Zombiecore - A Special Music Monday Guest Spot by Melanie Tushmore

“If this blog post doesn't make your skin crawl…it's on too tight!”

Melanie Tushmore (“Be afraid! Be very afraid!”) guest posting on the horrifyingly excellent Babes In Boyland, and “Oh yes, there will be blood!”

Greetings, ghouls and boys! Zombies! And everything in between!

For this guest post, I am pimping my brand new release A Bar Tender Tale.

“Can a horror movie fan ever find true love?”

Thank you to Piper & MJ for allowing me to spread my zombie desease – er, I mean, my love of zombies. Ahem!

In A Bar Tender Tale, my delectable hero, Nathan, is a massive zombie, horror and B-movie fan. He also loves rock music, and some might find this a frightening combination!

For your ghastly entertainment, I am going to introduce you to ZOMBIECORE.

I guarantee you will go away infected. I mean, enlightened!

We all know what a zombie is (“They won't stay dead!”) so I'll quickly explain that the 'core' tagged on the end of 'zombie' is a genre of music (like your hardcore, grindcore, anything else core.... applecore!) that has derived from punk and is entirely zombie themed.

Aaahhh! Blood chilling scream...of delight!

Let's have a quick background of rock music (surely a horror film's best sound track!) before I amble my way onto zombiecore....

I'll start with the 'trad' rock. I can mention the usual suspects such as The Misfits, White Zombie, Alice Cooper, Kiss, and, more recently, Wednesday 13 (and do stop by my blog for more on these bands!) as your more shock rock, glam rock, as scarily good entertainment.

This genre of music was described by Murderdolls guitarist Joey Jordison as “vaudeville.”

It's supposed to be fun.

On the flip side, there is a whole swathe of 1950s enthusiasts who love B-movies, horror, and rockabilly music. The term Psychobilly has been thrown around since the 1980s, and I urge you to check out bands like The Cramps, The Meteors, and Demented Are Go!

Here's a little horror movie/rockabilly gem for you!

Jesse Dayton: American guitarist, rockabilly hero and collaborator / contributor to most things "awesome" (such as Johnny Cash, The Supersuckers, Willie Nelson, to name but a few).

Horror fan trivia: Dayton was asked by Rob Zombie to contribute to his horror movie sound tracks 'The Devil's Rejects' and 'Halloween II.'

Regardless of what you think of the film, it does have an awesome sound track! Dayton created a fictional psychobilly band, Captain Clegg & The Night Creatures.

Today we are going to view, Jesse Dayton as Captain Clegg - 'Zombie A go go'

“Now they’re dancing, even though they died, they do the hip shake and they’re ZOMBIFIED!”

More from the underground Psychobilly genre – because this is an awesome video and it's nice to see a girl fronted band for a change! – Canadian Psychobilly/Garage band, The Creepshow!

The Creepshow - 'Zombies Ate Her Brain'

And now, dear readers, we move onto 'the daddy' of zombie themed bands, the very band who coined the phrase Zombiecore –

“SEND MORE PARAMEDICS!”

Send More Paramedics (name in comedic reference to 1985's 'Return Of The Living Dead') are a band from Leeds in the United Kingdom, and they described themselves as “a fusion of 80s thrash and modern hardcore punk.”

So 'Zombiecore' translates as thrash/punk to the average human.

I remember watching the promo video for 'Zombie Crew' and laughing my arse off at the lyrics (“Three weeks dead, you smell like shit!”) while also enjoying their good, steady riffs. I heartily recommend 2006 album The Awakening, and 2005 Tales Told By Dead Men (split album with band Zombie Apocalypse).

With lyrics like this, how could you not love this band?

“Back from the dead, goin' to the show; I can't feel my pulse but I'm still gonna go!”

Sadly, Send More Paramedics are no longer recording or touring. As listed on their various sites, they stated that, “It's been 6 years, but our zombie corpses are finally rotting to the point at which we can continue no more. A million thanks to you all.”

Band Page Here: http://www.myspace.com/zombiecore

Now, go listen to Send More Paramedics, and spread the zombie love!

Here's floor filler 'Zombie Crew'!

“I'm clinically deceased, but I don't give a fuck, I'm a flesh-creepin' horror and I'm ready to rock!”

