND THE BEAST

Sarah Madison - print copy of THE BOYS OF SUMMER (if winner is in Continental US, otherwise e-version outside the US)

Amanda Young - ebook copy of RECESSION

Vicktor Alexander - ebook copy of THE ALPHA KING

L.M. Brown - ebook copy of TO SEE THE SKY in pdf format

J.P. Bowie - winner's choice of ebook copy of FLY TO HIM from the anthology Promoted by the Billionaire or A HIGHLANDER IN LA

Tara Lain - ebook copy of BRUSH WITH CATASTROPHE (THE ALOYSIUS TALES)

Diana DeRicci - ebook copy of HEALED BEGINNINGS (releases next week, winner will receive their copy at time of release)

ebook copy of Featherweight Press charity anthology LOST AND FOUND edited by Kris Jacen (stories by DH Starr, Michele Montgomery, Dakota Chase [aka Kiernan Kelly], Tom Webb, Caitlin Ricci, MF Kays [Freddy McKay], Diane Adams, Tabatha Heart, DC Juris, and Jeff Erno) - ebook donated by Jambrea Jo Jones

Jambrea Jo Jones - ebook copy of winner's choice from backlist

Sloan Parker - winner's choice of $15 Amazon.com gift card or All Romance eBooks gift card

S.J. Frost - ebook copy of winner's choice from backlist




And there you go! Is this not one incredible list of prizes?! Sloan, Jambrea, and I are stunned by the generosity of all these authors, and we thank them so very much for joining with us in showing appreciate to readers.

Any author who would still like to donate a prize is welcomed to. All you have to do is send out an email to: thesweetspotmm@gmail.com  Please include what you'd like to donate for the May giveaway, a link, and a cover art pic. Reader Appreciation Day is also an Open Excerpt Day, so all M/M authors are invited to stop by the Yahoo group, share excerpts, and your latest news! And readers, make sure you swing by too and see what some of your favorite authors are up to.


As usual, the prize list will be posted throughout the day at The Sweet Spot Yahoo group, starting at 8:00 am EST. Reader Appreciation Day wraps up about 8:00 pm EST, with the winners announced shortly thereafter. Authors who have donated a prize will be contacted at about the same time with their winner so they can send their prize personally. To enter in the giveaway, just reply to any of the giveaway threads on the group.

Hope to see everyone tomorrow at The Sweet Spot!

Hop Against Homophobia Giveaway





As I'm sure many of you know, May 17th is International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. Along with several other authors, as well as reviewers, cover artists, and publishers, I'm taking part in the Hop Against Homophobia and Transphobia, and offering up a free ebook from my backlist, winner's choice of title. To be entered in the giveaway, just leave a comment on this post and please include an email addy where I can contact you. If you don't feel comfortable posting your email publicly, or you have trouble leaving a comment, you can email me at s.j.frost3@gmail.com The hop runs until May 27th, and I'll be posting my winner on May 28th.

Hop Against Homophobia and Transphobia has been organized by three lovely ladies, Erica Pike, K-lee Klein, and NJ Nielsen, to help raise awareness for International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, and I'm very proud to be taking part.

When I participated last year, I talked about discrimination. This year, I want to talk about love and hope. I remember when I first started writing gay romance back in 2005, how distant things like acceptance and marriage equality seemed. So many people I'd talk to had attitudes so vehement against homosexuality. Though, maybe I was talking to the wrong people. Thinking back on it now, I'm certain I was. Still, those narrow opinions I saw in those few were the same opinions of many across the country, and even for me as a heterosexual woman, I thought they were confusing, and even frightening because I'd think of all the people who faced these kinds of attitudes daily and knew how much that bigotry could hurt.

I didn't understand how so much hate could be directed toward any person or group of people. I didn't understand how others could want to control the lives of people, tell them who they should love, how they should act, who they should be. I didn't understand their laughter at hateful jokes and derogatory words. Though, I'm sure they were just as confused by me not understanding their bigotry, which of course led to tension, anger, and ultimately everyone eventually deciding to go separate ways in life.

The essence of hate is to destroy, but for love, it's to nurture. Whether it's your partner, spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend, your child, a friend, a family member, a pet, love makes you want to protect and cherish, to care for and defend, to be kind and offer support, and all of those give strength.

By it's very essence of nurturing, love is overcoming hate and winning more and more in our world. In recent years, we've seen the strength of love, as those attitudes I spoke of have begun to change. More nations in the world and States in the U.S., are taking steps to recognize marriage equality, equality in general, and to offer stronger legal protections for LGBT individuals. Yes, there's still a lot of work to do, a long distance yet to be traveled, but hope is strong and continues to grow, as it's nurtured by the love of those who believe all individuals deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, to make their own decisions on their life, their bodies, and who they love.

That's where love is stronger than hate. How it truly can conquer all. To destroy something is to bring it to an end. But love never ends. There will always be a man who loves a man, a woman who loves a woman, a man who loves a woman, and a woman who loves a man. It's a fruitless battle for those on the side of hate to fight, because people will never stop loving.

***

My thanks to all of you who've stopped by today to show support against Homophobia and Transphobia. It's greatly appreciated! And do be sure to visit the other folks taking part in the hop and working to raise awareness as we stand together against discrimination.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Reader Appreciation Day and Open Excerpt Day: May 18th


Hello, everyone! It's almost time for another Reader Appreciation Day and Open Excerpt Day over at The Sweet Spot! Here's the official announcement for May's RAD!

