World Austism Awareness Day

Autism Awareness Day Blog

Thanks to RJ Scott for organising this autism awareness blog. I’m glad to be able to do my little bit to support this important cause. Over my thirty years in teaching, I taught many children with autism. No two people with the condition present in the same way.    It is important to understand this, especially in the field of education.
FACT: One of the best known forms of autism is Asperger syndrome. People with the condition are often of average or above-average intelligence. They have fewer speech problems than people with other types of autism, but may find it difficult to understand and process language. Other people with autism have an accompanying learning disability, learning difficulty or mental health problem. 

 

Link to RJ Scott's post

http://rjscottauthor.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/world-autism-awareness-day.html

 
From unlikely places

On this blog, I thought I’d write a little about the source of my idea for my short story, Stay, which is due out in August with Totally Bound Publishers.

Some of you may know I’m a big fan of the programme Supernatural and especially one of the stars. Misha Collins. Misha is involved in two particular charities, GISHWHES and Random Acts of Kindness. Reading about last year’s examples of kindness, I remembered something from many years ago when a friend and I were visiting her grandmother in hospital every day for a couple of weeks while her mother got some rest. There were quite a few senior citizens in there for various reasons, one of whom was a game old girl, with a huge sense of fun called Ivy. One day, she said she’d love an orange, so we took some to her the next day. Her face was a picture and her happiness at the simple pleasure of being able to eat that orange has stayed with me over the years.

In my story, Stay, Ben brings an old lady oranges while visiting his grandmother and that simple act of kindness changes his life. Below is the cover for the story being shown for the first time.

Thanks for reading and if you leave a comment below, I have either a PDF or EPub version of my story Sporting Chance to give away.

What’s wrong with a happy ever after?

I write romance with happy ever afters or HEAs. I read a lot of books, and I watch a lot of television. Recently, I’ve begun to get angry while watching certain programmes, especially on the BBC because it appears that same sex couples cannot have a happy ever after, even for a few days. This afternoon, I’m watching WPC56 knowing the gay inspector of police is going to be exposed and it’ll probably end badly. Alright, it’s set at a time when homosexuality was illegal, but all the same the pair could go on quietly meeting.

On Sunday I watch Call the Midwife with my tissues at the ready. Like many others, I’ve been hoping that Patsy and Delia would set up their home and be happy – but no – Delia has an accident and loses her memory on the day they were going to move in together. A few weeks ago Caroline, the stuffy but wonderful head teacher, married Kate in Last Tango in Halifax. That marriage lasted a day with Kate dying the day after, leaving Caroline to cope with her loss and looking after a new born baby. A lot of tweets compared the two events and asked the same question of why it was necessary and I ask the same thing.

 

 

 Why can’t we have the gay version of Hilda and Stan and Jack and Vera – couples who have their problems but who love each other and have a love that lasts for years? I’ve read stories of many real life gay couples who’ve been together for decades. Today is the birthday of John Barrowman, who has been with his husband Scott for well over twenty years. Same sex couples have always existed in secret and in the open, living quiet lives with each other, but this doesn’t seem to be allowed on television and don't get me started on the teasing (and I can think of other names for it) of the relationship between Dean and Castiel in Supernatural.

Strangely, I started writing after the death of one half of a gay TV couple – Ianto Jones – the coffee making, suit wearing, devastatingly handsome lover of the omnisexual Captain Jack Harkness in Torchwood.

 

The out pouring of anger about this event is legendary. The shrine to Ianto Jones remains in Cardiff Bay nearly six years after his death. I, like many others, wrote Children of Earth fix-it stories where Ianto lived on revived by nanogenes or the Doctor turning back time. Here was another example of a same sex couple not getting a HEA – but this is Russell T Davies and he’d already killed off Owen and Tosh, so he had a track record of using death to create drama, and for those who watch Cucumber, you’ll have seen that Henry and Lance were doomed from the start.

