Today I’m thrilled to host Dale Cameron Lowry’s new release–there’s a little something for every taste in this anthology! Sign up to Dale’s newsletter to get a special treat~the link is after the excerpt.
Thanks for visiting, Dale!
Falling Hard features nine of Dale Cameron Lowry’s best short romance stories, available for the first time in one book. Meet a sign language interpreter who finds unexpected love at middle-age, college students in their first relationships, a vampire who would rather be a vegan, and a proudly gay ex-Mormon atheist who sells Bibles for a living. From sweet to erotic, this collection exhibits the quirkiness, fun, and diversity Dale’s writing is known for.
Here is a taste of each story in Falling Hard:
- Mi Alma — Ex-Mormon Alma Larsen doesn’t know the first thing about alcohol, so he hires bartender Damian Banks to help out at his winter holiday party. They build a friendship that simmers with sexual tension—and possibly something much deeper.
- Loggerhead — Soon after they fall in love, Jake makes Eric a promise inspired by an old track uniform. But demanding work schedules at Jake’s four-star restaurant and Eric’s newspaper keep them from following through. Six years later, they take the honeymoon they never had, heading to the Florida coast in search of sea turtles—and rekindling their passion for each other in the process.
- Reading the Signs — The only thing twenty-three-year-old Theo De Jong expects when he enrolls in a summer school for linguists in New Mexico is to get more ideas for his master’s thesis in Dutch Sign Language. But then he meets the American sign language expert Alfonso Grossman, and sparks fly.
- Born of Fire — The fairies on Ireland’s north coast are notorious for kidnapping, and Aodhán of County Donegal has the scars to prove it. When the fairies abduct the handsome youth Cainnech, Aodhán seeks to free him—but risks losing his health and Cainnech in the process.
- Ghost of a Chance — When shy Jeremy Anderson meets mysterious and dapper Frank at his spooky old university library, their connection is instant. Their romance waxes with the full moon—but just as quickly, Frank’s interest seems to wane. He insists that he loves spending time with Jeremy, but then why does he keep Jeremy at arm’s length?
- Far From Home — Rajiv met and fell in love with his husband, Mateo, when they were both members of the scientific team responsible for transforming Mars into a home suitable for humans. But years into their shared mission, Rajiv is ordered back to Earth to restore the barren lands of the American Midwest. With a little help from technology, the two men find innovative ways to nurture their long-distance relationship while they wait to reunite.
- Sweeter Than Blood — Keith was a vegan before a hot encounter with a stranger turned him into a vampire. In the year since, his sire, John, has tried to make up for the mistake by teaching Keith everything he knows about being a non-murderous bloodsucker. But temptation is strong in the form of Andres, a regular customer at the barbershop where Keith works. When Andres finally asks Keith on a date, the real danger begins.
- Rough Love — Blake thinks new boyfriend Michael doesn’t like French kissing. Michael thinks Blake doesn’t like rough sex. Neither are virgins, except in the art of conversation. Can they set things straight before the honeymoon’s over?
- Pacific Rimming — On Mike’s fortieth birthday, his husband, Ken, takes him on vacation to Vancouver Island in Western Canada to celebrate. While Mike mourns his loss of youth, Ken encourages him to recapture it by bedding a gorgeous twenty-something man they encounter while hiking in Pacific Rim National Park. A night of no-holds-barred passion among the three men reveals a sizzling chemistry, and when Mike and Ken return home they find themselves longing to reconnect with the young Jason. Can what started as a one-night stand transform into a threesome that lasts?
Excerpt: from Rough Love
Caffeine made me talk a mile a minute, so I ordered decaf. My nerves made me speak a mile a minute, anyway. Michael seemed to think this was cute. I’d say one thing and he’d ask me to say more. I told him about growing up as the only out gay kid in my tiny southern Idaho town, where the hottest teen nightspots were the retention pond north of Larsen’s potato farm, evangelical revivals, and dances at the Mormon stake center—none of which were good places to find a boyfriend. I told him about the Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy gay fanfiction I used to write in high school as my only escape. I told him about happily losing my virginity to another guy’s hand at three in the morning on the bus ride from Idaho Falls to Boston when I came out for my first semester of college.
“You might as well have grown up in another universe,” he said. “I’ve never been west of the Mississippi. Plus, I lost my virginity in eleventh grade. And then I discovered my prostate.” He sucked his bottom lip in and rolled his eyes in orgasmic pleasure. “When did you discover yours?”
I blushed, which was ridiculous. It wasn’t like I hadn’t had this conversation before with other guys. But then, Michael wasn’t another guy. “I’m more of a top,” I said. “Touching my prostate makes me feel like I have to pee.”
“To each his own.” He said this lightly, as if this were an interesting bit of trivia and not a sign from God that we were a match made in heaven. I swallowed my disappointment and changed the subject back to our early biographies.
He was from in state, raised in Boston by a Jewish mom and a black dad who also became Jewish, but not until he had a spiritual experience at Michael’s bar mitzvah. I blushingly admitted I’d never even heard of a bar mitzvah until I started college.
He cocked his head like a bird. Another adorable gesture to add to the list. “Not a ton of Jews in Idaho, I take it?”
“No. It’s about fifty-five percent Mormon and fifty-five percent evangelical, at least where I lived.”
“That adds up to more than one-hundred percent.”
“That’s how it felt, like everyone in town was a card-carrying member of the man-wife missionary position society. Our ‘sex ed’ was a five-minute lecture in ninth grade where my biology teacher chewed a piece of gum and then asked the students who wanted to chew it next.”
“What does that have to do with sex?”
“She said our bodies are like pieces of gum, and when we have sex it’s like getting chewed. No one wants to chew someone else’s gum, and no one wants to marry someone who isn’t a virgin.”
His eyes bulged out of their sockets. “You’re kidding me.”
“Uh-uh. Ironic that our school had one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the state. Maybe because the prevailing rumor was that if a girl was on top, she couldn’t get pregnant. Forget about being gay.”
“And my rabbi’s a lesbian who volunteers at Planned Parenthood. Different worlds.”
I wanted to be part of that world. It sounded a lot nicer than the one I was from.
Where to Buy
Falling Hard is currently available through the secure downloading platform PayHip, Amazon, Apple, and other sellers worldwide. You can read a preview and find sales outlets at:
Giveaway
Sign up for Dale’s newsletter and download a free audio version of the short erotic romance “Far From Home”: dalecameronlowry.com/listen-for-free/
Author Bio & Links
Dale Cameron Lowry lives in the Upper Midwest with a partner and three cats, one of whom enjoys eating dish towels, quilts, and wool socks. It’s up to you to guess whether the fabric eater is one of the cats or the partner. When not busy mending items destroyed by the aforementioned fabric eater, Dale is a writer and editor who enjoys wasting time on Tumblr, listening to podcasts, studying anatomy, getting annoyed at Duolingo, and reading fairy tales. Previous careers include sign language linguist, grocery store clerk, journalist, gardener, and camp counselor.
Dale began writing for fun at the age of eight and has been making up stories ever since, from overly workshopped literary fiction to off-the-cuff fanfic. Queer Mormons have a way of popping up in Dale’s work, whether it’s romance or erotica, sci fi or fairy tales, slice-of-life contemporary fiction or spine-tingling horror. So do immigrants and emigrants, people with disabilities, multilingual folks, and others who live their lives navigating multiple cultures.
Title: Falling Hard
Author: Dale Cameron Lowry
Length: 233 pages/57,000 words
Publisher: Terrestrial Press
Genres: short stories, contemporary romance, paranormal romance, erotic romance
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