Elin Gregory

Sunday is here so I’m making a hasty hasty six post. This might be the last for Cynfal and Gwion for a while so I’ll need to design myself a new Six Sunday drawing. I’m not sure whether to do pirates or something else.

Anyhow – here’s the link and here’s the six continuing pretty much from where we left of last week. If you like romance – sorry – if you like het – um, sorry – if you like flowey language – omg sorry. Click the cut to read more.

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Hello peeps! Today I’m quite enjoying the sensation of being the only person in the house without a hangover.  It’s a trade off, you see. In return for not dancing on the tables at a party, I enjoy being able to see and do things without my hands shaking for the next three days. My hangovers are EPIC and to be avoided if at all possible.

Getting roaring drunk and spending New Years Day in a haze of pain and aspirin is a tradition almost everywhere but in Wales we used to have something else to make the season jolly. Look at these two young folk:

They are carrying ‘calennings’ a name derived from the Latin ‘kalends’ meaning the first day of the month.

Looks just like a hedgehog on a stick with a holly garnish doesn’t it. Maybe they are waiting for someone to come with the brandy and set fire to it too.

The calenning is made from an apple pierced with four sticks and stuck all over with oat or wheat grains, if poor, or cloves, if rich, and dressed up with greenery. The young lads would  carry them from door to door wishing neighbours good luck and begging for pennies by singing this cheery little song:

Dydd calan yw hi heddiw,
Rwy’n dyfod ar eich traws
I ofyn am y geiniog,
Neu grwst, a bara a chaws.
O dewch i’r drws yn siriol
Heb nesid dim o’ch gwedd;
Cyn daw dydd calan eto
Bydd llawer yn y bedd.

This translates as “Today is the start of the new year, and I have come to you to ask for money, or pastry, or bread and cheese. O come to your door smiling without waking anyone up; Before the next arrival of the new year many will be dead”. This coupled with their facial expressions gives you an idea of how much fun Victorian Wales was.

But I am going to have fun today. I have a copy of Blessed Isle by Alex Beecroft to read and a box of delicious sugar dusted rose and lemon rahat lakoum to eat. Later I am going to edit A Taste of Copper then see if I can find a home for it.

Best wishes for the new year my dears. May 2013 bring you everything you could wish for and a whole bunch of goodies that you haven’t even begun to imagine yet.

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How did it go then? I hope you all enjoyed a pleasant stress free Crimbo and that you had fun. Now we’re back to normal and it’s time for another six sentences.

Six Sunday  is on its last few weeks and that is a very sad thing, but Skye Warren is interested in setting up an alternative, depending on levels of interest. I’ve signed up, how about you? [I’m sort of making the assumption that it’s only other authors who read these posts, but I think it’s quite a fair one.]

Anyhow – to business.  Last weeks post ended with Cynfal finally finagling his way into Gwion’s bed. Gwion appeared to be calmly going back to sleep. Yeah right.

I’m putting this week’s six behind a cut because sixth century Dark Ages warriors had never heard the term “euphemism” and I don’t want to upset the easily upsettable.

~~~

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Here we go again. Six Sunday and a chance to romp around the ‘net reading bits of fiction. There might not be as many authors as usual this week – it’s almost Christmas and anyone with a bit of sense will be scrubbing floors and stuffing poultry – but there will be a LOT.

I’ve almost run out of bits of A Fierce Reaping so I’m gong to leave you with a little bit where Cynfal’s plans begin to pay off. Gwion’s scrap with Moried was more dangerous than they thought and Cynfal managed to persuade Cynon that Gwion needed a 24/7 body guard. After that all it takes is for Gwon to have a nightmare on a particularly cold night.

###

Gwion shivered, whether from nerves or chill Cynfal didn’t much care, but made no violent objection when Cynfal gathered him in and put and arm across his waist.

“Better?” he asked.

Gwion’s “yes,” was a soft whisper that surely hadn’t needed the deep breath that preceded it. Slowly, a muscle at a time, Cynfal could feel the tension ebbing from his body, the taut belly softening under his hand, his spine curving to fit against Cynfal’s front. Cynfal drew him closer and Gwion lay against him, heavy and boneless as if he was asleep. His hand moved and covered Cynfal’s, gripped lightly then relaxed.

###

Merry Christmas everyone – see you post-pudding.

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My guest today is Cameron Lawton – a Scots-Irish, French citizen, ex-RAF, ex Merchant Navy, ex- teacher and all round fascinating person.

Cameron’s latest M/M romance, Cancel Christmas, was published on 15th December.

It continues the story of Captain Rory Sumner and his colleague Sgt Jack Jones who continue to deepen their relationship while investigating the death of a soldier in Germany.