'Zombie Crew'

Thank you, Babes In Boyland!

And in closing, if I may quote 'Return of the Living Dead'....

“Braaaaaaiiiinnnnnsss!”

Melanie's website – www.melanietushmore.co.uk

Melanie's blog  - http://cocktalesandhotsauce.blogspot.com

A Bar Tender Tale

Blurb:

Twenty-two year old barman Nathan is always the odd one out.

It's tough to get a date when his love of loud music, tattoos, and zombie paraphernalia usually sends potential candidates running for the hills.

Trying to find anyone who wants to spend time with him, let alone stay in and watch trashy horror movies, has always been a problem.

Then, on his day off, Nathan does a friend a favor by covering a shift at a pub, and in walks a handsome stranger who shares his love of horror.

It could be a match made in B-movie heaven, and Nathan is determined to pursue this new acquaintance, but—zombies aside—has Nathan got the guts to go on a real date?

A Bar Tender Tale - buy link on Dreamspinner Press

  

“To avoid fainting, keep repeating 'It's only an ebook...It's only an ebook'...”


~*~ 


It's always a fright delight to have you, Ms. Tushmore! You can share your music (and zombie!) love with us anytime. 


Fair readers, if you'd love the chance to sink your teeth into A Bar Tender Tale, be sure to keep an eye out for our Valentine's Day giveaway post! We have it on good authority that a certain author might have generously donated a copy to our prize stash! 


*smooches from The Babes* 

Pimpage - Rock Star Week!

Hey, everyone! I don't know if we've mentioned it, but there will be a kick ass event going on over at Joyfully Jay from Feb. 5 - 11. It's a little something called Rock Star Week and we've donated a copy of our rocker book, Moonlight Becomes You, to the prize stash. If you haven't read it yet, now is a great time to try and win it, especially with the second book in our Lucky Moon series, The Luckiest, coming out at the end of March!

Head on over to Joyfully Jay for a giveaway preview of all of the books that will be up for grabs!

Coloring Outside the Lines: Defying Genre Conventions - A Guest Post by Rick R. Reed

I admit it—I have never been one for whom the rules of genre apply.

Sometimes, I think that’s to my detriment as a writer because I know as sure as I’m sitting here in Seattle, looking out my window at a gray and damp January day, that if I would just play by the rules I’d sell more books.

Romances? Over and over, I’ve been told that it’s the happily-ever-afters that sell, or, for the love of God, if you can’t do that, at least give me a happily-for-now. And I can do that—sometimes—if my characters follow that course and it doesn’t betray my story line. I’ve been told that we need alpha males or certain types of heroes and I get that. Readers want to open a book and know what to expect.

So, writers who deliver the expected, like restaurants that reliably turn out the same food whether you’re in Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Denver or San Francisco, are rewarded. They often see predictably good sales.

So why can’t I just say the hell with it? I want to make as much money as I can, so I’ll write m/m romances with heroic men who end up in the arms of their own true loves by the end of the story, with a sterling and bright future ahead of them. Why not do that?

You know what I wrote above? About characters? That’s why.

Here’s a little secret: I am batshit crazy. My characters come to complete and vivid life for me when I’m writing about them. They are just as real to me, sometimes, as my partner, who now sits in our living room reading. I often feel as though I am simply writing down what they say or do. I live them. I breathe them. I miss them when a project is over.

The truth is they don’t lead me down conventional paths. They are like life—messy, complicated, and full of surprises, some good, some godawful.

But that’s what makes the work interesting—I write the kind of books I want to read. I am not the reader who wants everything to be predictable. I want it to be logical, which is different from predictable. I want my characters and the ones I read about to behave in a way that’s credible, but I want to be surprised.

 So I don’t write conventional genre fiction. Even my “romances”, books like Tricks, Orientation, Dignity Takes a Holiday, Out on the Net, and Caregiver are different from what you’d expect to find when you pick up a conventional romance. The characters in those books lead me to dark places, thought-provoking places, inappropriately funny places—places I don’t expect them to go, which is why they become real for me. People do not behave in conventional ways, which is what makes them paradoxically delightful and confounding.

