Gay – Page 20 – A. L. Lester

Valentine’s Stories!

I usually loath tales based around holidays, but I’m trying to be a kinder, fluffier, all together more celebratory person for 2021, so I have put aside my cynicism and generalised rage and put together a few stories that feature Valentine’s Day for you! Thank you so much to the authors who joined in!

K. L. Noone: Frost and Raine ($3.99)

A Frost spirit who runs a coffee shop. A Cupid who works as a divorce lawyer. And magic in the air …

Raine’s never been a conventional Cupid. He likes his job as a lawyer, and he’s not planning to fall in love — and he wouldn’t trust it if someone fell in love with him. But the owner of his favorite coffee shop might challenge Raine’s resolutions about love.

Even though Don’s a Frost spirit, he finds comfort in giving people warmth, good coffee, and overall cheer. But one gorgeous sarcastic Cupid seems immune to Don’s cheerfulness — and he keeps coming back, day after day. Fortunately, Don’s always liked a challenge…

Holly Day: Be Still My Heart ($3.99)

Four years ago, Dimitri Petrov had his leg blown off by a landmine while in military service. Suffering from PTSD, he doesn’t do crowds, people, dates, or dinners. But when Elian Hubert enters the dating agency where Dimitri works in a whirlwind of pink shirts, flapping hands, and outrageous flirting, looking for a Valentine date, Dimitri thinks maybe he can do him a favor.

The Morning After by Jae (Free!)

After a friend sets her up on a blind date from hell, Amanda has enough of dating. A spur-of-the-moment decision to attend an Anti-Valentine’s Day party leads to an unexpected encounter. She wakes up to a hangover and a surprising complication… “The Morning After” started out as a Valentine’s Day short story. I later expanded it to a full novel titled “Departure from the Script” and made this short story available for free.

Valentine’s Love by Helena Stone (99c until 16^th Feb!)

Ty isn’t looking for love, but what if it finds him anyway? Ever since his partner left him on St. Valentine’s Day, Ty O’Malley has done his best to avoid the love-themed holiday. When Ben Cronin enters Ty’s giftshop looking for presents to surprise a man he’s been admiring from afar, Ty can’t deny the attraction. But Ty has given up on love and Ben has obviously set his sights on somebody else. After February 14^th, Ty will probably never see Ben again… Or will he?

Playing Chicken by A. L. Lester ($1.99)

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 short story to mark the Welsh St Valentine’s Day, St Dwynwen’s day. With chickens.

There you go! Happy Valentine’s Day to you all, and may you all find the relationship of your dreams, within social-distancing parameters!

Interview : Lillian Francis

Please welcome Lillian Francis for today’s interview! Lillian has come along to chat about writing, reading and her WW2 Submariner Romance, Under the Radar.

What started you writing?

I used to write back in my teens and early Twenties but got out of the habit as life took over. Then reading fanfiction took a hold and I only intended to write the one story. But I had trouble sticking to canon and soon my characters took on a life of their own and I found it harder and harder to stay within fandom. Time to branch out on my own.

What do you like to read?

Just about anything. Historicals. Gay romance, obviously. Non-fiction – history books mostly. And graphic novels. When everything really gets too much it’s the world of superheroes and the like that call to me.

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

Pokemon hunting is a great form of exercise for us exercise adverse people. I’m really missing conventions atm, I normally go to comic con at least twice a year.

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?

RL has played havoc with my writing, so my most recent release actually from 2019, but it’s the one I want to talk about. It’s Under the Radar, a WWII submarine story with forced intimacy, spies, and derring-do.

I original got the idea for the story about ten years ago on a visit to Gosport submarine museum, but it took several rewrites, stacks of research, and some of the best beta work on any of my books for it to make it to release.

Under the Radar

It’s 1942 and after a sexual indiscretion, US Navy pilot Zachary MacKenzie is sent to serve in the Royal Navy’s submarine service—a shockingly harsh punishment for a man who loves to fly. The submarine is oppressive and frustrating for him, and he’s marked out from his peers, publicly by being American, and privately by his attraction to men.

The only bright spot is the company of his steward, sonar operator Gethin Llewelyn. Despite the differences of rank and background, they’re drawn to each other. Gethin’s integrity complements Zach’s casual joie de vivre, and soon the friendship develops into something much more.

As the threats of war increase, the submarine is plagued by potentially hostile vessels, and circumstances lead them to suspect there’s a spy amongst their own crew. Being forced even closer together as they work for the greater good reveals a new awareness, and Zach doesn’t know what is in more danger, the vessel under his charge or his heart.

Word count: ~138,500

Buy Under the Radar : Add it to Goodreads

Meet Lillian

Lillian Francis is a self-confessed geek who likes nothing more than settling down with a comic or a good book, except maybe writing. Given a notepad, pen, her Kindle, and an infinite supply of chocolate Hob Nobs and she can lose herself for weeks. Romance was never her reading matter of choice, so it came as a great surprise to all concerned, including herself, to discover a romance was exactly what she’d written, and not the rollicking spy adventure or cosy murder mystery she always assumed she’d write.

Blog : Twitter : Facebook : Facebook Author Page : Lillian’s Lovefest – FB group : BookBub : Goodreads : Sign up for my newsletter

Am Reading

A bit of a catch up this week, with books by Isabelle Adler, Iona Datt Sharma, Jordan L. Hawk and Gregory Ashe.

