Year-end Sale!

Torquere Books is having a year-end sale! Just use the code "hello2014" to get 20% off EVERYTHING. But hurry! It's only good through WEDNESDAY! I don't have many titles left there, but you can get Rose & Thorn for a little while longer. (I believe it's about to go out of print, and after that you'll have to wait to pick up it whenever I can make the time to re-release it.) And there's also the anthology I Put a Spell on You where you'll find a short-story of mine that you won't find anywhere else. So go shopping and have a sexy New Year!

Print Release and Excerpt

It feels like it's taken all year (and maybe it has, but I sincerely do not want look and find out that I'm right), but at long last Compass Hearts is available in print form. Bring home this sexy winter romance to keep you toasty this December. Here's an excerpt to get you warmed up.

Compass Hearts by Maia Strong

He barely recognized his own voice as he went on. “The human body is...fascinating.” There was a question, an invitation, underlying his statement. He hoped Ash would hear it and understand. Despite this sudden swell of bravery, he knew he couldn’t say that out loud.

A slow smile spread across Ash’s face. Matthew grinned back, guessing his message had gotten through. His guess was confirmed when Ash asked, “Have you ever had a live model?”

“No.” Matthew’s cock strained at his breeches. He yearned to draw Ash, see him stripped and posed. He couldn’t remember ever wanting anything so much or so urgently in his life.

Then reality crashed down on him. His face fell. “My materials are at my apartment.” In the time it took to get there and back, the moment would be beyond lost. And there was no way he was taking Ash back to his flat. He didn’t want him to see it. It was so unbearably grim, lacking in any charm or comfort, especially when compared to Ash’s quirky and inviting room upstairs.

“What do you need?” Ash asked.

“Charcoal pencils, largish paper.”

“I have that.”

“You do?” Matthew perked up at this spark of hope. It was almost too good to believe. “How? Why?”

“Botany class. We do a lot of plant sketching. I not only have charcoal pencils, I have pressed pigment pencils.”

Matthew’s eyes lit up and Ash grinned and grabbed his hand. “Come on.” Ash pulled him to his feet and toward the stairs.

Matthew’s practical side asserted itself and, still clinging to sense, he asked, “What about our books?”

“No one will bother them. Come on!” He practically dragged Matthew from the parlor. By the time their feet hit the stairs, though, Matthew was plenty willing to follow him up.

Inside the cozy comfort of the little attic room, Ash went immediately to the window seat. He opened it and fished around inside, coming up a moment later with a large tablet and a tin box. “Here.” He handed the box to Matthew, who opened it and looked in wonder at the myriad colored pencils within.

“Where did you get these?” he asked, awed and envious.

“Some of them I bought in town. Some of them my dad gave me before I came here.” Ash flipped through the tablet of his botany drawings, Matthew looking over his shoulder. The plants were barely recognizable, and then only because he’d labeled them. “They’re awful, I know,” said Ash. He pulled a disgusted face. “It’s all right to say so.”

“I just have one question,” said Matthew.

“Yes?” Ash turned and looked up at him. “What?”

“Are you actually passing botany?”

Ash burst out laughing. “All right, Master Critical.” He flipped to a blank sheet and shoved the tablet at Matthew. “Let’s see you do better.”

“That much I can guarantee.”

“I’ve never been an artist’s model.” Ash’s eyes shone deep blue in the lantern light and his voice was husky. “Tell me what to do.”

Matthew swallowed hard once. The heat and tightness in his groin were intense, and he was glad for the tablet he held in front of him. What was he thinking? He’d never get through this! Panic began to rise in him, quelling his arousal. No. I want to do this, damn it! Steeling himself and taking control of his fear, he said with as much authority as he could muster, “Strip.”

