Whetting the Appetite - Cover Reveal (...belated)

I thought I showed you guys this cover weeks ago, but I just went back through my posts, and... not so much, 'cause I suck.

I can't believe it, either, because OH. MY. GOD. You guys, this is the best cover ever. I always say that, I know, but SRSLY, look at it!

I mean, it was amazing enough to get to share an anthology with one of my very favorite writers, who also happens to be one of my best friends. And to have the brilliant V.L. Locey agree to write a forward for it. And to have that anthology accepted for publication by the fantastic J.M. of JMS Books. And to have it be edited by Belea Keeney, who forever holds a place in my heart as my very first professional editor and is one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet (and also, incidentally, is the one who introduced me to J.M., and in a roundabout way got me started on this whole editing gig, as well).

All of that wasn't swoon-worthy enough, apparently. No, in addition to all that, I get this simply brilliant cover to add to my catalog. (And if we sell enough ebooks, it will go to print publication, and I'm so excited about that possibility that I can't even words.)

When? Why, I'm glad you asked! Whetting the Appetite will be available from JMS Books (and the usual complement of ebook distributors) on March 23rd! I did my final proofread of the ebook just the other day, and there are still stories in there -- despite many reviews and revisions and knowing them all like the back of my hand -- that make me tear up, shiver, laugh out loud, and sigh with contentment. You are not going to want to miss this book, I promise!

Lynn and I are probably going to have a Facebook release "party" that day or close to it, so if you enjoy that sort of thing, make sure you're following one of us on Facebook. And I expect there will be some blog touring and such as well, so stay tuned!

Here's the official blurb:

Romance and erotica authors Lynn Townsend and Elizabeth L. Brooks have joined forces to assemble this collection of "flash-fiction" ultra-shorts (most under 2000 words), generated in response to prompts offered by our fans and friends and touching on dozens of aspects of lust, love, and desire.

Subgenres in the collection span contemporary, historical, steampunk, fantasy, sci-fi, and horror, taking you from a modern living room, to the high seas, to Victorian London, to planets and times at the edge of imagination. These stories explore relationships all along the romantic and erotic spectrums, including the thrill of a one-night stand, the fierce burn of rivalry, the heady flush of new romance, the intense trust of BDSM, and all the pros and cons of long-term partnerships. The characters defy conventional gender boundaries, including a preoperative transmale, several aliens, and a few characters whose genders are left open to reader interpretation. Sexual orientations on display vary nearly as widely, with groupings that include m/f, m/m, f/f, and f/f/m -- not to mention those aliens!

With forty-six stories to choose from, there's something here for every moment and mood, something to whet any appetite.

Listen to Me!

I found out yesterday that Duty and Desire, which contains my short story "Dead on Her Feet" (and Lynn's "Snake Dance") has been released as an audio edition, either on CD or digitally from audible.com! (The Kindle edition, by the way, is on sale right at this moment for only $2.99, if you've been on the fence about picking this up!)

The audiobook has different cover art from the original book; an interesting change. The book is aimed at a primarily female audience, so I wouldn't have thought a naked woman would be a selling point, but maybe more men listen to audiobooks? (Something about the woman gives me an Uncanny Valley twitch in any case; the hair, maybe?)

Whatever; I'm not a marketer or a cover artist, so maybe they know something I don't. And anyway: audio version; the cover probably doesn't matter as much as it would for a physical book.

As far as I know, this is my first audio release, so that's worth noting, right? It's pretty exciting! If you like audiobooks, check it out!

Cover: Human Aspect

Human Aspect will be coming out from Prizm Books (Torquere's YA imprint) in about a month, on June 19 -- and I just got the cover!

