Fiction

Guest Post: Racheline Maltese and Erin McRae

We’re getting ready to launch Young Love, Old Hearts, a Supposed Crimes anthology, this Friday. Today, I’m welcoming authors Racheline Maltese and Erin McRae to talk about their story for the collection, “Adjunct Hell.”

Academia

by Erin McRae and Racheline Maltese

We knew “Adjunct Hell” was going to be about academia even before we knew it was going to be an age difference story. I mean, sure, it took us about .5 seconds to go from “we should write a story set at a college!” to “professor and older student!” because that’s how we roll, but still, writing about the world of academia was a big driver for us.

We like writing backstage stories, and academia is one of those worlds — like film, or professional sports, or politics — where the way things work is not actually the way most people think they work. And they definitely don’t work the way they do on TV or in the movies. Academia is full of drama and interpersonal conflict. It’s long, long, long hours, endless problem sets to grade, and never enough time for your own research. It’s a lot of career uncertainty. It’s definitely never enough pay.

I got my master’s degree while working a full-time dayjob, and I look back on those years and wonder how I survived. But in the high-stakes, 80-hour-a-week of academia, there’s a lot of space for personal drama — and personal hilarity.

Because really — a professor dating a student, even a student a couple of decades older than himself, is a really bad idea. And the potential for farce, terrible personal choices, that and comedic joy of interfering officemates was something we just couldn’t pass up. We like putting our characters in tough situations, and watching Phil and Carl struggle to keep their relationship secret while respectively trying to also do their homework and not tank their chances at tenure, was a joy.

Social media links:

Joint Blog: http://Avian30.com

Joint Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Erin.and.Racheline

Erin’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/erincmcrae

Racheline’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/racheline_m

Erin’s Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8323893.Erin_McRae

Racheline’s Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1015335.Racheline_Maltese

Racheline Maltese & Erin McRae are also authors of the following series:

Love in Los Angeles: http://avian30.com/books/love-in-los-angeles/

Love’s Labours: http://avian30.com/books/loves-labours/

Excerpt from “Adjunct Hell”:

“So apparently your classmates have a betting pool going,” Carl says as soon as Phil picks up the phone.

“Oh?”

“Yes. About whether and when the old dude with the crush is going to get with the professor.”

Phil makes a strangled noise. It takes Carl a moment to realize he’s laughing.

“It’s not funny!” Carl protests.

“It’s funny.”

“I’m still waiting on my boss to tell me whether or not my colleagues hate me and whether I, you know, still have a job. The last thing I need is rumors about me and a student…” Carl trails off in despair.

“It’s a school. Do you have any idea how many rumors are flying around? Or how many professors are banging their students?”

Carl collapses face down on his bed and makes a pitiful noise into the phone.

“Look, I know this is making you crazy,” Phil says soothingly. “But whatever it is has been done, and if they wanted you gone, you’d know. There is also absolutely nothing you can do about it right now. So,” he says, and Carl can just picture him settling more comfortably in his bed, in which they have not spent nearly enough time together. “Tell me about the rest of your day.”

Young Love, Old Hearts
A Supposed Crimes Anthology
Editor: C. E. Case

Stories by: A. M. Leibowitz, Adrian J. Smith, Erin McRae & Racheline Maltese, Geonn Cannon, Helena Maeve, Kassandra Lea, Lela E. Buis, Ralph Greco Jr., & Stacy O’Steen

Everyone hears “He’s too young for you.” “She’s too old for you.” Not between these pages. This anthology crosses the age gap with nine enchanting stories of cross-generational relationships. Some are sweet, some are sexy, some are heartbreaking. One is downright murderous. The protagonists are gay men or women searching for true love or trying out what’s right in front of them.

Lesbian

Verso and Recto by Geonn Cannon

Discovering their mutual love of reading leads a literature student and her professor to take a step neither of them expected.

A Blizzard’s Blow by Adrian J. Smith

Lollie dashes from the house in the middle of a blizzard in search of something she’s not sure she’ll find, but she hopes to never again see the same cold, blank stare Kimberley gave her.

Slice by Ralph Greco Jr.

When Germane relinquishes her more-than-slight kinky relationship with Lila to begin a new one with younger A.J., she finds a flirty, fun and wholly different “Slice” of life opening up for her.

That December by Lela E. Buis

Celia finds that older women and the politics of genetic engineering aren’t what they seem.

Gay

The Arrangement by Helena Maeve

When he is summoned into his Dom’s study after a mutually satisfying scene, Cyril knows he’s in for something worse than the play they normally get up to.

New York Minute by Stacy O’Steen

Stuck in his depressing hometown for far too long, Colton jumps at the chance to return to his beloved New York City. But when some odd coincidences click into place, he needs to find the truth hidden in the lies.

