Ally – Page 45 – A. L. Lester

Interview: T. M. Smith

This week, please welcome Tammy Smith to the blog!

Hi Tammy! To start with, why are you doing this interview?

I just released my Stories from the Sound series in an Amazon exclusive box set (Free with KU)!

What started you writing?

A love for reading Gay romance and watching movies and TV shows with gay characters.

Where do you write?

My desk which is in my bedroom. Writing has been a chore since this whole Covid, quarantine thing hit. So, maybe I need to be trying to write somewhere else.

What do you like to read?

I will read anything that draws in my attention, but I’m not found of historicals for the most part.

What are the three books you’d take to a desert island? Why would you choose them?

Wicked by Gregory Maguire. Assassin/Shifter series by Sandrine Gasq Dion. Lord of the Rings by Tolkien. Because they are all books that I’ve read multiple times and continue to read and enjoy.

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 also have a day job so I socialize there. Other than groups on facebook within the writing community, no, not part of anything in the real world. I like having groups within the writing community to not only share, but to ask advice and such.

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

I love spending time with family, watching or going to movies with my sister. We have 3 dogs and a cat in the house, my baby is Shiz Tsu named Max.

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?

I haven’t had a technically new release since the beginning of the year, Covid is killing my creative flow. I have been re-releasing the Stories from the Sound series (formerly the All Cocks stories) and now have them available in a box set.

Stories from the Sound

Over 1200 pages of heat, angst and romance. Love, loss, friendship, family… everyone has a story. And for the men of All Cocks INC. life begins when the camera stops rolling.

All Cocks stories is a series of books set within the world of online gay porn. From straight ‘Gay for Pay’ models, to threesomes and so much more, you are welcome to join us at All Cocks INC for a series of stories about the men that work both in front of, and behind the camera.

The Amazon Exclusive Box set includes…
Book 1 – Gay for Pay
Book 2 – Fame and Fortune
Book 3 – How to Deal
Book 4 – Dare to Hope
Book 5 – Live for Love
Book 6 – Hide and Seek
Book 7 – Choices and Changes

Trigger warnings include… sexual assault (book 2) PTSD (book 4) HIV/AIDS (book 5)
These books are intended for mature readers.

Amazon US : Amazon UK : Amazon DE : Amazon AU : Amazon CA : Audible

About TM Smith

A military brat born and raised at Ft. Benning Georgia; TM Smith is an avid reader, reviewer and writer. A Texas transplant, she now calls DFW her home. Most days she can be found curled up with a good book, or ticking away on her next novel.

Smith is a single mom of three disturbingly outspoken and decidedly different kids, one of which is Autistic. Besides her writing, she is passionate about Autism advocacy and LGBT rights. Because, seriously people, Love is Love!

Amazon : ARe : Smashwords : Website : Facebook Author : Facebook All Cocks series : Twitter : GoodReads : Pinterest : Youtube

character sketch: Fenn of the Hunters

The Hunted and the Hind, Fenn of the Hunters. Coming 30th December.

Fenn of the Hunters is a reluctant traveler from their world to London. At the beginning of Shadows on the Border, they are sent by the Council of Ternants to recapture and bring home an escaped carnas, on of the creatures that feed on magic the Ternants use to police the border between the worlds.

Fenn is a magical worker. The Frem call the energy they use to manipulate time and space kias. Fenn and their family are all very strong natural users. One of their special skills is to track strong sources of kias–in people, things or animals. That’s why they’ve been sent after the carnas. Fenn’s not sure what the carnas is doing lost in London; but it’s their duty as hunter to bring it home.

Will Grant’s London is very different to the Underhalls of the Frem that Fenn is used to and they are grateful for the help that Will and his team provide. Their growing connection with Will Grant himself is something that they didn’t expect and are not quite sure what to do with.

Fenn is tired of being manipulated by the Ternants. They want to finish this job, in this busy, crowded, mechanical world and return to their family.

Previously in Lost in Time character sketches… Will Grant, Lew Tyler, Alec Carter, Ella Fortune.

#AmReading

This week’s reads. I’ve been less immersed in other people’s fiction than usual because I’m busy finishing a new 10k story for newsletter subscribers and facebook group members, so do keep an eye out if queer poly 1920s stories with a touch of the paranormal hold your interest!

