Excerpt time!

So early this morning I promised you an excerpt from The Ballad of Jimothy Redwing. You know, my novel that's coming out in PRINT on Tuesday. :D (I never get tired of saying that. LOL!)

This is a slightly steamy snippet, so considered yourselves warned. ;)

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"You said I could have two songs."

"Yes I did."

"Can I save the other one for later?"

"I don't see why not." Jimothy set his guitar down in its soft case. He stretched and yawned.

"You look like you're ready to collect your side of the transaction," Ricky said, rising from where he sat on the edge of the bed.

"I am, indeed," agreed Jimothy emphatically.

Ricky chuckled. "I thought so." He rose and went to his pack.

That bag must be bigger inside than it is outside, thought Jimothy. I bet if I asked he could magically pull a saddle out of one of those multitudinous pockets.

Turning around to face Jimothy again, Ricky held up a glazed pot about the size of a man's fist, its lid secured with a soft wax seal. "You're in luck. I was out, but I made myself stay an extra few minutes in Torvik just so I could restock."

"I appreciate your sacrifice," joked Jimothy.

"You should. You know how I feel about that city. I should warn you," he went on as he peeled off the seal, "it's sort of…pungent."

The moment the lid was off, Jimothy could smell the stuff. He concluded that his companion was a master of understatement. It wasn't that it smelled bad at all. In fact he quite liked the scent, detecting clove, cinnamon and peppermint oils. There was a hint of something softer underneath them, but he couldn't identify what it was. "You're not kidding. That smells like powerful stuff."

"Do you like it? I love it." Ricky stuck his nose in the pot and inhaled deeply. "Mm! Clears the sinuses a bit, too."

"I imagine it does. But all I care about is how well it works on sore muscles. I'd forgotten how hard horse riding is on my back."

"It's all that time keeping your balance. Don't be surprised if you wake up tomorrow feeling it in your gut and your thighs, too."

"I'm already feeling it in my thighs, thanks," Jimothy cracked dryly.

"I can rub those for you, too." This time Jimothy knew he wasn't mistaking Ricky's meaning or his expression, but before he could say anything, the younger man's eyes went wide. He quickly turned his back to Jimothy. "I'm sorry. That was inappropriate."

"No. Don't apologize."

"I shouldn't have said that. My mother warns me all the time that my mouth is going to get me into trouble. I'm really sorry."

Jimothy rose and came to stand a little behind and to one side of him. He cautiously reached out a hand and laid it gently on Ricky's shoulder. Ricky turned with the gentle pressure and the two men stood face to face. Jimothy looked down the short distance into Ricky's pale eyes and saw a mix of emotions he couldn't quite sort out. On impulse, he leaned in and kissed him on the mouth—a little cautiously, a little eagerly—and was thrilled when Ricky readily kissed him back.

They parted, but neither of them moved away so much as a step. There was a moment of silence until…

"Damn," breathed Ricky, his eyes alight once again. "Now that's the kind of trouble I like getting into." Jimothy laughed and they kissed again, deeper and hungrier and longer. Ricky pressed him back towards the bed until Jimothy bumped into it and sat down, abruptly breaking the kiss. He looked up at the other man and smiled salaciously.

"Nice bed."

"Blankets are soft, too. The linen sheets are nice on bare skin."

Jimothy ran a hand over them. "Mm-hmm."

Ricky stood close, legs spread just enough to squeeze Jimothy's knees between them. "I like to be on the bottom," he said, his voice daring a challenge.

"Then what are you doing up there?" Jimothy's words were met by a wide smile.

Ricky stepped back. Jimothy leaned forward to pull off his boots and moaned inadvertently as his back protested. Ricky laughed and knelt in front of him. "Let me do that," he offered. Jimothy was happy to let him. He held out each foot in turn and Ricky quickly removed Jimothy's boots and chucked them aside. They were soon joined by Ricky's boots and clothing. He pulled Jimothy to his feet and helped the aching man undress.

Standing naked together, each took time to look the other over appraisingly—flat bellies, sharply defined calves and thighs, strong arms. Jimothy smiled at the dark hair that curled over the other man's chest and the thin line of fine hairs that led down to his groin and his engorged penis. It was bigger than he'd expected and his own cock jumped eagerly in response. Ricky saw and grasped it, winning him a wordless grunt of excited surprise. He massaged the silken skin with strong fingers and Jimothy moaned and thrust his hips forward into his touch. Leaning in, Ricky tilted his head to nip at Jimothy's ear and murmured, "That liniment is good for more than treating sore muscles." He looked into Jimothy's dark eyes, his own as blue as the center of a candle flame.

Jimothy met his gaze steadily. "Then let's put it to good use."

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Remember, comment to enter the contest and I'll see you all again tomorrow for a sneak peek at my second novel, Client Privileges.

Jimothy's Coming Soon Page!