The Artist as an Old Man by A. M. Leibowitz

1985 is a big year for Kenny Anderson. Sent to interview artist Aaron Rubenstein, making a grand reappearance after a three-year absence, Kenny digs beneath the surface to understand Aaron’s life—and maybe his own.

Adjunct Hell by Erin McRae & Racheline Maltese

Phil may be in his 50s, but he’s still a student, and the fact that Carl—who’s barely 30—is dating him would bad enough even if Carl wasn’t waiting for good news from the tenure committee.

Say You Do by Kassandra Lea

Keegan Bancroft is hoping to avoid a complete meltdown before his date. But there’s something he really wants to ask Richard.

Buy Links:

|| Amazon USA || Amazon CA || Amazon UK || Kobo || Smashwords || Barnes & Noble ||
Add to Goodreads

About the Publisher

Supposed Crimes, LLC publishes fiction and poetry primarily featuring lesbian characters and themes. The focus is on genre fiction–Westerns, Science Fiction, Horror, Action–rather than just romance. That’s how we set ourselves apart from our competitors. Our characters happen to love women and kick ass.

“Supposed crimes” refers to the idea that homosexuality is outlawed, and that our authors are being subversive by writing. As times change this becomes more tongue-in-cheek, but can still apply broadly to our culture. Christians writing lesbians and men writing lesbians are also subversive ideas in this industry, and we promote people bending the rules.

|| Website || Facebook || Twitter ||

Book Review: Zadekiel, Path of Angels Book 2

Books, Fiction, Other Relationships, Reviews

Happy Monday! Today, I’m posting for the book launch of Zadekiel: Path of Angels Book 2 by Patricia Josephine. I received an advance copy in exchange for an honest review and a post for the release.

Blurb:

The path is lost.

With Michael gone, the mantle of leadership falls to Zadekiel. In this time of darkness, with tempers running short, Zade struggles to guide his brothers. Hope comes in the form of a green haired woman with a unique gift. She represents a way back to the path they lost when Michael disappeared.

Zephyr fills books with cryptic poetry, a powerful compulsion, which is more a curse than a blessing. With no control over her ability, she struggles to live a normal life. When she meets Zade, he insists her ability is a gift from God. Reluctantly, she agrees to join the cause–it’s hard to dispute a man with wings.

Now the path is found, but one question remains. Will it lead to further darkness?

Links

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VUBND3E

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25316684-zadekiel

Review

I read Michael, book 1 in the series, first, so I have a good grasp of this world and what’s happening. I think Ms. Josephine does an excellent job of world-building. She doesn’t waste a lot of time explaining every detail—she lets the story take care of it, for the most part.

The second book both builds on and improves on the first one. I felt much more connected to the characters this time around. I loved Zephyr from the moment she walked on the scene. She’s one of the most interesting characters I’ve read in a long time, and I loved her intriguing powers. There’s a scene at the end (which I won’t spoil for you) where I was taken up in the story and could picture exactly what she was doing. She’s incredibly well-drawn.

The only thing I have to say is that I would love to either understand why the love story parts of these books play out the way they do or else read the action parts without them. I’m not sold on how fast the angels seem to latch onto their partners and declare true love after one or two meetings, and there’s really no build-up to the sex. They just kind of launch themselves at each other. That’s ok, and I can forgive it pretty easily because the rest of the story is so interesting. I’m just wondering if that’s some kind of angelic superpower thing—like animal shifters finding their mates or something.

I still love the relationship between the “brother” angels. It’s definitely well-developed, and you can feel their connection. I’m also a big fan of some of the complexities and exploration of gray areas—for such short segments, there’s a lot of depth. The cliffhanger at the end left me excited to read the next installment! On the whole, despite any other concerns, I really like this series and I’m anxious to see where it goes.

Thoughts from Patricia Josephine about Zadekiel:

Zephyr is one of my favorite characters in the series. She’s smart, strong, and likes to dye her hair fun colors. But my favorite aspect of her is she’s an atheist. I thought that was an interesting dynamic to throw at Zade. He sees her gift as divine and she thinks it’s annoying. I don’t blame her when it likes to butt in. Kind of like my muse.

The thing I refused to do with Zephyr is have her instantly convert. She knows Zade is an archangel and that shakes what she knows, but she decides she’s not about to blindly roll over and throw all her faith in God. Especially after some of the mess-ups she’s seen. If anything, she’s more skeptic of an all-knowing God and has no qualms questioning Zade’s path.

About the Author:

Patricia Josephine never set out to become a writer. In fact, she never considered it an option during high school and college. She was all about art. On a whim, she wrote down a story bouncing in her head. That was the start of it and she hasn’t regretted a moment. She writes young adult under the name Patricia Lynne.