I am squee! Human Aspect is one of my favorite stories I've ever written, for many different reasons, and I'm thrilled for it to see the light. Here's the blurb I've written for it (though it may change somewhat before publication):

Dauch has never doubted his clan's wisdom: humans are fit only as prey and slaves to the shapechanging lochmari. Nor has he ever doubted his place in his clan: as the Warleader's son and heir, his only true rival is his despised cousin, Afel. But when, on the very cusp of manhood, he spies human lovers in the lochmari forest, he is suddenly faced with questions he had never thought to ask -- and a dangerous new infatuation. Dauch hopes to find a way to embarrass his rival and gain the woman he wants, but his anger and obsession will only pave the path to his doom unless he can learn something no lochmar has ever known before: how to love.

For my followers here who aren't actually regular readers, this is a good one to grab -- it's a fantasy coming-of-age story with a (m/f) romance element, but there's no explicit "on-screen" sex.

I'll be posting some excerpts and possibly running a contest in June, so be on the lookout!

Trailer Park

On the off chance you hadn't heard already, I made a book trailer for Brainsss. If you haven't seen it yet, check it out (sorry, LJ folks; the Blogger/LJ crosspost strips out everything but text. But you can find it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRdQSbMJi_E):

There were some interesting challenges I had to get through to make this trailer.

First and foremost was deciding to do it at all. I really don't like the sound of my own voice that much, and I knew making a trailer like this was going to involve recording myself and then listening to the playback a whole bunch of times. I even thought about trying to find someone else to do the story summaries.

The next (and ongoing) challenge was learning the software. My laptop came with iMovie installed, but this was the first time I'd ever fired it up. (Yeah, seriously.) Though to be honest, this was a pretty minor challenge. I'm not a programmer any more, but a) I am not afraid of screwing around with software to see what it will do, and b) Apple generally makes a pretty tight product. I had some minor issues with figuring out how to do a couple of things, and I was minimally annoyed by a couple of limitations (which is why most really dedicated video bloggers use paid software, like Final Cut Pro). The biggest software challenge I had was when I was exporting the finished movie -- the number of options were enormous, and it took me a while to find a reasonable balance between resolution quality and file size. (My options ranged from a 6G HD-quality movie down to a barely-readable iPhone version for only 150K. The one I settled on is around 20M.)

Then I had to find the pictures. I couldn't just put up the book cover and leave it there the whole time if I was going to be reading all those individual story teasers -- I knew the thing would clock in at over two and a half minutes, and so the viewer would need something to look at. Zombie pictures were the obvious choice, but... well. There's a ton of zombie pictures on the web, but zombie pictures that are in the public domain, or else CC licensed for commercial use? Not so many. But I lucked out and found several that looked great, and in a few cases, were even particularly suited the stories I paired them with.

I was particularly pleased with the images that went with "W.O.L." (which includes a scene with a character getting his first look at a zombie through a thick window), "Delicious Caleb" (just for that tongue sticking out, really -- the zombie seems to be saying, "Mm, delicious!"), and "Two Guys..." (the image is not only silly enough to match the story's irreverent tone, but the main character has this thing about showers, so it was particularly appropriate).

The final challenge was in the music. I was originally going to let it slide without any music at all -- once again, there's this problem of finding something licensed for commercial use, and I'm not an audiophile, so I didn't relish the prospect of spending potential hours listening to public domain tracks so I could find one that would suit.

But then Lynn (yes, the same Lynn who wrote "W.O.L.") invited me to her Christmas party, which featured live music performed by one of Lynn's favorite musicians, Jonah Knight. (Yes, I am in that "groupie" picture.) Jonah writes creepy/horror/sci-fi/fantasy music. And between the two sets, I was chatting with him, and I said, "So I'm editing this book of zombie romance stories, and would you be willing to let me use "The Dead Crawl From the Earth, Alive" as my background music on the trailer, if I credit you?" and somewhat to my surprise, he said yes. So there you have it.

Though I can't take credit for the bit at the end, where I finish talking and the lyrics you hear are, "It seems you can't control the undead." It worked out almost perfectly like that, and I was so happy about it that I futzed with the timing (by no more than about half a second) to make it work out more precisely.

In the end, aside from still not liking the sound of my recorded voice, I'm really happy with the way the video turned out. Almost as happy as I am with the book, which should be released on January 2. Mark your calendars and plan to set aside some of your Christmas money!

