Rainbow Snippet No. 1! What does love look like?

482124355Hola Snippetteers!

This is the first week of my group Rainbow Snippets so i thought i’d post from Torque, my bi-ace-trans menage coming in Feb from Samhain. I’ll give you the sentences first and then the intro.

Okay, a warning first: beware of creative punctuation. I’ve added a couple of semicolons you won’t find in the edited version so i could post something that would make sense-but you might want to squint as you read it. 🙂

Scotty slipped past the roll-up door and saw Mercy hugging Walt—which almost made him laugh out loud, because Walt was not much of a hugger and not overly fond of Mercy as a rule.

But that’s not all he saw. He also saw Mick watching.

Mick had looked a little green earlier so Scotty figured he’d give him time to recover from mopping up a puddle of blood before getting in his face about the chance he took, attracting Ernie’s attention; Scotty owed him a good talking-to for that, because he had to have realized Ernie was well past crazy and attracting his attention was risking getting shot. Mick didn’t look green anymore; he rubbed the back of his neck the way guys did when they saw Mercy all cleaned-up in a tight dress. And she was only wearing her work clothes—old black jeans and boots and a white T-shirt with her family’s garage logo on it.

 

Here’s the blurb for a bit of context:

Sometimes letting things get complicated is the best way to figure it all out.

Mick Randall is on the run, from the biker culture he grew up in and his impossible vision of love. Alaska should be far enough to escape his old life—until he rolls into a wrecking yard and gets lost in a pair of pale, bottle-green eyes.

Scotty Bell has spent years learning to channel his fiery temper into the heat of a welding torch. His sexual heat has always been slower to ignite, but one look at Mick rouses confusion alongside desire. In all his life, he’s only been attracted to one other person—his best friend, Mercy Taylor.

Mick lands a temporary job at the yard, and finds an uneasy crash pad at Scotty’s place…where the ragged ends of his emotions get tangled up in Scotty and Mercy’s relationship. But when Mick hears a Harley engine from his past bearing down on him, his first instinct is to go back to the half-life he’d been living. Lest his secrets destroy the only two people who’ve ever made him feel whole.

Warning: Contains references to abuse, subversive ideas about sexual identity and gender expression, and a free-range bisexual on a mission.

 

Thanks for reading!

Don’t forget to visit the other snippets. Click all the links at the Rainbow Snippets FB Group, and don’t forget to come back next week!

 Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Torque Cover

A twist to an object…

Hola Snippetteers!

I’ve been MIA lately, the combination of the DJ being extra-Evil and many author duties has been brutal. That condition should continue at least through June but who needs sleep, right? 😉 Hopefully I’ll be able to participate in Snippet Sunday regularly again—I missed everyone!

Before I get to the snippet I have two announcements. The witch story (Jeffrey and Michael)—The Pinch of the Game—will go up for pre-order on May 22nd! I have a cover reveal planned, with a Rafflecopter giveaway, so stop by here or Facebook for a link. This cover is a beaut!

The book formerly known as the wrecking yard romance has a new title, Torque, and is scheduled for release in February of 2016 by Samhain! I’m over the moon about this, so i’m sharing a bit from Torque today.

In this snippet, Mick (MC#1) is hanging out with Scotty (MC#2) at his place. After pizza, movies, and beer, this is what happens.

 

He thought for a second that Scott leaned toward him once or twice, in a way that was a little more than friendly, but it had to be the beer. Mick Randall wasn’t a stranger to self-medicating with alcohol but before he found Bell’s he hadn’t had a lot of money to spare, and lately he hadn’t had the time. Together, those circumstances had turned him into a lightweight.

Mick wasn’t capable of walking in a straight line by the time he hit the can, but it didn’t matter. Four beers was plenty and he’d take the other two out of Scott’s fridge the next day and remember not to bring more. If he wanted a drink, he wouldn’t have to drive far. When he left the bathroom his thoughts centered on that warm, happy feeling, and what he could get up to the next day. Before he knew what was happening, Scott had him backed against the wall, both hands spread across his chest.

 

Thanks for reading!

Don’t forget to visit the other snippets. Click all the links at the Snippet Sunday FB group.

 Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

rainbow rosephoto credit: cal_gecko via photopin cc

What does love look like?

482124355Welcome to my snippet!

I’m counting on a little “on sub” luck here—the wrecking yard romance (a.k.a. A Love Type Thing) has been rejected once, and is now out on sub to the only two appropriate publishers that take simultaneous submissions (as far as I know).