I have come to terms with the fact that it’s difficult for me to write conventionally. I like to tell a good story and my cardinal rule is never to bore a reader (that goes for my own tastes in reading as well). While I do skirt the edges of various genres—thrillers, suspense, horror, and romance—I can’t quite allow myself to play by the rules.

And you know what? While the audience might not be as large for stuff that refuses to be pigeon-holed in a comfortable genre box, they are out there. And, along with myself, it’s for those people I write.

I close with a quote from a note I recently got from a reader, who sums up what I’m attempting to say in this blog quite well.

“I liked Dignity Takes a Holiday. Its funny and its different. It’s also a book which I can read over again and I don't generally do that with books.

“It is nice to read something different within that genre. I think one can only have so many handsome cowboys, firemen, marines and vampires etc. Not that I am complaining, :) but I think different kinds of characters and different kinds of writing raise the bar for the genre. I enjoy characters with depth who are different and I enjoy a good story. I don't enjoy 'same old' characters that can be found in any book and pages and pages of unrelenting sex scenes. After a while it gets boring. Having said that some readers do enjoy those books.

“Ignore the critics :) its nice to have diversity within the genre otherwise the genre will just become boring like Mills and Boon :(

“I suppose with writing as with anything else what is needed is some kind of balance between what you need to do to earn a wage (sell) and what you do for joy. It is nice when the two come together and you can follow your hearts desire and be paid for it.”

Indeed.

What are your thoughts? Are you more like the reader above—or do you prefer to kind of know exactly what to expect when you open a book?

Isn't She Pretty?

Piper and I just got our gorgeous new cover, care of our friend and awesome artist (and author!!) L.C. Chase. We're super excited -- and both of us are already talking about getting it printed someday for our walls of fame. LOL. First we might have to work on that famous part ;)

Just in case you forgot which one this is, I'll add the blurb and the Goodreads link.

And I was really excited that it has pink on it...hehe. I actually have a valid excuse for coloring the blog post pink this time so it matches!

And here's the blurb:

“Daddy” was never a title Rue Murray wanted, but he never thought he’d have sex with a woman either. Now he’s the unwitting father to a newborn named Alice. Between bartending and cosmetology school, Rue doesn’t have time for babies. But he can’t give her up. Trouble is, Rue needs a babysitter, and he’s running out of options. He’s on the verge of quitting school to watch Alice himself when he remembers his reclusive new neighbor, Erik.

Erik Van Nuys is a sci-fi novelist with anxiety issues to spare. He doesn’t like people in general, and babies even less. Still, with his royalties dwindling, he could use the extra cash. Reluctantly, he takes on the role of manny, and even more reluctantly, he finds himself falling for Alice and her flamboyant father.

They’re as different as any two people could be, and Alice is probably the unlikeliest baby this side of the Mississippi, but Rue has never been happier than when Alice and Erik are by his side. Until he receives an offer that finally puts all of his dreams within reach, and he’s forced to choose—the future he’s always wanted or the family he thought he never did.

Music Monday - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Today I'm featuring one of my long-time favorite bands. Seriously, I (Piper) have loved the Chili Peppers since childhood. And, so, here are some of my favorite songs...


"I don't ever wanna feel
Like I did that day
Take me to the place I love
Take me all the way..."





"What I've got you've got to get it, put it in you." ;) 





"Hit me you can't hurt me
Suck my kiss
Kiss me please pervert me
Stick with this
Is she talking dirty
Give to me sweet sacred bliss
Your mouth was made to suck my kiss..."





"Soft spoken with a broken jaw;
Step outside but not to brawl.
And autumn's sweet;
We call it "fall".
I'll make it to the moon if i have to crawl."





"We are the red hots
And we're loving lots the love me nots
The flowers in your flower pot
Are dancing on the table tops
And now I see you in a beautiful and different light..."




"Deep beneath the cover of another perfect wonder 
Where it's so white as snow 

Privately divided by a world so undecided 
And there's no where to go..."





And might I just end this post by saying, fuck yeah Anthony Kiedis! ♥

Pictures...

MJ's Day Stuck In Her House

(I think I'm going crazy. I feel a little bit of The Shining coming on)

This was taken by the news this morning in my neighborhood....OMG. For some of you, this might be yeah, every winter no biggie kind of stuff. For us, well let's just say I heard lots of snowpocalypse and snowmageddon today. Us west coasties can't handle the white stuff.

