Love Is Always Write; Anthologies Now Available!

Hey, everyone! I have some fun news to share! Some of you may remember early this summer, I was talking about the Love Is Always Write event being held by the M/M Romance Group on Goodreads, and how I was taking part. I wrote a story for the event titled, "Of Honor and Love", my first gay historical romance.

I've talked about this story a few times, and you can read exactly how it came to happen by clicking HERE. This story is actually one of my favorites out of all I've written. I loved writing it, I loved the characters, I loved the setting, I just loved everything about it. Well now, the story is available in an anthology with more of the fantastic stories written for the Love Is Always Write event.

The event had a huge turn out. Several authors from across the gay romance genre came together to write stories inspired by pictures people posted, and they did this for free, as a gift to readers. And how many stories came out of the event? Enough to create an 11 volume anthology! 11 volumes! That's huge! The stories range in length from shorts to novellas, and they range in theme from contemporary to historical, paranormal to fantasy, and everything and anything in between. So to say among all these stories there's surely something for everyone is a very safe bet, I think.

"Of Honor and Love", is in Volume 7. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed taking part in this event, and how happy I am to be included in this anthology with so many incredibly talented authors. It was all made possible by the wonderful folks at the M/M Romance Group. I know they put in countless hours of hard work to make the event happen. They dedicated their time, their resources, their skills, and they did it all for free. My thanks and my gratitude goes out to them for all they've done for readers, authors, and the genre. Your work and time is very much appreciated!

The 11 Volumes are available for download in all ebook formats now at Goodreads. Last I checked this morning, Volumes 1-4 were available at AllRomance Ebooks, so the others will be there soon. All the anthologies, on Goodreads and AllRomance eBooks, are offered for FREE download. That's a whole lot of reading and a whole lot of talent for free! I know everyone will find many stories in these anthologies that they'll enjoy, and if you haven't already read "Of Honor and Love", I hope it'll be one of them!

M/M Romance Group Best of 2012 Awards

Hey, ladies and gentlemen! I've got some fun news to share! Over on Goodreads, there's a large and very cool group called the M/M Romance Group with over 8,600 lovely readers and authors as their members. I'm sure many of you are familiar with them, probably even members, but for those who aren't, they're a community focused on reading and celebrating Male/Male Romance. I've talked about them a few times here, most recently when I wrote my historical novella, Of Honor and Love, for their Love is Always Write event. But now, the group is holding their Best Of 2012 Awards, and I was very surprised and flattered to find my books in several categories!

The voting for the awards began on the 10th, I believe, and I'm not entirely sure when it ends. I'm very sorry for only just finding out about that and posting this now! With being on my little writing break, I've fallen a bit out of touch with important news like this. I happened to be on Facebook this morning and saw a link posted to the survey for voting. As I was scrolling through the nominations, I saw my name, my books, and my characters in a few categories. I was absolutely thrilled and very touched that some kind people had thought of me and my work when the nominations were being accepted. I had heard during the nominations that Titus was nominated for Best Vampire, but I hadn't known of the other nominations until I was looking through the lists. Here are the categories I found my work nominated in:

Category 2 - Favorite All Time M/M Romance Book – Conquest

Catergory 3 - Favorite All Time M/M Series  - Conquest series

Category 4 - Favorite All Time M/M author – S.J. Frost

Category 5 - Favorite All Time M/M Characters – Jesse and Evan, Conquest series

Category 7 – Best Cover – Loving Instincts

Category 14 – Hottest Vampire – Titus

Category 19 – Best Story That Should/Must Have a Sequel – Loving Instincts

Category 37 – Best Musicians/Rock Stars – Heartstrings AND Feeling the Rhythm

Category 39 – Best Paranormal – Loving Instincts

I'm pretty sure these are all of them, but I'll admit, I was getting a little dizzy and star-stuck looking at all the amazing titles and authors in these awards! It's really incredible to be included with so many talented authors and great works, and I'm very grateful to those who nominated me. Thank you! And my thanks goes out to the M/M Romance Group, as well, for all their hard work and dedication to our genre, readers, and authors.

