New Book! Higher Learning

It’s officially out today! You can now get Higher Learning from Dreamspinner Press! The book is an anthology with many talented authors, and I was lucky to find myself included. You can purchase it as both an ebook and print!

Enter the hallowed halls of higher learning, where there’s a lot more to life, sex, and love than what these men can get out of a book. They’ll give English a slip of the tongue, practice their Interpersonal Communication skills, and learn about the birds and the bees in Biology. Join them as they see why flexibility is important in Phys Ed, figure the odds of finding the perfect mate in Statistics, flirt and woo each other with poetry in Literature,and discover why Chemistry is a double entendre.

The book can be purchased as an ebook here or for the print copy, here. This is the first time one of my works is featured in print, and I’m thrilled!

Isn’t the cover art just delicious? I didn’t get to see it this time until the very end. With my previous story, it was the artwork that inspired it. This time I went just with an idea that hit me based on the theme for the anthology.

I would love to hear what you think if you get a copy of the book! My short, Literature and Lust follows two English students and their adventures -or should it be misadventures? – in a library.

Higher Learning: Literature and Lust

New book coming soon from Dreamspinner Press! Higher Learning is an anthology containing shorts from many Dreamspinner Press authors, myself included!

I was thrilled to be accepted for this book because the idea was just great. The other authors are fantastic and I cannot wait to read their stories!

The official release date is October 17th, but you can check out the book at it’s own page: Higher Learning.

Enter the hallowed halls of higher learning, where there’s a lot more to life, sex, and love than what these men can get out of a book. They’ll give English a slip of the tongue, practice their Interpersonal Communication skills, and learn about the birds and the bees in Biology. Join them as they see why flexibility is important in Phys Ed, figure the odds of finding the perfect mate in Statistics, flirt and woo each other with poetry in Literature, and discover why Chemistry is a double entendre.

Sounds great, doesn’t it?! And the cover isn’t too bad, either ^_~

 

Not much happening here

Really not much of a point to update since… not much has happened! But it’s been a few days so I figured I would at least post something.

I’ve found fifteen letterboxes and hope to get up to twenty tomorrow.

I also somehow injured my left wrist. It sucks because I’m left handed. UNHAPPY about that one. I went to bed and woke up the next morning in pain.

It’s Banned Books Week! I think I might reread To Kill a Mockingbird in honor of it.

I’ve also considered making my first letterbox with the cover of TKaM. But we’ll see about that.

Letterboxing: What it is and why I’m now addicted

This weekend I went to the Book Barn in Niantic with my boyfriend. It was his first trip and he is not a reader (and he’s dating a teacher and an author, GASP!). Surprisingly, he geeked out and spent nearly as much on books as I did. However, my books were fiction, and all of his are non-fiction.

We were in one area of the barn – I shall keep it’s location a secret for those who want to find this on their own – and I found a strange box. Being a nosy person, I pulled it out and discovered that it was a “letterbox.” There was a website on it, so I went to check it out on my phone, and I decided right then and there that I HAD to do this!

The site, before I continue, is: www.letterboxing.org

Letterboxing is similar to geocaching. I’ve never done that, but I know people who have. If you check out the website, you’ll see the full history of what it is and how it has evolved. Now there is a website (and there IS an app for that, which I happily bought and have found very useful so far) and it tells you the location of some of the boxes. Sometimes there are clues, sometimes there are explicit directions to the box, and other times even the town is a mystery and you need to figure it out based on clues.

So far I have found six letterboxes. I’m hooked. The first – aside from the surprise one, which I didn’t have the materials to record it – was in another used bookstore. The second was in a cemetery. So was the third. The fourth one was on a lovely trail that I hiked with my two sisters, one of which is now doing this with me and is just as hooked. (For this one we actually had to rehide the box. It was out in plain sight, and as we were leaving the lot after our hike, we found another family who was clearly letterboxing as well. Very cool!) And finally, boxes five and six were found in a park by my house. I had a lot of fun finding those because a lot of people were around and it required STEALTH!

Inside each letterbox you will find a stamp – either store bought or hand made – and a notepad where you put the date you found the box and your own personal stamp. Sometimes it includes a pen or stamppad, but sometimes not. They’re always sealed very well, and even though the park we went to flooded due to the last hurricane, the boxes were untouched and the notepad was undamaged.