For a contrast, I took this picture with my phone when I walked to go get coffee since I was dumb and didn't go to the store last night. My roommate and I had both decided it wasn't really going to snow. Clearly, we were wrong. I like how peaceful it looks:)

That's All Folks!

It's coming...

That's right, friends! We are two weeks away from the start of the Babes in Boyland Valentine's Day Lovefest! What is it, you ask? It's a giveaway. But not just any giveaway. Thanks to the generosity of one of our publishers and a bunch of our author friends, we have a total of 20 prizes up for grabs! All but one of them are brand new releases coming out between the end of January and the beginning of March.


Who do we have to thank for these prizes? Glad you asked! 


Right now, aside from the prizes being offered up by MJ and myself, here are the peeps who've so kindly donated to our prize stash:


Less Than Three Press (Who are donating the entire collection of Valentine's Day shorts, which will be released throughout the month of February!  
K-Lee Klein
Ellis Carrington
Valentina Heart
Serena Yates
Marie Sexton
Melanie Tushmore
Tia Fielding
DeShaun Walker
Angel Martinez
SJD Peterson (who donated not one book, but two!)
Evie Kiels
Andi Anderson
Jaime Samms
Xara X. Xanakas
(and last but not least) TJ Klune


The giveaway opens to entries on February 1st and closes on February 13th with the first winner to be announced on Valentine's Day.


Stay tuned!

Spreading the love...of Zombies

Hey, all! This is Piper popping in with a quick note! I was privileged to be invited over to the The Zombiephiles for an interview after the owner read my book, Zombie Wonderland (her first M/M romance!). If you want to check out the interview, click on the link below! :D

Vaughn Surprises in Zombie Wonderland

Music Monday -- MJ's turn:)

So, since I had a song in my head all day driving me nuts, I thought I'd share it--and the rest of them as well.

Today's theme is: Songs That Get Stuck In My Head and Drive Me Crazy'. You're welcome:)

This is the song that started the whole thing...and I dont' even understand the lyrics. That's the worst part.

btw...can you say Michael? I was kind of horrified.

This one's been in my head for months on and off. Sigh...

kill me now. LOL.

I kinda liked this one...at first. A million radio plays later I was ready to scream.

This one is for Piper. You love it:)

I'm going to sign off for today! If you find yourself humming one of these later today, I'm sorry! Sort of:)

Sunday Shortie - "Moonlight Becomes You: Affirmation"

Here it is, folks, the second Moonlight Becomes You followup vignette. If you haven't read the first one, Aftermath, you should probably check that one out first. But, beware, there are spoilers all over the place. If you haven't read Moonlight Becomes You yet, and you care about being spoiled, then don't read these first.


And because of said spoilers, this entire shortie is going under the cut. Read on, and be sure to let us know what you think! :D

Writing Humor - A Guest Post by Z.A. Maxfield

It's not all banana peels...

I've been thinking about writing humor lately for a lot of reasons. My daughter routinely sends me hilarious Cracked.com links or articles from the Onion, my sons enjoy doing a little standup with dinner because they like to be the center of attention, and I -- well. I write romantic comedy novels.

It's almost as if I have two speeds, laughing and pain, and really, most of the time my characters are going to hide pain with humor. I guess that's because that's what I do.

My husband likes to tell the story of the birth of our second child. The nurses were absolutely convinced that no woman imminently likely to give birth would be lying on the bed cracking herself up, but he pointed out that the one signal he never ignores from me is high energy humor or hysterical fits of laughter.

She didn't believe him, but a quick check of my circumstances had her running down the hall for the doctor. After a quick scrub up, fifteen minutes later my kid was born.

I guess what I'm thinking about this morning is that my favorite kind of humor comes out of something true. Pain is true. Physical and emotional pain are -- well, they're truly painful. Humor allows us to transcend that pain briefly in ways that are healthy and restorative.

