tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-347290676409312292024-02-07T13:43:46.013-08:00I am ZAM ~ ZAM I am...These are the musings of bestselling m/m romance author Z.A.Maxfield, begun on LiveJournal and continued here...Z.A. Maxfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02573777376812317486noreply@blogger.comBlogger157125truetag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34729067640931229.post-15443049562573530972014-03-09T10:11:00.001-07:002014-03-09T10:11:50.474-07:00Sunday Brunch with Friends...<p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/saupload_mad_20hatter_20tea_20party.jpg'><img height='237' width='300' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/saupload_mad_20hatter_20tea_20party-300x237.jpg' alt='saupload_mad_20hatter_20tea_20party' class='size-medium wp-image-4535 alignleft'/></a>Last week we talked about being busted in a BDSM club, and this week we take a more in-depth approach.</p><br/><p>With the popularity of BDSM themed novels and the explosion of pretty velvet blindfolds, furry cuffs, and gray silk ties, a little fetish play seems to have taken the world by storm!</p><br/><p>This week, I ask my pals the big question:</p><br/><p>Whips or Chains? (Explain)</p><br/><p>Leave your own answer in the comments section for a chance to win an ebook! Don’t be shy! Three great authors are standing by (and of course I’m waiting) to hear your response!</p><br/><p>Last Week’s Winner:  <em><strong>Lisa G!</strong></em></p><br/><p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/810X44wbq2L._SL1425_.jpg'><img height='300' width='200' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/810X44wbq2L._SL1425_-200x300.jpg' alt='810X44wbq2L._SL1425_' class='size-medium wp-image-4526 alignleft'/></a></p><br/><p>Whips, baby, whips.</p><br/><p>Chains are hard, unyielding, and to a degree, inflexible hunks of cold metal. And while I do have a fondness for big hunks of metal, as anyone who has seen the scads of silver I wear on my hands can attest to, for me chain is an impersonal tool. It smells of the dentistâs office. The mental weight of it carries the taint of torture and bondage of the bad sort. The word that comes to my mind is brutish â an implement used to restrain dogs whoâve been mistreated instead of loved. There are those who love chain for just those and other reasons, but not me. Itâs merely a device in the game.</p><br/><p>Leather, however, is sensuous. It has its own warmth. The smell of leather is the smell of sex â like a loverâs skin in the afterglow. When you run it through your hand the texture licks your flesh like a ghost of a caress. It breaths through every sense and wakes up your body with a promise of supple, yet stern, pleasure.</p><br/><p>It is flexible. It bends to your will. It becomes an extension of you. You hold the handle of a whip in your hand long enough and it begins to conform to you, give into you, becomes part of you. The strands of the flogger are like your own fingers clawing into your loverâs back. Leaving your mark on their skin.</p><br/><p>It can be in simple of form as your belt used to bind or beat or as complex and wicked as a braided flogger. Leather has the potential to be the tool only a skilled master of a single tail whip can call to life; make speak with a gunshot crack as it splits the air at one and half times the speed of sound. In essence, as it once was part of a living, breathing animal, it never truly looses it soul. It lives again in the hand of a master.</p><br/><p>And itâs just fucking sexy. ~ Author James Buchanan</p><br/><p>Purchase <em><strong>Laying Ghosts</strong></em>: <a href='http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=JBLYGHST'>MLR Press</a>  <a href='https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-layingghosts-1053244-145.html'>ARE </a> <a href='http://amzn.com/B00B9J84FY'>AMAZON</a></p><br/><p style='text-align: center;'>~*~</p><br/><p style='text-align: left;'><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/TheBeginning_432.jpg'><img height='300' width='200' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/TheBeginning_432-200x300.jpg' alt='TheBeginning_432' class='size-medium wp-image-4999 alignleft'/></a></p><br/><p>Whips definitely. Why? Because I’m the one holding it. I’m not being whipped and there’s this thrill that goes through me when I’m holding the leather of either my flogger or my whip in my hand. If I’m holding that whip then there’s at least one, if not two subs bare-assed in front of me waiting for the delicious sting of “Daredevil” which is what I call him. They are bound and breathless waiting for me. It’s a delicious feeling being able to give back to them just as they give to me.</p><br/><p>Plus, I am against chains just on principle. LOL.</p><br/><p>~Author Victor Alexander</p><br/><p>Purchase <strong>The Beginning (Sons of Adam): </strong><a href='http://www.roosterandpigpublishing.com/new-releases'>R&P</a>  <a href='https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-thebeginning-1422096-145.html'>ARE</a><strong> </strong><a href='http://www.bookstrand.com/the-beginning-0'>Bookstrand</a>  <a href='http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Sons-Adam-Vicktor-Alexander-ebook/dp/B00II5PCE8/'>Amazon</a></p><br/><p style='text-align: center;'>~*~</p><br/><p style='text-align: left;'><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/3-9-Sunday-Brunch-JP-Barnaby-Cover.jpg'><img height='300' width='190' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/3-9-Sunday-Brunch-JP-Barnaby-Cover-190x300.jpg' alt='3-9 Sunday Brunch - JP Barnaby - Cover' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-5007'/></a></p><br/><p>Hmmmmmâ¦.</p><br/><p>Whips or chainsâ¦. Whips or chainsâ¦.</p><br/><p>Metaphorically, thatâs a tough call. I like bondage and spanking just as much as the next girl. Moving that up a notch, though, Iâd say Iâll take the chains. A whip will cut the skin when used effectively, so Iâll stick to straining, arching, begging submission with Sir above me, a stern expression, and arsenal of toys andâ¦. Oh, uhm⦠sorry.</p><br/><p>Iâll take the chains.</p><br/><p>~ Author J.P. Barnaby</p><br/><p>Purchase <strong>In The Absence of Monsters</strong>: <a href='http://www.wildecity.com/books/gay-mainstream/in-the-absence-of-monsters/'>Wild City</a>  <a href='https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-intheabsenceofmonsters-1409300-149.html'>ARE </a>  <a href='http://amzn.com/B00I0VPQLE'>Amazon</a></p><br/><p> </p><br/><p> </p><br/> <br/><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/2014/03/09/sunday-brunch-with-friends/'>Sunday Brunch with Friends...</a>Z.A. Maxfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02573777376812317486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34729067640931229.post-43329322411081816082014-03-06T10:57:00.001-08:002014-03-06T10:57:17.569-08:00AND THE WINNER IS...<p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/My-Heartache-Cowboy.jpg'><img height='300' width='192' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/My-Heartache-Cowboy-192x300.jpg' alt='My Heartache Cowboy' class='size-medium wp-image-4472 alignleft'/></a>I know you probably think I forgot, but NO WAY would I forget to do this!</p><br/><p>Thanks to Viviana, my very excellent Enchantress of Books blog tour coordinator, we have a winner!</p><br/><p>The game is over, the numbers have been crunched, and the winner of the Amazon $50.00 Gift Certificate is</p><br/><p><span style='font-size: xx-large;'>Juliee!!!</span></p><br/><p>Congratulations, your winning gift certificate is on its way!</p><br/><p>Many thanks to everyone who participated in this with a special thank-you to the reviewers,  bloggers, and friends who hosted me while I was on this journey!</p><br/><p>XOXO, I love all of you!</p><br/><p>Stay tuned, there’s more to come,</p><br/><p>ZAM</p><br/> <br/><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/2014/03/06/and-the-winner-is-7/'>AND THE WINNER IS...</a>Z.A. Maxfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02573777376812317486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34729067640931229.post-13978995380355106562014-03-02T01:08:00.001-08:002014-03-02T01:08:28.474-08:00Back to Sunday Brunch Blogging!<p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/saupload_mad_20hatter_20tea_20party.jpg'><img height='237' width='300' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/saupload_mad_20hatter_20tea_20party-300x237.jpg' alt='saupload_mad_20hatter_20tea_20party' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4535'/></a>Hiya ZAMmers! I got pretty bogged down there for a bit, and was unable to get my Sunday Brunch posts up. Thanks to William Cooper, my awesome new “lovely assistant”, (photo below), I am able to get this started again.</p><br/><p>I’m happy to report that I have three guests today, Cynnara Tregarth, Vicktor Alexander, and the incomparable, very busy Ethan Day!</p><br/><p>I’m so lucky to have wonderful people who will share their thoughts with me.</p><br/><p>Readers, please share your answers in the comment section for a chance to win an ebook from these authors!</p><br/><p>Today’s question: You’re busted in a BDSM Dungeon. What were you doing?