From the Ashes Virtual Book Tour

I'm just finishing up my blog posts and interviews for my upcoming From the Ashes book tour. There is an ARe gift certificate up for grabs so be sure to comment along the way.





Schedule of events:
May 14 - Long and Short Reviews
May 14 - Bad Barb's Reviews
May 15 - Words of Wisdom from the Scarf Princess
May 16 - Full Moon Dreaming
May 17 - Kay Berrisford

Rian's Return by Raven McAllan

From Raven…

You know when stories niggle you? You know they have to be told? Yeah that time.

So you write them, have them published in an anthology, and they keep shouting. Oy! We want our own book and cover. We're four guys who are all important to each other…

Rian's Return was like that. Luckily my publisher, editor and I agreed the two stories needed to be together in one book. I can only hope you all agree as well.

Although the book is called Rian's Return, it's more than just about Rian. We've got Sam and Ed and Ali as well, and it's put on April 12^th.

Just who wants who and how…? Well you'll need to read these two stories—Elusive Exclusive and Rian's Reward to find out…

Blurb: Four men or two couples. Sam, Rian, Ed and Ali. Could they work it all out?

Sam knew it was time to move on. Ed seemed the very person to help him.

Would they manage to overcome the obstacle in their way? Namely Rian.

Rian is devastated. Just because he'd sent a Dear John email—or should that be a Dear Sam—did Sam have to accept it?

Ali couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the one guy he'd lusted after all those years earlier, walking along the street in the rain. Could he persuade Rian it was time to move on and get his reward for doing the right thing?

Excerpt:

Sam watched as Ed stood frowning, looking at the washing machine.

"Can you run this empty?" Ed asked him.

"I guess so, that's how you clean it. Why?"

Ed didn't answer directly. "Just come over here a sec, will you. Nice, okay, my turn now? Yeah?" Sam nodded. "Great. So lean your front against the machine then—oh, yeah. Get that lovely cock right up against it."

Sam did as he was told, feeling the cold metal against his body, as the sensation of his robe falling to the floor left him exposed. Cool air feathered over his body. There was a shuddering motion as the machine began its cycle, sending pulsating sensations into his penis. His cock swelled, and hardened.

"Don't move," Ed warned. "It's going to get even better now. Trust me."

The machine rubbed and stimulated Sam as his lover opened and stretched his ass. The gel's cool sensation had him shuddering, and he pushed himself away from the tremors and into Ed's hands. He was firmly pushed back toward the metal, as pressure was applied to his behind. He could feel himself being stretched, felt Ed gently push his penis into his tight opening. Gradually, like a flower in bud, he felt himself opening ever wider as Ed moved deeper. With one fast push, Ed was in.

"Jes-us." He felt himself tighten, involuntarily trying to push Ed out, before he relaxed, rode with the pain and it became pleasure. He moved, pulled Ed in further, begged, sought, and asked for more.

Buy Links:
Breathless Press
ARe
Bookstrand

Raven lives in Scotland, along with her husband and their two cats—their children having flown the nest—surrounded by beautiful scenery, which inspires a lot of the settings in her books.

She is used to sharing her life with the occasional deer, red squirrel, and lost tourist, to say nothing of the scourge of Scotland—the midge.

Her very understanding, and long-suffering DH, is used to his questions unanswered, the dust bunnies greeting him as he walks through the door, and rescuing burned offerings from the Aga. (And passing her a glass of wine as she types furiously.)

Find Raven at:
Website
Blog
Facebook
Facebook Author Page
Twitter

Review of Leather+Lace by AB Gayle

★★★★★ Five out of five stars.

I literally couldn't put it down! For anyone interested in a great story, I can't recommend Leather+Lace enough.

I love, love, love Stevie. He is an irreverent smart ass with a wonderful sense of humor. He's been through Hell and it may have twisted him a bit, but it didn't break him.

Master D, or Don the Dom as Stevie dubs him, is a bad ass. Or is that bad ass wannabe? He may know his way around Harleys and leather, but he's no stranger to the softer side of life.

Stevie Tricks may be a female impersonator and Don may be a Dom, but the story is not about BDSM or drag queens. It is about learning to trust again. The elements of both drag and BDSM are very limited.

So leave your expectations behind and enjoy the journey. But be sure to get everything you need handy before you open that first page because I pretty much read it straight through. And at roughly 300 pages, it is by no means a short story.

AB Gayle also put together a Stevie Nicks Leather+Lace playlist on YouTube of all the chapter titles. Something to listen to as you read the novel.