After you have stamped the notepad with your stamp – mine right now is a little kitten, and I let my sister borrow my key – you take the stamp you found and stamp your own notepad where you put the date you found it. I also include where it was, the city, etc, and how we found it. Once finished, you quickly pack everything away the way you found it, make sure it’s sealed to the elements, and put it back in the same spot for others to find. Make sure you hide it well, because you don’t want some random person coming along and destroying it! The one we found in the park had been there since 2002! Incredible…

I will be making a few letterboxes and scattering them around. It may be only the first day, but it is so much fun! If you’re looking for a new hobby, give it a try. Not only do many of the places have stories as to why they’re buried there, many of the stamps have personal meanings. And in some cases, the history of the location is often included. If the box is on a trail it makes for a great hiking activity, and for someone lazy like me, it’s a plus. I’m actually enjoying the strenuous activity!

Personal Tribute

My mother decided tonight that she needed to do something the honor those that died on September 11, 2001. If we had had enough candles, she would have lined our sidewalks – a corner lot – to say “We will never forget.” She plans on adding this next year, but this was our tribute this year. I was proud to help her. She just wanted it visible for the angels in Heaven. Bless my mother.

My mother's tribute for those that died 10 years ago.

9/11/01: Where I Was

On September 11, 2001, I was a sixteen year old Junior in high school. I had gotten my license just about a month before, and I was crushing on this one guy in my gym class. Typical sixteen year old girl things.

When the first tower was hit, I was in that gym class. We were inside, waiting for the days activities. I remember when I first heard the rumor going around, all of the students thought it was a joke. We didn’t take it seriously. It just seemed impossible. We were shortly herded outside for tennis. And that’s when the word got out that the second tower was hit, and this wasn’t a joke. It was very, very real. We weren’t outside for long, but I recall looking up at the sky, eying every plane trail that was over us and wondering if we were going to be next. It was perhaps naive to think that, but at sixteen, the world as I knew it was beginning to change.

We were ushered back inside and finished gym class. Most of us weren’t really paying attention, though. We kept saying things like, “can you believe it? I can’t. It’s so surreal.” In my art class, the teacher put on the television and we watched as the towers fell. It was unbelievable, and again, surreal. The entire school of nearly 2,000 kids and teachers fell silent. Not a single sound could be heard in the building. I stared in disbelief as the cameras showed people running in terror, covered in dirt.

And then shortly after I found out one of my good friend’s father worked in the Pentagon. She had been trying to reach him but couldn’t. She was dismissed that day. Two days later, we found out he had finally gotten in touch with her, and he had been on the other side of the building and was safe. She broke down in class, relieved, as she told us about the call.

In the coming days, I went to the store every morning and bought a copy of every newspaper available. I still have them to this day – they seemed too important to throw out, my own piece of history. Over the coming months, all I could focus on in my English class was writing essays about how I couldn’t believe what had happened, and how I tried to imagine what it would have been like to be one of those many people, escaping terrified from the wreckage. My teacher was concerned and demanded I start writing about other events. But I just couldn’t. I was stuck on this event.

When I think about it now, I still remember it clearly. The most vivid memory was of watching the two towers fall, and those people running through the streets trying to escape the giant cloud that seemed to chase them.

Take some time today to reflect on the tenth anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the crash in Shanksville, PA. Like it or not, the world has changed since then. Better or worse, we’re all in this together, and we will never forget.

Review: A Rose is a Rose by Jet Mykles

I really enjoyed this story. I like most of what Jet Mykles writes and this was no exception, though it has been some time since I have read something by the author. The story touches on the issue of growing up and taking care of yourself. It’s something that most people go through (and I say most because there are some people out there, and I know a few, that never grow up and learn to fend for themselves) and though Carson takes longer than most to go through it, he finds that he has to. He starts to change when he realizes he cares about Eddie and has to take care of himself in order to be with him. Carson even takes a step back and looks at his life before making any commitments, and it is something that does take time.

Carson may have been immature in the beginning, loving his pretty things and wanting someone to take care of him and his expensive habits, but in the end he learned that love is more important. While it would have been nice to see something from Eddie’s point of view, I’m not sure the story would have made as much of an impact as it did on me. The story is about Carson and Eddie, but mostly it is about Carson growing up into a self-sufficient, selfless man.

You can purchase A Rose is a Rose by Jet Mykles here on Amazon.

Review: The Last Deployment: How a Gay, Hammer-Swinging Twentysomething Survived a Year in Iraq by Bronson Lemer

Until about two or three years ago I rarely, if ever, read nonfiction. However, as time passes I find myself more and more interested in it. This read I picked up through the Insightout Book Club. It was actually part of an automatic shipment that I forgot to decline, and I figured I would keep it when I discovered the other book in the shipment was one I wanted anyway. I’m very pleased that I decided to keep it, because I ended up reading this book first.

Bronson Lemer is a former soldier with the National Guard who just six months shy of completing his commitment to the Guard, he is sent to serve in Iraq for a year. As a gay man under the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, he has to keep his sexuality a secret or face ostracism and possible discharge from the military.