</p><br/><p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/cynnaratregarth_piratequeen_srebellion.jpg'><img height='300' width='199' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/cynnaratregarth_piratequeen_srebellion-199x300.jpg' alt='cynnaratregarth_piratequeen_srebellion' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4998'/></a></p><br/><p>When it comes to BDSM clubs and me– anything is possible. But normally– it’s me, a flogger, and a lovely male or female sub. Though I’m a switch— I submit very rarely and only with a chosen few. When I’m at a club- I’m normally a Dominant and I love to play and I love watching. Flogging is fun to do and I love teasing. It’s also one of the things I love writing about in my books.</p><br/><p>If you don’t find me there, you’ll find me haunting rooms where I can see both Dominas and Doms doing their things, bringing subs and switches to fulfillment. From pony play to people on St. Andrew’s Crosses to medical fetishes– I love watching it all and sometimes being part of it, especially when I can learn new techniques to use for myself and my male. Plus, you never know what might be incorporated into a story line, like the time I helped a Dom tie up his sub on a gurney and helped do wax play. What a great experience, especially learning how to vary the drip pattern and to avoid burning the submissive. Very erotic and also so beautiful to watch.</p><br/><p>~Author Cynnara Tregarth</p><br/><p>to Purchase <strong>Pirate Queen’s Rebellion</strong>: <a href='http://www.loose-id.com/pirate-queen-s-rebellion.html'>Loose Id </a>  <a href='https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-piratequeen039srebellion-1351750-340.html'>ARE</a>  <a href='http://amzn.com/B00GSC82RW'>Amazon</a> <a href='http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pirate-queens-rebellion-cynnara-tregarth/1117793889?ean=9781623005344'>B&N</a></p><br/><p style='text-align: center;'>~*~</p><br/><p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/TheBeginning_432.jpg'><img height='300' width='200' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/TheBeginning_432-200x300.jpg' alt='TheBeginning_432' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4999'/></a></p><br/><p>The police heard news that John Barrowman, Shemar Moore, Scott Hoying and Joe Manganiello had gone missing. After investigating their tweets and emails they discovered that they had been corresponding with author, Vicktor Alexander. Following the location their tweets and texts were coming from they tracked the celebrities to a BDSM club. They followed the sounds of groans, moans, and cries of ecstasy into a room where they found all four celebrities, plus Vicktor Alexander, engaged in what could only be described as a very complicated, very sensual game of Twister with Vicktor at the center of it all.</p><br/><p>His tongue was “engaged” in a certain area of Scott Hoying’s body when the police first arrived so he was unable to answer any questions, and when the police tried to separate the men, they found that they were all tangled together. They were concerned when they noticed the ropes wrapped around John Barrowman and Shemar Moore’s limbs, but the happy smiles on both men’s faces led law enforcement to believe that perhaps they were not in danger. Even when Vicktor Alexander brought down the tail of his flogger on the flesh of the men’s asses they merely moaned happily,which caused the police officers to leave in a hurry.</p><br/><p>Days later the police station received a fruit basket with a videotape inside. The video showed the entirety of the game of “Twister” between Vicktor and the four celebrities, but this was not what so intrigued the officers… well, not all of them, there were a few who grew quite excited by the images, it was what happened at the end that caused them all to stare at each other at wonder. Once all four celebrities had collapsed in a pile of sexual bliss. Vicktor Alexander turned to the camera, winked and shifted into a wolf before running off screen, his wolf howl sounding loudly through the speakers.</p><br/><p>~Author Vicktor Alexander</p><br/><p>To purchase<b> </b><strong>The Beginning</strong>:  <a href='http://www.roosterandpigpublishing.com/new-releases'>The Rooster And Pig</a>  <a href='https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-thebeginning-1422096-145.html'>ARE</a>  <a href='http://www.bookstrand.com/the-beginning-0'>Bookstrand</a>  <a href='http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Sons-Adam-Vicktor-Alexander-ebook/dp/B00II5PCE8/'>Amazon</a></p><br/><p style='text-align: center;'>~*~</p><br/><p style='text-align: left;'><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/GuessWhosComing_ZB_200x300_cvr.jpg'><img height='300' width='200' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/GuessWhosComing_ZB_200x300_cvr.jpg' alt='GuessWhosComing_ZB_200x300_cvr' class='alignleft size-full wp-image-5000'/></a></p><br/><p>Okay, so firstlyâ¦aaaand that was fiRstly, not fistyâ¦âcause this homo donât play that, mmmkay. Iâm a person, not a puppet, so keep your hands where I can see âem. : )</p><br/><p>So, fiRstly, I was totally there by accident! I can sense that your doubting the sincerity of that last statement, but Iâm not lying, I swear! Not that I have anything against the BDSM, mind you. Iâve never tried it, so I refuse to knock it. That being said, itâs always seemed a little high maintenance, you know? A lot of setting up and tearing downâ¦unless you happen to have one of those handy dungeons where everything can remain set up. But even then, thereâs still gotta be a lot of clean-up, right? I mean, all those âtoysâ that are used to slap, smack and get stuck up people butts have to make a sizeable dent in a dudeâs sanitization budget.</p><br/><p>Itâs probably not the best fit for the guy who likes to screw on-the-go is all Iâm saying. Not that I think you need all of the accoutrements in order to get your BDSM on â no reason people canât MacGyver it and make do with whatâs in the cupboard at home. Surely Martha would approve, no? : )</p><br/><p>Anywho, Iâm not the boy most likely to frequent the local BDSM club since Iâm probably not going to partake in the shenanigans. I get antsy and start freaking out when my shoes are too tight, so I can only imagine what being shackled in a sling would do to me. Plus I have a tendency to talk even more (<i>hold the snark people</i>) when I get nervous and I doubt most people go to the BDSM club to have a chat. That doesnât mean Iâd never attempt to pay a visit, mind you, assuming itâs okay just to watch, though I suspect wearing a gag to keep me silent might send the wrong message, huh?</p><br/><p>~Author Ethan Day</p><br/><p><strong>Zombie Boyz, Guess Who’s Coming At Dinner</strong>:  <a href='http://www.wildecity.com/books/gay-mainstream/zombie-boyz-guess-whos-coming-at-dinner/#.UxJvNEnnYeE'>Wilde City</a>  <a href='http://www.amazon.com/Zombie-Boyz-Guess-Coming-Dinner-ebook/dp/B00HFFBYJ4/ref=la_B002BOFAVM_1_14?'>Amazon</a>  <a href='https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-zombieboyzguesswho039scomingatdinner-1399468-145.html'>ARE</a></p><br/><p>And Heeeeere’s the promised pic of me and my sweet new PA, William, here we are in New Orleans. (The picture is from 2011. Can you believe it?):</p><br/><p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/IMG_0143.jpg'><img height='224' width='300' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/IMG_0143-300x224.jpg' alt='IMG_0143' class='aligncenter size-medium wp-image-5002'/></a></p><br/><p><a target='_blank' href='https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-zombieboyzguesswho039scomingatdinner-1399468-145.html'> </a></p><br/> <br/><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/2014/03/02/back-to-sunday-brunch-blogging/'>Back to Sunday Brunch Blogging!</a>Z.A. Maxfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02573777376812317486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34729067640931229.post-48283122322965661832014-02-14T10:07:00.001-08:002014-02-14T10:07:13.809-08:00Books To Love For Valentine's Day<p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/482502_10202980968035615_487060924_n.jpg'><img height='300' width='190' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/482502_10202980968035615_487060924_n-190x300.jpg' alt='482502_10202980968035615_487060924_n' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4962'/></a></p><br/><div id='outer_postBodyPS'><br/><div/><br/><div id='postBodyPS'><span style='font-size: large;'>In Nickâs perfect world, Valentineâs Day would be struck from the calendar. </span></div><br/><div><br/><span style='font-size: large;'>Nickâs dreams of a Happily Ever After were shredded long ago and the last thing he and his customers need is a bunch of happy loving couples rubbing it in their faces. </span><br/><p><span style='font-size: large;'>Bouncer Fat Boy Newman is willing to bet he knows Nickâs heart better than he does. He has just six days to change Nickâs mind about romance and the holiday and the perfect man to do it. </span></p><br/><p><span style='font-size: large;'>Too bad itâs not him. </span></p><br/><p><span style='font-size: large;'>Too bad Nickâs not going down without a fight. </span></p><br/><p><span style='font-size: large;'>Too bad he cheats.</span></p><br/></div><br/><p><a href='http://www.amazon.com/6-Days-Valentine-Franks-ebook/dp/B00I8ZG882/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1392399990&sr=1-1&keywords=6+days+to+valentine'> </a>Available at<a href='http://www.amazon.com/6-Days-Valentine-Franks-ebook/dp/B00I8ZG882/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1392399990&sr=1-1&keywords=6+days+to+valentine'> Amazon</a>  <a href='https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-6daystovalentine-1418645-149.html'>All Romance Ebooks</a></p><br/><p>~*~</p><br/><p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/81s30FMP4qL._SL1350_.jpg'><img height='300' width='200' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/81s30FMP4qL._SL1350_-200x300.jpg' alt='81s30FMP4qL._SL1350_' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4993'/></a></p><br/><p align='left'>Bradley Parker has waited twenty years for Mr. Right, and on Valentineâs Day, he finally finds him. Itâs love at first sight, and Brad even loses his virginity to the man of his dreams. But when he wakes up the next morning unable to remember anythingâeven what the man looked likeâhis best friend, Leslie, is convinced he imagined the whole thing.