UPDATE: The winner is…Diane Sallans!
*~*~*

Psst! This blog is doing double-duty—also appearing over on the Delilah’s Collections website! Comment in both places for a chance to win! There are two prizes! And while you’re there, be sure to check out the posts and prizes from previous days!

May is nearly here, and it’s the final stretch of the school year. Even as merely a substitute teacher, I’m feeling very much the “What’s my Name? Who am I?” brain fatigue. And it’s also lacrosse season, which takes up the rest of the waking hours for my family. All of which is really too boring to blog about (and I’m honestly not sure I could cobble a cohesive blog together on any of those topics)… but the upcoming release of the Silver Soldiers: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology *is* something to talk about!

I’m thrilled to be part of this anthology! I’ve had a short story included in the past two anthologies, and it’s a treat to be in the company of such creative, masterful writers, and to see the variety of ideas that stem from a simple phrase such as “Silver Soldier” or “First Responder.”

I recently celebrated publishing my seventh book in seven years (not including an array of short stories in various anthologies, or the three children’s books I’ve written and illustrated). It’s easy enough to look at the company I keep with the other authors in this anthology and get depressed at my own slow progress… comparison can do that to a person. But this is one of the reasons I love the Romance community: we cheer each other on and remind each other that every step forward is cause for celebration.

So, I continue my writing progress, however slow-and-steady it may be. Because I love to write. And I love to tell the stories bouncing around in my brain, which lean toward futuristic, fantastical, or in a galaxy far, far away. I’m born and bred in a small city in Indiana. We have corn and basketball and the Indy 500. None of which light my fire. But when Star Wars came to the big screen, I was seven… and it rocked my world. My impressionable years were filled with strange creatures, droids with personalities, spaceships, lightsabers, and (of course) the wonderful sexual tension between Han Solo and Princess Leia. My love of aliens and the extraordinary—and falling in love—was solidified.

The upcoming Silver Soldiers anthology hits a little different for me than the previous anthologies. The timing is perfect because I am wrapping up a seasoned-romance, slightly-futuristic cyborg series set in my neck of the woods: Central Indiana. The second in this series, Tin Toy just released in December. The third and final book in this series is Tin Soldier, scheduled to release this August, tells the story of an older-soldier-turned-cyborg, and his love interest who is dealing with breast cancer. This anthology marks the first one where my story actually ties into a full book and series. The challenge was different this time. Everything mattered this time (names, backstory, goal, etc.) because it leads into the rest of the story. Yet I wanted it to have its own decisive HEA for the reader.

Fingers crossed I’ve succeeded!

If you haven’t already pre-ordered the Silver Soldiers anthology, do so today!

Contest: For a chance at a $5 Amazon gift card, what childhood movie was most influential in your life?

About Ava

Ava Cuvay is an award-winning bestselling author of out of this world Sci-fi and Paranormal Romance featuring sassy heroines, gutsy heroes, passion, and adventure… often set in a galaxy far, far away. She resides in central Indiana with her own scruffy-looking nerfherder and kiddos who remind her daily she’s not nearly as cool as she thinks. She believes life is too short to bother with negative people, everything is better with Champagne, and Han Solo shot first. When not writing, Ava is thinking about writing. Or wine. And she’s always thinking about bacon.

Her story inside Silver Soldiers: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology was “SNAFU—Situation Normal, All F***ed Up.”

A sidelined Army cyborg’s only joy is the dimpled smile of a curvy Pentagon admin until she offers him a proposition he should refuse…

UPDATE: The winner is…Stephanie!
*~*~*

Confession time – this isn’t my first lesbian romance.  I wrote a sweet short story for a charity anthology to benefit victims of the Australian Wildfires back in February 2020.  My little story gave me two characters I gave cameos to in a subsequent book.

Okay, now I have that off my chest.

I love my publisher.  They come up with great ideas and I’m happy to run with them.  For Passport to Romance, I wrote a gay novella Valentino in Vancouver set in – big surprise – Vancouver.  Under another penname, I wrote Bonding in Buenos Aires. One guess where I set that novella.  For their One Scoop or Two series, I wrote Catch a Tiger by the Tail which doesn’t sound much like an ice cream story until you realize tiger tail ice cream is a thing (orange cream mixed with ribbons of black licorice and, OMG, so so so good).

