*kermit flail Monday* September

Okay-- I confess-- I've got but one Monday book to *flail* about-- but it's been a bit of a busy week.  So I'm going to pimp the book (it's a good one!) and pimp a cause and reveal the new cover for Black John and then I'm going to run away.  We're out of town this weekend, and, well, I sort of have a break coming.  Gonna enjoy it!

Anyway…

Charley Descoteaux is a lovely woman and I enjoyed meeting her at the Dreamspinner Press meet up in Portland this year.  Not only is it fun to promote her, but it's also fun to promote this book because, well, the title.  Given that I planned an entire series around titles like this, it's pretty frickin' awesome to see this one out there.  Makes me warm and fuzzy!

I hope you enjoy--

The Nesting Habits of Strange Birds by Charley Descoteaux

All he ever wanted was to be a normal guy….

Phil Brask spends his days in the basement of his mentor's Victorian home, converting legal documents into electronic format. When the pipe feeding the water heater bursts, Lee Redding arrives in the plumber’s truck and draws Phil away from the narrow focus of his computer and camera lens. Lee gives Phil hope for a life beyond the walls he’s constructed using the nesting habits of migratory birds and dense legal files, a guided tour through a world filled with romance and music…maybe even family. But there’s a reason Phil retreated behind those walls, why he panics at a simple touch.

Lee has a good life—working with his uncle and on his mother’s farm, playing bass in a horrible metal band, and hooking up when he pleases—but he’s always suspected something was missing. When he meets the hot photographer with the icy-blue eyes, he knows exactly what that something is. Phil isn’t like other guys, but neither is Lee beneath his carefree exterior. Maybe Lee's the perfect guy to show Phil that everything doesn’t have to be done the hard way and "home" isn't a four-letter word.BUY HERE


See?  Doesn't that sound awesome?  

Ooh!  Ooh!  And this just in…

Ariel Tachna is one of the pioneers in this genre, and when Mary and I started writing for Dreamspinner, she was like our helpful fairy sprite, working us around the ins and the outs of promotion and writing.  Last summer, she and her husband went on a hike to Machu Pichu, and she said the experience was transcendent.  Her descriptions of Peru were luminous and impassioned, and I knew, of course, she would channel this into fiction--delicious, amazeballs fiction.  So when I saw her promo this book on my Amy Lane Anonymous FB page this morning (join if you haven't!) I was like, "I want this on *kermit flail* NOWWWWWWW!!!!"  And Ariel is a good sport, and she obliged.  So, I give you a late edition to today's *kermit flail*  Ladies and gentlemen please welcome Ms. Ariel Tachna and The Path--YAYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!

The Path
by Ariel Tachna

Blurb: All his life Benicio Quispe has dreamed of being a guide on the Inca Trail. He gets his chance when the top travel agency in Cusco, Peru hires him. Alberto Salazar, his assigned mentor, fits Benicio's idea of a perfect guide, but he's also everything Benicio never dared to dream of in a boyfriend. Alberto learned a long time ago to be discreet about his sexuality. It's a necessary sacrifice to keep the respect of the guides and porters whose help is critical in a successful hike. So he pushes aside his attraction to his new junior guide and goes on as usual. But when a group of old friends arrives to hike the trail again, they convince him a relationship with Benicio is worth pursuing. His newfound resolve is enough to get them on a first date, but no amount of courage can change the attitudes of their family and friends. The risks on the trail are easy compared to finding a path through the challenges keeping them apart.

BUY HERE

Okay-- good!  Now, I promised I'd hook you up with a fun cause, and one of those moments where I remember that the title of this blog is Yarning to Write.  

Anyway-- Becky Gotthardt is a fixture in the romance community.  She attends conventions and is active on social media and is generally this strong presence of positivity in our corner of the world.  I know her on Twitter as @Fibrobabe, and I know her at conventions as someone I look forward to seeing.  (Also, she's held my stuff on more than one occasion.  Just saying.  The way to my heart is sometimes the way to helping me manage my luggage overload.  Now you know.)  

Anyway-- Becky is going to be at GRL this year, and she's organizing a drive to collect knitted goods for the Broadway Youth Center in Chicago. She is suggesting washable yarn, but other than that, I'm pretty sure they need scales, hats, gloves, mittens, and sweaters.  By all means visit the WEBSITE for more information on the cause, and for more information on Becky's efforts, visit her blogpost HERE.  

This is a good cause, and knitters are some of the most generous people in the world (unless it comes to sharing their special hand dyed stash) I know they're going to come through here.

***

And now, before I join my family on vacation (we're currently in Santa Cruz, recovering from some VERY tasty pizza at Woodstock's and watching part 2 of The Hobbit on cable) I'll leave you with this:

Yup-- Black John.  The release date is still up in the air, but it will be sometime this winter, and as for the cover?

I confess.

I usually try to go for accuracy with my guys.  I do.  But this model was so… well, pretty.  And snarky.  And intense.  And he could swing either way-- sarcastic or sad or cocky-- and that's John.  AndGalen is pretty and a little haunted. So forgive me my beautiful ginger model for John, who was a little plainer, but just as ginger.  I loved this look so much, I just had to go with him.

Oh… 

And I had a release this month… what was that again?  Some sort of serial, was it?  

Okay-- I could totally play it light here-- but I've gotten the same question a few times, so I'm going to answer it here--

You can ONLY find the special content in the serial release, and you can ONLY buy the serial at the Dreamspinner Press website.  This will be out on amazon.com on October 17th-- but it will only be the novel or paperback.  The extras are exclusive to the DSP serial offer.  

So even if you don't plan to read it until the end, it really is worth it to buy the package now.  (For one thing, it's sort of on sale!)  

So there you go-- short-- and I'll try to have pictures of my rapidly growing spawn in the next few days.

Tonight, under "Travails of Motherhood" I'll leave you with this:

Zoomboy was most put out because I was unable to play a game involving Star Wars trivia, and he asked me to go home and memorize (I shit you not) the Star Wars Character Encyclopedia so we could play on the same level.  I told him that it wouldn't work for the same reason he never remembered to brush his teeth in the morning.  We both had the same kind of brain-- it didn't necessarily remembered what we wanted it to. He has yet to forgive me.

Happy Monday!