~~~

Elin: Thanks for visiting Cameron.

Cameron: My pleasure, Elin – thanks for inviting me.

Elin: Short vs long – which do you prefer to read?

Cameron: Either and both. What I really don’t like is a tale that would have been a great short story or novella but has been “padded out” to make it a novel. I usually start out with a short from an author I don’t know, just to get a taste and then go for their longer works once I like them.

Elin: Would you say that a short story is harder to write than a long one?

Cameron: Both have their constraints. It is possible to convey a world of feeling and relationship in a short story but it’s harsh. Every word that isn’t working its hardest has to be cut. In a novel the author has the luxury of being able to develop characters, play interaction, deepen relationships (or break them) which can be difficult to keep up. I usually hit half-way point and want to gabble on til it’s finished, The End.

Elin:  Are there any places that you love that you feel the urge to immortalise in your fiction?

Cameron: I always write about places I’ve been. Having travelled extensively, I’m lucky to have a lot to draw on. My big wish is to write about the French village where I live – perhaps with a murder mystery attached. It would be wonderful to “disguise” my neighbours and take my readers walking around my favourite places here.

Elin: Villains are incredibly important in fiction since they challenge the main protagonists and give them something to contend with beyond the tension of a developing relationship. What sort of villains do you prize?

Cameron: Exactly the sort of people who get up my nose in real life. In Cancel Christmas the boys come up against a lot of homophobia, some deliberate, some completely unconscious but both very irritating. There is also the sort of totally amoral money-obssessed thug of the kind I’d run a mile to avoid.

Elin: What are you reading? Something to be clutched to the bosom or tossed aside with force? Fiction or non-fiction?

Cameron: I’m a total book-whore – I read most things and especially if they are written by my colleagues from the same stables or on-line friends. At the moment I’m devouring some stories from ancient Rome that I grabbed as a set from Riptide. I’m loving them but they will be read-once books. I very seldom continue with a book that has irritated me from the start. By chapter Two I have closed it gently and put it away.

 Elin: Put together your ideal team of men – drawing from all and any walks of life, fictional or non-fictional – who you would want to come to your rescue if menaced by muggers, alligators or fundamentalists.

Cameron: I’d like to think I could handle it on my own but in this wonderful imaginary situation, I’d have my big dog Titch who would disembowel anyone who laid a hand on me. Jack and Rory of course, who would stick up for their “mum” and an entire gang of French firemen (yes, sterotype!) but because over here they do all the same things as other firemen but they are also the ambulance, paramedics etc. So if it all went wrong they could rush me to the hospital. From fiction I’d want Jordan C Price’s Wild Bill so he could bite a few people and give me one of his cigarettes;

Elin: “Had we but world enough and time” and no other commitments, is there anything you would write that you’ve been eyeing and putting off because it’s just too big a project? Anything else?

Cameron: I’d love to write a novel (or collection of short stories) where I take Rory and Jack back to different periods of time where they would still be lovers but in completely altered situations, relationships etc.  I can think of so many that it would end up a historical encyclopedia!

Elin: Can you name any author/authors, past or present, who have been a great influence on your work?

