Ally – Page 42 – A. L. Lester

a surprise release: Playing Chicken

St Dwynwen, the Welsh St Valentine!

Since we’ve been locked down again, I’ve been going slowly bonkers…I’m sure many of you can relate! Instead of getting on with my planned out Dr Sylvia Marks 1920s paranormal trilogy, which involves thinking quite hard about timelines and chronology and brain-melting stuff, I distracted myself by writing a nine thousand word short story. It started off set at Christmas, but because I’ve joined the Cariad Chapter of the Romantic Novelist’s Association and we’ve been talking about ‘the Welsh St Valentine’, I ended up setting it at the end of January, on St Dwynwen’s Day.

For your delight, then, may I present…

Playing Chicken

Marc returns home from London to his isolated Welsh cottage for good, having found his ex boyfriend shagging someone else in their bed. Who’s the thin, freezing cold man with the bruised face he finds in his barn? Will the tenuous connection between them grow, or fade away?

A 9,000 word short story to mark St Dwynwen’s day, the 25^th of January. With chickens!

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Who is St Dwynwen?

St Dwynwen is sometimes called ‘the Welsh St Valentine’, which is a bit inaccurate, really. Her day is 25^th January. There are various origin stories, but the one I like best has her as one of the twenty-four daughters of the fifth century King Brychan Brycheiniog, King of Brycheiniog or Brecknockshire/Breconshire.

Dwynwen fell in love with Maelon Dafodrill, but her father wanted her to marry someone else. She slept with Maelon, but when her father found out she was so scared of the potential consequences that she told him Maelon had raped her. She ran away to the woods, where she begged god to make her forget Maelon and when she fell asleep she was visited by an angel who gave her a potion to erase her memory of Maelon and turn him into a block of ice.

Somewhat generously, god also gave her three wishes:

Her first wish was that Maelon be thawed…which if she drank the potion to forget him seems a bit confusing.
Secondly she asked that god meet the hopes and dreams of true lovers.
And thirdly she wished that she would never marry.

All her wishes were granted and in thanks she devoted her life to god. She founded a church on the tiny island of Llanddwyn, off the coast of Anglesey. There is apparently also a well there dedicated to her, with sacred fish and eels. If the water boils whilst you’re visiting, then good luck and love will follow, although presumably not for the well’s inhabitants.

I have, obviously, taken extreme liberties with the legend, and any offence caused to St Dwynwen is mine alone to own.

An interview with Holly Day

Thank you for having me here today, Ally! I wanted to pop in and introduce myself and tell you about a story I’ve written.

Cover of Hip Hop Carrot Top by Holly Day

My name is Holly Day, and just a few days ago my first story, Hop Hop, Carrot Top was published by JMS Books, and I’m super excited about it.

Do you want to tell us what it’s about?

It’s about Kiss a Ginger Day – you’ve missed it now, so no running around kissing random redheads! January 12th was Kiss a Ginger Day. It was back in the autumn; I was scrolling through one of those online holiday calendars and saw it there. I figured someone should write a story to celebrate the day. We have so many Christmas, Halloween, and Valentine stories, but have you ever read a Kiss a Ginger story?

Flynn hasn’t set foot in his hometown in twenty years. Growing up wasn’t easy, he was this swishy, redheaded kid in a less than accepting small town, but now his mother has passed away and he’s back to clear out her house.

I made him have a rough time in school because while Kiss a Ginger Day sounds like a fun, quirky holiday; it was created as a reaction to Kick a Ginger Day (!) that’s in November. Often, there are anti-bullying campaigns connected to Kiss a Ginger Day, since red-haired children often are made fun of in school. So, I figured, dear Flynn had been one of those children.

What was your biggest struggle with the story?

What came to me first was the title, I thought Hop Hop, Carrot Top, and pictured a fun, light-hearted story. But how do you make a story where the main character is grieving his mother on top of having to face his greatest fears from his childhood light-hearted? So, I’d say the tone was my greatest struggle.

I knew what I wanted for my characters – I wanted Flynn to confront his fears and find his HEA – but I had to give up the idea of it being light. It’s not super angsty, but Flynn isn’t a happy-go-lucky guy.

