20th Apr 2012

Friends Friday -Julie Lynn Hayes.

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Welcome Julie Lynn Hayes to Friends Friday today!

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The Literary Battle of the Sexes

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Once upon a time, when you opened a romance novel you expected to find a hero and a heroine engaged in a romantic battle of the sexes of some sort. Whether a period piece, a comedy, a contemporary, or even a bodice ripper, they all contained two familiar elements—a man and a woman.

Times have changed.

With the greater awareness of gay rights, and the realization that same-sex couples not only exist, but they’re people, just like everyone else (I know, a shocker, right?), has come a surge in romances that revolve around this fact. That is true particularly of m/m romance novels, tales of two men who often follow the traditional pattern established by writers of romance years ago: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl. Although in this case substitute boy for the girl and there you have it—the perfect scenario for love.

Surprisingly—or not so surprisingly, depending on one’s point of view—most of the readers of m/m romance novels are straight women. And so are most of the writers, although some authors straddle both genres. It makes perfect sense to me. As a straight woman, I can relate to two men being together in the same way that straight men can understand and fantasize about two women being together, and there I think lies the crux of the matter. I can fantasize being a part of that hot male sandwich, whereas two women? Not my cup of tea, I’ll leave that to those whose preference it is.
However, as a straight woman, and appreciating men as I do, I can also enjoy a good story about a man and a woman. I happen to be partial to Regencies, myself. Give me a good story with a hot Duke or Earl, and I’m in heaven.

So why do I hear so many straight women who love their gay men say they can’t stomach reading straight sex? Not only that, but any m/m author who dares to add “lady bits”, as these readers like to refer to them, to their stories is soundly trounced and excoriated and beaten to within an inch of their life.

Not figuratively, but literally, and scathingly.

At the same time, lest I be accused of being unnecessarily biased, there are those in the m/f camp who just as quickly turn up their collective noses at the idea of two men being together as if it were something unpleasant they were forced to smell—or witness.

From what I can see, as far as sales go, m/m is leading over m/f. I’m not sure why that is, but I suspect part of it has to do with the growing trend that I notice for m/m writers to put out novellas, rather than full-blown novels. Shorter stories cost less, and readers therefore tend to buy more, hence sales are up. Plus it’s more of a novelty, whereas m/f romance novels have been around for a long time. I’m not saying m/m is a passing fancy, by any means. It’s here to stay. My hope is that it becomes more accepted and more mainstream with time. And that, please God, someone exercise some better quality control over what gets published. But I don’t see that happening, not with the proliferation of small presses which cater to tales of the GLBQT persuasion, and the growing ease with which eBooks can be published.

But the bottom line is this—when it comes to love, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a man and a woman, or a man and a man, or a woman and a woman. Love is the driving force that keeps us going, and gives us hope. It’s what our dreams of made of, our desires. It should not matter to readers of m/m novels if women have a part, or if God forbid, show their “girly bits.” How offended would you be if a m/f writer refused to show two hot guys in love because there might be “man bits” involved? It works both ways. Read a story for its character, its plot, its craft, and its construction, but if you are only concerned with putting tab A into slot B (or any variation thereof), well, there are books specifically for you. They’re called erotica novels, not romance. Let the romance writers alone, and let them allow their characters to develop as they will.

It’s not a cookie-cutter world, folks; people are different, but one things remains the same—love is the glue that binds us all. It’s ridiculous to carry on this literary battle of the sexes, when love is our common goal.

Thank you for having me, Victoria. It’s been fun.

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Wicked Watchers: Pursuit of Pleasure:

A Multi-author M/F anthology from the writers of Wednesday Briefs, who bring you prompt induced Flash fiction every Wednesday. Bigger Briefs is an anthology we began to showcase our slightly bigger briefs. Er, flash fiction. We invite you to take the journey with us!

Have you ever had the feeling you’re being watched? Sometimes, watching can be naughty. And nice. Seven erotic stories from of those who are spied upon, and those who do the spying. You might be surprised to learn who has their eye… on you…

Julie Lynn Hayes: Great Expectations:

Delilah frequents Great Expectations not because of their tea, because of one man—Sam Sun. He is her obsession, and she is his stalker. But an unexpected turn of events brings her into a closer juxtaposition with his private life than even she has ever dreamed of…

“Is everything satisfactory, Miss Porter?”

Delilah was roused from her reverie—by the object of her reverie. Her cheeks flushed hotly as every note of his vibrant voice reverberated through her body. Even though his words were proper and correct, the thoughts which they engendered within her certainly were not.