Just had to pop back for a mo to say that The Ballad of Jimothy Redwing PRINT is now up on Samhain's Coming Soon pages. Whee! I've been looking for it and I'm so pleased to have that link to give you now. :D

Three-Day Weekend Blog Party 2009!

It's time to party, guys! Normally I wouldn't be up this early on a Saturday, but when it's a 3-day weekend, the rules can change. Right? Right! Sometimes that long weekend is a reason to crash out for three days; sometimes you don't want to miss a minute of it so you sieze the holiday. After all, there aren't half enough 3-day weekends in the year. I was doing a mental count the other day and came up with only five: Jan. - Martin Luther King Day; Feb. - Presidents' Day; May - Memorial Day; Sept. - Labor Day; Nov. - Veterans' Day. And I thought, 'That can't be all!' So I went googling. Seems I missed out Columbus Day in October, but since he didn't really discover America, I'm dubious on that one. Does anyone who isn't a federal employee actually observe Columbus Day? Of course there are the holidays that move around through the week: New Year's Day, Independence Day, Christmas Day. But none of those guarantees a three-day weekend.

All right. Enough of that stuff. Let's chat about why we're partying on this newly declared 3-day weekend. My first novel, The Ballad of Jimothy Redwing, comes out in PRINT on Tuesday! Whee! I'm excited. Can you tell? ;) The fact that I'm awake at 7:30 on a Saturday is evidence enough of that. Later today there will be an excerpt, so make sure you check back for that. Tomorrow I'll be giving you a sneak peek at my second novel, Client Privileges, which I recently contracted with Torquere Press. And on Monday I'm traveling over to Lucy Monroe's place to guest blog. I hope you'll visit me there. (Don't worry. I'll post a reminder here on Monday so you won't miss out.) And of course there's a CONTEST! It couldn't be easier. Just post to play. That's right. All you have to do to enter is post a comment between now and midnight PDT on Tuesday 28 April. I'll even include any comments made to my guest blog post over at Lucy's. What a deal! What's that? You want to know the prizes? Fair enough.

Grand Prize: An autographed copy of The Ballad of Jimothy Redwing. I'll even personalize it if you want me to. :D
2 First Prizes: 1) A Ballad of Jimothy Redwing coffee mug with a selection of tasty teas;
and 2) a Ballad of Jimothy Redwing tote bag so you can carry your books/groceries/anything you like in style. (I think these are both cool, so I declare them both to be First Prize. ;) )

Now I want to know how you like to spend your three-day weekends. Do you travel? Take the family camping or to Disneyland? Do you invite friends over for a barbecue? Do you stay home and do all those things you've been meaning to do if you could just get a little time off to do them? How do you mark that elusive weekend+plus+one+more+day?

Friday quizzage and Are you ready to party?

Everyone ready for a three-day weekend? I know I certainly am! See you tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a silly Friday quiz to kick things off. :D

Your Old Fashioned Name Is: Avis Strangewayes

What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

Old Fashioned Name Generator

Three-Day Weekend Blog Party!

I think the world needs more three-day weekends, don't you? One per month would be a good start. To encourage this behaviour, I'm throwing a Three-day Weekend Blog Party to celebrate my upcoming print release of The Ballad of Jimothy Redwing. (Okay, okay. It comes out on Tuesday, which would make it a four-day weekend, but work with me here.)

Activities will include, but not necessarily be limited to:

• a super-easy contest with spiffy prizes--including a Grand Prize of an autographed copy of the book in question
• a sneak peek at my second book, Client Privileges
• and a guest blog event over at Lucy Monroe's place (Who doesn't like to go out of town, so to speak, for a three-day weekend, right?)

So come by this Saturday, Sunday, and Monday to see what's going on! We'll party extra hard on Tuesday since that's Release Day (woo-hoo!), and on Wednesday, while we all recover from our long weekend, I'll announce contest winners.

Hope to see you around!

Best seller!

Apparently last night The Ballad of Jimothy Redwing was #44 on Amazon's bestseller list--under the appropriate category headings of course. I missed seeing that myself, but thanks to my fabulous friend Kate, I know it happened. This morning I'm at #83, but hell!, I'm still pleased. I broke the top 100. And for a little while at least, I broke the top 50. Woo-hoo! :D

New Contract!

I'm a little bit superstitious. Just a little. Okay, more than a little. I'm an actor and a baseball fan. Short of adding sailor, which I'm not, you can't really get more supersitious than me. Which is why, when I sold a novel to Torquere Press a fortnight ago, I did not post about it. I wanted to have the contract in my hot little hands first. Well, let's just say my hands are smokin'!

The title (at least for now) is Client Privileges and it's set in the same world, same country even, as The Ballad of Jimothy Redwing. More details in a bit. Just had to get this post up a.s.a.p. to share the good news at last! :D