I can only think of one couple who got to walk away from a programme and that was Syed and Christian on Eastenders, although I don’t think there was no mention of Syed when Christian appeared recently. Maybe you can think of another. I’d be happy to know that some couples didn’t end up with one of them dead, like Tara in Buffy, or even the fat one in the gay Anglican couple in Doctor Who!

It’s taken me forty minutes to write this piece and I was right. WPC56 has ended with the two men found in bed and arrested. I hate this. I know it happened, and I know we have to represent the past, but it’s the same in the present. I’m angry and sad at the same time. It’s taken long enough for gay people to be represented on television in a positive way, so why can’t same sex couples have a HEA like they do in the books I read and write. It’s long past time that TV caught up.

Valentine's Day Blog Hop

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many many thanks to D P Denman for organising this blog hop to celebrate love in all its forms and fashions. Below you will find links to all the terrific authors who are taking part and also a link to a major Rafflecopter giveaway – enter it and you can win not only a Kindle but a whole load of ebooks to put on it.

Shapes and sizes - Forms and guises

Heroes, like love, come in all shapes and sizes and all forms and guises. When I started to write, I made no decision about which genre to write it in—I’ve always loved gay romance. I began writing fanfiction in 2009, and in these stories I wrote about heroes like Captain Jack Harkness, the Doctor, Dean Winchester and Castiel. My first book, Sporting Chance, features a six foot six inch tall, blond rugby player. Don’t get me wrong—I love hero as much as the next person. Many m/m romance novels feature hero occupations—police, agents, firefighters, soldiers, cowboys, doctors, lawyers. But what about men with ordinary jobs? Don’t they deserve to find love too? What about the pest controller, the binman, the window cleaner, (or is that too like a Confessions film and you have to be as old as me to remember them) the roofer, the hospital porter, the shepherd, the archivist, the bus driver, the surveyor, the railway guard or the taxman? All of these are necessary jobs, but not very glamourous. I don’t think I’ve read a m/m romance which had characters with any of these jobs, and I’ve read a few.

When I came up with the basic idea for my story Rainbow Connection, I decided to give my main characters occupations that didn’t dominate their lives—they didn’t go home with their jobs, but left them behind when they left the building. These aren’t jobs which keep you awake in the middle of the night, or give you bad dreams.

I originally intended to write a story about the theme of finding love again after you’d lost your first love, and to a certain extent that theme remains, but then I read two stories in the same week—one about someone who dyed their hair the colours of the rainbow and another about a family, but I can’t say much about that story without giving spoilers. Thus Ceri and Mick were born. Two men looking for love but who presented a challenge to the artist who designed the cover below.

Ceri dyes his hair every week. He dreams of being a professional skate boarder and he fills the vending machines and water dispensers in various offices to pay his rent. Mick works in one of those offices as a night time security guard. He fills the long hours watching his favourite programmes and reading books. Then, one night, a new person comes to deliver the water bottles and vending supplies and Mick can’t help watching him as he does his rounds. When they meet for the first time, it’s not really a case of instant love more instant curiosity. Ceri sees his life as an open book, while Mick keeps his life under lock and key, but maybe they can find something they have in common something they both love which brings them together.

I’d love to read more stories about men with ordinary, unglamorous jobs and maybe a few more when the men don’t have perfect bodies and six packs. Everyone has their story to tell and everyone deserves to be loved. We are all somebody’s hero.

 

BLURB

 

Two men, one with a past, and one determined to give them a future, together.

 

Mick Flanagan has kept himself hidden since his only lover died three years before. He works at night, keeps to his routine, has impressive facial hair and avoids contact with other people as much as possible. He lives in his imagination, where he is part of a crew of space pirates roaming the universe, spending his spare time writing long stories about his heroes. Enter Ceri Llewellyn, with his constantly changing rainbow-coloured hair, who for reasons Mick doesn’t understand, seems determined to talk to him. Ceri has been living a happy-go-lucky lifestyle since he was let down by his first long-term boyfriend, Jules, but something about Mick calls to him. His twin, Megan would say that it’s because he loves a cause, and perhaps she’s right to begin with. They find they have a mutual love of Doctor Who and this gives Ceri an insight into Mick’s personality and brings them together. Ceri suggests that they visit Doctor Who’s Cardiff locations, and Mick can’t resist the temptation of visiting places he has only seen on the screen. Gradually, Ceri introduces Mick to new experiences, but Mick has a past that contains more than a dead lover. Can Ceri show him that he deserves to be loved but, above all else, help him find his true self?