If he only knew…

She darted a quick peep at him, pushing strands of honey-colored hair out of the way, in order to do so. He stood solemnly beside her table, looking so very fine in a black swallowtail jacket, matching pants that only served to emphasize the strength of his legs, long dark hair caught up in a neat ponytail at the nape of his neck, and white kid gloves. She could only imagine how his naked fingers would feel touching her skin; how they would caress and cherish her flesh, as only a lover could; how they would touch her inside, pressing against her intimate places, lifting her to paradise…

She was doing it again, allowing herself to get caught up in fantasies of Sam Sun. Futile fantasies that would never find fruition, other than in her own feverish flights of fancy. When he discreetly coughed, she realized she’d not answered his question.

“Um, yes, Mr. S—I mean, Sam,” she auto-corrected herself, lest he admonish her, albeit gently. Servers were to be addressed by their first names, patrons by their last. “Everything’s wonderful.” As if to prove her point, she took a quick nibble of her sandwich. At that moment, she was hard put to remember what she’d ordered, nor did the bite reveal its identity, as she tasted nothing, too focused on the man beside her. It wasn’t for the food, she frequented Great Expectations, one of the posher tea rooms in the city. Nor was it for the vast selection of fine brewed teas, which had earned the accolade of tea connoisseurs from around the country.

No, it was Sam. All Sam.

She sighed, and reached for the delicate porcelain cup, sipping from it to show her approval. By the time she dared to look up again, he’d walked away, to another table. Her eyes locked on his retreating ass, admiring the way the muscles worked, wondering how they would feel beneath her questing hands, as she explored their taut contours, how he would taste as she burrowed her tongue between his cheeks.

Had the room just gotten suddenly warmer? She squirmed in her seat, trying not to signal her discomfiture, but this ache in her loins for Sam was only getting worse. She wanted him so badly she could scream. And yet he didn’t even know her first name.

Julie Lynn Hayes was reading at the age of two and writing by the age of nine and always wanted to be a writer when she grew up. Two marriages, five children, and more than forty years later, that is still her dream. She blames her younger daughters for introducing her to yaoi and the world of M/M love, a world which has captured her imagination and her heart and fueled her writing in ways she’d never dreamed of before. She especially loves stories of two men finding true love and happiness in one another’s arms and is a great believer in the happily ever after. She lives in St. Louis with her daughter Sarah and two cats, loves books and movies, and hopes to be a world traveler some day. Currently unemployed, she continues to write her books and stories and reviews which she posts in various places on the internet. Her family thinks she is a bit off, but she doesn’t mind. Marching to the beat of one’s own drummer is a good thing, after all. Her published works can be found at Romance First Publishing, Dreamspinner Press, and Silver Publishing.

My Links:

My blog: http://julielynnhayes.blogspot.com My facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=527332074 My Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3442231.Julie_Lynn_Hayes

My Publishers: Romance First Publishing: http://romancefirst publishing.blogspot.com/ Silver Publishing: http://silverpublishing.info/index/typefilter/book_authors/book_authors_id/88 Dreamspinner Press: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/index.php?cPath=55_222

The lovely Julie is offering a copy of Wicked Watchers: The Pursuit of Pleasure to one lucky commenter on this blog! You have until the 30th April to enter!

19th Apr 2012

The Vampire Lover.

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So on Tuesday I introduced you to Janine, the human lover that Kyle meets at The Point in my latest release The Vampire’s Choice.

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Today, we’re meeting Sharon, the vampire. She was turned in the 1980′s and so has a bit of a thing for shoulder pads and garish patterns. She’s young, vibrant and undead and works as a security guard at The Point, which is the place for vampire’s to hang out and satisfy their lusts.

She’s very forthright and knows what she wants like many vampires she doesn’t beat around the bush and when she spots kyle coming out of a room after a frustrating meeting with Janine she jumps on the opportunity to help him with his erm, dilemma.

When I walked past the female security vamp she shot out a hand and held my arm.

“I recognise that look. Janine does it to everyone, dude.”

I smiled at her and noticed for the first time that she really was very pretty.

“Well, it was good blood,” I said, “I can’t really grumble.”

“No, but you’re still so turned on that I can see your cock straining against your pants and you feel used.”

I nodded; I couldn’t deny it.

“Hang on a moment and I’ll fix your problem for you.Hey, Tim, my shift’s up, is Tony here yet?” she yelled.

“Not quite. I’ll fill in for him.” Tim, the security manager walked out from his office at the other end of the corridor.

“Thanks, man,” the female vamp replied, then grabbed and pulled me towards a room at the very end of the corridor.

“I’ve never been in here before,” I said as she pushed open the door.

“Well you wouldn’t. This is the security team’s locker room.” She pulled me past rows of metal cupboards to another door, which she yanked open then pushed me through. I decided that this had to be put down as the weirdest day of my entire life and, as I realised we were in a stock room surrounded by mops and buckets and brushes, I suspected it was about to get even weirder.