Cameron: In this genre? No, not really. I dived into m/m and just went for it. As far as romance goes,  I suppose subconsciously I’ve been influenced by the fact that as an unreconstructed tomboy I read every Biggles book (Capt. W.E. Johns) which could be why my boys are military. The masculine camaraderie between Biggles and his chums always appealed to me … maybe Bertie Lissie was his lover, who knows?

Elin: When you have been writing a scene, have you ever scared yourself/upset yourself so much that you decided to tone it down a bit?

Cameron: No, I don’t scare easily. I’ve upset myself to the point where I’ve burst into tears and I still can’t read the epilogue of Cancel Christmas without filling up!

Elin: Of all your characters, who have you enjoyed writing most – least – whose voice was the most troublesome to catch?

Cameron: Enjoyed most? Well although they don’t appear much in the book I absolutely LOVED writing Jack’s family because they are an idealized, wonderful bunch who accept him for what and who he is. I suppose they are the family I wish I’d had. Rory can be very difficult for me because I’m very demonstrative and touchy-feely but Rory had a terribly tough childhood and is introverted. He adores Jack but finds it very hard to express his feelings. So sometimes I had him say something very loving and then get terminally embarrassed about it.

Elin: What are you working on at the moment? Or don’t you like to talk about WIPs while they are still in progress?

Cameron: No, that’s fine, I’m a blabbermouth about my work. I’m working on three WIPs at the moment (glutton for punishment).The third in the Yours To Command series which will see the boys travelling abroad a lot. I’m running a competition for readers to suggest a witty title for that on my blog  and when I blog on  Guys Like Romance Too where you can also win a free copy. I’m also working on a novel with a trans gender person as the main character. Being trans myself I feel there isn’t enough fiction (not purely sexual) with trans people centre-stage. I’m also writing book two of a trilogy in another genre.

Elin: Could we please have an excerpt of something?

Cameron: Sure – this comes from the beginning of the book where Jack and Rory are in the shower but are disturbed …

Cancel Christmas

The Military Police boys are back and this time it’s murder.

A fast-paced murder mystery featuring the two Military Police investigators from “Yours To Command”. Plans for the holidays are scrapped when a body is found on an Army base in Germany. Still firmly in the closet at work, they stay in a hotel and indulge in some midnight room-hopping but will Rory be able to cope with his assistant’s newly discovered dominant streak? Who killed the translator and why in such a grisly way? Is there a connection to a recent suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan? Killing doesn’t stop just because it’s Christmas, especially in the British Army.

~~~

“Goddamn and sodding blast it!” Rory recognised the sound. It was his “squawk”, a special cell phone to be used only in emergencies. This meant trouble. He blundered out of the shower and answered the call.

“Sumner! Yes. Where? Okay. I’ll be right in. Call them back now. I want a complete lock-down in that area, nobody in or out and nothing, I mean NOTHING is to be touched, especially the body. The MO can determine time and cause but nobody else goes near it. Get hold of Sergeant Jones would you? I expect he’ll be off-base by now but get him to meet me in the office. Tell him to pack a bag.”

Jack had trailed forlornly into the living room and was dripping water on the carpet. He held out a hand to his captain and whispered,

“I’m sorry, Rory.”

“Not half as sorry as you’re going to be, Joachim. Cancel Christmas, there’s been a murder on-base in Mönchengladbach. As the unit involved is the MPs, they need outside investigators to handle it. They have to be seen to  not be involved. Impartial policing, is the phrase. Sorry, laddie, that’s us.”

“But I’m on leave!”

“Not til midnight you aren’t, laddie, and it’s only seven thirty. You’re working.—I’m going to need a German-speaker with me…and don’t look at me like that. Come here, Joachim.”

They were still kissing when Jack’s cell phone started to ring.

***

Many thanks, Cameron, for agreeing to appear on my blog.

Cameron’s:

Website – http://www.cameron–lawton.com/

Twitter – https://twitter.com/CameronLawton

Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/cameron.lawton.372

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My guest today is award winning author Tara Lain who writes some of the quirkiest and probably the prettiest heroes out there. She also has a sure hand with the world building for fantasy with two great titles to her credit.

Welcome Tara. I hope you find my chair really comfy! Now, on to the questions.
~~~

