YAY - SOON AVAILABLE IN PRINT!

Those wonderful people over at Silver Publishing are putting my books into print....

https://spsilverpublishing.com/product_book_info/paperbacks-c-83/products_id/1127/
AVAILABLE 7 JUNE

https://spsilverpublishing.com/product_book_info/paperbacks-c-83/products_id/1147/
Available 19 June

https://spsilverpublishing.com/product_book_info/paperbacks-c-83/products_id/1154/
Available 21 June

https://spsilverpublishing.com/product_book_info/paperbacks-c-83/products_id/1138/
Available 21 June

Conventions... To Geek or Not to Geek...

When you mention to people that you go to conventions, their first reaction is usually, "What? Like Trekkies?" This is, of course, a reasonable summation. After all, you have Comic Con etc where people dress up like their heroes and have a whale of a time, and you kind of think you can pick them out of a line-up, because they've got to be skinny nerds with glasses, surely?  No. I, my fellow bloggers, am indeed a convention nerd.

This is me. I don't look particularly nerdy... certainly not skinny, although I do have the glasses - but that's cause I'm blind without them, not part of my geek outfit.

The conventions I attend are for my favourite TV show, Supernatural, with Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki.  I'm sure most of you who know me, will have no trouble believing this.  Basically, you get the chance to participate in Q&A panels, if you're brave enough, and have your photograph taken and collect the autograph of your favourite characters and miscellaneous guest stars from the show.

Now, I'm not going to deny that the draw of the convention is the guests. Well at least it was for my first convention in 2009. After that, the guests were just gravy. Not that my tiny little heart wasn't pitter-patting any less when having the Ackles and the Padalecki arms wrapped around you, but they were not the main reason.

A typical opening ceremony on the Saturday morning will leave you in your seat, heart in your mouth as the music plays, the introductory vid, made by our lovely Doug the MC, begins to play and 800 people (at least) start to clap and cheer and wolf-whistle like you've never heard before.

Then, one by one, the guests are introduced. (The boys are not always there, but if they are, they are usually left til last for their big entrance. Sometimes this involves Jared or Jensen or indeed both of them tripping up the stage step - depending on how long their flight was).  The poor actors and actresses are hit by flashing cameras and deafening screams.  It's really exciting. But do you know what's more exciting than these gorgeous men?

It's the people sitting beside you, and in front of you and behind you.  It's the friends you have made and the people whom you would never have met, if it were not for this little TV show about spooky stuff and the longest road trip in history.

I have made friends that will last me a lifetime. Friends I now consider family. I posted on my facebook a picture of myself with three other women.  Women who have empowered me, stood by me, loved me through the last three years, good times and bad.  These women have become my sisters and I cherish them. Each Friday night, the first of the convention, we have a photograph taken of the four of us. It was a tradition started in 2009 and one we still carry on, and I'd like to share them with you...

A3 - 2009

A4 - 2010

A5 - October 2010

A6 - May 2011 (Also Jaynee's Hen Night)

These photos are the reason I attend cons. The chance to see people I may only see once a year is the reason I decide on my fancy dress outfit for the themed discos and walk around like an idiot.  I don't care... because I'm with my family, these four women, and many others ranging from all over the country, the world actually!

So, if you've never been to a convention... I highly recommend them.  You might find some of your missing family members, too :)

FRIDAY FLASH FICTION!

I know it's been a while... but here is this week's flash...
You know the routine, one picture, one hundred words and a gang of talented cohorts. Don't forget to click on the link at the end and within the one hundred itself to see what my partners in crime have in store for you, and to take a look at Bear on Books, the home of Tom Webb, who guest stars in this week's FFF.  Enjoy!

Tom gazed silently at Max from the doorway, his heart aching as his partner’s entire body shook in his grief—their grief. He walked across the room and knelt at Max’s feet, gently easing the photograph from white-knuckled fingers. Tom didn’t need to look to know what was depicted. Both of them bare-chested, Tom standing so he was looking over Max’s right shoulder--each staring in bewildered awe at the tiny girl in Max’s arms.

But that was then, before the dream they’d waited so long for came crashing down around their ears. Before the birth-mother changed her mind.

Hope you liked it.  Check out the other fabulous FFF's over on MORE FLASH THIS WAY

MEN OF MAY WINNER!

The winner of the Men of May Bloghop giveaway, chosen by my daughter's own fair hand is.....

EMILY!!!!

Congratulations, a copy of Thirst and Continental Divide are winging their way to you as we speak. Enjoy!

Thank you to all who participated.  Make sure you keep your eyes peeled for the next giveaway!

Superstitious Minds...

Are you superstitious?

I am, up to a point. But did these superstitions come from somewhere deep inside me, or were they inbred because my mother was superstitious... and was she superstitious because her mother was superstitious... and so on and so on... (can you tell I like the word superstitious yet?)