People are at their most humorous -- at least in my humble opinion -- when they're at their most authentic. In films like When Harry Met Sally the comedy isn't situational, like a cartoon character slipping on a banana peel or Archie Bunker flushing a toilet after Edith says, "He's in the reading room." WHMS is composed of a deeper kind of honest humor. It comes from digging into the characters' emotions, it comes from understanding human nature and how that relates to romance and the many, many ways humans find to screw it up.

I think WHMS is probably the best example of the kind of romantic comedy I aspire to write. Obviously that film is a classic, so there's plenty of room for improvement on my part. The humor is based on the characters' personalities. It's predicated on the fact that they can't get out of their own way. They grope blindly toward each other while simultaneously sabotaging all the efforts they make to find each other.

The scenes runs the gamut from smart, funny, sexy, touching, sad, heartbreaking, uplifting, hopeful, and finally, triumphant. It has comic elements laced into every possible moment, from physical humor to word dueling to sight gags. The dialogue doesn't rely on any one flavor of humor either, it is by turns sarcastic, silly, intelligent and exaggerated. 

The audience is dragged along on a particularly rocky road to love. They experience intense sometimes gut clenching empathy and humor softens the blow.

The greatest actors in the world are those that make comedy appear effortless. As in acting, writing comedy requires a deft hand. A light touch. Often it's a simple tweak to an existing situation.

From my own repertoire, I offer this very humble example. I could write this:

“What is this?” she asked, not too rudely, looking at Michael.

“It’s a meat substitute.”

“Like tofurkey? I have a lot of friends who are eating tofurkey today.”

“Well, yes, but since we were already having turkey, I thought I’d try something with a tofu substitute for duck instead.”

“Oh,” said Lily. “It’s actually very good. It does seem to taste like duck.”

Or I could write this:

 “What is this?” she asked, not too rudely, looking at Michael.

“It’s a meat substitute.”

“Like tofurkey? I have a lot of friends who are eating tofurkey today.”

“Well, yes, but since we were already having turkey, I thought I’d try something with a tofu substitute for duck instead.”

“Oh,” said Lily. “It’s actually very good.”

“Um, you know,” said Randy. “If tofu turkey is tofurkey, then this would be...”

“Tofuck,” said Devon.

“Definitely.”

“Ah, yup,” said Randy. “This would definitely be tofuck.”

I've learned one other simple trick, and often it's the most difficult thing, and that's to let the reader experience the humor instead of the characters. It's one thing to throw down a terrifically funny situation, to create perfectly humorous characters, and to have them say magnificently insightful things. It's another to have them chuckle afterwards. Or chortle. Or laugh hysterically, because stage directions change the dynamic between the words and the reader.

The thing a lot of beginning writers do, myself included, is have the characters laugh.  Actually, that slows down the dialogue enough that when I'm reading it, I get annoyed. I don't need a literary laugh track. I know when to laugh. So maybe I learned that a little too late for my earlier books, but it's that deft touch again. Something very simple that's also incredibly hard.

Let your readers experience your humor where they find it. Oddly, not all of them will find it in the same place, and forcing it on them by telling them how hilarious the characters find you... well. That's not funny.

That's just a little bit of experience from the writing cave of Z.A. Maxfield. Go forth and may you find humor in all you do!

~*~

Visit ZAM at:

http://zamaxfield.com

http://zamaxfield.blogspot.com

Coming Soon: Another "Moonlight Becomes You" short story!

Ladies and gents, it's that time again. This coming Sunday, we'll be posting another Moonlight Becomes You related short. It's more like a vignette than a true short story, but like we did with More Than Moonlight, we will eventually be putting this, it's predecessor, Aftermath (if you haven't read MBY yet, beware of spoilers!!), and the last story we have planned, together into a collective to hopefully be released at least 2-4 weeks before The Luckiest comes out (which, if you missed our upcoming releases post from the other day, should be sometime in late March or early April, if not sooner). 


Keep an eye on the blog for details!

We have a winner!

Congrats to scj, who won the copy of K-Lee Klein's Finally Home. We'll be emailing you shortly. Please reply within 48 hours to claim you prize. 


Thanks for playing, everyone! We'll be having a BIG Valentine's Day giveaway next month, so keep any eye on the blog for details! :D

The Gay-Straight Alliance on Goodreads wants To Hear Your Story

The Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) on Goodreads.com is asking for true
stories from the LGGBTQI community and their supporters and loved
ones. The request for true stories is the first part of a project
called The Hope Collection.