                                                     *              *            *


This Saturday, May 18th, is Reader Appreciation Day at The Sweet Spot, the Yahoo Group run by Sloan ParkerJambrea Jo Jones, and me! This fun event is held on the third Saturday of every month. The list of prizes donated by generous authors will be posted this Friday.



SloanJambrea, and I are thrilled to announce M/M Reader Appreciation Day at The Sweet Spot. This is one day every month for authors of M/M romance to say "thanks" to all you readers out there who support our writing efforts.

This month's Reader Appreciation Day will be held on Saturday, May 18th. On that day, we'll post a giveaway thread throughout the day featuring a full list of all prizes available in the group. Just respond to one of the giveaway threads on the Yahoo Group between 8am and 8pm EST to be included in the drawing.

Readers, stop by the Yahoo Group  to chat with authors and enter for a chance to win free books and other prizes from a variety of M/M authors.

Authors, if you're interested in participating in the giveaway, send an email to: thesweetspotmm@gmail.com
Please include what you'd like to donate for the May giveaway, a link, and a cover art pic. For prizes, you can donate books, gift certificates, swag, and other items. All types of prizes are welcomed! In the future, we'll include you in our monthly announcement for a chance to donate. You can participate as little or as often as you'd like in the RAD giveaway.

Reader Appreciation Day is also an Open Excerpt Day, and all authors are welcomed to post to blurbs and excerpts of their work, and of course, share any other fun news you've got going on!

Hope to see you all at The Sweet Spot!

Friday, May 10, 2013

Release Date Update: To The Other Side

Hello guys and girls! I have some great news for everyone who has been looking forward to the release of TO THE OTHER SIDE, my first venture into m/m fantasy. The release date for it has been bumped up. It will now be releasing on May 31st at MLR Press! Woo hoo! After it initially drops on MLR, it'll become available very soon on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, AllRomance eBooks, and more, along with being available in print a few weeks after the ebook releases.

It was hard enough for me to believe the book was going to come out so soon in June, now I'm in total disbelief. I think the new release jitters are going to kick in a little early for this one! I'm immensely proud of the story, but with anything, when trying something new there's always a certain amount of nerves that go with it. I'll be hoping very much that those who read this new light fantasy and gay romance story from me, will enjoy it!


BLURB:

Garrett Evergard is a finder of secrets. As a biologist and environmentalist, it’s his job to go into wild lands and uncover their mysteries in order to save them. In the Pacific Northwest, he races against logging lobbyists to save a section of temperate rainforest, but the forest seems reluctant to give up her secrets. Until a fateful meeting with a rare spirit bear opens the door to wonders beyond anything he’s ever imagine, the greatest of those being the beautiful man who comes to his rescue.

As a witch and Gatekeeper, Bryson Summers is used to living a solitary life. He lives between two worlds, Earth and Terra, feeling not fully part of either, and dreams of meeting someone who understands him. From the moment he sees Garrett, he believes – and hopes – he’s looking upon a twin soul.

Dragons, unicorns, and a witch with enchanting brown eyes, Garrett tries to make sense of a world so different from anything he’s ever known. But his mind and heart are open, and he finds himself drawn more to Bryson with each day they spend together. When Bryson and the gate that links the two worlds fall under threat, Garrett is willing to do all he can to protect them, even if it means facing down dark magic.


Wednesday, May 1, 2013

A Few Bits of News

Hey there, everyone! I've been a busy little author lately, so I've got some news to update everyone on.

First, the sweet and talented, Jaime Samms, was kind enough to have me over to her blog, where I talk about rock stars, the Conquest series, and rockers going country. It's a fun blog post, and I hope everyone who stops by enjoys reading it and hearing what I'm up to with my next musician themed story. If you'd like to head on over, just click HERE.


Second, we have a release date for TO THE OTHER SIDE. Woo hoo! Keep an eye for it to drop at MLR Press on June 14th! Which is actually a very cool date, because some of you may recall that's the birthday of another sexy guy from a different series, Evan Arden from Conquest! It's going to be awesome for me to have a book come out on his birthday :-D It's also hard for me to believe it's that close. 

As I've said before, this is my first foray into writing a gay fantasy novel, complete with all the erotic romance elements you're used to seeing from me. I'm super excited and freaking out all at once! But I'm also very proud of the story. It's also going to be the first in the "Terra series", with at least three more stories planned. I'm in edits on it now, and so far, they've been going really well! 


Third in my news, I'm going to be taking part in the Hop Against Homophobia and Transphobia. This is a very special blog hop honoring International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia on May 17th. It's to help raise awareness and acceptance for all members of the LGBTQ community, and I'm happy to be taking part. The hop will run from May 17th to 27th, with tons of authors, publishers, cover artists, and reviewers taking part. And it's not only featuring authors of M/M, but also authors of F/F, Trans, and Bisexual works. For the hop, I'll be donating winner's choice of a title from my backlist, and I'll have my post up on May 17th for all who'd like to enter in the giveaway. With the number of folks already signed up to participate, it's going to be one great hop! Be sure to check out everyone taking part! 


And the final piece of news I've got regards A LITTLE BIT COUNTRY: THE NOVEL. It's finished and is in my editor's hands. Right now, we're thinking of August for a release month. Woo hoo!

And, that's it! That's what's been going on in my little writing world. Lots of things I'm very excited about, and I hope some of it is exciting for you guys, too!