Last year, they asked for jelly bean stories.  Jelly Beans and Spring Things was the proposed theme.

At first, I didn’t think I had anything to contribute.  I’d just written Valentino and was preparing to write Buenos Aires.  And I had a third book, under another penname, that was on deadline.  Oh, and my contribution to the HEA Collective needed to be written.  I didn’t have time for a jelly bean book!

Except…yeah.  I remembered a character I’d created in Valentino – actress Elouise Hynes.  Elouise, like the character Seamus, is from Newfoundland.  But while Seamus still has a trace of an accent, Elouise went to Hollywood and tried to ditch the accent entirely.  She hasn’t turned her back on her roots – but she’s embraced the SoCal lifestyle.

Until a broken relationship sends her scrambling back to Canada, Vancouver in particular, to nab the lead role in a thriller.  By now, she’s out of the closet and has sworn off love after the disastrous dissolution of her engagement.  Then she meets bold and brash makeup artist Kelci, and her world turns upside down. Toss in characters previously introduced in Tiger and Valentino to bring readers along for the journey. Then, finally, throw in some April showers, jelly beans, and I had my story.

I tried to write a sweet story.  My editor gently told me I’d missed the mark by a mile.  She suggested I add a few swear words (which are normally in my stories) and add a sex scene (which fit beautifully in the story and the reader would never know it hadn’t always been there).  I call the story my spicy lesbian novella.  The book isn’t as spicy as some other things I’ve written, but there’s plenty of sexual tension and also plenty of love.  So the typical Gabbi Grey novella with the perfect HEA.

Thank you, Delilah, for hosting me today so I can talk about my beloved venture into Sapphic romance.  I’d love to offer a $5 Amazon GC to one of your faithful readers.  Let me know – how much does the cover influence your decision to try a book?  I love my cover of You See Me. I think my designer nailed Elouise perfect with the right amount of sexiness while showing that hint of vulnerability.  One random commenter will win the GC.  Thanks!

You See Me

Being dumped might lead to a forever love.

Elouise

After a public break-up with my fiancée, I’ve retrenched in Vancouver, British Columbia to lick my wounds and star in a movie. I’m acting as if everything is okay, but then I meet a woman who sees the real me. Dare I take a chance to find real love?

Kelci

I’ve admired Elouise Hynes from afar for years. She’s recently come out of the closet and was dumped just a short time later. I want to offer comfort, but I’m a make-up artist on her movie crew. Can we really form a lasting bond when she lives in LA and I’m staying in Canada?

Links:
Universal Link: https://books2read.com/You
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/You-See-Me-Gabbi-Grey-ebook/dp/B0BVRW5SGC
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/you-see-me-gabbi-grey/1143069019
iBooks: https://books.apple.com/book/you-see-me/id6445718954
KOBO: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/you-see-me-3
Add it to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/122849755-you-see-me

About the Author

USA Today Bestselling author Gabbi Grey lives in beautiful British Columbia where her fur baby chin-poo keeps her safe from the nasty neighborhood squirrels. Working for the government by day, she spends her early mornings writing contemporary, gay, sweet, and dark erotic BDSM romances. While she firmly believes in happy endings, she also believes in making her characters suffer before finding their true love. She also writes m/f romances as Gabbi Black and Gabbi Powell.

Gabbi’s Links:
Website: https://gabbigrey.com/
Newsletter sign-up:  https://sendfox.com/gabbigrey
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorgabbigrey/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GabbiGrey
Facebook (page): https://www.facebook.com/AuthorGabbiGrey
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/gabbi-grey
Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15456297.Gabbi_Grey

UPDATE: The winner is…Beckie!
*~*~*

Yesterday was fun. I had an ultrasound scheduled at the VA in Little Rock.

Those two sentences don’t seem to go together but hear me out. We dropped the girls at school and then headed to Little Rock early, hoping that if we arrived early at the VA they’d take me. And they did! Which meant we had all this time we thought we’d be waiting there to do something else before we had to be back to pick them up from school.

How to spend all that time?

Our first thought? THE INDIAN STORE! We’ve been dying to restock the pantry and freezer with chutneys, samosas, and naan bread. But alas, when we got there, we realized we had an hour to wait before they opened. What else could we do?