“Hey, I’m Sharon, by the way. I was vamped in the early eighties and, as much as I enjoy human blood, I crave vampire cock.”

I lifted an eyebrow. I still wasn’t quite accustomed to how straightforward vampires and especially female vampires could be. Before I could introduce myself, Sharon was down on her knees. She ripped open the front of my trousers—quite literally, I hoped there was a spare pair somewhere—and pulled down my boxers. My dick was still semi-hard, so Sharon instantly wrapped her lips around it. She placed her dainty fingers around the base and moved her head up and down in a way that told me she was very skilled indeed at this kind of thing.

My mind was a whirr, but the pull of lust ploughed through everything else and I moaned with appreciation as I felt the warm confines of her throat all around me. I’d never experienced deep throat before and, as aroused as I was, I was finding it hard not to come—I didn’t want to be a disappointment. A vampire like Sharon would have no qualms about spreading that kind of embarrassing info around.

“No gag reflex,” she winked as she pulled my cock from between her lips and licked them with a purr. She flicked the long, sharp, straight fringe of black hair from her face. “Now I want to be fucked.” Sharon stood up and pulled open her blouse to reveal her breasts. I preferred Janine’s full bosom, but I wasn’t going to tell Sharon that. She stood against the wall and pulled me to her, painfully crushing my erection between us and making me wince.

“I want you inside me,” she gasped, and grabbed hold of my shirt. She shifted position and lifted her leg to rest on my hip. This made her short skirt ride high over her petite thighs. “Vampires are really fucking flexible.” She laughed and reached down between us to find my hardness. She smoothly slotted me into her wet and naked pussy and lifted her other leg and wrapped it around my waist. This pulled me in deeper and held me tightly against her. “Come on then,” she said, playfully nibbling at my earlobe with her fangs. “Fuck me, stud.”

I did what felt natural and pulled back a little, then pushed forward. It felt so good I tried it again, but with more effort. I was still fairly inexperienced at the sex thing. Yes, I made ladies come on a regular basis in order to feed on them, but mostly I stuck to the classic missionary position and I hadn’t had any complaints about that at all. This was completely new to me and as I thrust into her I hoped that my legs wouldn’t give way beneath us as the joy of approaching orgasm flowed through my body.

“Yes, yes, yes,” she chanted loudly, her nails digging painfully into my shoulder blades, but the sting did not detract from the ecstasy—it seemed to feed it further. “Fuck, Kyle, that’s it.” She panted. She wasn’t speaking now, she was just babbling. Her cunt clenched around me as her words rolled into moans and hisses of pleasure.

“I’m going to come,” I gasped, and she screamed then, louder and longer than I’d heard anyone scream before. As she yelled her pussy tightened around me with a gush of liquid and I couldn’t hold myself back any longer. I rammed myself deeper inside her and came with a grunt that was not audible above her ecstatic cries.

We stayed in position a moment, both panting and gasping for breath. She lowered her legs and pulled back from me. “That stupid human doesn’t know what she’s missing,” Sharon laughed as she smoothed her skirt down her legs. “Thanks for the fuck, Kyle.” She fastened her blouse buttons, waved and walked out of the store cupboard. I was stunned and didn’t move or speak for a moment. I know when I fuck women there’s no real emotional tie, but they generally stay around for an embrace and maybe even a kiss. This felt altogether seedier.

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Kyle has to make a choice between cold, distant Janine and strange and forthright Sharon. One human, one a vamp. Who will he choose? You need to read The Vampire’s Choice to find out!

Find out more about Kyle at Paige Turner’s blog today. If you leave a comment there you could win any one of my paranormal stories!

18th Apr 2012

Wednesday Briefs – I Hate Coffee.

posted in Blog, FlashFiction | Tagged: , , , , ,

It’s Wednesday and it’s time to look at sexy men in nowt but their underwear again. Oh yeah baby. It’s time for Wednesday Briefs!

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Today’s prompt is “Hit and Miss” and it led me to this little tale of a guy who hates coffee but loves the local coffee shop for a reason which soon becomes apparent, check it out.

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I hate coffee.

It’s a little bit hit and miss but every lunch I walk down the road to the expensive coffee shop and order a cappuccino just to see if Mary is serving. Her schedule isn’t regular, I never know if she’ll be there or not but my day is infinitely brighter when she is and she serves me. She has the sweetest smile and the brightest blue eyes I’ve ever seen. She always has this red flush to her cheeks and one or more of her tight, red curls tumble down over her face with the rest held back in a ponytail. Not that I spend all my time looking at her or anything. Ahem. She always smiles at me.