Book Recommendation

Ages ago (seriously, it was several years ago now) I posted about Shakespeare's Gay Boys. Technically, they're not Shakespeare's of course. They belong to Ancient Greek mythology. I'm talking about Achilles and Patroclus, in case you don't know. I just finished reading The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller and WOW. There are books that come along once a decade or so that are so profoundly beautiful that you, the reader, can't help but be moved/impacted/bettered by reading them. This is one of those books. And with its addition to my personal version of that list, I can still count them on one hand. They are that rare.

The story is told entirely from Patroclus' point of view in the present tense (which if you know anything about this particular mythology will cause you to wonder how the author made that work--but trust me, she does). While the Trojan War is, of course, an inescapable part of the story, Miller begins with the child Patroclus and builds her world through him. Her prose is gorgeous. Everyone you meet in the story, from the heroes of myth, to the most minor players, to the sea goddess Thetis, reads as rich and real. I will be reading this book again and again, when I need something to keep me company and pull me out of our world for a while. When I need somewhere fantastical yet true to escape to.

Do yourself a favor and read The Song of Achilles. You'll only be sorry if you don't.

Print Release!

At long last (and I admit to my share of the delay in this), False Dawn is now available for purchase in PAPERBACK! I can't tell you how wonderful it is to hold the real book in my hands. ::sigh::

Relevant linkage:
False Dawn from CreateSpace
False Dawn from Amazon.com

It's the exact same book, whichever link you follow, so order from wherever you want.

Huge shout out to my volunteer FLE, Erin M! Amazing the things that brand new eyes can catch. I adore you for your help and I totally owe you an autographed copy!

On the way next to print is Compass Hearts followed by Client Privileges. And then... and then... something new, mayhaps? We shall see...

Confession & Announcement

I have a confession to make.  I still prefer to read print books. I know, I know. I've spent several years now in ebooks, and I just cannot convert my preferences to the electronic. I love the feel of a book in my hands. I love seeing my book mark sticking out of the top, showing me how far I've come and how far I have to go. I love the smell of a brand new book. I love the sound it makes when you flip the pages really fast.

Now with the confession out of the way, I have an announcement. I'm working to release all my re-realsed (originally Torquere Press published) ebooks in print form. I am so excited about this that it makes me squee. Just this past weekend I ordered a printer's proof of False Dawn. It should be here by Friday. Friday! *squee!* So keep watching here, or my Facebook page, or just pop over and search me on amazon.com every now and then to find out when my titles go to PRINT.

Historic Victories!

I've been wondering for two days now what to say about the historic rulings by SCOTUS (which always looks naughty to me, right up there with FLOTUS and POTUS, srsly) this week declaring California's Prop H8 and the evil that is DOMA (mostly) dead. There's so much to say, and most of it has already been said by people more eloquent on political matters than I. These are wins. They are BIG WINS. Yet the latter is only a partial BIG WIN. Give it a couple of years, and by default if nothing else, the rest of DOMA will finally fall into the landfill of history, but there is still a distance to be traveled. Fortunately, we as a nation seem finally to be moving forward once again on the road to true equality under the law. Plus, of course, gay marriage will save the economy!

Meanwhile, in Texas, in an effort that would have made Hercules's demi-god testicles wither like raisins, State Senator Wendy Davis filibustered the living shit out of a load of fuckwitted good ol' boys and their anti-woman/anti-abortion initiative. (See? I told you others were more eloquent than I when it comes to politics.) And to top off that event, said good ol' boys actually tried to FALSIFY GOVERNMENT RECORDS regarding the vote. Uh... No, boys. The media may have had their heads in the sand while Senator Davis took y'all on, but the people (You know, the ones whom you're supposed to be working for?) were watching. And they told the whole goddamned internet what kind of illegal bullshit you tried to pull. You can follow a timeline of events here. It's worth waiting for it all to load and reading the whole thing. Trust me. And if the whole falsifying the vote thing bugs you as much as it does me, there's a handy petition you can sign. (Try to ignore the poor grammar; when one is impassioned and in a hurry, one doesn't always punctuate correctly.)