Barnes & Noble was just down the street. Once inside, Kelly headed to the chicken coop books, and I headed to the art section. One watercolor book about birds and a collection of skin-tone ink markers later, and we were ready for what was next—which was Trader Joe’s right next to B&N! I’d never been inside one so, of course, we had to go! Everything Bagels, tea tree oil shampoo, and shampoo bars later, and we were done!

Next was Target! (Don’t laugh, but Target is a treat in a Walmart-only small town!) Only, our goal was to be in and out fast because we knew we could spend some major time there, so we limited ourselves to the 5-dollar section of the store. What fun we had! I have a small watering can I don’t need and some small chalkboard signs I also don’t need.

So, it was lunchtime by the time we left Target. Indian grocer or Indian restaurant? Our stomachs won. Little Rock actually has one of the best Indian restaurants I’ve ever eaten at. We were first in the door before the lunch crowd, ordered our Chicken Tikka Masala and Lamb Korma with veggie samosas, and anyone sitting next to us would’ve been uncomfortable listening to us moan over the food. We took a doggie bag back to the car with enough leftovers we could stretch it with naan and samosas to feed the kids and us again later!

So, at last, we headed to the Indian grocery store. We know it well enough we were in and out inside 15 minutes with our incense, hot pickle, naan bread, samosas, and curry sauce.

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon GC, what would your perfect day be like?

UPDATE: The winner is…Deb Brown!
*~*~*

Whew! I had two editing jobs I finished this week. Both were squeakers! Meaning, I got them done just in time! I’m rejiggering my work schedule now so I can fit in some ME time for a couple of days. The dd wants to hit the flea market today, and our entourage of flea markateers (ages 9, 14, and 18) is eager to roam the stalls. It’ll be a fun time, and I’ll get a chance to stretch some muscles other than those in my fingers.

I’ll have fun today then it’s back to business on Sunday. I have a short story to write, and I want to get some major pages done on the book coming your way in May! So, no time to drag my feet, although I really feel like I need a vacation. Oh! And there’s the theme for today’s puzzle. A vacation. Anywhere you want to go. If you had the money and the time, where would that be?

Saturday Puzzle Contest

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle, then tell me where you’re going!

And I’ll love this Friday about midday. By then, I should be through with the last book I have to edit this week, and I can take a much-needed break!

What will I do with my time? I’ve neglected housework—but to hell with that. I don’t want to do ANYTHING productive. Maybe, I’ll just head back into season three of Fringe and watch some episodes back-to-back. It’s not a perfect Sci-Fi show, but I’ve been enjoying it. I think there are five seasons, so it should keep me going until next month. Then I’ll either start Picard or Strange New Worlds. (I don’t want to run out of Star Trek shows, because that will be just too sad, so I’ve been pacing myself.)

But anyway, I can’t stay here long. I have pages to read and kids to get out the door to school. I hope you have a GREAT Friday. Have you made any weekend plans?

Open Contests

1. Revisiting Conquests!—Last day to enter! Win an Amazon gift card!
2. Hollow Beasts kept me glued! — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
3. 3 Quick Reminders & the Saturday Puzzle-Contest! — Win an Amazon gift card!
4. Briar Boleyn: Fantasy Heroes to Swoon For! — Win FREE books!
5. Anna Taylor Sweringen/Michal Scott: A Pioneer on the Entrepreneurial, Literary, and Astral Planes — Win an Amazon gift card!
6. A Quick Note & A Word Search: Male Stars I’ll Drop Everything to Watch — Win an Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…Miki!
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A Quick Note!

Over on my Collections website, we’ll be posting “Getting to Know You” blogs about the authors who wrote stories for the Silver Soldiers anthology. We’ll post every few days, and there will be contests! The first post went up today! Be sure to check out “Getting to Know Rhonda Lee Carver.”

Contest

Solve the puzzle. These are my personal choices for movie stars I’ll drop everything to sit down and watch. It’s a subjective list. My list. Josh Duhamel isn’t anywhere near Gary Oldman so far as skill, but he’s lovely, isn’t he? So, solve the puzzle then tell me who you’d add to the list for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…Debra Guyette!
*~*~*

Harriet was born Harriet Adams on March 15, 1825 of mixed-race heritage in Milford New Hampshire. Her mother was an Irish washerwoman. Her father was of African-American and Indian heritage and made barrels. Orphaned by her mother after her father’s death the courts made Harriet an indentured servant to the Hayward family until she was eighteen. In 1851, she married a sailor, named Thomas Wilson and bore a son named George. Wilson died at sea and Harriet and her son went to live on the county Poor Farm.