Redhot Sugar by Connor Peterson

This is the first of a series set in Prohibition-era upstate New York. It’s got bootleggers, cathouses, tommy-guns, a really interesting queer poly relationship developing, and vampires (non-sparkly), sirens and other magical people. I was sucked in immediately. The writing is fast-paced and engaging, the characters are complex and relatable and I loved it. The sequel is out in the new year and I can’t wait!

They Told Me I was Everything by Gregory Ashe

Another Hazard and Somerset-adjacent story from Gregory Ashe, set in the same town, on the university campus of Wroxhall. Auggie, an unhappy social media influencer looking for a new start and on the run from his sexuality and Theo, a recent widower, are thrown together in a murder investigation. As usual Ashe hits it out of the park.

That’s the lot for this week!

Cover Reveal: The Hunted and the Hind

Today, I am very, very happy to bring you the cover of The Hunted and the Hind. It’s the third in my Lost in Time 1920s London trilogy, although as you may gather from the cover, at least some of it takes place elsewhere.

The Hunted and the Hind, #3 in the Lost in Time 1920s trilogy. Coming on 30th December. — The Hunted and the Hind, coming 30th December

At the end of book number two, Shadows on the Border, poor Sergeant Will Grant got sucked through the border after Fenn, who returned to their home in the Outlands with the murderous creature they’d finally captured with the help of Will’s police team. It took me ages to work out what I wanted to write in Hunted because I never actually set out to write a trilogy–this is one of the downsides of discovery writing, which I have now rather learned to my cost. There were so many loose ends I wanted to tie up to feel that I’d satisfactorily ended the series, for both readers and for myself. It took me three rewrites to get the story knocked into a shape that I feel happy with.

Without further ado…here’s the cover (and the blurb!) for…

The Hunted and the Hind

Inadvertently tumbling through the border after Fenn and then thrown into the middle of the internecine political disputes of their people, Sergeant Will Grant of the Metropolitan Police has spent three months in prison in the Underhalls of the Frem. When Fenn comes to free him and return him home through the border, he has very little time to work out what’s going on before the sudden appearance of Fenn’s missing younger sibling Keren throws Fenn for a loop.

Instead of returning them to London as planned, the trio step through the border to the Egyptian desert. Once they work out where they are, it’s a two week trip back to England with the possibility of pursuit both onboard ship and when they reach home.

Will the journey give Fenn and Will time to resolve the feelings they have been dancing around since the day they met? How will they keep Keren from recapture by the faction who tried to persuade Fenn they were dead? And has Will’s friend Alec forgiven Fenn for lying about their motives when they first traveled to London four months ago?

Preorder from the publisher, JMS Books!

Interview: Ofelia Grand talks about 24 Dates

Ofelia has popped in to talk about her recent release, 24 Dates, and I’m so happy to have her here! Welcome, Ofelia!

Thank you for letting me visit again, Ally!

A few days ago, 24 Dates, a contemporary Christmas M/M romance story, was released, and I thought I’d drop by to tell you a little about it. Victor and Jian have been a couple for some time now, but things didn’t turn out the way they’d planned.

A couple of years ago, they bought a house together, and by now they should be well into their HEA, but Victor hardly sees Jian awake anymore. He’s leaving for work early in the morning and falls asleep in front of the TV almost every evening.

Victor has more or less given up and is preparing for a lonely, depressing Christmas, but Jian has a plan. In 24 dates, he will win his man back—there is no other option. The first date is on December 1^st and then he has one date planned every day up till the 24^th.

Now, what qualifies as a date? The opinions about it might (and will) differ, but there will be lots of food, chilly outdoor activities, some craft dates, and jigsaws. Yes, a jigsaw puzzle.

Do you have any special Christmas (or other holiday) traditions in your family? When I grew up, the family (Mum) always got a jigsaw from some mysterious giver (Mum). It was somewhere between 3000 and 5000 pieces, and the days following Christmas, the dining table was occupied. She dug out desk lamps she kept hidden away during the rest of the year, and there were bowls of toffee and homemade knäck (hard toffee with chopped almonds). She’d sit up half the night, fitting pieces together.

So, no Christmas without a jigsaw, and one of Jian’s dates is to solve a 1000 pieces jigsaw in one day—a date and a challenge all in one!

