Tag: Christmas

Guest Post | Heathcliff and the Sexy Whippet by A.M. Fox

~ Ofelia Gränd ~ 3 Comments

Guest-Post

Today, A.M. Fox here to talk about the years he’s had and his first published book, Heathcliff and the Sexy Whippet. Take it away, Mr Fox.

A blog post about Heathcliff and the Sexy Whippet, by A.M. Fox

When I was lucky enough to get a blog spot on Ofelia Grand’s blog Island of love, I was rather worried.

What to say about books during a pandemic?

How to come across as neither dismissive of the state of the world, or crazed with anxiety?

You know how it is.

I started writing Whippet as a way of blocking off everything going on outside. Writing is my panacea; my support and comfort. The only thing that keeps me (almost) sane. This year, I’ve written around 200K. One and a half novels, a novella and some shorties, which constitutes a lot of manic brain cells and ear tugging.

I love Wuthering heights. Have you read it? What a twisted, fucked-up book it truly is, all the more so because of when it was written. First time I read it, I was a teenager, too young to comprehend the abyss of abuse and bitterness it depicts. Now, I know better. It’s hardly a romance but it is haunting. In some weird way, it has stayed with me through the years, knocking on my window.

Sexy Whippet is a far cry, being romantic, happy and contemporary. The main character, Sean, lands up with a job he’s not prepared for. That’s happened to me a few times… He’s still busy with the film but agreed to let me interview him for this blog. Of course, he’s doing my hair as we speak and Heath wanted to be here too.

Sean, can you tell us what you first noticed about Heath?

Your hair is a mess! I’m just going to untangle these knots so excuse if I tug. It might hurt but it won’t be agony. No pain, no gain! Heath? Ur, well. First time I saw him, he was dressed to kill in a cloak and riding boots. I think he was carrying a crop!

Is that what caught your eye?

No, no it wasn’t. To tell you the truth I’d forgotten my glasses so I couldn’t see too well anyway. I could make out his shape, but it was only when I wrestled him to the floor that I smelt him.

Wrestled him to the floor, you say?

Um. Yeah. Sounds harsh but it was necessary! He moaned but I was more worried about Daffodil, the huge doggy.

So what did you notice?

Heath smelt of olives and so I knew he was in trouble and needed my help.

Sean has bounded off and so I’m turning the interview over to Heath, who sits in the corner reading.

How about you, Heath? What did you first notice about Sean?

I’d like to say it was his smile, which, as you’ve no doubt noticed, is gorgeous? But it wasn’t. The very first thing I noticed was the suit he wore for the interview.

It was nice?

No. Absolutely horrible and made for someone three times the size of Sean. He looked as if he was hiding inside. I felt sorry for him, until he had me on the floor crawling on hands and knees. Then I—felt something else.

Heath has wandered across to Sean and we leave them, kissing.

When was it released? December 4th!
Where is to for sale? All the normal places.

books2read.com/HeathcliffAndTheSexyWhippet

Excerpt:

I fetched some products and instructed him about their use. ‘Smells very clinical. I think it’s best if I wash your hair and bathe you, from now on,’ I said, ‘you need to feel the experience of being the patient, rather than the doctor. I don’t mean a full body bath,’ I hastened to explain, hotly. ‘You could keep underwear. If you absolutely insist.’

‘I’m not going to argue,’ he said, ‘you’ve got magic hands. I don’t know what it is but you make me so calm. Help yourself. Actors don’t mind nakedness.’

He leaned back against the sink while I died a silent death, arranged his tresses and wished for the millionth time that he did not already have a boyfriend. I had heard about people clicking from the first meeting, but it had certainly never happened to me before. When he was around, I was able to chat and share in a way that was unfamiliar and alluring. ‘Just relax.’

I showered and lathered, massaged and played. Heath closed his eyes and I got perfect opportunity to examine his masculine jaw and neck. I’m not sure where I got the confidence but I began soaping around his neck and ears, too, and then down onto his chest. I caressed, pouring all my care into my fingers and hoping it went onto him. I spent a long time on his nipples and stomach. When he moaned, my trousers became tight.

‘Jeez,’ he murmured. ‘Don’t stop.’