</p><br/><p align='left'>Brad knows he didnât make up the best night of his life, but he has no idea of the danger heâs putting himself in as he struggles to recall the details of his perfect man. His search may lead him to parts of New York City he never dreamed existed and a war being waged in the shadows.</p><br/><p>Available at <a href='http://www.amazon.com/Holding-Hope-Sid-Love-ebook/dp/B00IG8L29Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1392400129&sr=1-1&keywords=Sid+Love'>Amazon</a>  <a href='https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-holdingontohope-1420219-145.html'>All Romance Ebooks</a></p><br/><p>~*~</p><br/><p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SH_DireWolf.jpg'><img height='300' width='200' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SH_DireWolf.jpg' alt='SH_DireWolf' class='alignleft size-full wp-image-4994'/></a></p><br/><p><i>Sometimes the thing you hate the most takes you to the love of your life.</i></p><br/><p>Dire Wolf Shifter, Angel, may be the youngest of four brothers, but that doesn’t make him the stupidest. He knows that Valentine’s Day is nothing but one big joke. It’s just a way for candy and card shops to make extra money.</p><br/><p>How does he know this?</p><br/><p>Because there is no such thing as true love. Every man he’s met has proven this by stomping on his heart, leaving him bitter and jaded. Fellow Dire Wolf, Baily, has always had a crush on Angel, but he never acted on it. As one of Angel’s older brother’s best friends, Baily had never thought the time was right or appropriate. But as he sees Angel hurting, Baily can’t stop himself from reaching out to the younger man.</p><br/><p>Will Baily be able to show Angel that there is such a thing as true love? Or had Angel’s heart grown too hard?</p><br/><p>Available at <a href='http://www.amazon.com/Dire-Wolf-Who-Stole-Heart-ebook/dp/B00IG6SCNM/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1392401111&sr=1-2&keywords=The+Dire+Wolf'>Amazon</a>  <a href='https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-thedirewolfwhostolemyheart-1418615-340.html'>All Romance Ebooks</a></p><br/><p> </p><br/></div><br/><p> </p><br/> <br/><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/2014/02/14/books-to-love-for-valentines-day/'>Books To Love For Valentine's Day</a>Z.A. Maxfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02573777376812317486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34729067640931229.post-81532022464508155292014-02-08T09:12:00.001-08:002014-02-08T09:12:48.967-08:00Author Spotlight - Heidi Cullinan<p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Heidi-Cullinan-head-shot-BW.jpg'><img height='300' width='210' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Heidi-Cullinan-head-shot-BW.jpg' alt='Heidi Cullinan head shot BW' class='alignleft size-full wp-image-4988'/></a>It’s no secret I’m a huge Heidi Cullinan fan. The first book of hers I read was Special Delivery so it’s my very great pleasure today to announce the re-edited, re-released version from Samhain is available!</p><br/><p>Special Delivery features one of the most breathtaking first lines I’ve ever read:</p><br/><p><em>In the deserted menâs restroom at the back of Middleton Community College, Sam Keller knelt on the tile, braced his hands against Keith Jamesonâs thighs and broke his motherâs heart.</em></p><br/><p>After that, the book never lets you go. Revised, re-edited and re-released, it’s still the same beautiful, complex, compelling story that made me fall in love with this author in the first place.</p><br/><p>Heidi will capture your heart, break it a few times, tape it back together, stomp on it, and then light it on fire and melt away any of your doubts. This book is a keeper.</p><br/><p>Great new cover! Stay tuned for Double Blind and Tough Love…</p><br/><h3><strong><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SpecialDelivery300.jpg'><img height='300' width='200' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SpecialDelivery300.jpg' alt='SpecialDelivery300' class='alignleft size-full wp-image-4987'/></a>SPECIAL DELIVERY</strong></h3><br/><p><em>Release date: February 4, 2014</em></p><br/><p>Book One of the Special Delivery Series</p><br/><p><em>When your deepest, darkest fantasy shows up, get on board.</em></p><br/><p>Sam Keller knows heâll never find the excitement he craves in Middleton, Iowaânot while heâs busting his ass in nursing school and paying rent by slaving away in a pharmacy stockroom. Then Sam meets Mitch Tedsoe, an independent, long-haul trucker who makes a delivery to a shop across the alley. Innocent flirting quickly leads to a fling, and when Mitch offers to take him on a road trip west, Sam jumps at the chance for adventure. Mitch is sexy, funny and friendly, but once they embark on their journey, something changes. One minute heâs the star of Samâs every x-rated fantasy, the next heâs almost too much a perfect gentleman. And when they hit the Las Vegas city limit, Sam has a name to pin on Mitchâs malady: Randy.</p><br/><p>For better or for worse, Sam grapples with the meaning of friendship, letting go, growing upâeven the meaning of loveâbecause no matter how far he travels, eventually all roads lead home.</p><br/><p><em>Warning: This story contains trucker fantasies, threesomes and kinky consensual sex.</em></p><br/><p><strong><em>Available February 2014 from Samhain Publishing and wherever books are sold. This book has been previously published and has been revised from its original release. </em></strong></p><br/><p>Buy links: <a target='_blank' href='http://store.samhainpublishing.com/special-delivery-p-73219.html'>Samhain</a>, <a target='_blank' href='http://www.amazon.com/Special-Delivery-Heidi-Cullinan-ebook/dp/B00FX3HPJS/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1'>Amazon</a>, <a target='_blank' href='http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/special-delivery-heidi-cullinan/1100243603?ean=9781619218024'>Barnes & Noble</a>, <a target='_blank' href='https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18043684-special-delivery'>Goodreads</a></p><br/><p> </p><br/> <br/><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/2014/02/08/author-spotlight-heidi-cullinan/'>Author Spotlight - Heidi Cullinan</a>Z.A. Maxfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02573777376812317486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34729067640931229.post-90287754646686500172014-02-02T10:26:00.001-08:002014-02-02T10:26:45.168-08:00Sunday Brunch Blog - 2/1/2014<p><img height='59' width='276' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/th.jpeg' alt='th' class='aligncenter size-full wp-image-4980'/></p><br/><p>Today’s Sunday Brunch Blog has been moved to next week on account of FOOTBALL! I finally got my entire family interested in watching the commercials…ER…big, important game with me, and we’re spending the morning making chili and whatever else those guys want to eat. That’s right. You heard it here. It takes massive bribes of food to make my men watch football.</p><br/><p>Am I the only one who wants to watch the damn GAME around here???</p><br/><p>**crickets chirping**</p><br/><p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/1620355_281839261969259_2104407165_n.jpg'><img height='300' width='226' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/1620355_281839261969259_2104407165_n-226x300.jpg' alt='1620355_281839261969259_2104407165_n' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4982'/></a>This weeks questions is for the readers!</p><br/><p><strong>What’s your Superbowl Game Day routine? Do you have special foods you like to make? Do you watch just for the commercials? Do you take the opportunity to go shopping while the mall is empty?</strong></p><br/><p>Or like me, do you imagine watching your heroes pull off all that dirty, sweaty equipment at the end of the day so they can grab a hot shower and get warm!!! Oh, how I wish I could offer them all a cup of hot cocoa because the game is going to be so gosh darn cold!</p><br/><p><span style='font-size: large;'>Stay tuned for your regularly scheduled Sunday Brunch with my author pals Next Week!!!</span></p><br/> <br/><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/2014/02/02/sunday-brunch-blog-212014/'>Sunday Brunch Blog - 2/1/2014</a>Z.A. Maxfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02573777376812317486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34729067640931229.post-46498102769409132132014-01-29T11:03:00.001-08:002014-01-29T11:03:33.485-08:00Guest author - LE Franks!<p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/77607a6d05fd0ad8976f1b.L._V358818427_SX200_.jpg'><img height='284' width='200' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/77607a6d05fd0ad8976f1b.L._V358818427_SX200_.jpg' alt='77607a6d05fd0ad8976f1b.L._V358818427_SX200_' class='alignleft size-full wp-image-4974'/></a>This is so much fun! I get to find out all the new books my friends are writing this way. I’ll be covering Valentine’s Day stories soon, but this is a new one out from my pal LE Franks, and I wanted to give her an opportunity to tell you about herself and the book!