The Sinner's Star - Release!

It's another release day! My story, "The Sinner's Star", is out in the anthology Ink from Torquere Press!

The anthology is about guys with tattoos -- yummy! -- and my story in particular is about Dope, an ex-con who thought his best friend, Rat, had died as they were fleeing a crime scene... right up until Rat shows up on his doorstep with a new tattoo, a lot of scars, a .45... and a grudge.

I really like this story. I'd had the notion for it almost as soon as the call for it came out, but I couldn't get the characters to gel, couldn't get them to go where I needed them to go. So I shrugged it off and put it away and went on with life. I came back to it about a month after my husband and I separated, only a week before the call deadline, and apparently the spark I'd been missing was a little extra anger to put me in touch with Rat, because once I started, the whole thing came boiling out all at once.

I do believe I promised you some release-day excerpts, did I not? This is the opening, not much changed since the taste I posted back at the end of August:

The knock on his door was staccato and brief, the kind of knock that heralds only bad news. Still, Dope did not expect to open the door and find himself staring straight into the muzzle of a .45.

Dope had stared down more than a few barrels in his life -- he'd come up hard, and things had only served to make him harder over the years -- but it wasn't the kind of thing a man ever got used to. At best, he'd learned to hide the reaction, the way his stomach flopped and his balls curled up tight and his throat suddenly went dry. Dope's outward reaction was pretty good by now. His jaw clenched and he rocked back on his heels, but he managed to avoid actually taking a step.

One thing he'd learned, last time he'd been in the joint, was that it was a mistake to look at the killing end of a weapon pointed at you. You had to look at the man holding it. Look him in the eyes. Sometimes, if you were a big, mean-looking sonuvabitch, like Dope was, if you looked hard enough, it would make them back down. And if not... Well, it showed in their eyes first, before they attacked.

Dope didn't figure any warning would be fast enough to matter when the weapon was a gun instead of a prison shiv, but he looked up anyway, let his gaze follow that cold steel barrel to the hand holding it, along the arm, up the neck to the face. The face had a lot of scars, especially on the left side, which was so pitted and seamed as to be grotesque. But it was the eyes Dope was looking for. These eyes were chocolate brown under the narrowed lids, cold as ice, pitiless as a crack whore on her last fix, and... familiar.

And another one, since you'd probably already read that back in August:

Rat smiled thinly. "You like my ink, Dope? Tats don't set well on scars, but my guy was one of the best." His free hand lifted, his thumb absently brushing over the design.

"God, Rat." Dope's throat was thick. "What the fuck did you do to earn a Sinner's Star?" A Sinner wasn't anyone you wanted to cross, if you were inside. Even the guards gave the Sinners a wide berth. Most of them were lifers, or the kind of repeat offenders who might leave, but you knew they'd be back inside of six months.

"None of your damn business, Dope," Rat snapped.

Amazon and B&N aren't showing the listing yet, but I'll update my assorted links when it shows up. In the meantime, the ebook is available at both Torquere's site and on All Romance Ebooks, and probably some other distributors quicker on their feet than Amazon and Barnes and Noble. And in a few weeks, it'll be available in print as well, from Amazon. I hope you enjoy it!

Notes

I'm back! I took last week off for Thanksgiving, and quite a good holiday it was for me, despite some peculiar car trouble and then my house's heater giving up the ghost.

Nothing particularly exciting is happening today, so I thought I'd just drop a few little notes for you.

To start with: Next week will be the release of Ink from Torquere Press, including my story, "The Sinner's Star".

If I could write a blurb for "Sinner's Star", it would go something like this:

Five years ago, Dope's best friend, Rat, died as they were fleeing the scene of a crime they'd helped commit -- or so he thought. But now Rat's turned up on Dope's doorstep with a new tattoo, a .45, and a grudge... against Dope!

Tune in next week for the official release and some excerpts from the story!