Do you have many unpublished and half-finished books, and do you plan to finish them?

I have a few. I have a story coming for Valentine, and then in March there is Extraterrestrial Abductions Day, and in April we have Big Wind Day. All days deserve a story, don’t you think? I think they do. And yes, I plan to finish them. Hopefully.

Are you friends with any other authors and do they help you become a better writer?

You know they do, Ally. I have some awesome author buddies – Al Stewart, Amy Spector, Nell Iris, J.M. Snyder, and the lovely Ally Lester. I never could’ve done this without them. Having someone who not only understands the struggles of being a writer but also wants to help me is important to me.

Being a writer is solitary, and I like that. I’m not sure I’d be a good co-writer. I want to be alone with my characters, but sometimes I need to discuss things with someone who understands. And writing is so much more than just chatting with the voices in your head, not to mention things like this – popping up at someone’s blog to say hi. You, my dear reader, might never have known I existed if it hadn’t been for Ally allowing me to drop by.

I think community is important. We’re a team, not competitors. A reader can read a book a day, but a writer can’t produce a book in a day, so we have nothing to lose by helping each other.

What is the best part of your day?

The best part of my day is when I, on the days I don’t have to go to my day job, get up early in the morning, put on the coffee maker and fire up my computer. I sit in the quiet for a few minutes, then I open my browser and say good morning to Nell Iris, who often is the first person appearing in our virtual morning office.

Hop Hop, Carrot Top

Contemporary M/M Romance / 19,129 words

Flynn Thomas is back in Hartley. His plan is to be out of there before anyone notices he’s back. He left twenty years ago and promised himself he’d never have to face his childhood bullies or set foot in his bigoted hometown ever again. But it’s been six months since his mother passed away, and someone has to clear out the house.

Caspian Cook is out on a walk with his three dogs when he sees Flynn Thomas, at least he thinks it’s Flynn Thomas. He never forgot the red-haired boy his brother used to harass, and he never forgot how he used to wonder if there were freckles underneath his clothes as well as on his face.

Flynn mistakes Caspian for his childhood tormenter and flees. Caspian can guess why he’s in such a hurry to get away, but he hasn’t seen Flynn in twenty years, and if he allows him to run off, he fears he’ll never see him again. Will spending time with Flynn be enough for him to forget who Caspian’s brother is? Flynn needs help. He underestimated how much work it would be to move his mother’s things. Caspian offers to give him a hand, but can he trust someone who looks like his worst nightmare?

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About Holly

According to Holly Day, no day should go by uncelebrated and all of them deserves a story. If she’ll have the time to write them remains to be seen. She lives in rural Sweden with a husband, four children, more pets than most, and wouldn’t last a day without coffee.

Holly gets up at the crack of dawn most days of the week to write gay romance stories. She believes in equality in fiction and in real life. Diversity matters. Representation matters. Visibility matters. We can change the world one story at the time.

Connect with Holly

it’s all quacking along

The big news at Lester Towers is that we have some new ducks!

We lost Mr Duck last weekend–he’d been ailing for a while–and Mrs Duck was distraught, calling and calling for him. So yesterday Mr AL went down the lane and did a socially distanced pick-up of a new pair, a lady and a gentleman. They are in house and Mrs Duck is here in the little pond having a nice swim, whilst they are in the house behind her. You can hear her chuntering on to herself if you turn up the volume.

Apart from that, this week has been hard. Talking Child is still having a conniption fit about home schooling. She is wandering round with a beanie pulled down so far over her eyes it’s touching her nose, grumbling that education is pointless as it’s just the government turning out good little citizens that won’t argue with it and anyway we’re all going to die of covid.

I am finding this quite wearing.

We have hopefully beaten her into shape today (not literally) and are all spending five hours a day sat around the dining table working together rather than retreating to our respective corners with headphones. As I type we are running over kinds of computer hardware.

I am stuttering along with the Chicken Story. It can’t quite decide whether it’s set at Valentine’s or Christmas, although it’s definitely winter. On a good day I usually write about twelve hundred words and I’m hoping to have it finished by the end of next week, depending on life chaos.