So, as we move into Pride Weekend here, it will indeed be an epic and joyous celebration. One that is hard-fought and well-deserved. And when the partying is over, it's time for all of us to get back to work, because, gods dammit, we aren't done yet.

Compass Hearts now available

My New Adult novel, Compass Hearts, is back online! It's currently only available from amazon.com, but if you're an Amazon Prime member, apparently you can borrow it from their lending library. Of course, if you do and you decide you like it, you can still buy a copy to keep. ;-)

Compass Hearts by Maia Strong
NA, m/m, fantasy, erotic romance

As the fourth son of merchant parents, Matthew Morgan has always been superfluous. The only guidance he ever received was to behave himself and stay out of the way. Now, at a new university half a world away from home, he must discover who he is and what he wants. The only trouble is, he's never made a decision in his life.

When Ash Thearon meets Matthew -- the handsome fellow student he's been ogling all quarter -- he finds him sweet, sexy, and more than a little puzzling. To solve that puzzle, he must first collect all the pieces -- something more easily said than done.

The new friends quickly become lovers, but Matthew's sheltered life has taught him only how to follow another's lead. Ash wants more than that; he wants the give and take of an equal. Matthew's tendency to try too hard to please others leaves Ash wondering how to teach him independence without losing him.


(When did New Adult become a category? I am so bad a keeping up with trends!)

New cover art + excerpt

I've finalized the new cover for my re-release of Compass Hearts. Whaddaya think?

I'm super pleased with it!

My friend and critique partner is playing FLE for me on this manuscript. Making sure the small changes I made work and that I haven't missed any typos. (Serious fingers crossed there. I was not happy about the number of typos that were in there even after I, my editor, and the original FLE went over it. We're only human, but geez!)

Look for the re-release in the next week or so! In the meantime, here's an excerpt:

He barely recognized his own voice as he went on. "The human body is... fascinating." There was a question, an invitation, underlying his statement. He hoped Ash would hear it and understand. Despite this sudden swell of bravery, he knew he couldn't say that out loud.

A slow smile spread across Ash's face. Matthew grinned back, guessing his message had gotten through. His guess was confirmed when Ash asked, "Have you ever had a live model?"

"No." Matthew's cock strained at his breeches. He yearned to draw Ash, see him stripped and posed. He couldn't remember ever wanting anything so much or so urgently in his life.

Then reality crashed down on him. His face fell. "My materials are at my apartment." In the time it took to get there and back, the moment would be beyond lost. And there was no way he was taking Ash back to his flat. He didn't want Ash to see it. It was so unbearably grim, lacking in any charm or comfort, especially when compared to Ash's quirky and inviting room upstairs.

"What do you need?" Ash asked.

"Charcoal pencils, largish paper."

"I have that."

"You do?" Matthew perked up at this spark of hope. It was almost too good to believe. "How? Why?"

"Botany class. We do a lot of plant sketching. I not only have charcoal pencils, I have pressed pigment pencils."

Matthew's eyes lit up and Ash grinned and grabbed his hand. "Come on." Ash pulled him to his feet and toward the stairs.

Matthew's practical side asserted itself and, still clinging to sense, he asked, "What about our books?"

"No one will bother them. Come on!" He practically dragged Matthew from the parlor. By the time their feet hit the stairs, though, Matthew was plenty willing to follow him up.

Inside the cozy comfort of the little attic room, Ash went immediately to the window seat. He opened it and fished around inside, coming up a moment later with a large tablet and a tin box. "Here." He handed the box to Matthew who opened it and looked in wonder at the myriad colored pencils within.

"Where did you get these?" he asked, awed and envious.

"Some of them I bought in town. Some of them my dad gave me before I came here." Ash flipped through the tablet of his botany drawings, Matthew looking over his shoulder. The plants were barely recognizable, and then only because he'd labeled them. "They're awful, I know," said Ash. He pulled a disgusted face. "It's all right to say so."

"I just have one question," said Matthew.

"Yes?" Ash turned and looked up at him. "What?"