***

Next up: If you recall, the amazing Kristina Wright had set up a blog for Duty and Desire; my interview is live now, so check it out: http://dutyanddesire.wordpress.com/2012/11/16/interview-elizabeth-brooks/

***

And finally: You guys, Brainsss is starting to pull together, and I couldn't be more excited if I'd written all these stories myself! They're so good. I seriously can't wait!

Got My Hands On A Hard Co-

-py. Hard Copy. Where did you think that title was going? (I hope it was somewhere naughty.)

I got a package (heh) in the mail yesterday containing my two contributor copies of Seductress. That makes it the second time I've actually held a volume in my hands and seen my name in honest-to-gosh print! (And two more yet to come before the year is out!)

Oh, my goodness, this is a pretty book. And while the official release date isn't until next week, it looks like the print paperback is available now -- and is only one dollar more than the Kindle or Nook versions, in any case.

And for those of you who are following me here because you're loyal friends, but not really into the "gay romance" thing -- Seductress has no m/m stories in it (though I think there's one or two f/f), and leans far more on the "erotica" than the "romance" part of the genre. In fact, many of its stories (including my own "Succubus, Inc") are closer to erotic horror than erotic romance.

If you're intrigued, but not sure, come back next week -- I'll be posting some choice snippets from the story in celebration of the official release.

Four Things Make a Post

I got the cover art for the Weird Science anthology, coming out next month! Check it out!

Is that not cool? And it's pretty much exactly what I envisioned as the "show" set for my story, "Doctor Tentacle and the Pheromone Incident", which is about a man who plays a mad scientist on a TV show, and the show's gopher/intern, who just might be a real mad scientist in his spare time... It was a fun story to write, and I can't wait to see it in print!

***

I know I promised you pictures from the Roanoke Pride Festival, but... we didn't get there until late in the day, and either half the vendors had already left because of the rain, or else it was much lamer than last year. And to make matters worse, the friend I was with had an asthma attack from all the cigarette smoke in the air. So we only stayed for about an hour, and no, I didn't spot Jesse.

I did kiss a queer, though. I made some quip to my friend about putting onions on my cheeseburger "because it's not like I'm going to kiss anyone today, anyway," and the sweet, 60-ish man running the burger stand said, "Don't be too sure of that!" and leaned over the counter and puckered up.

***

And in further news, I've signed on as a part-time editor with JMS Books. I'm excited for this -- I've met JM a couple of times in person, and she's fantastic, and it's also great to be expanding that part of my resume.

***

And finally, the contest! My winner is umchic on LiveJournal -- drop me an email at liz (dot) brooks (at) gmail (dot) com and I'll send you a copy of Assumption of Desire!

Release Day: Masks Off!

It's release day for Masks Off! from Torquere Press, which includes my short story, "What You Are"! Damn, but I love that cover!

I had to write an ultra-short blurb for my story to include with the book blurb, but if it were a standalone story, here's how its blurb would read:

Cory has been hiding in a double closet since he was fourteen years old -- both as a gay, and as a shifter, going to great lengths to avoid being outdoors when the moonlight might touch him, and to pretend his longing for Leon, with whom he shares a slow elevator several days a week, is one-sided. But one night at a masquerade ball changes all that when a devastatingly appealing man in a leopard mask sweeps Cory off his feet, then knocks the world out from under him with a single whisper: I know what you are.

It's currently available at the Torquere bookstore, and should be up by the end of the day at the usual distributors (Amazon, AllRomanceEbooks, etc.). It will also (soon) be available in print! I'll update links as they become available! Pass the word and check it out!

Update: It's gone live at AllRomanceEBooks! (9:00am)

Update: And it's finally gone live at Amazon.Com. (9:30pm)

Speaking Of...

Missed a week. Sorry about that -- bad writer!

The last month has been really hard on my writing; the sum-up is that my husband and I are separating. It's a relatively amicable split, but there was some drama that led up to the decision, and a lot of planning and coordination and logistics (and maybe a little more drama) afterward, none of which has left me in the mood to think about romance and sex. (And just to complicate matters, the Day Job has been completely insane, my car broke down, and then my son turned up sick.)