Elin: Although you are justly well known for your M/M romances, I know that you also write M/F fiction. Which came first and do you find that the two genres require a difference in how you structure your plots?
Tara: I’ve only written one actual MF romance. It’s a little holiday novella called Be Bad, for Goodness Sake. I wrote it mostly to see if I could and I wanted a book to self-publish. So that was my experiment. Aside from that book, all my stories are either MM or MMF ménage. In the ménages, all three people are lovers so there is still a MM element to the books. My first novel, Genetic Attraction, is a MMF ménage and the only book I’ve ever written with a woman as the main POV character. So I guess the ménages came first, but I quickly learned that I loved writing the MM portion of the books, and started writing purely gay romances as well. I love the interesting fluid dynamic and lack of gender roles you get in MM fiction. The ménages are definitely more complex to write because I’m dealing with the desires, goals, back-story, and emotions of three people. All must be motivated and all must have great reasons to love each other. The most complex book I’ve ever written from a plotting point of view is Golden Dancer. It’s a MMM romantic suspense so it has both three main characters and a complex mystery.

Elin: I was very excited when reading Fire Balls to see that Rodney paints in egg tempera, a difficult medium to handle that dictates a very specific painting style – not the first thing that would occur to a writer contemplating writing an artist. How much research do you do for your novels and do you enjoy it for its own sake.

One of Tara’s own paintings.

Tara: I don’t love research. I love writing out of my own experiences, and when I have to research a character or situation, I worry that I may get it wrong and disappoint someone. LOL. But I do love the things I learn while researching. In the case of the egg tempera, that is my own experience. I have done a fair amount of painting as well as mixed media collage. My painting teacher showed us how to make “thick white” paint and I loved using it in my work because I adore the texture. I wanted to pass that on to Rodney.

Elin: You write fantasy M/M – Spell Cat and Brush with Catastrophe – as well as contemporary romances such as the Balls series. Which do you enjoy most? Is there any genre you’d love to try?

Tara: I think I am a natural contemporary writer. Even my paranormals are essentially contemporary with some powers added! I like the restriction of creating the “magic” of true love in a realistic setting. I am planning to write a dystopian scifi I hope this year. That will be a departure for sure.

Elin: What are you enjoying reading at the moment? Any recommendations for us? Is there any one book that you’d wade though fire and flood to rescue?

Tara: I just finished reading Belinda McBride’s The Bacchi which I enjoyed immensely. I’ve just started Clancy Nacht and Thursday Euclid’s Le Jazz Hot which won a Rainbow Award. Among my fave authors that are always on my Kindle are Jet Mykles, Z A Maxfield and Lynn Lorenz. There are bunches of others! I would run into a burning building to save my Kindle! And I have collections of plays and poetry that I adore and would always want to have nearby.

Elin: Out of all your characters, who have you most enjoyed writing? Whose voice was the hardest to capture?
 Tara: I loved writing a bunch of my characters. Roan Black who plays a role in four of my ménages is a wonderful combination of gentleness and ego with a touch of pure wisdom. The inimitable Rodney Mansfield in Fire Balls was a kick to write, as was JJ LaRousse in Snow Balls, my new release. I love flamboyant men with a twist! There are some minor characters that have been a blast and who will be getting their own books. Jerry, who everyone adores from Fire Balls will have his own story, as well the twins, Robin and Bobby, in Snow Balls. I’m looking forward to writing those books! Hardest to capture? Hmmm. My villains can get a little two-dimensional because I don’t love conflict and don’t like to live in the bad guy’s mind too long. LOL

Elin: What are you working on at present? Can you tell us a bit about it?