In the Winter Woods by Isabelle Adler

Cover, In the Winter Woods, Isabelle Adler

This was such a lovely story. I read it in the gap between Christmas and New Year and it captures the spirit of the season perfectly. Crisp snow, cosy fires and very unpleasant murder. It’s an engaging story with a nice, complicated plot and a slow-burn love affair that’s really believable. It’s Adler’s first mystery and she’s pulled it off perfectly. If you like Josh Lanyon, try this.

Division Bells by Iona Datt Sharma

I read this in one sitting because I couldn’t put it down. It’s rich in both description and emotion and the characters, even the minor ones, leap off the page. It’s a contemporary romance set in the UK House of Lords, between a special advisor and civil servant. They get off on the wrong foot and over the cold winter and a really stressful period at work they get to know each other a great deal better and fall in love in the process. I can’t think why I missed this when it first came out and it’s definitely on my re-read list now.

Unhallowed by Jordan L. Hawk

Wonderful starter to a what I hope is a long new series, set in the world of Widdershins. In the library! You don’t need to have read the Wybourne and Griffin series to thoroughly enjoy this…if fact I confess I’d only read the first three and then went back and read the rest before re-reading Unhallowed. There’s magic, books and mystery. The protaganists are lovely and I particularly liked Sebastian’s confusion at Vesper’s tales of working as a librarian in Boston and his conclusion that it’s a very strange place, lacking all the things he takes for granted. I look forward to finding out more about the mysterious Mr Quinn. Five stars!

The Clockwork Heart by Gregory Ashe

This is a weird little novella that I thoroughly enjoyed. It’s set in the First World War — my jam, obviously — and the MC is a young French nun. And there are men with clockwork hearts. She has a crush on one. That’s it. That’s the story. I can’t say too much more than that without spoiling the whole thing, but…it’s not a romance. Lots happens and not much happens and it’s perfectly satisfying. It’s not quite steampunk and not quite romance and not quite historical and not quite horror. I’m not sure what it is…but I’ll definitely read it again. It’s also only 99c!

That’s it for this time, thanks for reading!

interview: Rosie Jarvis

This week, Rosie Jarvis is here to talk about her new release, Cutter’s Mission! Welcome, Rosie! Thank you so much for coming to visit today, it’s lovely to see you!

Hello there! My name is Rosie Jarvis and I am very excited to be releasing my fist book on February 9^th! It’s called Cutter’s Mission.

My book, Cutter’s Mission, is the first book in the Valhalla Warriors motorcycle club series. All the Warriors are former military members who died on the battlefield while doing a heroic act. At the point of death, they are approached by a Valkyrie sent by Odin, to offer them a chance to serve in his immortal Army. In fact, each book starts with our MC’s last moments of life when the Valkyrie recruits them.

As part of their service to Odin (who goes by Adam to humans), they come to Earth and ride in a motorcycle club where they protect the innocent, participate in charity events, help vets, and fight evil. In my books, they start a mission to protect a human and, on the journey, fall in love.

In Cutter’s Mission, James Alan Cutter, a nurturer at heart, meets a young man who is on the run from an abusive man. It turns out the ex is more evil than either expected and Cutter needs the help of his brother bikers to keep his boy safe.

It’s light Daddy/boy kink (no age play or ABDL) with appearances by gods, goddesses, Amazons, Valkyrie, bikers and lots of steamy love! I think people will fall in love with Cutter and Abbott! Oh and at the end of the book, I also have a free bonus scene link on Prolific Works (although, it’s best if you read the book first because it has spoilers for Cutter’s Mission)!

Each book in the series will be stand-alone as the main characters will be in a different branch of the Valhalla Warriors Motorcycle Club. In Cutter’s Mission, the club headquarters is in Odessa, Texas. In the next book, J.T.’s Mission, they are in Nashville, Tennessee. The one consistent thread will be the appearance of Odin, his wife Lilith, the goddess Babel, Amazon Warriors and of course, Valkyrie. Several other gods and goddesses will make appearances too. But mostly the dastardly nemesis of the Valhalla Warriors, the Hell Hounds MC, will play a part too. We will learn more about them as the series goes on!

An Immortal Biker Daddy walks into a bar…

Abbott McClain is a boy on the run.

An infamous human trafficker and murderer is hot on his heels, and he has nowhere to go. When his car breaks down in a small Texas town, he has no choice but to seek help from a biker bar in the middle of nowhere. After a lifetime of rejection, he doesn’t want to trust anyone ever again. But when he meets a blue-eyed bear at the bar who promises him kindness and protection, he desperately wants to believe that this time things will be different.

James Alan Cutter is a man on a mission.

As a member of an immortal motorcycle club entrusted with protecting humanity, he shouldn’t be taking time off for romance. But something about Abbott stirs his Daddy nature.

When evil stalks the boy Cutter has fallen for, his brothers in arms come together to protect their love.

Cutter’s Mission is a 46K motorcycle club romance with an age gap, size difference, and hurt/comfort.

Buy Cutter’s Mission

Find Rosie!

Twitter : Facebook : Goodreads : Bookbub : Website

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

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

buy playing chicken – $1.99

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.