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!)