This is from Scotty’s POV and takes place the day after a big event at the yard. (Walt is Scotty’s grandfather & the owner of Bell’s Auto Wrecking; Ernie is Scotty’s father.)

 

Scotty slipped past the roll-up door and saw Mercy hugging Walt—which almost made him laugh out loud, because Walt was not much of a hugger and not overly fond of Mercy as a rule.

But that’s not all he saw. He also saw Mick watching.

Mick had looked a little green earlier so Scotty figured he’d give him time to recover from mopping up a puddle of blood before getting in his face about the chance he took, attracting Ernie’s attention. Scotty owed him a good talking-to for that, because he had to have realized Ernie was well past crazy and attracting his attention was risking getting shot. Mick didn’t look green anymore. He rubbed the back of his neck the way guys did when they saw Mercy all cleaned-up in a tight dress. And she was only wearing her work clothes—old black jeans and boots and a white T-shirt with her family’s garage logo on it.

 

I have a kind of a tagline/blurb deal now too, since if these two publishers pass I’ll probably be going indie with it. Let me know what you think! (If you want to…this is way over my 8-sentence limit so stop here if you want to. :))

What does love look like?

Mick Randall spent thirty-two years trying not to answer that question. At least not honestly. Mick’s running from the San Francisco Bay Area, his sights set on Alaska. Escaping his old life seems the only sane choice and the farther away, the better. A few months later, he rolls into a wrecking yard in North Portland. One look at the silhouette of a welder has him reconsidering his plans to flee, and the half-life he’d been living.

Scotty Bell was so stunned when he first saw Mick, he had to force himself not to start a fight to chase away the confusion. Scotty didn’t know what to do with the crazy feelings Mick has stirred up—in his twenty-eight years he’d only ever been attracted to one person, his best friend in the world, Mercy Taylor. Scotty thought having a fuck-buddy was the most he could hope for, but sometimes letting things get complicated is the best way to figure them out.

Thanks for reading!

Don’t forget to visit the other snippets. Click all the links at the Snippet Sunday FB group and Weekend Writing Warriors (which i actually remembered to sign up for this week!).

 Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

rainbow rose

A car by any other name…

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Hola, snippet lovers!

Here’s another ten from A Love Type Thing, aka, the wrecking yard romance. I just passed the 16 week mark on this submission and still no word from the publisher. The wait is starting to drive me ’round the bend, so I needed to crack it open and make sure I hadn’t been imagining things… it really does exist. 🙂

Plus, I finished the draft of my opposite-sex romance today so now I can’t look at it for at least a week. Hey, i don’t make the rules…

This picks up immediately after the last line of the last snippet I shared from this story (find it here). The players are Mick (MC#1) and Mercy (MC#2’s oldest friend); Mick’s ’72 VW Bug broke down on the side of the road, and Mercy stopped to see if he needed help. Mercy just asked Mick what his car’s name is, and showed off her curves. Standard warnings re: unedited material and creative punctuation apply.

 

Mick tried for all he was worth not to stare, not to do the one thing that had always been on his list of things he had to do to be safe; if he stared at Mercy’s tits, he might end up with a black eye. “Name?”

“She doesn’t have a name? I thought car guys all liked to name their cars.”

Mick shrugged, he didn’t want to talk about past names that had been hung on the Bug or whether he was really a car guy, what he wanted was to take a long hard look at Mercy’s tits.

Oh, fuck.

“She’s had names, but it just seems weird.”

“Isn’t it weirder if you call her she and don’t give her a name?” Mercy grinned.

 

Thanks for reading!

Have fun visiting the other snippets at the Snippet Sunday FB group.

 Enjoy the rest of your weekend, lovelies!

rainbow rose

 

 

What’s in a name?

482124355Happy Caturday!

I’m in the home stretch with my submission of the wrecking yard romance, a.k.a. A Love Type Thing. So, since i really wanted to use this picture, you’re getting a snippet from LTT. (Click here for more LTT snippets.)

This is from Mick’s POV, his ’72 VW Bug broke down between the yard and the Mexican place where he grabbed lunch for everyone. Repairs had been going well, even with the drizzle, but Mick’s afternoon is about to get a little brighter.

 

The sight of the dirty white truck jump-started his heart rate before she even opened the door. Mercy got out of the cab and pushed the door closed with a thunk; she took a short moment to look him over and then approached. Her walk reminded him of Tom’s, slinky like a predator; he reminded himself not to tell her that, though. In Mick’s admittedly limited experience, women didn’t appreciate being compared to pets, and he didn’t want to be that kind of a jerk anyway.

“Did she quit on you?”

“Just acting up, shouldn’t take long to get her back on the road.”