For this first stage of the project please follow the guidelines below
and email or PM (through Goodreads) your entries to Laddie who is one
of the GSA's moderators. The subject line of your email or PM should
read "Entry for The Hope Collection - (Your Name Here)" The email
address is nail.nibbler@gmail.com

If you have any questions you can PM Laddie or email her at the address above.


Guidelines:
1. Name - This can be any name you choose. It does not have to be your
real name.


2. Age


3. General Location - This is optional and can be as general as the
country you're in or the continent you're on.


4. Connection to the LGBTQ community - Whether you are gay, lesbian,
transgender, etc. or if you have a friend or family who is.


5. Your True Story - Tell us about a defining moment in your life, in
5000 words or less, as it relates to the LGBTQ community. Examples: A
coming out story, supporting a loved one, finding love, etc.


Once your email or PM is received you'll get a conformation message in
return within the next 24 hours or so, letting you know that it was
received. The deadline to send your true stories in is January 31st.
After January 31st an email will be sent out letting you all know what
the second stage of the project is.


Everyone is invited and encouraged to send a true story in, so if you
know someone who you think would be interested please pass this
message on and let them know about the The Hope Collection project.


The Gay-Straight Alliance is looking forward to reading all of the
great stories that are just waiting to be told.

The Babes' Upcoming Release Schedule

We've gotten questions about release dates here and there, so I (Piper) have decided to put together a release schedule, with blurbs included, so y'all know what releases we have coming out in the future, and more importantly, when. :) 

Title: Cold Moon (Book #3 in MJ's Moon Series)

Author: M.J. O'Shea

Release Date: Jan/Feb, 2012

Category: Novel

Blurb: Charlie Fitzgerald is sick of being the kid who nobody takes seriously. His older brother Colin is off in New York City fighting bad vampires and other trouble causers and Charlie wants in on the action. He thinks it’s impossible until he overhears something that seems to be his perfect opportunity. The Lycan council is looking for a human emissary--someone to take a message of peace to a volatile werewolf who lives in the dark forests of Romania. Charlie decides that emissary will be him.

Xan, or X’andrien as he’s known to his people, is furious. His best friend, who also happens to be one of the Fitzgeralds his family has vowed to protect, has gone missing. When they find out where Charlie has gone, Xan has to chase him all the way to Europe and eventually save his stubborn butt in the middle of the night in the freezing cold Romanian forest. He never realized how much his best friend and charge meant to him until he was nearly killed.

Together, they end up stuck in the middle of a political mess that includes the lycans, the werewolves, and some very nosy vampires. If the two of them manage to make it out alive, they may realize that stuck together or not, years of friendship for one stubborn hunter and an equally bullheaded dryad protector can turn into a love neither of them is willing to live without.

~*~

Title: The Key (Sequel to MJ's HSD story, Bridges)

Author: M.J. O'Shea

Release Date: 2/8/2012

Category: Short story

Blurb: Brooklyn and Dallas have been together ever since the night six months ago when they kissed under the stars on top of Dallas' old trampoline. They spent that summer planning their life together in college. But things haven't quite gone as planned, and their relationship ... well, it kind of isn't going at all.

Brooklyn is terrified that Valentine's Day will be his last chance to convince Dallas to stay.

~*~

Title: Giving In (Sequel to my HSD story, Wanting)

Author: Piper Vaughn

Release Date: 2/8/2012

Category: Short story

Blurb: It's Jonah and Laurie's first Valentine's Day. What could be a better way to celebrate than with a little kinky superhero role-play? According to Laurie, pretty much anything. Bummed, but unwilling to pressure his boyfriend into something he doesn't want to do, Jonah resigns himself to celebrating a more traditional Valentine's Day. But Jonah isn't the only one who hates to see his boyfriend unhappy...

~*~

Title: Promise in a Kiss

Author: Piper Vaughn

Release Date: 3/7/2012

Category: Short story

Blurb: At the age of ten, Darren promised he would love his friend Adam forever, and that they would someday marry, and sealed that promise with a kiss. One month later, his friend was gone, and their promise lost to the passage of time.