“The usual, Tom?” She asks and I nod and smile and if the queue isn’t too long we chat about the weather, work or the football results. She’s a red like me, God, she’s perfect. I like it when her fingers graze mine when she passes me my cup or when she’s on cleaning duty and she Tomds down to clean one of the low-level tables. She has the most delicious curves. I just want to bury myself in them. I’m completely smitten but I’m far too afraid of being knocked back to ask her out. So every day I go and order a coffee. Then I pretend to drink it.

Yeah, I hate coffee and tea and all hot drinks really. So I just raise the cup to my lips a few times and then throw away my full cup of coffee. I waste a fortune just to get a glimpse of the woman I fantasise about.

When I walked in that day I thought I’d hit the jackpot. The place was empty and Mary was stood by the door. “Hi Tom, “ he chirped as I came in, “I’m afraid we can’t serve you your usual as the water is off. In fact, we’re not allowed to serve at all because of it.”

“Oh, that’s why it’s so quiet, Mary,” I nod, “I wondered why.”

“Yeah, everyone else has gone home. They’ve hit a pipe doing road works and it’s going to take hours to fix apparently. It only just happened a half hour ago. I’m writing a notice to put in the window then I’m closing up.” “Well, I can keep you company for a bit if you like. I’m on my lunch break after all.” I can’t believe I was so forward. But it was Mary, on her own. I like to think I was being chivalrous. I wanted to keep her safe.

“Sure, that’d be nice. Let me just finish this notice for the window.”

I went and stood at the counter beside her. She smelt of peaches and ripe fruit. I coughed to cover up the moan that slipped through my lips. I hoped she wouldn’t look down. My erection strained against the grey material of my work trousers.

“Good day at work?” she asked and carefully scrawled letters onto the closed sign. I honestly couldn’t tell you what it said. I was too busy contemplating the little wisp of hair sitting on her neck.

“Well, you know, I’ve been kept busy so it’s not been too bad. You?”

“Bloody manic,” she giggled and walked over to the door. She stuck the sign up and then turned the lock on the door. “Just so people don’t walk in. Want to sit and chat for a bit? I’ve got ages to wait before I can get a bus home.”

“Sure,” I don’t know how I managed to keep my tone so level.

She walked up to the back of the shop, around the corner behind the counter. No one would be able to see us there. “We’ll sit up here,” she said as I followed her, “then no one will be able to see us. I don’t want any more hassle over this closure.”

“Sure,” I nodded. I sounded like a broken record. My brain was mid meltdown though. I was locked in alone with the most gorgeous woman I’d ever seen in my life and the possibilities were endless.

“So,” she sat down on one of the leather sofas and patted the seat beside her, “why do you come here every day, Tom?” “Closest place to get my fix,” I smiled as I sat down, “my caffeine fix I mean, of course.” I giggled nervously. Yes, I giggled, not very manly and I wanted to kick myself for it.

“That’s kinda weird,” she continued, “as last week you left your cup on your table. I was cleaning up and I could have sworn it was still full.”

“Oh, erm, I think I got the wrong order or something but it was busy so I didn’t want to kick up a fuss.” I was quite impressed with my improvising.

“Well, sure. I could have believed that if I didn’t serve you three completely different coffees since then. You never mentioned it once.”

“Erm,” words escaped me.

“So why do you come here every lunchtime?” She put her hand on my knee and I nearly came in my pants. Here was my opportunity. I took a deep breath, flicked the brown hair from my face and looked up into her gem-like eyes.

“To watch you.”

Her face dropped into a frown and my heart sunk before she laughed wickedly and winked. I was confused and then I was completely baffled because her lips hit mine in the hottest, hardest kiss I’d ever experienced. She actually kissed me.

“I’ve been watching you too,” she confessed, “but I was too shy to ask you out.”

“Me too,” I gasped. My heart danced an Irish jig, “but I wanted too.”

“Why don’t we just stay here and not drink coffee? No one will disturb us.”

“Sounds good to me,” I replied. And that was the best lunch at a coffee shop I’d ever had.

Apologies for being so cruel but I only have 1000 words to work with! I think I might extend this baby, see where it goes! Now check out the other Wednesday Briefs out there for your delectation today!

Nephylim

Sara York

Tali

Elyzabeth VaLey

Julie Lynn Hayes

Ashlynn Monroe

M A Church

Michael Mandrake

MC Houle

Aaaaaand check out our Bigger Briefs. Ooooooh Er! 2 hot anthologies for you to enjoy:

Wicked Watchers:Looking at the Lads

Wicked Watchers: The pursuit of Pleasure.

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We got a great review for Looking at the Lads from Hearts on Fire! Check it out here.