If you'd like to see all the amazing books and authors that are nominated, and possibly throw in your vote - for ANY book, character, or author - here's a link to the voting survey: http://www.esurveyspro.com/Survey.aspx?id=1af2af8b-773e-4236-ab9e-c4affac951c5

My thanks again and again for these wonderful nominations! I'm so very honored and flattered by them :-)

A Writing & News Update

Hello ladies and gentlemen! Wow, it's been a really long time since I posted. I'm so incredibly sorry! June's been one busy month for me, both on the personal front and on the writing front. I thought I was way overdue for giving an update on what I've been working on, so here we go.

First, let's talk free stuff! Some of you may recall a while back I had mentioned I wrote a short story for the M/M Romance Group on Goodreads, my very first historical, "Of Honor and Love." I'm pleased to say that story is now not only posted live in the group, but also you can download a file for it on Goodreads. Go here for that: http://www.goodreads.com/ebooks/download/13701725-of-honor-and-love. It will also soon be up for free download on AllRomance eBooks, once my "publisher" account is approved. And I figure out how to upload it!

Other news on the writing front, I'm pleased to say the third novel in the Instincts series, LOVING INSTINCTS, is now in edits. We had been shooting for a July release, but as I warned before, this is a very long book (just over 100k at the moment) and we might not hit that. We're still aiming for the end of July, but it could quite possibly be an August release. I hope everyone understands and won't be too upset for the delay!

Keeping on the writing news, I'd like to mention what my current writing project is. I'm currently writing the story for Brad Delfini from the Conquest series. It's going very well, currently sitting at over 30k with more story to tell. I'm still hoping to have it finished by the end of summer with the goal of a late fall/early winter release.

And for non-writing news, but still book related, I'm going to be participating in another blog hop. If you looked over to the right, you'll see a button for the 4th of July Hop. This giveaway will run from July 1st - 4th.  For this one, I'll be offering up a free ebook copy of one of my works, winner's choice of title. Woo hoo! If you click that button, it will take you to the hop's page where you can see all the awesome authors taking part!

In one last piece of author information, I just recently found out that by "liking" author pages and books on Amazon.com, it gives them more visibility on the site. Who knew? I sure didn't. But it's an extremely helpful thing for authors in a place where it's easy to get lost in the crowd! So if you have favorite authors, please do consider liking their pages and books. They'll appreciate it! Should anyone feel inclined toward liking my page there, you can find me here: http://www.amazon.com/S.J.-Frost/e/B003WZ0LPE/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1 And I can say I most certainly will appreciate it, too!

Well, I think that about covers it. At least, it's all I can think of at the moment. Thank you again, everyone, for your patience with me disappearing for a while!

Free novella, "Of Honor and Love", now available!

Hey guys and gals!  Some of you may have heard me mention that I was writing a free novella for the  M/M Romance Group's Love is Always Write event. Well, that story, "Of Honor and Love", is now live on the group over at Goodreads! It just went up today! Woo hoo!

Just like with the Hot Summer Days event, pictures were posted by group members, along with a prompt, and then authors could pick from them to write a story. I fell in love with the image I picked the instant I saw it. The image was posted by none other than a fellow author, the wonderfully talented, Megan Derr. I was so excited when I won the pic and thank her for giving me the chance to write this story!

As soon as I knew I had this image and prompt...and actually a little before...I started writing the story because the characters, Jonathon Addison and Kazuhiro Takezaki, were coming through so strong. It takes place in 1867 Japan, and it's my first attempt at writing historical. I have to say it was challenging, invigorating, and an all around blast to write something so different than my norm! I really fell in love with the characters and the story.

If you'd like to read "Of Honor and Love", here's the link to it: http://www.goodreads.com/facebook/topic/880228-sj-frost-of-honor-and-love-5-24

You do have to be a member of the group to read it for now, but I'm actually planning on having a cover made for it and posting it for free on AllRomance Ebooks, as well. Providing I can figure out how to do that!