</p><br/><p><strong>What inspired you to become a writer?</strong></p><br/><p>I was an early readerâmy mom was an elementary school teacher and we always had books around. By the time I was in second grade, I was creating my own stories. By high school I had a strong voiceâtoo strong in many respects. My AP English teacher would routinely give me A+++/D to average out my work to overcome the lack of proofreading. Who needs grammar when you have words? I stopped writing my stories down once I left schoolâthe stories just unwound themselves in my head, often going on for months. When my daughter turned ten I decided it was time to start again. Her birthday was rather a watershed time for both of usâspent on the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Itâs wonderful how oneâs perspective changes from up there.</p><br/><p>6 Days was inspired by a bartender I met at The Hard Rock Café & Casino in Albuquerque, NM while attending the 2012 GRL Retreat. My main characterâs profession, a mixologist, was inspired by himâone of the drinks my MC Nick makes is the one he made me in New Mexico.</p><br/><p><strong>If you could co-write with any author, living or dead, who would it be? </strong></p><br/><p>I currently have a co-writer very much alive and I need to keep her happy until we finish our shifter seriesâ¦and our hot marine sagaâ¦and, well letâs just say that Sara York can be kind of scary in that sweet southern wayâsheâll look you in the eyes and smile the entire time she ripping body parts off you (one of my very most favorite things about her). So discretion being the better part of valor Iâd be better off with one of the great dead storytellersâ¦like TwainâIâd happily play âstraightâ man to his genius just to watch him ply his craft. But letâs be real. I think there is something distilling when you open yourself and your work to a co-writer. To be successful you have to be both open and defensive. Sometimes the most valuable thing you get, regardless of outcome of your joint project, is a deeper understanding of your own work. Sara rocks, btw.</p><br/><p><strong>Where is your favorite place to write?</strong></p><br/><p>I just hijacked 25% of our master bedroom. Iâve got a corner walled off with two tall bookcases that I can see through so Iâm still connected to the world but I have plenty of privacy when I put on my headphones. I have my desk, room for a futon and all my books and resource materials at my fingertips. Huge impact on my production with an inverse effect on my husbandâs sleepâwe may need to buy a bigger house because I have <i>deadlines </i>and two more jobs to keep happy. So Iâve been doing the 4:30am to midnight schedule with writing at both ends. Apparently they havenât invented eyeshades dark enough or earplugs quiet enough to block the sound of my typing (and swearing).</p><br/><p><span style='font-size: large;'><strong>Now for the fun questions!</strong></span></p><br/><p><strong>What plans do your previous characters have for Valentine’s Day?</strong></p><br/><p>Pride of The Veld:</p><br/><p>I think that Danie, Andrea, and Geo will be having the best time of it. Theyâll have ditched South Africa by then and are now soaking up the sun in Andreaâs hometown in Italy. I suspect theyâll be celebrating by experimenting with the olive oil from the familyâs groves and of course, since Geo has a sweet tooth, dark chocolate will be involved.</p><br/><p>SNOW GLOBE:</p><br/><p>Kris and Tyr are still working things out so you can expect that Tyr will be pulling out all the stops to woo Kris. Since neither are welcome back at the only diner in town theyâll try to drive to Minneapolis for dinner. If the weather is bad you can bet theyâll snuggle in front of a warm fire and with a copy of Dark Voyager (Krisâ favorite) and The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo (Tyrâs), and Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown (Bunâs) and have movie marathon</p><br/><p>PRODIGAL WOLF â co written with Sara York:</p><br/><p>The guys on Hilton Head Island universally avoid Valentineâs Day. After all, wolves donât eat chocolateâright? But in secret, there may be some tiny expressions of love for each otherâjust donât call it that. For example, youâll find Ted in the kitchen baking everyone special Almond cookies I the shape of surf boards with pink sugar icing. Joey actually vacuumed the downstairs and repaired the hole he made in the fence around the back deck from the last time he drunk shifted. And Carlo actually dropped by the pack house voluntarily and spent the day catching up on the paperwork heâd been promising Angelo heâd do for months. And Angelo? He may have just made Carloâs favorite dish, lasagna with homemade pasta from the old alphaâs secret recipe, and if they may have sat and eaten at the same table and shared wine from the same bottle, but no one could call it a date, could they?</p><br/><p><strong>If your characters were at Frisson, what drink would they order?</strong></p><br/><p>Kris is from Los Angeles. He loves his cocktails. He wants them sweet and flirty like he is after two drinks. Tyrâs happy just ordering Kris doubles.</p><br/><p>Joey is just happy when someone hands him a drinkâitâs hard to keep a shifter metabolism tipsy and itâs the state he has the most fun in. The other day he did have a whiskey ice cream float and it was pretty goodâheâll probably bug Nick until he gives him something white and creamy.</p><br/><p>Underage Twinks Kevin & Grady, try to sneak in and order Coronas but FatBoy spots them right offâbouncing them to a kiddy table in the restaurantâwhile Nick serves them Shirley temples and chicken nuggets for their trouble.</p><br/><p>Carlo is brooding in the corner. Simone the waitress is about smack him with her tray if he doesnât start talking soon, telling her what he wants. Angelo knows how she feels, but orders for him anyway. Someone has to be in charge. Theyâll have a couple bottles of Morreti.</p><br/><p><strong>Which one of your characters has the biggest sweet tooth?</strong></p><br/><p>Without a doubt itâs Bun, Tyrâs cousinâsheâs still a child at heart and in mind, and her love of all things sugary is just more proof. Sit her down with a bag of gummy worms and sheâll be happy. For a minute. Then sheâll be bugging you to take her to see Kris.</p><br/><p><strong>If you could have any actors play the characters from 6 Days to Valentine, who would you choose?</strong></p><br/><p>Davis FatBoy Newman is pretty easy- Daniel Craig from his Tomb Raider days. Nick is more of a scruffy James Franco type. Sort of a clueless smart ass with a good heart.</p><br/><p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/482502_10202980968035615_487060924_n.jpg'><img height='300' width='190' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/482502_10202980968035615_487060924_n-190x300.jpg' alt='482502_10202980968035615_487060924_n' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4962'/></a><strong>Excerpt:</strong></p><br/><p align='center' style='text-align: left;'>THE DAY AFTER THE NIGHT BEFORE</p><br/><p style='text-align: left;'>The man on the floor was hard to ignore. If I got up now, Iâd be stepping on himânot that I planned on leaving anytime soon. It wasnât every day a man fell at your feet, much less one of the pretty ones. I wasnât complainingâI could use the distraction. February with its faux-holiday was always my own personal hell, and this week, with the tidal wave of red and pink already threatening to swamp me, things kept getting worse. Maybe my luck was finally changing. I hoped so.</p><br/><p>I squinted in the dim light of the bar to get a better look. His strawberry blond hair was disheveled, uncovered now that the ball cap heâd worn into the bar was resting against the chrome leg of my barstool. He stared up at me with eyes like some cartoon character from a Looney Tunes classic. Comically huge saucers of Arctic blue overwhelmed a nose too pert for a man; his rosy lips forming a perfect O of shock and surprise completed the picture as he lay stunned.</p><br/><p>Iâd watched the cap spin merrily away as he landed face-first onto the industrial-grade carpet, and wincedânot in sympathy for the blow to his face, per se. No, it was due to the knowledge that FatBoy Newman had thrown up on that exact spot the previous day. I groaned as unwelcome memories of FatBoy and the events of last night flooded my mind, distracting me from the blond.</p><br/><p>FatBoy was the newest addition to our little Frisson bar family. Heâd been working the door for a couple of months, doing his job by lurking in the background and monitoring the crowds stirring each other up on weekends. One minute, he would be wallpaper, and the next, heâd be hanging out at my end of the bar, playing a nightly game of twenty questions.</p><br/><p>Last night it was a string of questions like â<i>Marie Claire</i> or <i>Vogue</i>?â and âBarbeque Beans or Pork & Beansâ or, more disturbing, âBrad Pitt or Yoda?â</p><br/><p>Normally, I would have blown FatBoy off as I do every other asshole annoying me while Iâm working; even the bouncers who like to lean on the bar and steal olives and fruit donât linger if Iâm there. FatBoy was different. He might look like a giant hick with the brains the size of a pea and a case of âroid rage, but for all I knew, he had balls the size of an elephant. Heâd need them. Heâd been pressuring me for weeks to date his cousin, ever since he figured out that Iâm gay, and Iâd been equally absolute in my refusal. I donât date, no matter how smoky blue your eyes are when you ask.