“What’s her name?” Mercy leaned her hip against the side of the car, the position of her body made curves that previously had been invisible pop into alluring view.

 

Thanks for reading!

Don’t forget to visit the other snippets. Click all the links at the Snippet Sunday FB group Maybe someday i’ll remember to sign up for Weekend Writing Warriors on time again. 🙂

 Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

rainbow rose

A Love Type Thing

Hiya, snippet lovers!

Here’s another taste from Scotty’s POV. Last week Mick was waylaid on his way out to lunch. I’m skipping over some smexy bits and to Mick’s return to the yard.

I hit Send on this baby, so (since it’s not likely to change anytime soon) I’ll share the title: A Love Type Thing. (Yep, from the STP song, “Sex Type Thing.”)

 

Mick came back and headed straight for the coffee pot; he didn’t look happy to begin with, but his face got all stony, like Gramps’s when he had to bail Scotty out of a jam for fighting. Even with anger etching lines in his face and the sadness in his eyes, Mick was a good-looking man. His eyes and hair were dark brown but not black, and his jeans rode low on his hips, showing slices of lightly tanned skin as he worked. Mercy had a cute little turned-up nose, but Mick’s was stronger and a little beakish, it made Scotty wonder if he’d be firm all over.

Maybe Mick smelled sex in the shop; that might be a problem for anyone—the boss’s kid getting his rocks off on the clock. People said it was possible, but Scotty had never smelled sex in a room so he wasn’t sure. He felt a little like punching something, so it was a good thing Gramps came back. He didn’t want to start something like that with Mick, not really, but sometimes it felt better than being confused.

Thanks for reading!

Now that Mick & Co. are off in Slushville, next week I’ll probably move on to something else. I have a Dec. 1 deadline for an expanded version of the witch story and as of today, I need all the help I can get with that one. No lie.

 

Don’t forget to visit the other snippets. Click all the links at the Snippet Sunday FB group and Weekend Writing Warriors.

 Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

rainbow rosephoto credit: cal_gecko via photopin cc

Another introduction…

Hello and welcome to my snippet!

I’m convinced having a book out on beta reads puts an author through emotional changes that feel something like the stages of grief. After two weeks, I’m pretty sure I’ve reached the bargaining stage. I promise to re-do anything they suggest if they’ll just rip off the band-aid and tell me how horrible it is today. *lol*

Here’s another one from the wrecking yard romance, introducing an important character. Mercy pulled up outside the shack where Scotty’s working, before Mick could get away to scare up some lunch. Just before this, Mick watches Scotty and Mercy kiss hello.

The usual caveats apply to this unedited snippet. 🙂

 

Mick’s stomach felt leaden, but he knew he’d regret it later if he didn’t get something to eat. Before he could slink away, Scott called out to him; Mick met them halfway between the truck and the Bug.

“Mick pulled your parts for today, Mercy.”

The gal—Mercy—studied Mick like he was under a microscope, like she could see more than he would ever be willing to share; he extended a hand and she shook it while they both said “nice to meet you.” Mercy didn’t have to look up to Mick, not like Scott had to look up to her; she was almost androgynous, but maybe that had as much to do with her wardrobe of dusty black jeans and boots topped with a white T-shirt as with her slender figure. She exuded toughness, from the black make-up around her eyes to her rough, firm grip on Mick’s hand.

“Thanks for the parts, Mick.” Those few words sounded like a come-on wrapped in a warning.

Thanks for reading!

Don’t forget to visit the other snippets. You can find links here, at the Snippet Sunday FB group and Weekend Writing Warriors.

 Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

rainbow rosephoto credit: cal_gecko via photopin cc

A different point of view…

gratisography.com

Hiya, fellow snippet-lovers!

Last week I shared from the scene where Mick sees Scotty—the welder—for the first time. This week’s snippet is from Scotty’s POV. It wasn’t easy to choose, because I have a big love for Scotty. It’s funny, but I always seem to fall harder for the MC’s love interest than the main character himself… (I know, Freudian much?)

As always, please ignore the creative punctuation. 🙂

Scotty worked late, converting an old VW bus into a flatbed. He had plans to sell it and buy concert tickets in August and September, a mosh pit was the next best thing to a real fight—sometimes even better because you had to get pretty damned crazy to get in trouble in one. He was happier working on a project than watching television or going out, even if sometimes it got a little lonely, but eventually he had to stop and eat.