Patricia lives with her husband in Michigan, hopes one day to have what will resemble a small petting zoo, has a fondness for dying her hair the colors of the rainbow, and an obsession with Doctor Who.

Links:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/plynne_writes

Website: http://www.patricialynne.com

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/108938106639683446081/posts/p/pub

Wattpad: http://www.wattpad.com/user/patricialynne07

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13460894.Patricia_Josephine

WIPpet Wednesday: Be My Baby

Fiction, Other Relationships, Writing

Welcome, Wednesday! This is going to be a short post because…well, there’s not much to tell.

The big thing this week is that Anthem is just about ready for beta reading. I lost one of my wonderful betas to the Real World of parenting and job responsibilities, which means I need a new one. If anyone is up to the job, I’m looking for something specific:

Willing to read m/m content (including moderately descriptive sex)
Able to take things slowly and co-read with another beta over several weeks
Is able to make the necessary long-term commitment
Willing to go chapter-by-chapter
Can handle making comments on content as well as looking for glaring grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors

This is less in-depth than typical editing, but more than just “read through it and see if it makes sense and doesn’t suck.” Just leave me a note in the comments or send me a message through the contact form.

On to this week’s WIPpet. I’m still with Andre, but I realized there are an absolute ton of spoilers in this thing. Like, every chapter. So I’m only giving you a tiny snippet this week. This is quite possibly one of my favorite paragraphs in the whole novel.

WIPmath: 4/22 = 2 + 2 = 4 sentences.

Andre had known since he was four years old that he was going to be a daddy one day. His sisters had confiscated his “baby,” and he’d cried until Grams made them give it back. It wasn’t even a real baby doll—just a hand-me-down 1980s Black Barbie given to him by one of the women Grams worked with. He’d carted her around with him everywhere, wrapped up in a paper towel like a blanket, hollering at anyone who threatened to replace her with something they considered more appropriate for a little boy.

Side note: The Barbie in question was inspired by one I actually owned. One of my friends gave her to me for my birthday in first or second grade (she probably doesn’t even remember this). I loved that particular Barbie because she smelled really nice and she had the best shoes ever—they looked like Cinderella’s glass slippers.

We’d love to have you join the WIPpet party. Check out the other entries, and feel free to add your own. Just post a bit of your current work-in-progress, connect it to the date, and link up. Many thanks to K. L. Schwengel for providing this space for us. Happy reading and writing!

Book Release: My Zombie Boyfriend, by T. Strange

Books, Fiction, Guest Post

I’m super excited to post this. I’ve been sitting on it for a while because I was lucky enough to get to read an advance copy for review (which I will link as soon as it posts). My Zombie Boyfriend has all the elements I like: Humor, romance, a bit of action, and some things to make you think. You’ll have to trust me when I say this isn’t your average zombie novel. (Is there such a thing? I wouldn’t know—I don’t read much zombie lit.)

Blurb:

Edward Grey is a medical student by day, necromancer by night. He lives alone with the first zombie he ever raised, his childhood cat, Boo. Edward’s life is simple: studying medicine, training his necromantic powers with his mentor, Mariel, and having weekly dinners with his parents. When he finds a very attractive corpse in a park and brings it home to reanimate, he accidentally creates a sassy, free-willed zombie who believes Edward is the one who murdered him.

With no memory of his former life, Edward names the zombie Kit and tries to win his trust. Kit slowly adjusts to his new un-life with Edward’s help, though he’s still suspicious of Edward’s role in his death and is convinced that Edward is hiding his former identity. Edward is very attracted to Kit, but understands why Kit doesn’t trust him. As they become closer to one another, Kit turns to Edward for comfort and love. The fragile trust they’ve built together will be tested when Kit unexpectedly regains his memory and seeks revenge on his murderers.

Playlist:

My Zombie Boyfriend – Edward

Buy Links:

My Rating:

Author Bio:

My Zombie Boyfriend is T. Strange’s first full-length novel, though she has published several shorter works with Torquere Press. When not writing, T. enjoys gardening, spending time with her horse, and, of course, reading. T. lives in Canada with her wife, surrounded by pets.

Find the author on the web:

WIPpet: Shopping Trip

Fiction, New Love, Writing

Heigh ho, happy Wednesday! Time for an update and this week’s WIPpet.

We’re in full-on State Testing Opt-Out mode here. My younger one is still homeschooled and therefore doesn’t need to take the state exams. My older one, however, is opting out—along with a lot of kids across the state. I happen to be married to a teacher, and this was a calculated risk on our part. I’m usually the one who does activist-type stuff, but my husband has been right in the thick of things. It’s been really cool to see this side of him.