Years later, Darren can't forget that long ago promise, and at the urging of a friend, decides to take a chance and track down the boy he once loved...

~*~

Title: The Luckiest (Book #2 in the Lucky Moon Series, after Moonlight Becomes You.)

Author: Piper Vaughn & M.J. O'Shea

Release Date: March 27, 2012

Category: Novel

Blurb: Rock star Nick Ventura has finally hit rock bottom. Jealous of his brother’s new love, he starts overindulging in his usual vices and winds up crashing his car into a department store in a drunken haze. Publicly humiliated and on the verge of jail time, he enters into a court-ordered rehabilitation program.

Nutritionist Luka Novak is flamboyant, effeminate, the type of gay man that bisexual Nick would normally sneer at. His sunny nature hides a deep hurt from a previous relationship. Luka knows he should be wary of Nick’s reputation, but he’s drawn to Nick despite himself. Their tentative friendship turns into romance, but Luka soon comes to realize that Nick's fear of losing his bad boy reputation means he'll probably never go public with their relationship.

Nick never thought he needed anyone, until Luka Novak came into his life. Now he has to reconcile his carefree past with the future he suddenly wants more than anything. And the first lesson he has to learn is how to become the man that both he and Luka need him to be, rather than stay the boy he always was. Alone.

~*~

Title: Stroke!

Author: M.J. O'Shea

Release Date: March, 2012

Category: Short story

Blurb: For Owen Peters, rowing is life—college classes are just an afterthought. So when Elijah Lukas, a hotshot sophomore, tries to take Owen’s rightful place on the varsity boat, he’s threatened, enraged, and needs a place to let off steam. The only person Owen can turn to is his online friend Davis, who he was randomly matched with on a game nearly a year before.

Davis is friendly, nonthreatening, and best of all he’s on the other side of the country and far removed from the politics of the crew team. Soon, though, Owen starts to feel more for his flirtatious online pal than simple friendship. Between the battle on the water and an impossible new crush, Owen is starting to wonder how he’ll make it through the school year. 

~*~

Title: Coming Home

Author: M.J. O'Shea

Release Date: April, 2012

Category: Novel

Blurb: Dead broke and newly homeless, Tallis Carrington is on the walk of shame to end all walks of shame. Back to Rock Bay, where he’d once ruled as high school aristocracy with his band of jocks, and tormented a freshman named James Barry. Until a scandal reduced his family's name to little better than a curse word. He needs a job, and fast, so he can put the town in his rearview mirror once again. But the people of Rock Bay haven’t forgotten him, or the kid he used to be.

The only person in town willing to overlook his less than stellar reputation is Lex, the new coffee shop owner, who seems to despise Tally based on his reputation alone. Tally is desperate, so he takes the job, not understanding Lex’s hot and cold routine until he discovers that his gorgeous boss isn’t the newcomer he thought, but the very same kid he used to torture in school. Now he’ll pull out all the stops to prove he was never really the jerk everyone thought him to be. And if he can win Lex’s heart, the rest of the town should be a piece of coffee cake.

~*~

Title: One Small Thing

Author: Piper Vaughn & M.J. O'Shea

Release Date: May 4, 2012

Category: Novel

Blurb: “Daddy” was never a title Rue Murray wanted, but he never thought he’d have sex with a woman either. Now he’s the unwitting father to a newborn named Alice. Between bartending and cosmetology school, Rue doesn’t have time for babies. But he can’t give her up. Trouble is, Rue needs a babysitter, and he’s running out of options. He’s on the verge of quitting school to watch Alice himself when he remembers his reclusive new neighbor, Erik.

Erik Van Nuys is a sci-fi novelist with anxiety issues to spare. He doesn’t like people in general, and babies even less. Still, with his royalties dwindling, he could use the extra cash. Reluctantly, he takes on the role of manny, and even more reluctantly, he finds himself falling for Alice and her flamboyant father.

They’re as different as any two people could be, and Alice is probably the unlikeliest baby this side of the Mississippi, but Rue has never been happier than when Alice and Erik are by his side. Until he receives an offer that finally puts all of his dreams within reach, and he’s forced to choose—the future he’s always wanted or the family he thought he never did.