Leather+Lace is available at Dreamspinner Press.

Drag Queens Rule, Okay?

One of the stars of “Leather+Lace” is the Hotel Paradiso. The opening scenes take place in the run down hotel up near Sydney’s notorious Kings Cross.

According to my story, the venue is under new ownership and celebrates the fact with a charity fund raiser. Stevie Stanhope, aka Steven Lindsey Stanhope (when people are pissed off at him) or Stevie Tricks (when in drag) is there in two capacities: as a participant in “Blowjob for Bucks” promoting a new range of flavored condoms especially designed for oral use, and to perform three Stevie Nicks numbers.

Drag is a very obvious part of Sydney’s gay nightlife. Later in the story, I mention two of Sydney’s much loved drag queens: Amelia Airhead and Minnie Cooper. These represent two distinct shades of the drag spectrum. Amelia, (who is just as gorgeous in real life) is the truly glamorous variety. Not trying too hard, just disgustingly beautiful. Minnie Cooper on the other hand (who I've never seen out of drag so I can’t comment here) is more the in-your-face bitch-queen-from-hell variety.

There are a few venues around that they perform at. Thursdays are drag nights at Arq described as Sydney’s best gay nightclub. That’s where artists like Minnie Cooper can be found doing shows like ‘A Tribute to Katy Perry’ or a ‘Tribute to Britney’ (another favorite target).

Another version of the drag queen is Daniel Cater’s alter ego, Dallas Dellaforce. Daniel sees himself as a Performance Artist rather than a drag queen. He is a keen student of glamour and recently sold out three nights of a show dedicated to this. He goes for “effects” and a certain look that he is trying to create. He also creates his own costumes. He attended the recent Mardi Gras (our Pride event) after party as Barbie and recreated one of her costumes. He’s fascinated by the Super Models like Linda Evangelista and manages to recreate their looks.

Note the scraps of material on the floor in the above picture and he made the gown based on the Aussie and Aboriginal flags. The thing I like about Daniel is that he can do the "effect" the other way and be the butchest male around as seen on the poster for a recent Sleaze Ball and another from a recent shoot. He's more how I see the male version of Stevie...

The final type of drag queen is the female impersonator, where it’s a musical performance and not so much cross dressing to scratch a sexual kink. That’s how I see Stevie. The clothes and the make-up give him the permission to break out of the straight jacket that he’d been forced into, but he still stays as close to the original as he can. Who, let’s face it, is beautiful and all the clothes and flowing scarves can hide his tattoos and butch physique.

We don’t have any Stevie Nicks impersonators in Australia, but the US have a “Night of a Thousand Stevies.” http://www.mothernyc.com/stevie/ A guy called Todd Stephens did a fantastic rendition.

Drag queens and the guys who do drag have to be tough and usually are tough. They've had to be in life to survive. Rush Derr IV one of my Facebook friends is a great example and helped me a lot by describing his routine for getting ready for a performance.

And for those who have been curious about how they manage to hide everything so effectively. When they’re cold a guy’s balls draw up into a cavity within their pelvis. So they can tuck them into there. Then they wedge their penis back into their ass crack. Some use tape to fix it into position, others just wear tight underwear. Stevie’s flowing clothes would have hidden that aspect, but according to Rush, any drag queen who doesn't tuck is not really a drag queen.

The contrast to the Drag Queens are the Leather Men who have parties like this:

Note the ban on cologne (also expressed as “closed toe nights”).

So, I’d love to hear from readers what they think about drag queens. Love ‘em or hate ‘em? I’ll give away an ecopy of “Leather+Lace” to a lucky respondent.

Leather+Lace

Blurb: Swathed in chiffon and lace, Steven Stanhope owns the stage as Stevie Tricks, lip-synching the songs of the famous gypsy queen. But after he escapes an abusive Master/slave relationship, the only collar he'll allow around his neck is black velvet.

After a four-year absence, Steve is ready to reclaim his life and the property he left behind. But is it safe? Definitely not if his ex is still into leather. To find out, Steve appears at a charity night for the local BDSM community, using the anonymity of his stage persona to mask his identity.

Instead of his ex-Master, Julius, Steve finds a tangled mess centered around another Master of Leather, Donato Rossi. In order to unravel their ties to the past, Steve and Don must find common ground and work together. In the process, they learn that when it comes to love, sometimes you have to make your own rules.

Leather+Lace available March 22, 2013 at Dreamspinner Press