Other than that, it’s same old, same old around here. I’m excited to be able to finally post about fellow author T. Strange‘s new release, My Zombie Boyfriend. I was lucky enough to get an advance copy, and you’ll just have to trust me when I say it’s well worth the read. If you’re on Facebook, there’s a release day event starting at 1pm EDT. I’ll be over there at 2 to talk about…stuff (spoiler-free zone here).

On to my WIPpet. We’re still with Andre this week, and he’s enduring an endless shopping trip with his sisters. For the record, I’m with Andre on this one.

WIPmath: 4/15 = 4 + (5-1) = 8 sentences.

Andre blew on his coffee to cool it and looked across the tiny table at his sisters. He’d agreed to go shopping with them on the condition they help him hunt for an apartment, but he regretted that decision now that he was sitting in South Station trying not to look pained by the aches in his feet and his head. There was nothing he hated more than shopping, made worse by the festive holiday atmosphere. He felt he owed Trinity and Phyllice, though. This was the first time he’d asked to make a trip into the city with them since [SPOILER], and they were more than willing to help him out.

On the plus side, he’d found a place almost first thing, a house for rent right in Weymouth. On the down side, he’d had to endure hours of crowds and noise and stores he didn’t care about other than his sisters’ one allowance into a secondhand music store. Now that he was comfortable and on the verge of being happily caffeinated, he crossed his fingers under the table in hopes the wicked duo didn’t have plans to drag him anywhere else.

For the record, I’m very fond of Trinity and Phyllice. They’re just typical big sisters who like tormenting the youngest sibling. Not that I would know anything at all about that.

Thanks to K. L. Schwengel for rallying the troops. If you want more good stuff, visit the link-up and check out the other WIPpets. To add your own, just post a bit of it on your blog, connect it to the date with Fancy Math, and share the link with us.

Happy reading and writing!

WIPpet Wednesday: A Phone Call

Fiction, New Love, Writing

It’s Wednesday, and I’m back from vacation all ready to get this novel finished. The plan is to be done by the end of April. We’ll see how that goes. Right now, that’s the only goal I have. Life is moving fast at the moment, between preparing for our final orchestra concert of the year, state testing (story for another day), and the kids getting geared up for performance season (3 concerts, 2 dance recitals, 1 piano recital, and a local theater gala…whew!)

For today’s WIPpet, I’m taking you back to what Andre’s doing. The POV switches between them, so you’ll get a bit of both their stories before their worlds collide. Last time we saw Andre, he was frustrated with his job taking tech support calls. In today’s installment, he just might be getting a better offer.

WIPmath: Chapter 2, and it’s the 8th, so 2 x 8 = 16 paragraphs of dialog.

Andre answered his cell phone. “Hey, Julian.”

“Yo, man. Are you busy?” Julian’s warm tones came through the phone.

“Not particularly. Cross your fingers that I don’t get another damn call about our software not working right.”

“That good?” Julian chuckled. “Well, I think you’re gonna like the reason I’m calling you.”

“Uh huh. I could use some good news right about now.” He wondered if Julian was going to tell him news about Elisa, his wife, and her second pregnancy but decided Julian wouldn’t be that insensitive as to phone him at work about it.

“My company’s doing well,” Julian said, and there was a note of pride in his voice.

“I agree with you, that’s fantastic, but this has exactly what to do with interrupting me at work?”

“Thought you said you weren’t busy.”

Andre huffed into the phone. “I’m not. Look, I am happy for you. Can you make a point before I get in trouble for taking personal calls?”

“Sure. This isn’t a personal call, though. It’s business.” There was an obvious smirk in his tone.

“Oh, really?”

“Mm-hm. I’m looking to hire someone with experience in technical support who also knows something about web design and building Internet platforms.”

Andre sat up straighter. “You don’t say.” He’d been dabbling in a variety of web-based technologies for the last couple of years, taking the occasional freelance job, but he hadn’t built up enough clients to branch out on his own.

“Do I happen to know anyone who’s been my brother by choice for the last twenty years and might be looking for a new job?” Julian asked, his voice oozing sugar.

“You might,” Andre replied. “He might be very interested in the position. Would he need an interview?”

“He’s having one as we speak.”

Let’s hope Andre’s new job involves a lot less problem-solving for people like me.

If you liked what you read here, think how many other fabulous snippets you’ll get if you click this link. Read, comment, and join in with your own by posting a bit of your work-in-progress connected to the date with Fancy Math. Thanks to K. L. Schwengel for setting us up.

Happy reading and writing!

Guest Post: Racheline Maltese and Erin McRae

Book Review: Zadekiel, Path of Angels Book 2

WIPpet Wednesday: Be My Baby

Book Release: My Zombie Boyfriend, by T. Strange

WIPpet: Shopping Trip

WIPpet Wednesday: A Phone Call

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