He pulled the metal door closed and walked around to the front entrance to go up to his little apartment on the second floor of the main building. Mick’s navy blue VW hadn’t moved, it still sat beside the light-duty truck that had been a mover’s van and was to be Scotty’s next project. It was disappointing if the VW broke down; he hoped Mick would be a true gearhead, and they could hang out and talk about cars and who knows, maybe have even more fun than that. Scotty went over and found Mick asleep in his car; he had the passenger seat leaned all the way back and curled up on his side, his mouth open just enough to give Scotty thoughts he really didn’t need if he was going to keep things from getting complicated at the yard. He didn’t mind complicated so much, but Walt had a different opinion.

Thanks for reading!

I’ve been working on Colin & Al’s story off and on for a long time, and tonight I finally hit Send! Any positive energy you’d like to share will be most appreciated. I’m a little freaked, but it feels like a good career move to try out a new publisher with this one. It seems smarter not to have all my eggs in one basket, even if that basket is shiny and wonderful. 😀

Have fun visiting the other snippets, at Weekend Writing Warriors, and the Snippet Sunday FB group.

 Enjoy the rest of your weekend, lovelies!

rainbow rose

 

 

Meet the welder?

Hola, snippetteers!

This snippet is from the wrecking yard romance, and picks up shortly after the last one. Walt, who owns the yard, has just offered Mick a job.

This story is out with a couple of kind folks who’ve agreed to be merciless beta readers. If anyone else wants to volunteer, zip me an email and let’s talk about it!

 

Mick studied the silhouetted welder as nonchalantly as he could manage while Walt made his offer. Even if he’d offered below minimum wage Mick would’ve taken it—he needed the cash and could handle being ripped-off for a short time—but twelve an hour was more than decent, more than he’d ever made on a legal job.

After they shook on it, the torch went out and Mick realized he’d forgotten to keep one eye on the welder; footsteps closed in on where he stood, waiting for Walt to get him a list of parts to pull. Walt had said it was just him and “the kid” so Mick expected a literal kid—the man approaching him only qualified to someone of Walt’s age, which had to be on the high side of sixty. The welder had to be in his late twenties even if he was short and maybe even a little delicate, dishwater blond waves with a hint of strawberry tumbled freely to his shoulders below an olive green knit beanie, scruff a few shades darker than his hair could’ve been a beard on training wheels. His jeans and green plaid flannel shirt had seen better days, but Mick didn’t notice anything wrong with what they covered.

Walt came back with a clipboard holding a list of parts in a plastic sleeve just as the welder got close enough to say hello. He didn’t, nor did he look far from his scuffed steel-toed boots.

Thanks for reading!

Don’t forget to visit the other snippets. You can find links here, at the Snippet Sunday FB group and Weekend Writing Warriors.

 Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

rainbow rosephoto credit: cal_gecko via photopin cc

A hot vision…

gratisography.com

Hola, snippetteers!

I think I’m all recovered from my long weekend in Seattle for the Gay Romance Northwest Meet-up (GRNW). It was a blast—the workshops and panels and just hanging with my tribe for a few days—more wonderful than I dared to hope it would be. The first time I came out, in 1982, if someone would’ve told me I’d get paid to write queer fiction I wouldn’t have believed it. I’m privileged to have been a part of such an amazing event.

This snippet is from the wrecking yard romance, and picks up shortly after the last one. Mick’s just rolled into the wrecking yard and met the owner, Walt, who asked if he was running from the law (the answer is no). Please ignore the creative punctuation; the normal warning to squint applies.

 

Mick shrugged and shook Walt’s meaty paw. “Mick.”

Good thing he added that bit about the law.

“You the one keeping the kraut going?”

“I am.”

“I left my coffee inside, come on and get yourself some too.”

Mick parked the Bug, and before it came to a stop the cat had fallen asleep curled on top of a sweatshirt on the passenger seat. Mick rolled down the window so the cat could get out, and followed Walt across the lot and into a squat shack attached to the main two-story building. The shack’s roof slanted down toward a rollup door facing the yard in back—open to show a jumble of cars in various states of wrecked and salvaged. The silhouette of a man holding a welding torch stood in the corner at a picturesque angle, his attention focused on something outside Mick’s field of vision.

 

Thanks for reading!

This weekend I’m working on getting the wrecking yard romance ready for submission. If all goes well, Mick & Co. should be ready for a beta read or two within the week. *fingers crossed* If anyone might like to volunteer, please email me and we can talk about it. This story is a little risky and will not be everyone’s cuppa—even those who like to read about two men falling in love.

Okay, I’m finished talking now so you can visit the other snippets, at the Snippet Sunday FB group.

 Enjoy the rest of your weekend, lovelies!

rainbow rose