</p><br/><p>Not that I tried to hide my orientationâitâs just none of your damn business and not a topic of conversation I usually led with. At six two with brown hair, green eyes, and a naturally muscled build, bar patrons just assumed I was straight; keeping things pleasant and light with our mixed crowd of tourists and local party boys and girls kept the mood fun andâmost importantlyâthe tips pouring in.</p><br/><p>I also wasnât such a megalomaniac that I thought everyone wanted to sleep with meâthough working the bar, I got plenty of come-ons and come-hithers. Despite the occasional tumble with Juan, I hadnât met anyone who inspired me to make the effort. If you want to know the truth, in my heart of hearts, I was a romantic; I dreamed of being swept off my feet by the âoneâ. In the meantime, I kept my head down, mixing my drinks and keeping my dreams and hands <i>mostly</i> to myself.</p><br/><p>Despite the nightly grilling, FatBoy wouldnât have <i>known</i> any different if he hadnât walked in on my attempt to bareback Juan, our bar-back, during a very slow Saturday afternoon. Iâm kidding about the barebacking. Juan is a good kid, and Iâd never risk him or myself that way, and our relationship was more about convenience than romance, but FatBoy did walk into the cold room just seconds after a collision had wrapped me around Juanâs wiry body, forcing our lips together. Fortunately, our tongues took the brunt of the accident, ensuring no lasting damage to our libidos.</p><br/><p>No, Mr. Newman can take the blame for that particular injury and the subsequent âfailure to launchâ sequence that resulted from it. Instead of backing out like a normal person, he stayedâleaning against the frame of the door and watching us quietly until I pulled away from Juan.</p><br/><p>âWhy the fuck are you still here? Canât you see weâre <i>busy</i>?â I snapped in frustration.</p><br/><p>FatBoy didnât respond beyond a slight twitch at the corner of his mouthâthough he did lean slightly out of the way as Juan slipped past him, buttoning his jeans as he went. I reached down and readjusted my own cock, sighing deeply and glaring at him while I waited.</p><br/><p>âSoooo, Nick. Boys, huh?â he drawled, settling back into his lean.</p><br/><p>âNot <i>boys</i>, men. Iâm not a pedophile, asshole.â As I stomped back to the bar, I was running through a list of unpleasant scenarios I could subject the prick to before I had to see him again. I was contemplating his fall into an active volcano when I felt his eyes on my back, the same silent force field Iâd felt ever since he started working here.</p><br/><p>I whirled around. âWhat? What! <i>What?</i> Did you need something, or did your calendar say it was âBe a dick at work day?â âCuz I have to tell you, Iâve got a serious case of blue balls going on here, and unless you plan on dropping and giving me head right here and now, Iâm pretty sure there is nothing you can say or do that Iâm interested in.â</p><br/><p>I might have caught a slight glimmer in his eyes when I said thatâbut really, who cared? It was going to be long days of skittish looks before Juan settled down enough to overcome his exaggerated fear of discovery and be willing to risk spending more time with me in the back. Something about losing his job and making his disabled mother homeless if he got caught screwing around at workâlike that would ever happenâ¦</p><br/><p>âBlake was asking for you. I figured youâd rather I tracked you down myself instead of sending him into the icebox after you.â FatBoy smirked and pivoted, leaving me alone with the unhappy thought that I owed him one. With a silent apology to Juanâs fears, I wound my way back to the office to check on the latest from the boss.</p><br/><p>So best efforts of ignoring the new bouncer aside, we were now out to the six five former linebacker from Tennesseeâa Vol whoâd majored in French poets of the seventeenth century. You havenât lived until youâve listened to FatBoy recite Molière in the original French, drunk off his ass, at four in the morning, in a thick southern drawl. Despite all of that, or maybe because of it, FatBoy was a bit of a prickâa trait I usually found entertaining when directed toward someone else, but after my fobbing off all the gentle nudges and hints about his cousin, he must have decided it was time to bring out the heavy artillery and press the issue once and for all.</p><br/><p>In this case, he used his prickdom to force me into the drinking contest. He was, after all, he said, a gentleman of the South and therefore felt obliged to offer me a game of chance rather than the outright blackmail he originally had in mindânot that I believed heâd actually risk anyoneâs job. But it did make me curious.</p><br/><p>I still wasnât sure what was so important about finding his cousin a date. Iâd said no enough times that any other musclehead would have gotten a clue and dropped it long ago. FatBoyâs cousin must have been horribly disfigured or suffering from some social disease or on parole for unspeakable acts as a minor for him to be this relentlessly annoying.</p><br/><p>More likely, his aunt was nagging him to deathâafraid her baby was going to meet a big bad leather daddy now that he liked cock; Iâd heard stories. I was just lucky to be the first gay heâd met. Not that I ever had that problem with my own familyâIâm not sure they noticed the last time the door hit me on my way out.</p><br/><p>All in all, I wasnât surprised when he finally cornered me.</p><br/><p>Terms of the bet were simple. We would each drink at the same time until we stopped. First one to pass out or throw up lost. Winner named his prize.</p><br/><p>The reason I thought FatBoy might have been juicingâbeyond the imposing build and lack of neckâwas heâd overlooked the fact that I had total control over the very medium that would determine the outcome of the bet.</p><br/><p>Buy <strong>6 Days To Valentine</strong> at <a href='http://www.wildecity.com/books/gay-romance/6-days-to-valentines/#.UulOo3mw7wI'>Wilde City Press</a></p><br/><p> </p><br/> <br/><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/2014/01/29/guest-author-le-franks/'>Guest author - LE Franks!</a>Z.A. Maxfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02573777376812317486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34729067640931229.post-13919468280329773482014-01-28T08:14:00.001-08:002014-01-28T08:14:17.373-08:00Welcome Author Kay Berrisford<p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/KB_BadSlave_coverlg.jpg'><img height='300' width='200' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/KB_BadSlave_coverlg.jpg' alt='KB_BadSlave_coverlg' class='alignleft size-full wp-image-4967'/></a></p><br/><p>Itâs a total privilege to be here blogging, especially as itâs my release day!! *grabs champagne and tops up glasses all round*.</p><br/><p>As weâve both got new books out around the same time, ZAM and I arranged a little blog swap, and threw a few little questions at each other, including⦠What do we do on a typical writing day? Iâve had a little peep at ZAMâs answer (sheâs at my place on the 2<sup>nd</sup> February) and her day sounds more fun, not least because sheâs in Southern California and Iâm staring out into the icy gloom of Southampton, UK. (Hey, one of the cruise liners is just setting sail from the port as I write this. How do I know that? Well, because theyâve let off the foghorn and the WHOLE FLAT IS TREMBLING!)</p><br/><p>So, my typical writing day. Well, I write about half the week (and at weekends) and do my day job the rest. So on my writing days, Iâm pretty focused and routine-orientated. After popping out for groceries, itâs a feast of writing (or editing) doused in coffee, then after lunch, maybe a short run or a swim to jog my creative juices into action. Then the coffee is replaced by mint tea for the afternoon and evening, and off I go writing again. If I reach my target for the day early, then I get to read. Yay!!!</p><br/><p>I donât write much in the evening, as Iâm more of a morning person. I tend to watch TV, maybe fiddle on the internet and do some promo or admin while my husband works on his writing (Heâs an academic and proud author of 200 published papers and books! Iâll never catch up.) Our fave shows to have on? Hmmm, I still love NCIS best, but Iâm quite looking forward to the new series of Game of Thrones right now (though I shut my eyes during the gory bits.) I love history and travel documentaries tooâthey give me tons of ideas for characters and settings. And Brian Cox (the BBC science presenter) is hot!</p><br/><p>Talking of books, okay, the new releaseâBad Slave, what the heckâs that about? Yup, itâs a BDSM fantasy story, but itâs a love story at heart and itâs got a BIG HEART. Jay and Alixâs romance was a blast to write, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I loved writing it.</p><br/><p><b>Bad Slave by Kay Berrisford. Published by Loose Id. Genre: LGBTTQ, BDSM & Fetish, Fantasy & Paranormal.</b></p><br/><p><b>Blurb: </b><i>When the king commands former war hero Captain Jay Ghair to find him the perfect royal sex slave, Jayâs quiet new life as a librarian is shattered. Jay discovers the boy heâs looking for in Alix, a lowly miner and wannabe court scientist, whom Jay canât help but secretly adore. However, teaching the rebellious Alix to be a docile slave is difficult. Alix will behave for just one man, and it isnât the king. Itâs Jay.