"Are you actually passing botany?"

Ash burst out laughing. "All right, Master Critical." He flipped to a blank sheet and shoved the tablet at Matthew. "Let's see you do better."

"That much I can guarantee."

"I've never been an artist's model." Ash's eyes shone deep blue in the lantern light and his voice was husky. "Tell me what to do."

Matthew swallowed hard once. The heat and tightness in his groin were intense, and he was glad for the tablet he held in front of him. What was he thinking? He'd never get through this! Panic began to rise in him, quelling his arousal. No. I want to do this, damn it! Steeling himself and taking control of his fear, he said with as much authority as he could muster, "Strip."

New Worlds, Old Worlds, and Things In Between

As a primarily fantasy author, it should go without saying that I love world-building. In case it needs to be stated, well, I just did. Right now, I'm working out a story that's not quite fantasy/sci-fi, but neither is it historical. Can you guess? It's steampunk. (Natch.) I'm finding the creation of an historical-yet-fantastical world particularly challenging. How much do you stick to reality vs. how much do you fabricate? How plausible does your "science" have to be? How detailed do you have to get? Is it better if you just stick to general, broad descriptions of the tech? How historically accurate do you need to be, or should you veer away from historical events completely? I've read a fair amount of steampunk at this point by a variety of authors, and each finds his or her own balance, some with more success than others. I'm convinced that a solid knowledge of events of the time is the cornerstone of good steampunk. After all, when you know the rules, you can then choose how and when to break them. Of course, that means I wish I remembered more of my local and national history classes. Time to hit the books!

Equality Post, Now with Music!

 The US Supreme Court has begun hearing oral arguments regarding California's discriminatory Prop 8 and the national embarrassment that is DOMA. (I don't know about you, but my marriage doesn't need "defending", thanksverymuch.) I can only imagine that I am  preaching to the choir here but that's okay. Here are a couple of songs that are all about equality and love. I hope you enjoy them.

Going, going... but coming back!

I'm on top of things for once. This is a heads up to let you know that my novella Compass Hearts is almost out of time at its current publisher. It will be going out of print with Torquere Press within the next few weeks. But there is hope! I'll be rereleasing it myself on our old friends Amazon.com and BN.com as soon after as I can. If you'd like to pick it up now, with the lovely cover provided by the wonderful Alessia Brio, you should pop over to TP's site and pick it up. It's a little something that's bound to keep you warm through these last days of winter. ;-)

Compass Hearts @ Torquere Books

Here's a little reminder what it's all about.

As the fourth son of merchant parents, Matthew Morgan has always been superfluous. The only guidance he ever received was to behave and stay out of the way. Now, at a university half a world away from home, he must discover who he is and what he wants. Too bad he's never made a decision in his life.

When Ash Thearon meets Matthew, the handsome fellow student he's been ogling all quarter, he finds him sweet, sexy, and more than a little puzzling. To solve that puzzle, he must first collect all the pieces, which is easier said than done. The new friends quickly become lovers, but Matthew's sheltered life has taught him only how to follow. Ash wants the give and take of an equal, and Matthew's tendency to try too hard to please others leaves Ash wondering how to teach him independence without losing him.

Please Don't Pirate My Book Day

It was pointed out to me that Chuck Wendig wrote a blog post declaring today "Please Don't Pirate My Book Day". If you haven't read the post, I recommend doing so. Go on. I'll wait.

It's a good read, isn't it? It's timely, too. Why, just two weeks ago, I had dinner with a friend during which we vehemently discussed epiracy. Primarily, we discussed piracy of music, but the problem applies to ebooks just like it applies to mp3s or images, for that matter. (Do I need to point out that, us being us, there was a great deal of vitriol and some truly inspired obscenities lobbed about? ... I thought not.) Two things about piracy gall me most.  (We might find out as we go that there are more than two things, but let's start with two.)