I'm hoping, once he starts to get settled into his new apartment (i.e., acquires a minimum of furniture) and we all start to figure out our new routines, that I'll be able to plan writing time for myself again. Soon, hopefully; I have four different Calls for Submissions in my folder waiting pathetically for me to do something with them before their deadlines pass.

***

Speaking of Calls for Submission -- I've proposed (and will be editing) a new anthology for Torquere! Check it out:

Zombie stories are hot right now... and here at Torquere Press we think they could be even hotter! Get your delicious brains churning, and give us your unique, zombie-themed love stories! Is your hero a zombie-slayer -- or is he in love with one? Maybe your hero is desperately searching for a cure to save an infected loved one. Maybe he's the one making the zombies in the first place. Maybe he's even a zombie himself!

These are the stories we want to showcase in He Loves Me for My Brainsss, a new anthology of sexy, romantic m/m stories about men finding love in the face of a zombie crisis. All settings and heat ratings are welcome, but we're looking for strong characters in fully realized, happy-ending stories with a little more zing to them than the "survivors meet and fall in love" stock standard. Note: While it is true that the undead can be sexy, and it is also true that part of the fun of zombies is their gross-out factor, we ask that you avoid combining these two elements directly, in order to appeal to the widest possible audience.

Any word count from 5000 words and up is welcome, no stories shorter than the minimum please. Stories should be sent to submission@torquerepress.com with Brainsss Anthology in the subject line. Deadline for submission is October 1, 2012 for a projected January 2013 publication. Stories will be contracted for first time print and electronic rights, and payment will be $50.00 US plus contributor copies. Please see our general submission guidelines for how to format your submission.

That call, along with Torquere's other open calls, is posted on their Special Calls page, and the general submission guidelines are here. I'm feeling pretty squee about it -- I hope it gets some good submissions! Surely you want to submit a story!

***

And speaking of anthologies, Masks Off! will be released next week! Shall we have a contest to celebrate? Post a comment here or on my Facebook page between now and next Wednesday, and I'll... think of something nice for you. Not sure exactly what, yet. Let's see how many folks enter. ;-)

I'm totally excited -- this will be my first "real" print publication! (Though the two Cleis collections coming out this fall were written and accepted before this one, but Cleis has a slower publication timeline.) I shall have to create a vanity shelf!

***

And speaking of the Cleis books, I went up to my local Books-a-Million on Saturday and finally met Kristina Wright face-to-face! She's the editor for Duty and Desire, in which I have a story and which will be coming out... either September or November, depending on whose information is correct. She's also been the editor for several of the books that Lynn has contributed to, so I was already predisposed to like her before I got there. But it turns out I'd have loved her anyway -- she was fantastic.

As were, I should add, the BaM employees who hung around chatting with us. The store manager was pushing for us to host a release party for Duty and Desire at his store, including Kristina and me and Lynn and maybe another couple of semi-local authors. It could happen; I'll let you know if it does!

New Duty and Desire Cover!

Whoops, the cover I posted before for Duty and Desire has been changed. I can't complain, though -- much as I liked the other cover, I like this one even better!

Isn't that just delicious? Still no actual relation to my story, which is about a female soldier, but the punching bag and taped hands give it the same vibe as the introduction to Captain America in The Avengers, which I'm mildly obsessed with, so I heartily approve.

(This might be where I sheepishly confess one of the reasons I haven't written in way too long is that some nontrivial portion of my writing brain is fixated on a story about the Cap that is so horrifyingly Mary Sue that it must not be allowed to ever see the light of day. And yet...)

Yum.

Ahem. I was talking about Duty and Desire. Right. Anyway, the Table of Contents has been updated slightly, too, so take a gander and tell me a few of these story titles don't make you curious!