</i></p><br/><p><i>Standing by while the kingâs treatment of Alix becomes cruel is torturous for Jay. He longs to return to his library, yet he canât bear to leave Alix, or his people, unprotected. To rescue Alixâand save the realm from the increasingly tyrannical kingâJay must confront the demons of his military past and take up the sword again. But his most important battle must be won through returning Alixâs love and learning to master this bad slave who submits only for him.</i></p><br/><p><a href='http://kayberrisford.com/bad-slave/'>BAD SLAVE BUY IT NOW LINKS</a></p><br/><p><b>ADULT EXCERPT from </b><a href='http://kayberrisford.com/bad-slave/'><b>Bad Slave</b></a></p><br/><p>Jay leaned forward so his brow nearly touched Alixâs. Hot breaths mingled. âListen. Iâve been charged this night with finding the king an attractive young man. Somebody ready and willing to, uh, wellââ</p><br/><p>âHe wants to know if youâll suck the kingâs cock,â interjected Gareh, coming to the rescue, albeit in a crude fashion.</p><br/><p>Alixâs jaw dropped. âYou want me to become one of the kingâs sex slaves?â</p><br/><p>It seemed everybody knew more about King Lyamâs lifestyle than Jay had. His stomach clenched.</p><br/><p>âKing Lyamâs a good-looking chap,â added Ned, whoâd warmed to the task of procuring Alix, probably because time pressed on. The sun had sunk beneath the horizon, and evening dew beaded the grasses and cooled Jayâs blazing visage. âFrom what Iâve heard, his boys live a coddled existence.â</p><br/><p>âThe choice must be yours, Alix,â said Jay. âBut Farmer Derren might find you and kill you if we let you go free, and we canât take you back to the palace with no reason. You must face trial or elect to serve the king.â</p><br/><p>Jayâs conscience stabbed like an ice pick, because there was little choice, really. He wished the lad, who remained motionless, would say something to put him out of his misery. Alix raked his fingers through his short brown hair. Then, sudden as the first morning cry of a cockerel, he laughed. And sweet mother of all the starlords, it was the dirtiest and most charming sound thatâd ever blessed Jayâs ears. Alixâs smile was delicious too, though he couldnât disguise his trembling or the gleam of fear in his eyes. Jay suspected this unforeseen mirth to be an act, so it didnât make him feel any better.</p><br/><p>Nevertheless, Lyam had asked for a man with some spirit. Alix indeed possessed that.</p><br/><p>âAll right, Iâll do it.â Alix dabbed away the last of the blood. âUm, should I thank you? I mean, yes, I really should. You just saved me fromââ</p><br/><p>âNo. Thatâs not necessary at all.â Any decent man wouldâve done the same thing.</p><br/><p>Without requesting the rescued party become a sex slave.</p><br/><p>Jay rose, then took Alixâs arm and helped him up. Once upright, Alix hissed in pain, then balanced on one leg. Jay clamped the ladâs shoulders. âAre you badly injured?â</p><br/><p>âJust a minor sprain.â Alix mustered a faltering grin. âDoesnât hurt.â</p><br/><p>âWeâll tend to your wounds when we get back.â</p><br/><p>It seemed the least he could do. Then again, he <i>had</i> saved Alixâs life. Serving at court, even as one of the kingâs pets, could well be preferable to laboring in the mines, let alone languishing in prison or facing the chop.</p><br/><p>Not quite reassured, Jay scooped an arm about Alix and supported the lad in hopping over to the horse. He helped Alix upâinvoluntarily confirming that Alix had a firm and rounded butt and sinewy thighsâthen sighed and nodded to Gareh and Ned.</p><br/><p>âLead on back to the palace.â</p><br/><p style='text-align: center;'>~*~</p><br/><p>Want more? <a href='http://www.loose-id.com/bad-slave.html'>Read chapter one at Loose Id</a></p><br/><p>Buy Kayâs books at <a href='http://www.amazon.com/Kay-Berrisford/e/B006JLQ4L8/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1'>Amazon</a>  <a href='http://www.loose-id.com/authors/g-k/kay-berrisford.html'>Loose Id</a>  <a href='http://www.allromanceebookhttps://www.facebook.com/kayberrisfordwriter%20s.com/storeSearch.html?searchBy=author&qString=Kay+Berrisford'>All Romance Ebooks </a></p><br/><p><a href='https://www.facebook.com/kayberrisfordwriter'>Kay on Facebook</a><a href='https://www.facebook.com/kayberrisfordwriter'><br/></a></p><br/><p>Twitter: @<a href='https://twitter.com/KayBerrisford'>kayberrisford</a></p><br/><p>Website: <a href='http://kayberrisford.com/my-books/'>http://kayberrisford.com</a></p><br/><p><b>GIVEAWAY TIME!!! If you’d like to win your choice of two of my Greenwood novels </b><a href='http://kayberrisford.com/2011/04/10/about-bound-to-the-forest/'><b>Bound for the Forest</b></a><b> or </b><a href='http://kayberrisford.com/bound-to-the-beast/'><b>Bound to the Beast</b></a><b>) in ebook or paperback plus a $10 GC </b></p><br/><p><a rel='nofollow' href='http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b26f5c3/' id='rc-b26f5c3' class='rafl'>a Rafflecopter giveaway</a></p><br/><p><b> </b></p><br/> <br/><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/2014/01/28/welcome-author-kay-berrisford/'>Welcome Author Kay Berrisford</a>Z.A. Maxfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02573777376812317486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34729067640931229.post-76215870688109078682014-01-26T12:08:00.001-08:002014-01-26T12:08:11.824-08:00Sunday Brunch Blog - 1/26/13<p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/saupload_mad_20hatter_20tea_20party.jpg'><img height='237' width='300' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/saupload_mad_20hatter_20tea_20party-300x237.jpg' alt='saupload_mad_20hatter_20tea_20party' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4535'/></a>Happy Sunday everyone! I woke up to a gray cloudy day today. Three boys home but running around. They’re currently in a robotics club that has a competition coming up in Vegas. That’s right, Vegas, baby. Nothing like letting smart kids loose in a town full of possible moral pitfalls. pffft. Guess who’s going as a chaperone.</p><br/><p>They could do worse.</p><br/><p>So, Last week we talked about whether we felt we were optimists, pessimists or just realists. So many good comments on that. You are great thinkers out there, and I loved reading your replies. Thanks! Last weeks winner (random pick, of course) is:</p><br/><p>Andrea! *throws confetti*</p><br/><p>This week’s question:</p><br/><p><span style='font-size: x-large;'><strong>What’s the worst prank you ever pulled? (Of course this could also, given that we discussed glass half-empty/glass half-full last week, be called the BEST prank you ever pulled.)</strong></span></p><br/><p>I’ll tell you what, only ONE author was brave enough to sign up to share her prank with me: LE Franks is here to tell us about it.</p><br/><p>My thoughts on pranks is I’m not really good at them. I don’t like making people feel uncomfortable. I never have. I’ve done things to surprise people. I let my daughter go to sleep on the eve of her fourth birthday in her toddler bed and then took her out and put her in a “big girl” bed, complete with dreamy bedding and nice pillows in its place so when she woke up her room was different (I pictured it like the Shirley Temple Version of A Little Princess, although the transformation was nothing so spectacular.)</p><br/><p>Last week, I let my twin son Zack tell his brother Max they only had one iPhone left so we got him a clamshell phone they had leftover from the nineties with big button technology, but then that was Zack’s practical joke, not mine. I gave the game away as soon as I saw him, because he looked so resigned. I can’t stand to see people off-kilter. As a kid, I couldn’t watch shows the Beverly Hillbillies, because I don’t like to see people made the butt of jokes. I rarely watch reality television at all.</p><br/><p>My husband is great at pranks and surprises, although he knows better than to pull them on me. He once bought me a car and told me the garage door remote didn’t work, knowing it’s snatch it out of his hand and try it anyway cause I’m that person who pushes “walk” even if you already did, who test things, opens doors, and generally has to see with my own eyes.</p><br/><p>That was a GREAT prank/surprise and one I’ll remember forever.</p><br/><p><b><span style='text-decoration: underline;'><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/482502_10202980968035615_487060924_n.jpg'><img height='300' width='190' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/482502_10202980968035615_487060924_n-190x300.jpg' alt='482502_10202980968035615_487060924_n' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4962'/></a>One Manâs (erâwomanâs) Prank is Another Manâs Worst Nightmare, or Our Road to Tying the Knot: </span></b></p><br/><p>Itâs really not my fault. I think it speaks more to his psychology than to my impulse to poke. Honestly.</p><br/><p>Itâs not like he secretly thought I was psychoâ¦</p><br/><p>Waitâ¦there was that time I visited him in Princeton NJ about a month after we started datingâhe was on a long-term job site, I was a travel slut looking for a good time and a 45 minute ride to the Big Appleâ¦a match made in heaven. So what if heâd been staying in a tiny room no bigger than a closet filled with three weeks of stinky man-clothes?</p><br/><p>He may have been a little disconcerted when at midnight (9 pm our time, for frackâs sake!) he awoke and found me leaning against a wall staring at him. <i>Did I mention it was only 9pm on the west coast </i>and the room was the size of my thigh<i>?</i> Godâs great gift to mankind â the iPhone â had not been invented yet. And there was nowhere to sit. It was either lean against a wall or wake him up every 5 minutes moving around on the double bed.