What are superstitions? What do they actually mean and how were they born? Was some bloke sitting in his living-room wondering what to do because there was a power cut and decided to think up a few ridiculous sayings? Commonly, superstitions are born out of fear and ignorance... that's Google talking, not me - because that would be presumptuous and that's a whole 'nother blog post and a whole 'nother 'ous'. (Stick with me, I know what I'm talking about)

So what are the most common superstitions handed down through the ages....

• Friday the thirteenth is an unlucky day 

(it probably is if you run into this bloke!)

• A rabbit's foot brings good luck

         (I'd have to say, not for the rabbit)

• If you walk under a ladder, you will have bad luck (especially if the bloke up it drops a tin of paint on your head!)

• If a black cat crosses your path you will have bad luck

(only if you trip over it....)

• To break a mirror will bring you seven years bad luck  (which means I'm roughly on 672 years...)

• To open an umbrella in the house is to bring bad luck  (*blushes* is this one of mine?)

• To find a horseshoe brings good luck

(of course, while you're basking in your good luck, some poor horse is hobbling up the road to the blacksmith because you've stolen it's shoe!)

• Step on a crack, break your mother's back  (Really? How? Is she lying on top of the crack you're jumping on? I don't get it... but apparently 1/2 of all adults deliberately avoid stepping on cracks in the pavement...)

Then we have the more bizarre....

• Garlic protects from evil spirits and vampires (the only thing garlic protects from is an unwanted kiss after being taken out on a blind date - so make sure you order lots of it!)

• Our fate is written in the stars (Well unless it said Lisa a bird will shit right in the corner of your windscreen where the wipers can't get it... I'm not buying this one)

• Clothes worn inside out will bring good luck  (you might have good luck - but you'll look bloody stupid, they forget to tell you that bit don't they!)
• A cricket in the house brings good luck (A cricket in the house brings sleepless nights until you can find and kill the bloody thing!)

• It is bad luck to sleep on a table  (of course it is, you might drown in the gravy!)

• To refuse a kiss under mistletoe causes bad luck  (So you have to kiss the socially challenged moron your mother has fixed you up with at her annual Christmas party?  Sod that for a game of soldiers.)

• When a dog howls, death is near  (oh God, that must mean my street is dropping like flies, Winnie howls at the drop of a hat).

• A sailor wearing an earring cannot drown  (What? Seriously? How big is the bloody thing? Does it open up into a life raft? A dinghy? A rubber ring?  Good lord, who makes this shit up?)

So... now I have delved into the mysterious world of Superstitions, if you tell me yours, I'll tell you mine.  What? I have to go first? How is that fair? *harrumphs* Okay.... I will admit to the crack in the pavement, I'll also admit to the umbrella open in the house, shoes on the table and when I see a funeral procession I always touch my heels together... why? Because if you don't you'll be the next one in the hearse of course, what are you? Stupid?

Come on then... 'fess up...

MEN OF MAY BLOG HOP!

Imagine my delight when I was asked to join in this blog hop, with the opportunity to discuss my favourite men! It could be real men, characters or indeed the models who inspire me.  Well... those of you who know me, will not be entirely surprised to see the line-up I have for you.  Not only are they my favourite men, they inspire every character I've ever written and help me create my own special corner of the world... and coincidentally, the month I meet these guys practically every year for the last three?  MAY!!!!!

Now that we've got that little treat out of the way... how about another one?

I am giving away a copy of Continental Divide, book one in the Separate Ways Series, and Thirst to one lucky winner.  If you want them, all you have to do is comment.  And don't forget to check out all the other entrants to see what you can get your grabby little hands on, don't miss out!  MEN OF MAY BLOG HOP!

RELEASE DAY - THE COWBOY QUEEN BY PATRICIA LOGAN!!!

Beautiful, androgynous Ricky La Grange, drag queen extraordinaire, has a huge following at “The Red Room,” a famous, gay drag club in West Hollywood, Ca. His boyfriend, super model Michael Francis, has cowboy fantasies and Ricky decides to surprise him with a trip to a Texas dude ranch, complete with sweaty cowboys in chaps. Once on the cowboy scene, Ricky is distressed to find out Michael has his sights set on one particular cowboy and no interest in his own, naive boyfriend.

A handsome cowboy who rolls his own cigarettes captures both of their interests but Maverick Walker has eyes for only one man, the sweet, young blond Ricky, a man he knows will rock his world. Will Ricky find everlasting happiness in the arms of his super model boyfriend or will he be pushed aside for the tall, handsome cowboy, the man of Michael’s dreams?

Maverick has his heart set on Ricky La Grange the minute he sees the younger man. His foolish desire for the ethereal blond can only have one outcome and Mav isn't going to be outed that easily. The only option? Stay away from a man that is so obviously taken by another and forget the forbidden longings for men completely. Besides the fact that his life has been complicated by another man, Dmitri Hernandez, and his attraction for both he and his lover, will Maverick be able to forget the past and move on or will he forever be hidden in the closet?

Get your copy now over on Amazon.com.  Strap yourself in, it's a hell of a ride :)