In the meantime I’m helping Mr AL with his marketing (you can buy his first-in-series, Dark, for 99c/KU: his tagline is basically it’s hobbits in space if that’s your kind of thing) and I’m just fiddling with the distribution of Inheritance of Shadows to try and make it easier for people to find on Amazon, and making some pretty pictures for social media.

We had a visit from the children’s hospice earlier this week to provide us with some respite, and Mr AL and I went for a walk by ourselves, the first time we’ve been out of the house together by ourselves for weeks. Littlest is still throwing things on the floor the moment you turn your back on her and it’s exhausting. This week our carer has been poorly so we haven’t had any respite at all apart from that. On the one hand it’s quite nice not having people coming into the house every day; but on the other, being ‘on duty’ 24/7 is utterly draining.

It’s sunny today and I’m looking forward to the weekend–apparently we are playing Carcassone and having pizza.

An interview with Elizabeth Noble

This week, we have Elizabeth Noble, answering intrusive questions and talking about her re-release, Code Name Jack Rabbit! Hi Elizabeth!

Hello, thank you so much, Ally for having me here today! My next book, Code Name Jack Rabbit, book one of The Vampire Guard will be re-released into the world tomorrow. Today kicks off the blog tour and giveaway. I hope your readers enjoy this peek into my world.

First question then! What started you writing?

I honestly couldn’t say. For as long as I can remember I’ve been a storyteller in both the spoken and written word. I feel I can’t not write, I’d probably explode…lol Even if I didn’t write for publication, I’d write for myself. Writing is something that is as natural and necessary to me as breathing.

Where do you write? Do you have a special place?

I converted a spare room in my house to an office. I call it my fangirl room since I keep all my movie/tv related art and merchandise in there. It’s also where most of my bookshelves are.

Weather permitting, I head outside to my patio—aka my outdoor office—to write. I love sitting outside, it’s conducive to getting more words on the page, or screen.

What do you like to read?

I read all sorts of things. In fiction I enjoy MM, of course, action adventure, scifi and urban fantasy. I also read a fair bit of non-fiction, mainly the earth sciences and books based on the history of dogs.

Writing is an intrinsically solo occupation. Do you belong to any groups or associations, either online or in the ‘real’ world? How does that work for you?

I belong to a few online groups via Facebook. They’re more dedicated to support, where members can ask questions, get technical support and publishing advice.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

I have a dog, Finn. We participate in Obedience and Rally Obedience, so there’s a fair amount of practice and training involved. I’m also a member of a training club and do volunteer work through them.

My full-time job in a veterinary practice takes up a large part of my days and I’m always looking for new shows and movies. I LOVE Netflix, and Prime and Hulu and CBS…lol

In the warmer months I enjoy working in my garden which never looks as good as what I imagine in my head. Clearly, landscape architecture isn’t my calling.

Tell me a little bit about your most recent release. What gave you the idea for it? How long did it take to write? What did you enjoy about writing it? What did you hate?

Code Name Jack Rabbit has gone through some rewrites and it’s been re-edited. While not a romance, there are romantic sub-plots. It is, however, filled with espionage, spyfi and supernatural beings.

I love my paranormal romance characters and wanted to put them into a more urban fantasy, less romance, type of series. My favorite stories in any medium are those with action, intrigue, spies and high-tech toys. I had the idea to throw my characters into a different type of situation. Vampires and werewolves have such wonder, unique supernatural powers they’re like superheroes to me. Superheroes that would make amazing spies!

The most fun about writing this series is coming up with all the high-techy toys and then adapting them for use to a group of ultra-secret society spies. The possibilities are endless.

Thank you so much for coming to talk to us today! Elizabeth has a Rafflecopter draw going, so please do pop on over to sign up. And read on to learn all about Code Name Jack Rabbit!

Join Elizabeth’s Rafflecopter for a $25 Amazon voucher!

Code Name Jack Rabbit (book 1 of The Vampire Guard)

Vampires and werewolves live long lives. The Sleepless City saga might have ended but the story continues…

Welcome to the Vampire Guard, where legend and myth meet science and technology.