</p><br/><p>He may have also jumped to conclusions that helped reinforce this idea of my shaky credentials the next day when he walked into his hotel room and found a naked man in the shower. (Stop it! I know what youâre thinkingâ¦I said <i>travel slut</i>, not slut-slut. <i>Sheesh</i>).</p><br/><p>Itâs really not my fault that he had a moment of crazy when he convinced himself that Iâd <i>traveled 2900 miles to steal his dirty clothes, e</i>specially since heâd stopped by the front desk to arrange a larger room for us before leaving for the day. So sue me. I did what any reasonably bored and efficient person would doâ¦I got the key and moved us.</p><br/><p>While that would have been a <i>KILLER </i>prankâit doesnât count as oneâbut it may very well explain why when I did eventually prank him he thought I was serious. Deadly serious. Honestly, so much drama and yet, <i>he still married me. </i>[Editor's note from ZAM: Knowing you -- and adoring you as I do -- this does not surprise me.]</p><br/><p>Tiny more bit of backstory: I actually have really excellent taste. No, donât scoffâdonât confuse my jeanâs and t-shirts for fashion ignorance, because hey, California. It doesnât mean that I canât slide my hand across a nice white cotton broadcloth covered chest and not know the thread count and whether youâre rocking the perm-a-press. And there really is nothing worse that a lousy polyester or ugly print necktie. But I digress.</p><br/><p>Weâd been living together for a few weeks at this pointâabout six months after the whole unfortunate âyou stole my dirty underwearâ episode on the East Coastâstill not the best of arrangements, but Iâd moved in with him and his roommate who was her own brand of crazy-with-cat. She had weird rules, and we tiptoed around a lot. It just added to the atmosphere.</p><br/><p>Moving in with him the first thing I noticed was a large mirror leaning against a corner, covered in neckties. Horrible, horrible, ghastly, ugly, polyester, and knitted cotton, and old, (not cool-old either. Not hot retro âmy fashion is editorialâ. Nope. The really, really unredeemably bad kind.) Ties that made my eyes bleed and teeth ache just to look at themâ¦and he had a lot of them. No jokeâdozens upon dozens, even ties from the eighties with their mauve and peach color schemesâ¦soft blurred images with cow skulls on them. Nightmares. [Editor's note from ZAM: You didn't accidentally marry my husband did you? 'Cause he has those too, and even older ones from his dad. 70 years of bad ties]</p><br/><p><b><span style='text-decoration: underline;'>The Prank.</span></b> I may have threatened the ties with extermination a time or two. He may have been in genuine fear for their livesâ¦but still, I think the day that he came home from work, saw my note telling him I that Iâd offed them (I believed I used words like âcut upâ and ânever see them againâ) he might have paused a second to look around the room and notice the trail of dropped neck ties leading to the downstairs hall closet where they remained unharmed. Nope. Did not see a-one. (<b>Editorial note from LE Franks: as I write this, I realize he had to have stepped over several of these ties on his way up the stairs, which is an entirely different post about why menâs clothes become invisible the second they touch the ground.</b>)</p><br/><p><b><span style='text-decoration: underline;'>The Result.</span></b> Total Freak Out.</p><br/><p>I almost wet myself laughing. Honestly. Like anyone would go to all that trouble to cut them up with scissors when thereâs a perfectly good trashcan outside. (Oddly he didnât consider that argument to be an improvement.)</p><br/><p>Yeah, he eventually married me anywayâbut I did use it as a teaching moment to point out how hideously awful his taste was (why let all those props go to waste) and in the end, he let me dispose of the worst offenders with the following caveat: for every tie he coughed up, Iâd replace them with two very cool ones. And I didâI even got him nifty grown up tie hangersâTies as colorful and cool as he is. Now, I hardly ever see him dressing like an 85 year old man anymore, because scissors. – Author LE Franks</p><br/><p><a href='http://www.wildecity.com/books/gay-romance/6-days-to-valentines/#.UuQXW6Wtu5x'><b>Purchase 6 Days to Valentine on January 29th from Wilde City Press.</b></a><b> </b></p><br/><p><b> </b><a href='https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7152228.L_E_Franks'><br/></a></p><br/> <br/><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/2014/01/26/sunday-brunch-blog-12613/'>Sunday Brunch Blog - 1/26/13</a>Z.A. Maxfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02573777376812317486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34729067640931229.post-23858037221828206222014-01-24T13:02:00.001-08:002014-01-24T13:02:40.467-08:00Fun Interview with Josh...<p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/cropped-ZAMIam-rainbow1.png'><img height='125' width='300' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/cropped-ZAMIam-rainbow1-300x125.png' alt='cropped-ZAMIam-rainbow1.png' class='size-medium wp-image-4881 alignleft'/></a><span style='font-size: x-large;'><em><strong>I’m at Josh Lanyon’s Just Joshin’ blog today: </strong></em></span></p><br/><p><a href='http://joshlanyon.blogspot.com/2014/01/three-interview-questions-youre-not.html'>Click here to see our zany Interview!</a></p><br/><p> </p><br/><p> </p><br/> <br/><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/2014/01/24/fun-interview-with-josh/'>Fun Interview with Josh...</a>Z.A. Maxfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02573777376812317486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34729067640931229.post-24862122067867408702014-01-23T10:19:00.001-08:002014-01-23T10:19:25.409-08:00Oh, the places I go...<p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/cropped-ZAMIam-rainbow1.png'><img height='142' width='338' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/cropped-ZAMIam-rainbow1.png' alt='cropped-ZAMIam-rainbow1.png' class=' wp-image-4881 alignleft'/></a>As everyone knows I’m on a blog tour for <em><strong>My Heartache Cowboy</strong></em>. I just wanted to give a shout out to a few of the authors who are hosing me this week. They are so kind to give up their valuable Internet real estate for me, and I have really enjoyed answering their questions, writing blog posts, and generally hanging around with them.</p><br/><p>These are some solid friends, folks, they’re the ones who cheer me on when I succeed, and laugh with me when I fail…or cry. They’re also solid writers in their own right. So far, I’ve visited with Rhys Ford, Karenna Colecroft, Tara Lain, and LE Franks! Below you’ll find the links, and while you’re there, check out my author pals and the books they write. Show them a little love by following their blogs, signing up for their newsletters and “like”ing their pages. I guarantee you will be glad you did!</p><br/><p>These authors have already hosted me:</p><br/><p><span style='font-size: large;'>Rhys Ford <a href='http://rhysford.com/2014/01/21/three-things-you-probably-dont-know-about-za-maxfield-and-a-giveaway/'>Dirt and Sin With A Side Of Coffee</a></span></p><br/><p><span style='font-size: large;'>Karenna Colecroft <a href='http://karennacolcroft.com/special-guest-z-a-maxfield/'>Open Your Heart</a></span></p><br/><p><span style='font-size: large;'>Tara Lain <a href='http://karennacolcroft.com/special-guest-z-a-maxfield/'>Read the Beautiful Boys of Romance</a></span></p><br/><p><span style='font-size: large;'>LE Franks <a href='http://lefranks.wordpress.com/?p=1192&preview=true'>The Books, The Blogs, and The Men</a></span></p><br/><p>I’ll let you know about new blog visits as they appear.</p><br/><div/><br/><div><a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2a8FImXOpxxa-wN755U__Wg27Yc9Cqt0KTJxLsX8BWnRc439p2PMg9czo0o1f_rygCwgY94kJENpT4mwygojWHMA9NkIZyxgZsWdowLo_Le1rL44I742_HFMgGO6bcs7e95RHrAtGBw/s1600/Book+Cover+-+My+Heartache+Cowboy+(The+Cowboys+%232)+.jpg'><img height='320' width='204' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2a8FImXOpxxa-wN755U__Wg27Yc9Cqt0KTJxLsX8BWnRc439p2PMg9czo0o1f_rygCwgY94kJENpT4mwygojWHMA9NkIZyxgZsWdowLo_Le1rL44I742_HFMgGO6bcs7e95RHrAtGBw/s320/Book+Cover+-+My+Heartache+Cowboy+(The+Cowboys+%232)+.jpg' alt=''/></a></div><br/><div><b>My Heartache Cowboy</b></div><br/><div><b>(Cowboy Series, Bk #2)<br/><br/>By Z.A. Maxfield</b></div><br/><div/><br/><div><b>Blurb: </b></div><br/><p><b>Can love conquer all?</b></p><br/><p>Jimmy Rafferty and Eddie Molina go way back at the J-Bar ranch. Theyâve worked together, bunked together, camped out, and drank together. So how has Jimmy failed to notice that Eddie is gay? Eddie has not failed to notice that his friend has a serious drinking problem, and heâs determined to help Jimmy kick the booze cold turkey.</p><br/><p>Taking him up to a snowbound cabin to detox, Eddie is confronted with Jimmyâs fierce denial. But the pains of withdrawal are nothing for Jimmy compared with the heartache of denying his true feelings and his deep longingâ¦for the one man who cares for him more than anyone else on earth.