Introduction: Beyond the Uniform
The Long Ride Home - Delilah Devlin
Night Witch - Connie Wilkins
Shattered - Shanna Germain
The Grunt and the Ditty Bop - Craig J. Sorensen
Fighting for Fresno - Ericka Hiatt
Homecoming - Kelly Maher
Passing Out Passion - Lucy Felthouse
Against the Wall - Catherine Paulssen
The Thunder of War - Anya Richards
Sergeant Rae - Sacchi Green
Dead on Her Feet - Elizabeth L. Brooks
Out of Time - J.K. Coi
Done - Charlotte Stein
Wilco - Christine d’Abo
Christmas Presents - Mercy Loomis
Snake Dance - Lynn Townsend
Home - Michelle Augello-Page
For Better or Worse - Kristina Wright

And -- as if that wasn't enough -- Kristina, the editor, says that while Amazon is still listing this as being released in November, she thinks it will actually come out in September. I'll let you know as soon as I have something concrete!

Masks Off! Cover

Whoo-hoo! I just got the cover for Masks Off! and it's a beaut!

Is that not squee-worthy?

Masks Off! combines shapeshifters and masquerades, and features my short, "What You Are". It will be available in e-book form from Torquere Press on August 1, and in print form (squee!) shortly thereafter! Links will be posted as I have them!

Covered and Reviewed!

Item the first! Amazon has both of the Cleis Press anthologies available for pre-order, and pictures over the covers, so check them out! Seductress (the collection of succubus stories) is due out October 16 (just in time for Hallowe'en!) and Duty and Desire (military theme) will be released on November 13 (right after Veteran's Day). And holy cow, but check out those covers!

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Item the second! Top 2 Bottom Reviews has been featuring Torquere Press authors all month, and today happens to be my day! There's a long interview with me right at the top of their page today.

And even better still, they reviewed Safe Harbor to go with the interview, and not only did they like it, they loved it, giving it a five-kiss rating! I'm completely thrilled -- I love all my bookish children, but Safe Harbor holds a special place in my heart, and I don't think it gets nearly enough love -- but check out these quotes from the review:

I picked up this book thinking I would read a few chapters tonight and finish it later, not realizing I would become immediately caught up in the interesting lives of her characters, and not be able to put the book down until I finished it hours later.

Both Rafe and Tyver are very well-written characters that I found myself liking immediately. ...Watching both of them grow from boys to men was very enjoyable for me and I adored how deep the love and friendship they had for each other.

I can only bounce with excitement! Go check out the interview, and if you haven't read it yet, please consider giving Safe Harbor a chance -- and if you have read it, please take a minute to rate it -- at Goodreads, at Amazon.Com, or wherever you bought it -- to help convince others to give it a try!

Duty and Desire Cover

So apparently Kristina Wright, the editor for the Duty and Desire anthology (wherein resides my story "Dead on Her Feet"), is at BookExpo America in New York this week. BEA is an event that a librarian friend of mine attends every year, and that one of these years I'm going to find a way to attend.

Kristina has been posting pictures and updates on her Facebook, and yesterday morning, she put up this shot of the Cleis Press/Viva Editions booth:

Why, what's that, with the very hot guy in the camo giving us a come-hither look? Why, it's the cover for Duty and Desire!

It's my first glimpse of the cover art, and I must say, it's pretty awesome. I can't wait to hold it in my hands! I expect I'll eventually get a better image to post, but in the meantime... squee!

Cover Art and CONTEST!!

Check it out -- two posts in one day! I just got the cover art for "Assumption of Desire" and as my editor said, Ooh la la!

I love everything about this -- the linked hands, the feather boa (which I specifically requested -- you'll have to read the story to find out why!), even the font choices fill me with glee. (Seriously -- check out the way the 'f' in of manages to link the title's words and simulate the boa. I'm in love.)

There's a cover that does its job of making me want to read the story underneath... and I wrote the dang thing!

"Assumption of Desire" is scheduled for release from Torquere Press in two weeks. I think we should have a contest to celebrate, don't you?

Let's keep it simple: anyone who comments (on the blog, Livejournal, or Facebook fan page) between now and when "Assumption" is released will have a chance to win a copy of the story!