Tara: I recently finished a novella for Valentine’s Day about the romance between a hard-core vegan, raw food fanatic who falls for a cupcake baker. It’s called Hearts and Flour! LOL. I’m starting a new book about the generational machinations of two wealthy families and how it affects their children. It’s called the Gay Arrangement.

Elin: Could we please have an excerpt?

Tara: Absolutely. Here’s a nibble from my current release, Snow Balls.

SNOW BALLS by Tara Lain; MM “Opposites Attract” Romance
Available NOW from Amazon ARe and other resellers
Big, handsome and hunky, JJ LaRousse looks like an alpha male but acts like an interior decorator. And he’s trying to be happy about it — until a robbery at the famous Laguna Winter Fantasy brings JJ face-to-face with tough cop, Ryan Star. JJ hears Ryan likes guys who are manly men, so he drops his voice an octave, colors over his pink hair, and tries to pass as a football fan. Ryan Star may be tough but he hides in the closet at work since he learned in New York that being a gay cop can cost you your life. His attraction to that big, handsome kid threatens his anonymity, but he can’t seem to resist. JJ is just his type. But then JJ goes skiing and comes face to face with his greatest nemesis– and all the secrets come out of the closet. Can Ryan love JJ for who he really is? More important, can JJ?

~~~

“David. David. Oh my God, oh my God.” JJ grabbed the smoothly muscled arm of his friend and boss.
David trapped JJ’s other waving hand between his. “OK, calm down. What is it? Did one of the exhibitors wear pink and orange together again?” David grinned. Nobody knew better how overreactive JJ was. Thank God, David loved him anyway.
He needed air. He took a deep breath. “The cop. The one I told you about. Oh my God of CSI, he wants me to come to the police station and look at mug shots.” JJ retrieved his hand. He needed it for fanning.
David looked up at JJ. It wasn’t far up since the handsome gallery owner stood a slim six foot one to JJ’s six four. “OK. That’s not hard. The police station is only a ten-minute walk away and I’m here to finish setting up the booth. Perfect timing.”
“Oh God.” JJ collapsed onto a packing crate.
“That’s the hand blown glass you’re sitting on, darling.”
JJ jumped up. “He’s just so…”
“Intimidating, overbearing?”
“Delicious.”
David laughed. “That’s a different kind of problem.”
“I’ve got to go to the men’s room.”
“Oh, OK.”
JJ took off at a run to the men’s room at the center of the festival grounds. Inside, he stuck his carefully spiked head under the faucet, pulled out his comb, and flattened the do. Of course, the pink streaks still stood out like candy canes in his light brown hair. Nothing to be done about it now. He washed his hands and headed back to the booth.
David glanced up from the last packing box. “What happened to your hair?”
“Rod says the cop likes guy’s guys.” David tucked in his T-shirt with the What Would Anna Do? logo, his homage to Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue. He pulled on his Windbreaker and zipped it up. He did a twirl. “With a cap, can I pass as Daniel Craig?”
David put his hands on his hips. “First off, how does Rod know who or what the cop likes? And even if he’s right, it’s never a good idea to try to be something you’re not. You know that. Pretend at the beginning and you have to keep living your lies. That’s a drag.”
JJ stuck out his lip. “It’s not exactly a lie. Hell, look at me.”
David frowned. “JJ, you’re gorgeous. And you’re a catch just the way you are.”
“But I’m such a…” he waved his hands “…fruit!”
“Strawberries and cream. Any man would be lucky to get you.”
JJ sighed. “Thanks. But I need to be more, you know, masculine.”
David smoothed the crease between his own brows with two fingers. “Who said that?”
JJ frowned. “You mean besides my father?”
“Ancient history. You have a life now with people who love you as you are. Don’t go looking for appreciation from those without the discrimination to give it.”