And here's the beautiful pic and prompt that inspired the story.

Prompt:

Dear Author,

I think this man is much more, or much less, than he seems. Who is he really, and who or what is he pretending to be? What sort of trouble will his secrets cause him? I’d be grateful if you could answer these questions for me.

Sincerely,

Megan

I also wrote a blurb for it.

Blurb:

Japan 1867…

Jonathon Addison wanted a night of companionship, to be in the arms of a man – any man – and no longer feel lonely. But he picked the wrong man, and events led him to make a twisted deal to save his own life. Now he’s in the mysterious and distant nation of Japan, where the death of another means freedom for himself.

Kazuhiro Takezaki is a lord and samurai living in a country strained and ready for rebellion. He agrees to meet with Jonathon Addison, a representative of a foreign arms dealer, in an act of keeping his enemy close. Only, Jonathon isn’t anything like he expected, and Kazuhiro can’t stop himself from being drawn toward the man’s exotic beauty.

As Jonathon and Kazuhiro’s passion takes hold, danger looms close, much of it in the secret Jonathon keeps.

And there you have it! I hope everyone who reads this story will enjoy it :D

Thank you to my readers and the M/M Romance Group!

Hey, everyone! As some of you may know, the M/MRomance Group on Goodreads was holding a Best of 2011 Awards.  I just saw the list of winners and I’m floored! I heard last night that one of the characters from my Instincts series, Titus Antonius Calidus, came in second for the Hottest Vampire Character. I was stunned, flattered, and ecstatic. Then as I looked over the list, I saw my short story, “A Little Bit Country,” also came in second for Best Free Story, and I got to experience that shock all over again.

When the nominations were going on, simply seeing my work and characters nominated was a more beautiful compliment than I could ever thank my readers for. And I’ll admit, the company I was among in these awards left me feeling star struck. So many amazing authors and so much talent! Just to be in a category with them was like a dream!  Then to place in two categories left me absolutely speechless. I’ve said more than once, an author is nothing without someone to read their stories. And I feel even more blessed because I have the best readers in the world!  All of you have given me so much support, in so many ways, the nominations in these awards included and beyond, and there aren’t words enough to express my gratitude.  Thank you, so very much!

And a huge thank you to the M/M Romance Group and the moderators there. I’m sure organizing these awards was a huge undertaking, but what a wonderful thing to do for authors, readers, and the genre!

Thank you again, to everyone who nominated my works and voted for them, and to the M/M Romance Group for hosting the awards. You all have my deepest appreciation <3 Congratulations to all the authors who were nominated and to the winners!

A Little Bit Country - FREE READ!!!

Here I am again with more fun news!  As some of you may know, the M/M Romance Group on Goodreads is hosting a special event called Hot Summer Days.  Originally it was called Hot July Days, but so many stories were submitted for the event, July couldn't hold them all!  And how many stories, you ask?  Last I saw, it was 113!  Yeah, 113 m/m romance stories being offered for FREE!  With new stories posted everyday!  How cool is that?  I say VERY!

And, today my story went up.  Yay!  I talked about it here a while back.  The story is titled "A Little Bit Country", and it features a rocker with an attitude and a good boy country singer.  Two rivals and total opposites who strive to find a common ground so they can express what's in their hearts for each other.

To access the story, here's a direct link: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/586465-sj-frost-a-little-bit-country-7-9

The only catch is, you have to be a member of the group to read it.  To be a member, all you have to do is have a Goodreads account, which is free, then go to the M/M Romance Group's page (http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/20149.M_M_Romance) and click to become a member.  One of the moderators will approve you (providing you are 18 years-old or over), and then you're in!  You'll have access to all 113 free stories!  And really, this group is absolutely fantastic.  Over 3,200 fans and authors of m/m romance gather there to play, so if you're looking for a place where you can connect with readers and authors in the genre you enjoy, this could be the place for you.

I hope everyone who reads about Ash and Jackson in "A Little Bit Country", enjoys their story!