Vampires make the best spies. Throw a smart-mouthed werewolf in with three vampires, mix well, and The Vampire Guard’s newest team is bound to become one of their greatest assets. Super spies with a full range of skills. Warrior, hacker, thief, and scientist. They get in, do the job and get out before the bad guys ever know what hit them.

Forge, Blair, Declan, and Lucas are thrust into the world of high-tech spies and top-secret espionage conspiracies. Recruited into the world’s most elite and secret organization with one singular mission. Protect those who can’t defend themselves from ruin.

Life becomes complicated when an impending Presidential visit to their town, Boggslake, throws them headlong into the world of the vampires and werewolves of the Vampire Guard. Very quickly they uncover and confront a werewolf terrorist organization known as the Qiguan.

Together they must thwart an assassination attempt on the open waters of Lake Superior while tracking a previously unknown biological weapon controlled by the Qiguan—a weapon which may very well mean death for one of them.

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Meet Elizabeth

Mystery, action, chills, and thrills spiced with romance and desire. ELIZABETH NOBLE lives by the adage “I can’t not write.” She doesn’t remember a time when she didn’t make up stories and eventually she learned how to put words on a page. Those words turned into books and fan fiction that turned into a genuine love of M/M fiction. A part of every day is spent living in worlds she created that are filled with intrigue and espionage. She has a real love for a good mystery complete with murder and twisty plots as well as all things sci-fi, futuristic, and supernatural.

When she’s not chronicling the adventures of her many characters, Elizabeth is a veterinary nurse living in her native Cleveland, Ohio. She has three grown children and now happily shares her little, brick house with a spunky Cardigan Welsh Corgi and his sidekick, tabby cat. Elizabeth is a fan of baseball, basketball (go Cavs and Cleveland Baseball) and gardening. She can often be found working in her ‘outside office’ listening to classic rock and plotter her next novel waiting for it to be dark enough to gaze at the stars.

Elizabeth has received a number of amateur writing awards. Since being published, several of her novels have received Honorable Mentions in the Rainbow Awards. Jewel Cave was a runner-up in the Gay Mystery/Thriller category in the 2015 Rainbow Awards. Ringed Love was a winner in the Gay Fantasy Romance category of the 2016 Rainbow Awards.

Website : Newsletter sign up : Vampire Guard website : Twitter : Goodreads : BookBub : Facebook group

Introducing #TheWeekThatWas

This is going to be a new post feature thing, hopefully, if I can keep my momentum going. I’m going to do an update on a Friday about what’s been going on at Lester Towers.

So this week:

I’M WRITING A CHICKEN STORY, OKAY?

Four chickens in a line staring accusingly at the photographer. — Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels.com

This is week has mostly be taken up with release promo for The Hunted and the Hind. I got really behind and half-organised some facbook and blog drop-ins in good time in late November and early December. And then family life got really, really complicated for a few weeks and my mental health plummeted, so I booked a launch tour with the lovely Lori at Indigo Marketing. That took quite a bit of the pressure off, but I’ve still had a list as long as my arm of things to do.

In the meantime I’ve been trying to get back on the Writing Horse and start the new trilogy I’ve roughed out centered around Dr Sylvia Marks, one of the side-characters in Inheritance of Shadows. I’m trotting along all right with that, but it’s complicated because there’s foreshadowing and short story arcs and long story arcs and generally having sit and think and stare into space a lot.

My usual writing style is throw about thirty thousand words about two characters at the page randomly and see what sticks, then fill in the bits that need filling in. So this is a completely different process for me. There’s lots of words and they’re on the page but I’m not quite sure where they fit together. It’s a bit like only having half a really large jigsaw and you’re waiting for the other half to arrive in the post.

In the meantime this week in the UK, we have had: Your kids must go back to school, it’s safe/oh, no strike that, don’t send them back, the pandemic is out of control; Brexit is fine, nothing to see here; and, oh, America is exploding.

My brain has clearly decided that it can’t cope with anything more complicated than short, fluffy stories, so this morning I’ve begun to write a meet-cute based around a lost chicken.

Do not judge me.