I thought the book was brilliantly written. Lemer does not focus solely on being a gay man in the military. In fact, there are times when I forget that he IS gay, because he discusses the life any solider faces when they are serving in a foreign country. He is often not a gay man, but a young man who with each passing day finds he does not want to be in the military, a young man who questions his country’s motives for sending him to Iraq, and a young man who just wants to be at home with friends and family. He wonders what he could possibly do to help the country when he can’t even help a woman get help for her injured son.

When Lemer does discuss being a gay man in the military, I found it very insightful. He discusses how he at first tries to live two separate lives: one as a gay man, and one as a solider, but finds it increasingly difficult to separate the two. It is no wonder any man or woman coming back from service finds it difficult to connect to someone. They are so far removed from situations like that, that it must be foreign to them.

There are many flashbacks to Lemer’s childhood and other times while he talks about his experiences in Iraq. Things that remind him of other events lead to little anecdotes about something else. This style of writing makes it more conversational, and therefore more readable. A few times throught the book, he also adds short letters he either wrote or drafted in his head to his ex-boyfriend, a man he is talking to at the beginning of the book who he was convinced he still loved. These personal touches let me see even more into the man that the author is.

The book is alternately hilarious and depressing. When he is talking about the men he lives with and how their tent comes to be known as The Gas Chamber, I was laughing hysterically. Then a few short chapters later I quickly sobered when I read the end of the “Vets” chapter.

Seeing the fans, I can’t help but think about how most people view veterans. Once a year, we march the veterans out, parading them around towns, saluting their achievements, honoring what they’ve done for this country. But once that day is over, we no longer need them to remind us of why we’re Americans, we forget about them; they simply become old men sitting on bar stools and complaining about loud music.

I had to stop after reading that paragraph for a bit because it made me think about how I have celebrated Veteran’s Day in the past, or how I treat my grandfather when he goes on about the wars and what he’s done in the past.

By the end of the book, I want to know more about Lemer. I want to know more about his time in Iraq, what he’s doing now, and if he’s found someone to love. I wonder if any of the men in his platoon ever figured out he was gay, or if he would tell them if he saw them again. I also wonder what happened to the men he served with. Through his story, I not only go to know him, but the other men, and their stories affected me just as much.

This is an excellent read, and one everyone should read. It reveals the difficulties of a gay man serving under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the trials of an American solider in Iraq at the start of the war, and how quickly men become brothers in a difficult situation.

You can buy this book here from Amazon.

Good news!

I have very exciting news! One of my short stories has been accepted by Dreamspinner Press for their Higher Learning anthology, out some time in October. I am incredibly happy because not only am I joined by other great authors, but it promises to be an interesting anthology.

Also, it will be my first work that will actually make it to print!

I cannot wait to have a copy of the anthology on my bookshelf. I might just stare and coo at it for a few days when it first comes out.

More details when they were released, and I will post a short excerpt from the story as the release date approaches!

Review: The Handsome Prince edited by Neil Plakcy

In this collection of short stories, Neil Plakcy has gathered some excellent reads that focus on the theme of fairy tales reimagined. The role of “prince” in this book is varied. There are some traditional princes, and there are more modern counterparts, such as rich heirs and oil tycoons. The large variety of stories is sure to please just about anyone, and while I enjoyed all of the stories, I definitely had my favorites.

#1: “The Master” by Fox Lee

This is the first story in the book and my favorite. I enjoyed it because it read just like a classic fairy tale. It is set in China, and involves a young man who goes on a journey to help his family. I enjoyed the way it read because it had that quality that traditional fairy tales do. The characters were interesting and the ending had a nice twist.

#2 “Reckless” by Janine Ashbless

This one is a bit more like traditional tales, but with a prince and his bodyguard. I enjoyed the names and the setting, and the way the two ended up coming together. Tancred and Alberic were great characters, and I loved how Tancred would give his life for Alberic. The prince’s initial reaction to Tancred’s confession was amusing and when they finally got together it was hot.

#3 “Added Benefits” by S.A. Garcia

Set in modern times with a young lord who’s family is not doing well financially, I enjoyed the twist in this one. The lover ends up being a tour guide for the family’s estate, and they meet when an obnoxious child takes off and goes where he shouldn’t. Watching the two interact was fun, and more so when they get together. I also liked how quickly James had a plan for saving the family fortune. Sure it may not be “realistic,” but hey! It’s a fairy tale. And they should end happily, right?

Definitely a great collection of stories. Neil Plakcy is a great writer himself (and I was amused that he name dropped himself into his own story, haha) but he does a fine job putting together and editing a group of stories for anthologies such as this one. Cleis Press always has wonderful anthologies in print that are well worth a read and the lovely covers make great additions to any bookshelf.