~~~

Many thanks to Tara for agreeing to be on my blog today. If you would like to check out her new releases and keep track of WIPs follow her at the links below.

E-mail: tara@taralain.com
Website: http://www.taralain.com
Author blog: http://taralain.blogspot.com
Book blog: http://beautifulboysbooks.blogspot.com
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4541791.Tara_Lain
Savvy Authors: http://www.savvyauthors.com/vb/member.php?2398-Tara-Lain
Twitter: http://twitter.com/taralain
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Tara-Lain/100001514105686
FB Page: http://www.facebook.com/taralain
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Tara-Lain/e/B004U1W5QC/
B&N http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Tara-Lain?keyword=Tara+Lain&store=book
ARe http://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.html?searchBy=author&qString=Tara+Lain

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Here we go again with Six Sentence Sunday, a weekly event where up to 200 authors share six sentences of their work, published, unpublished, self-published and experimental works in progress.

I don’t actually have many coherent bits of A Fierce Reaping left to share unless I write some more. As you may have guessed from last weeks post, the wood gathering expedition didn’t end well and to work off his troop’s energy, Cynon decreed that they should take another little trip.

~~~

They rode on through claggy moorland but made good time. Once the deep snow had gone and the ground underfoot was wet the ponies did better than the horses. Their small hooves bit deeper into the mud so they kept their feet better and their strength and stubborn minds kept them going when the higher bred beasts faltered.
Cynfal chatted to Aeddan, pleased to see him gradually recovering his good humour once the snow had gone and he could lead the other lads in planning increasingly ridiculous scenarios where they would take over the troop and make Cynon clean all their boots. Cynfal kept cavy while they grumbled, not eager for Cynon to hear what amounted to mutiny, but knowing that while men grumbled they were working off steam. Far more dangerous was the kind of sullen resentment he had seen a time or two in Tudfwlch’s troop.

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Here is the my entry for the Speak Its Name advent calendar, a daily event with prizes and a quiz leading to a bigger prize. I thought I would post it here, just because I had such fun writing it.

Frost On The Thorn

The balnea in Massilia was well appointed with all the usual facilities. Quintus had had his swim, a rub down, a massage from one of the bath house slaves whose skills could have graced any of the great thermae in Rome, and now he was waiting for his own personal attendant to bring his lunch. He should have been warm and relaxed, but today he found himself on edge, an unease increased by the amused chuckle of his companion.
“Let this be a lesson to you,” Lucius murmured, his voice barely carrying over the chatter of other diners and the raucous shouts from the frigidarium. “Never go shopping for a house slave when …”
“When drunk. Yes, I know.” Quintus glared at Lucius who grinned back unabashed. “I was having a bad day – wine helps. And since I have to go to the arse end of the back of beyond to see to family business I thought it would pay to learn the language. For that I needed a native.”
“Britannia in winter! The gods must hate you, Quintus. I understand your reasoning but you could have bought a British girl. A pretty, neat little red-headed maid to fold your togas and fetch and carry with a smile, but instead you bought … that.” Lucius waved his hand towards the man who was approaching with Ptolemy, Lucius’ current favourite, protesting at his heels.
“His name is Cunedda,” Quintus said, trying not to smile. (more…)

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Tomorrow I’m going to have to be all professional about it so I’m allowing myself a yelp or two today because I’ve just got my formatted copies of On A Lee Shore. I wasn’t sure whether it would happen or not because I didn’t get the proofs until Monday evening and 110K is a hellacious amount to read aloud! But – I did it and the book is formatted into all the different necessary files and ready to go. I just need a blurb to go with it!

Over the next few days I’ll be visiting various blogs and will be offering a copy of the book to a commenter whose name I will pick in the usual fashion – bits of paper picked with eyes closed from whichever hat I feel most appropriate. At the moment I have a choice between a tricorn, a WW2 tin helmet, a Norman ‘nasal’ helm and a beanie. I’ll try not to use the beanie because that’s boring!

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