Not without resources, in 1857 she produced and sold a line of hair care products which her ads claimed to be the real thing for anyone looking to have good hair. Unlike Annie Malone and Madame C.J. Walker, Harriet’s products weren’t targeted only to African-Americans. From 1860 to 1861 she was able to distribute along the east coast by partnering with a white druggist.

Two years later, she wrote an autobiographical novel, Our Nig, in order to make money for her sick son’s health care. He died in 1860. With the advent of the Civil War, her sales dwindled when her partner sold his business.

By 1867, she had become known in Spiritualist circles as “the colored medium. The Boston Spiritualist newspaper, “Banner of Light,”  called Harriet “Boston’s earnest and eloquent colored medium.” From 1867 through the 1880s, she spoke all throughout New England at camp meetings, spiritualist conventions, in theaters, meeting houses and in private homes throughout New England. Her speaking engagements often placed her on programs alongside other medium/spiritualists like Cora L.V. Scott and Andrew Jackson Davis. Harriet also made house calls and held medical consultations as a Spiritualist nurse and healer (“clairvoyant physician”).

She married again in 1870, this time to a pharmacist named John Gallatin Robinson. The marriage ended in 1877 although no divorce has been recorded. From 1879 to 1897, Harriet worked as the housekeeper of a boardinghouse in the South End of Boston where she rented out rooms, collected rents and provided basic maintenance.

On June 28, 1900, Hattie E. Wilson died in Quincy Massachusetts at the Quincy Hospital.

Today, Harriet is best known for “Our Nig; or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black,” published in September 5, 1859 anonymously by a firm in Boston. The cover page of Our Nig reads “Our Nig, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black in a two-story white house, North, showing that slavery’s shadow falls even there.” It was felt because of her critique of Northern racism the book did not do well as Uncle Tom’s Cabin published in 1852. The rediscovery of Our Nig by author/historian Henry Louis Gates brought Harriet into prominence in 1981. He declared hers was the first novel written by an African-American woman. This has been debated because Our Nig is said to be more autobiographical than fiction. The novel is in the public domain and can be read for free here: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/584/pg584.html

In any case, once again I learned another woman proved she would not be hemmed in by the limitations placed on her by society because of her race and gender.

For a chance at a $10 Amazon gift card share your thoughts about Harriet in the comments.

“Take Me to the Water”
by Michal Scott from Silver Soldiers

SILVER SOLDIERS: A BOYS BEHAVING BADLY ANTHOLOGY will satisfy the reader who craves stories with older alpha male heroes—those salt-and-pepper hotties with crow’s feet earned through rugged training and years of combat. Former soldiers finding their footing after their first careers, or current soldiers nearing the end of their military careers. They’re ready to find the right partner to put down roots, ones who aren’t afraid of scars and rough edges.

Pre-Order your copy here!

Excerpt from “Take Me to the Water”…

Weeksville Third Baptist Church glistened and glittered in 1880’s homemade Christmas regalia. Beribboned holly swags and fragrant pine cones infused the sanctuary with seasonal joy. Seasonal joy that missed the mark with Ambrose Stewart.

He remained ramrod-straight in the last pew despite the minister’s personal invitation for Ambrose to come forward for prayer. He refused the offer with a smile and a shake of his head.

The choir sang the hymn of invitation.

Take me to the water to be baptized.

He winced as the song took him back to that night when he and Hephzibah had sung those words to each other in a wonder-filled coupling of cock and pussy.

Several penitents came forward and stood before the smiling minister as the song continued.

None but the righteous shall see God.

Grumbling and gasping parishioners glared at Ambrose with get-on-with-it-stupid expectation.

“What’s he waiting on?”

“You’d think a disgraced, court-martialed soldier would be the first to go forward for forgiveness.”

Ambrose ignored them. He knew how not to be worn down by peer pressure. He’d only come to church hoping to find Hephzibah.

Hephzibah.

Her name meant “my delight is in her.”

His delight had always been in her. Of all days, he’d felt sure she would come to church the Sunday after Christmas.

But she hadn’t.