Thank you, Ofelia, for inviting me here, and thank you for the Mince Pies!
A.M. Fox

Heathcliff and the sexy WhippetA Christmas feel-good tale of snowy, cobbled streets, unfulfilled desires and the sexiest whippet in Yorkshire!
When bubbly Sean Miles applies for a job with a film company, little does he realise what he’s getting into. As an experienced dog groomer, he’s great with fur and claws and loves a poochie cuddle, but has never offered human treatments. Until now.
Heath Mailer is playing the character of Heathcliff. Dark, brooding and intense, the lead actor can scowl aplenty but when he’s in trouble he doesn’t know how to ask for help. Who’s going to offer a hand to Mister Moody?
Forced to work together, Sean and Heath discover some unusual techniques that not only aid the production but also get to the heart of what ails the lead actor. Whoever said dog therapy can’t work on people?

X-mas Read | Turning Wood by Ofelia Gränd

~ Ofelia Gränd ~ 2 Comments

X-mas-read

Today, I’m stealing a spot for myself. Turning Wood was published last year. It’s a short Christmas story about Otho Newcomer and Mason Dager and it was the story that started the whole Up North series.

I hadn’t planned on it being part of a series, but for some reason, I feel right at home in the woods around Nortown and Northfield. When I needed a doctor, doctor Ash, who’s crushing on Andre in the Nortown books, popped up. It wasn’t my intentions to put him there, but I did. Then I figured, since I’d already started, I might as well continue.

All Up North stories are standalone, more so than the Nortown stories. The only thing linking the books is the location.

Coolest of all is that Turning Woods is part of the 2020 Top Ten Gay Romance anthology from JMS Books that will be released on December 30th. 

Turning-Ice-breaking

Excerpt:

Looking up from his work, he saw something move—a man walking out on the ice on the river. Was he insane? The currents were too strong there; the ice wasn’t thick enough to walk on. It had closed over yesterday when the temperature had dropped, but it broke open now and then, a constant struggle between the current and the ice.

Before Otho’s brain caught up with what he was doing, he’d dropped the gouge on the ground and ran out from under the carport.

“Hey!” He waved his arms, but the man didn’t look in his direction. “Hey! You, hello!” He ran, his heavy boots sinking into the snow. He jumped over the snowdrift on the other side of the narrow gravel road passing by his cabin. The reeds buried underneath the snow tangled around his ankles, but he kept going.

“Hey, you!” He waved more, but the man didn’t so much as glance in his direction. Shit. When Otho stepped onto the ice, he slowed down. This close to the land it shouldn’t be any danger, but Otho feared he weighed more than the man. It was a grown man, though, not some teen who didn’t know better.

“Come on, man! Come back here!” Otho took one slow step after the other, and in that moment, the man turned around to face him. Otho blew out a breath and waved.

The sound of the ice breaking shouldn’t have been so loud, but it was. It was as if it was moaning a protest before opening its jaws to swallow the man. Otho’s heart stopped. “No!”

For half a second, he stood immobilized, then he dug into his pocket for his phone and called the emergency service center. He slid down on his stomach and crawled over the ice while waiting for the call to connect.

A sharp intake of air was all he heard from the man as he hurried the best he could. A woman talking in a clear, calm voice answered.

“A man has gone through the ice of the river.” Otho almost hung up before adding, “By River Cove on Lakeside Lane in Snowmelt.” He disconnected. He probably should have said more, but the man was freezing to death or drowning. With the pulse drumming in his ears, he pictured the man sliding in under the ice. His breath froze, and he pushed himself forward.

The edge of the hole came closer. The black water looked alive, angry, and threatening as it tried to pull the man under. Only his head and part of his shoulders remained above the surface. His skin was white, not pale, white. His lips blue, his eyes wide, and his body stiff. Otho dragged himself forward, spreading his weight over as large an area as possible.

“Easy.” He was talking to himself as much as to the man. “Can you grab the edge?”

He still had about four feet to go to where the water lapped at the ice, but he didn’t know how much closer he dared move. The man’s wide eyes latched on to his, and Otho forced a calm expression to his face. “Good.”

The man had done nothing, but Otho figured he couldn’t go wrong with praise. “Now can you try to swim?”

He didn’t move, did nothing but stare at Otho.

“Come closer and try to put your elbows on the ice.”

The man continued to stare and his dark lashes were turning whiter by the second. Damn, he needed out of the cold. Otho crawled closer, listening to the ice as he did. His heart was hammering in his throat. If he went through the ice, he would curse himself his entire afterlife—if there was one.

Turning-WoodFor Otho Newcomer, the small village of Snowmelt is a haven from his old life. If he’s not exactly a changed man, he at least hopes to keep his distance from all those easy romances, and the inevitable heartache and disappointment that have always followed.