First, when a pirate downloads one of my books from a pirate site (or whatever method they choose to copy and share that file) instead of purchasing it from an authorized retailer, I DON'T GET PAID. (#18 in Mr. Wendig's post) Do you like to be paid for the long hours you work and the job that you do? Do you like to be valued and appreciated for what you bring to your job? Yeah, me too. Well, when you (I mean the generic "you", of course) steal my book (and let's not kid ourselves here, duplication in this fashion is, essentially, theft of copyrighted material) you're basically telling me that my time, my energy, my hard work, and my creativity aren't worth the price of a good latte. You'll pardon me if I don't take that as a compliment.

Second, it's the attitude of entitlement (#24) of so many people that makes me want to send hard drive-melting viruses through the intarwebs to burn pirates' computers into so much worthless slag and, just to make a point, set their hair on fire.  Certainly this attitude of entitlement is not held by every person who has ever illegally copied an ebook or stolen a music file or, hell, mixed a CD for a friend. I love to generalize, but even I can see that saying every epirate is a spoiled, selfish, self-important fuckwanker (Thank you, C, for that delightful epithet!) would be grossly inaccurate, not to mention a little over-dramatic. But if you have five bucks to spend on coffee and a scone even once a week, then you have enough money to buy an ebook.

It's this second point that my friend and I were most passionate about in our dinner conversation. Here's the thing: The world doesn't owe you, me, or anyone else anything, and that includes ebooks. Now, if you're reading this, I like to believe I am preaching to the choir. But maybe you have a friend who isn't quite so concerned about little things like respect for creative professionals and their intellectual property. Maybe you know someone who is misguided enough to think that all authors are rich beyond the dreams of avarice. In that case, maybe next time they tell you about all these free books they just downloaded, you'll call them out, ask them if they paid for them, inform them that authors are people who need to eat and pay rent. And if you think that I don't practice what I preach, let me tell you: I have been known to call a friend a thief to her face when I learned she was pirating ebooks. So I'm not asking you to do anything I haven't done.

So there you go. Not as thoughtful and eloquent as I might like, but it's hard not to get passionate and angry about the subject, which is not good for civil discourse.

In conclusion, if you like someone's creative work, while adoring emails are always welcome, but the best way to say "thank you" is to pay them for it.

Rediscovering a groove

I just got home from a short vacation where I had almost no internet access. I cannot tell you how good that felt! I got very little writing done while on vacation, but the trip did help me get back in touch with my writer self, and that's just as good for me at this point. I'm rediscovering what routines work for me as a writer; things that have fallen to the wayside over the past couple of years. I am digging out of my rut and stepping back into my groove, and what a good feeling that is! That said, it's a delicate balance between "researching" and "procrastinating". At least I got in about four hours of writing before I got sidetracked to all those pretty websites with all that interesting information. Today, I call that a win.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a fun and safe New Year's Eve! A year ago today I was flying home from Iceland. I expect today to be much more relaxed. ;-)

I'm not much for resolutions, New Year's or otherwise, but there are things that I'm excited about today, this month, and in the coming year.

Today: I have black-eyed peas cooking in the crock pot. I missed out on this Southern good luck tradition last year, so I was determined to make it happen this year. I hope it turns out tasty!

This month: I'm back to a new session of aerials and I am determined to accomplish what's needed to move up to the next level by Session 2. (I would bore you with details, but that would be boring--and possibly nonsensical--for you.)

This year: It's the 25th anniversary season for the theatre company I work for and I am beyond excited by the slate we have planned, especially King Lear. *swoon* (Yes, I said *swoon*.) Plus, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is also doing Lear this year, and I already have tickets to see it in September. Woot!

This year, too: I have two books that will go out of print this year, and I'm determined to get them re-pubbed in a timely fashion. I'm already working on cover art for the first one, so yay for me! I have unfinished manuscripts on my computer that I plan to finish, too. Maybe it's just the sunshine out there, but I'm feeling productive today. Here's hoping it lasts.

Is there anything you're super excited about this year? What delights does 2013 hold for you?