 

And now the big cover reveal. I hope you like it.

 

 

 

Ebook Prizes:

 

Aidee Ladnier	The Break-in
Amanda Young	Winner chooses from author's available titles
Bronwyn Heeley	Winner chooses from author's available titles
C. J. Anthony	Heaven
Charlie Cochrane	Something from my back list - winner's choice.
David Connor	Tidings of Comfort and Joey Down Under
DP Denman	Winner chooses from author's available titles
Elin Gregory	Alike As Two Bees
Ethan Stone	Winner chooses from author's available titles
Eva Lefoy	Love is a Mess anthology
H.B. Pattskyn	Hanging by the Moment
J.M. Dabney	When All Else Fails
Jessie G	The Protector
Julie Lynn Hayes	When Will I See You Again
Lisabet Sarai	Necessary Madness
Lynley Wayne	Winner chooses from author's available titles
M.A. Church	The Harvest series (book #1 and book #2)
Morticia knight	All Fired Up (Sin City Uniforms 1)
N.J. Nielsen	Winner chooses from author's available titles
Sibley Jackson	Private Performance
Sue Brown	The Next Call
Tali Spencer	Dangerous Beauty
Tara Lain	Canning the Center
Thianna Durston	The Blake/Dusty Chronicles: Two Sides of the Same Coin
Alexa Milne	Rainbow Connection (due out 13th Feb) or Sporting Chance.
Anne Barwell	Winner chooses from author's available titles
April Kelley	Whispers of Home
Brandon Shire	The Love of Wicked Men - Episode One
Catherine Lievens	Jamie
Cecil Wilde	Defying Convention
Christopher Koehler	Poz
Draven St. James	Scent of a Wolf
Elizabeth Noble	Winner chooses from author's available titles
Hayley B James	Undercover Addiction
Jennifer Wright	All 3 Finding Home Series books - Pavarus, Morvea, & Airos
Karen Stivali	Moment of Impact
Kendall McKenna	1) Strength of the Pack 2)Waves Break My Fall
L M Somerton	Rasputin's Kiss
Lily G Blunt	Paint the Sky
Megan Linden	Running Off the Edge
Stephen del Mar	Dark Love
TM Smith	Opposites
Tracey Michael	Pretty Please

 

Hop sites:

A.J. Marcus

Aidee Ladnier

Alexa Milne

Amanda Young

Annabeth Albert

Anne Barwell

April Kelley

Brandon Shire

Bronwyn Heeley

C. J. Anthony

Catherine Lievens

Cecil Wilde

Charlie Cochrane

Christopher Koehler

David Connor

DP Denman

Draven St. James

Elin Gregory

Elizabeth Noble

Ethan Stone

Eva Lefoy

H.B. Pattskyn

Hayley B James

J.M. Dabney

Jennifer Wright

Jessie G

Julie Lynn Hayes

Karen Stivali

Kazy Reed

Kendall McKenna

L M Somerton

Lily G Blunt

Lisabet Sarai

Lynley Wayne

M.A. Church

Megan Linden

Morticia knight

N.J. Nielsen

Neil Plakcy

Sibley Jackson

Stephen del Mar

Sue Brown

Tali Spencer

Tara Lain

Thianna Durston

TM Smith

Tracey Michael

 Here is the Rafflecopter giveaway but if you'd like to win a copy of Sporting Chance or Rainbow Connection when it's out (which might be a little while) please comment below.

 

Rafflecopter Giveaway