Do you like jigsaws? I’ve created one for you here! (Ally: I LOVE Ofelia’s jigsaws, they’re so cool!) I feel like I should apologise. I solved it, but it took me 17 minutes and 27 seconds… and I created it and therefore knew the motif. I usually make one for my newsletter subscribers, but this was a little trickier than I normally do them. Can you beat 17 minutes and 27 seconds? I bet you can LOL

Excerpt:

Tags: Contemporary, M/M Romance, Christmas, Established couple, interracial
Length: 38.000 words
Release date: December 2^nd, 2020
Buy links : Publisher Buylink

Victor winked at him. He hoped it was a craft thing, but they’d done the candles, done the paint-by-numbers, so what else was there? He had to give Jian credit for creativity. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to come up with twenty-four dates without doing repeats.

Walking into the dining room—as Jian liked to call it—there was a jigsaw box on the table. “Jigsaw?”

“Yup, it’s a challenge. Can we finish it in one day?”

Victor stared at the box. “It’s a thousand pieces.” Was he insane?

“Yes, I read online that a thousand pieces puzzle takes somewhere between three and ten hours to solve.”

Victor pursed his lips. “As I recall, it took weeks when I was a kid.”

Jian frowned. “No, we’re finishing this today, because tomorrow we can’t have a puzzle on the table.”

“We can’t?”

“No. Where will we put all the food? Plus, some pieces could get lost if they’re lying around here tomorrow.” The look Jian gave him made him think there was more behind the statement than he let on.

“Okay. Roll up your sleeves, we’re having ourselves a puzzling day.”

Jian shook his head, but pulled out a chair and sat.

The motif was of a bookshelf filled with books and at least fifteen cats—more, since more and more became visible the longer Victor looked at it. “This is cute.”

“Yeah, I figured… you like cats, right?”

Victor glanced at him. “Sure.”

“No, not sure. I mean, you’re not allergic or anything?”

“To a picture of a cat? No.”

Jian grimaced. “You like dogs better.”

“It’s a puzzle, Jian. It looks like fun. And yeah, in real life, I like dogs better, but cats are adorable.”

“And dogs need walking.”

Victor laughed. “Sure.”

“A cat you can let out. You can install a cat flap, and it’ll mind its own business.”

Victor stared at him. “Are you thinking about getting a cat?” He would love a cat. Sure, he’d always deemed himself more of a dog person, but they couldn’t take care of a dog properly with how they were working. And now they had no idea how Jian would be working. Cats were adorable.

“No, I’m not.”

Victor shrugged. “Too bad. A cat would be fun. And remember last year when the mouse got in? I bet it wouldn’t happen if we had a cat.” He ripped open the plastic bag with the puzzle pieces and poured them out onto the table.

“This is a lot of pieces, Jian.” Victor frowned at the pile.

“A thousand would be my guess.”

“Idiot. Okay, let’s do the frame first.”

“What? No, I want to do the cats.”

Blurb:

When Victor Hill bought a house with his boyfriend, Jian Kouri it was a dream come true. But now, two years later, instead of living their happily ever after, they hardly see the other awake.

With Jian out the door before Victor gets up in the morning, and asleep on the couch nearly as soon as he walks in the door, the life Victor imagined couldn’t be further from reality. They don’t talk; they don’t touch, and Victor fears he and Jian have already drifted too far apart.

The holiday season is a time for hope, but when Victor comes home to find Jian with a plan to woo him for Christmas, is it too little, too late? The dates are great, and there are filled with Christmas fun to get Victor in the right spirit for the holiday, but are they enough for the two of them to fall in love again? Or is there just too much in their relationship that needs fixing?

About Ofelia Gränd:

Ofelia Gränd is Swedish, which often shines through in her stories. She likes to write about everyday people ending up in not-so-everyday situations, and hopefully also getting out of them. She writes romance, contemporary, paranormal, Sci-Fi and whatever else catches her fancy.

Her books are written for readers who want to take a break from their everyday life for an hour or two.

When Ofelia manages to tear herself from the screen and sneak away from her husband and children, she likes to take walks in the woods…if she’s lucky she finds her way back home again.

Website : Newsletter : Facebook : Facebook Group : Instagram