Mason Dager is an idiot. His ex has cleared out his bank account, sold his car and gotten him thrown out of his apartment. And he has no one to blame but himself. But what better way to celebrate a new chapter in his life—one that includes homelessness and the humiliation of telling his family they were right all along—than to spend Christmas at a swanky winter resort like River Cove? It’s already paid for after all.

When a very drunk Mason makes yet another dumb decision, Otho comes to the rescue, throwing the two men together during the most magical time of the year.

What should be the wrong choice for both of them, might be exactly what they need. They’ll just have to survive a nosy best friend, an asshole of an ex, and the scars of their pasts.

books2read.com/TurningWood

Guest Post | Heart of the Holidays by Pat Henshaw

~ Ofelia Gränd ~ 1 Comment

Guest-Post

Today, we have Pat Henshaw here on the blog. She’s here to talk about her writing and why she writes the stories she does.

Why Do I Write about Contemporary Gay Men at the Holidays?

Heart of the Holidays is the fourth piece I’ve written expressly for the season and the fifth written surrounding the Christmas holidays.
Like my other work, I’ve written this story of two men in their 30s for everyone to read: from grandparents and great-grandparents to teens and young adults and everyone in between. I’m a firm believer that the love two men have for one another should not be hidden away as an aberration or shameful but rather should be seen as what it is: love.

One comment my books frequently get—and one which applies to this story also—is that there is little or no sex in my stories. That’s simply because I think love and sex are two different things, and I write exclusively about love.

I also believe a gay man is gay not because he has sex with men (which he does) but because he’s attracted primarily by men. My favorite novellas and novels in the m/m genre are those of how and why two men get to know each other and fall in love, not the number of times they have sex.

So writing a holiday piece for me is merely an extension of what I write the rest of the year. The difference is the scenery.

Blame It on the Fruitcake, the first gay romance holiday story I wrote years ago, revolves around a motorcycle mechanic and garage owner. He’s introduced to fruitcake by his new neighbor, a guy he’s attracted to. Since status plays so heavily on some men’s minds, the story’s message is that love trumps social status in the game of love.

The Orpheum Miracle, the second holiday story, is based on a short newspaper piece I read about a homeless man who was discovered living in an abandoned movie theater. I wondered how a man like that could find love, considering that he spent his life hiding. So in true author fashion, I made up a story to find him the perfect partner.

The title of the third holiday story, Making the Holidays Happy Again, was a riff on Trump’s idiotic statement about making American great again while he ruined our reputation at home and abroad. But the story I made up isn’t about politics or America at all. It’s about a blacksmith who’s trying to make his profession viable in today’s world. And, oh, yes, how he sees his journey to love going in the future.

Finally, this year’s story, Heart of the Holidays, is based on the number of gay writer friends who have created their own families when their blood relatives have let them down or let them go. The story reflects what I saw and heard of gay life before the pandemic hit. While there were many stories of abuse and rejection, most of the men I know were leading even-keeled lives with a few bumps and setbacks along the way. In other words, instead of being shunned, they were leading fairly normal, ordinary lives, which is exactly as it should be. This story reflects a status quo of sorts.

If I want readers to get anything else out of my stories, my tagline says it all:

Every day is a good day for romance.

Have a wonderful holiday season filled with health, happiness, and love. And please visit me at www.pathenshaw.com where you can find out more about me and my books. Cheers!

heartoftheholidays

Everyone hopes his road to happily ever after will be carefree and smooth, but too often hair-pin turns and detours seem to get in the way.

Having thought he was on the road to forever before, former Silicon Valley programmer Dan Lassiter is leery about pedaling down it again. His elderly companion Charlie urges him to get to know Rick Reardon whose bakery is across the street from Dan’s bicycle shop.

Under the watchful eye of Charlie, Dan and Rick take tentative steps toward each other, all the while trying to avoid potholes such as exes, homophobes, and family problems.

As summer turns to fall and then winter, they hope that the road will be smooth going from their first date and first kiss to having what Rick’s sister euphemistically calls their “sleepovers.” At each step, though, they are tripped up and wonder why there seem to be so many bumps in their road.

Maybe Dan and Rick should heed some of Charlie’s sage advice, or maybe they should listen to their hearts instead of the ghosts from their pasts.

Buy link:
https://www.jms-books.com/pat-henshaw-c-224_462/heart-of-the-holidays-p-3593.html

Author link:
Get more information about Pat and her books at www.pathenshaw.com