</p><br/><div/><br/><div><a target='_blank' href='https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18338605-my-heartache-cowboy?from_search=true'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKuqxTJE1ahAbEQPmWXwIlp4n9otqFGzCoIrDqW-3smSNVINbXjpqbjaLfc4osAaaiG8I1ilbTl6qXZ-VL-5iogl4xvWAV0vEKGp7I8nPLTJIM_VJbz44asJ2qyYvtV4C5fnEufTk-tw/s1600/Goodreads-button.png' alt=''/></a></div><br/><div/><br/><div>Available for purchase at</div><br/><div/><br/><div><br/><a target='_blank' href='http://www.amazon.com/My-Heartache-Cowboy-Intermix-Maxfield-ebook/dp/B00AMOOHB2/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389207549&sr=1-1&keywords=B00AMOOHB2'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ1BOmoOFZs5CFyRgHmPt0kW8GLUZoAbdtKB_ZV5_BnVAXkHnjNdTgMhd8sA90Co3QsMpqY_ANMjCGuhTrSNvr5wznv3K5DZczcnSL_bGVVt_vqKDxefgzX1kPO2bZt35E4OQQ36rGcA/s1600/waxcreative-amazon-kindle.png' alt=''/></a> <a target='_blank' href='http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/my-heartache-cowboy-za-maxfield/1115590115?ean=9781101633496'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihHcW4VxBT7ifkkjSO_ZNBB-aUIXdbiHMZNC-2Z7lnwjgxlT4zdaNSQOCSRefl5L_GEKk0qQftKVuMgAFvNGVhY-okyYCVPvoIfdUGb5wfWeY9lEou3u1_v2-azs9Unz_5dclEZ0_l9g/s1600/waxcreative-bn-nook.png' alt=''/></a> <a target='_blank' href='http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/my-heartache-cowboy'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmjWx9_fW7VpP31BXcBbH6tTr2wiIz3kAk0DW0eA7htYP9sG3fcU-bQw1Bmr4pboY5lmP9Pcn3DoaMbtQuIAkyygykQ-YCUbRXXbo2_nbJHS0PRCyOSV2UDNHRiFxEjSW_xlFBgM4taA/s1600/Kobo.png' alt=''/></a> <a target='_blank' href='https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/my-heartache-cowboy/id586733132?mt=11'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7G_ZVeY5N5g2U4rTLLC2RKpLN1TAVowXFWjbO9cDiva-uBI6k0VCS4IfbY-OWtbm5a7LwHU3WxmCh76qh8aDeEkIrAL0Ee0nD8Q5Em_8Sh5Hd45ORDE1F0dwEScpvuJ9k4FldMon38A/s1600/waxcreative-ibooks.png' alt=''/></a><br/></div><br/><p> </p><br/><div/><br/><div/><br/><div/><br/><div><i><b>Excerpt</b></i></div><br/><div/><br/><div/><br/><div/><br/><p>When I woke, I was alone and the truck wasnât moving.</p><br/><p>Who the hell did Eddie think he was, leaving me asleep by myself in a truck outside in the freezing cold? My pa and my older brother, Jonas, used to do that. Weâd be on the road, and when I fell asleep, theyâd leave me in the parking lot of some dive bar or motelâjust leave me asleep outside in the dark. Iâd wake up with no clue where I was, no idea if they were coming back or if I should go in and try to find them.</p><br/><p>My first useful thought was to look for the keys, because I hadnât forgotten what Eddie said. I hadnât forgotten the plans him and boss Malloy made for me behind my back. It would serve them right if I up and hightailed it back to the J-Bar with Eddieâs truck and no Eddie.</p><br/><p>No keys.</p><br/><p>Not like that was going to stop me. Where the hell did Eddie get the idea Iâd go quietly? I slid over and tore the wiring out from under the dash. Found what I needed without hardly even looking.</p><br/><p>I hated waking up alone like that. Unwanted. Abandoned.</p><br/><p>One twist. Two. Touch the wires together and the engine should . . .</p><br/><p>Fuck.</p><br/><p>Nothing.</p><br/><p>What the hell? I checked I got the proper color-coated strands and tried again. I was frowning down at the mess of tangled wire when someone tapped on the window behind me.</p><br/><p>I glanced up and saw Eddie frowning down, no doubt pissed at what Iâd done to his truck. Serves you right for leaving me like that, you prick.</p><br/><p>âYou need a working engine for that,â he told me as he opened the door. âOne that has a battery.â</p><br/><p>âFuck you.â I spilled out of the car ready for a fistfight.</p><br/><p>âWhat?â Eddie jumped back.</p><br/><p>âWhy did you have to leave me like that? What did I ever do to you?â</p><br/><p>Eddie shook his head at me. âI donât have a clue what youâre talking about. You were sound asleep and I thought maybe you needed it.â</p><br/><p>I took a swing at him. âI hate waking up alone in a car like that.â</p><br/><p>Ed plucked my fist from the air and peered at me like he was trying to see through my skin. âI didnât know.â</p><br/><p>âI hate that. Left behind in the car like a damn dog. Like a fucking duffel bag. You canât be bothered to even wake me up and take me in out of the fucking snow.â</p><br/><p>Now Eddie frowned like he was thinking about it. Now, after the fact. âIâm sorry, Jimmy. I didnât think how youâd feel waking up alone like that. I wonât do it again.â</p><br/><p>âWould have served you right if I took your truck and left you up here to walk back to civilization, wherever the hell that is. Would have served you right if Iâd died out here.â</p><br/><p>âAll right, all right. Simmer down now.â</p><br/><p>I glared at him. âFuck you.â</p><br/><p>âItâs pretty civilized inside. How about you come in with me.â</p><br/><p>âHow about you suck my fuckingââ</p><br/><p>âThatâs enough.â He turned and headed toward the cabinâs welcoming front door. âI almost didnât bother to disable the damn thing, but I thought on the off chance you knew what you were doing and couldââ</p><br/><p>âWhich I did,â I pointed out.</p><br/><p>âCome inside.â He jerked his chin toward the cabin like I was a dog and I was supposed to just follow along and yip around at his heels.</p><br/><p>I debated making a run at him, but frankly, Eddie was a tough buzzard. He wasnât too much older than me, just forty-two compared to my thirty-eight. But I was a lover, not a fighter, or at least thatâs how I thought of myself. Back there on the road, Eddie had proved he wasnât above using violence to get his way in this, so I went along.</p><br/><p>Youâre going to have to sleep sometime.</p><br/><p>Eddie led me into a rustic-looking cabin that seemed awful nice for the middle of nowhere. There was a place for us to hang our hats just inside the door, over a table with a passel of pictures on it. There were old time black-and-whites of families and framed pictures of a good-looking man, a pretty woman, and some kids. There were some of the kids alone, and holy cow, there were probably a dozen pictures of Ed. He looked so young in a couple of them, they must have been from before we met.</p><br/><p>One of Ed and the unknown man caught my eye. Something about the difference in height, the casual way they leaned together, the way they looked at each other, made me think this was Edâs friend from the road, Don. Even though theyâd both aged some since it was taken, I was almost sure of it.</p><br/><p>No knobby hands, no weathered angel, this Don was good looking, without a doubt. He was lanky and chiseled. He had an intelligent face and a smile that drew the eye. He seemed sure of himself and charming. Whatever Iâd seen in the darkness outside the car had to be a trick of the light.</p><br/><p>Ed looked so young and earnest next to him it took my breath away. Brawny and tan, he wore a yoked Western shirt with the sleeves rolled up past well-muscled forearms and he eyed Don like he would follow him anywhere.</p><br/><p>And that Don, he looked like he could appreciate a guy like Ed, as well.</p><br/><p>Hadnât I seen firsthand how much he did appreciate him?</p><br/><div/><br/><div><br/><div><b><i>About the Author</i></b></div><br/><div/><br/><div><br/><p>Z. A. Maxfield started writing in 2007 on a dare from her children and never looked back. Pathologically disorganized, and perennially optimistic, she writes as much as she can, reads as much as she dares, and enjoys her time with family and friends. Three things reverberate throughout all her stories: Unconditional love, redemption, and the belief that miracles happen when we least expect them.If anyone asks her how a wife and mother of four can find time for a writing career, sheâll answer, âItâs amazing what you can accomplish if you give up housework.â</p><br/><div/><br/></div><br/><div><br/><div><a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTxwFN4j4WHSKnrCK23Wt1X3HgUNaB1hNasuUF4DYOTxIcZfLM0T4oZTTjTuTN0DWgrSQBCJA64bfsqDwC3wf8hGgHoLaPmOlfXhMSKpe-R7TArcYPxmofC_Y0NkKOdsLmnXW9xhCs5A/s1600/Author+Picture.jpg'><img height='200' width='200' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTxwFN4j4WHSKnrCK23Wt1X3HgUNaB1hNasuUF4DYOTxIcZfLM0T4oZTTjTuTN0DWgrSQBCJA64bfsqDwC3wf8hGgHoLaPmOlfXhMSKpe-R7TArcYPxmofC_Y0NkKOdsLmnXW9xhCs5A/s200/Author+Picture.jpg' alt=''/></a></div><br/><div/><br/><div/><br/><div><i>You can find ZA Maxfield at </i></div><br/><div/><br/><div><br/><a target='_blank' href='http://zamaxfield.com/'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6IvX63Y8t47NN6KtdIWgXZbWwfYuaZUIBFzi3YbyYVmvtxtHBoWsgnlBBa44aUuR1T6lrEyK90QZsSqzYbc9sHWgUMxjWMKwXlO_CxYVB1nvBJnJcQET65AKp-RteC9Ey99-g29dnZg/s1600/bloodWhiteButton+-+Website+Small.png' alt=''/></a> <a target='_blank' href='https://www.facebook.com/pages/ZAMaxfield/165809416786338'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia-sHA4Ch8976GplW6TahpqdCFU0jX0yhyiqqyJShlBev64Y-X5Cglb0Bjym73kD0JybOcHAvjfvV4YWKBYVvkPc127C1D1k6vJLkH0gr8ky_-HIgPlhA7RVpIE-xmc2Zcs0pJYqwg7g/s1600/Facebook+Button.png.png' alt=''/></a> <a target='_blank' href='https://twitter.com/ZAMaxfield'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ4rA7moWtDJl0kShGwMr4MTLdqy62BTuHQ2Wda_oCk9_6AOj5aGgA0AsqIGGwQEtZWYFcU9h9X-xGsWhVLrPLj-nePVsmQPYVxy7mZ9mhCKPlLFSmaVEtpNZOyNcGGgTb1PMY8ASm0A/s1600/Twitter+button.png' alt=''/></a> <a target='_blank' href='http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2738500.Z_A_Maxfield'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm2C28HaH-1XNIGTh78M0PPv_jDq9KApGrfRF2Y9oWfyxr5upRAa5uFF3PdpLm7_FphyphenhyphenHj52XQ3wfznO-VJK3OhN2mu5PCmuhdh0mPVkJfdRYbxKJ65-wEV4BSUT7p6AVw667A_gp0zA/s1600/waxcreative-goodreads.png' alt=''/></a> <a target='_blank' href='http://zamaxfield.tumblr.com/'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwCAYvBBA7gSwNYbjwvIKTDFMsF-eSJSVgzahspYf1v7dM98SGtsMsNJ6gUFSwdW23cwLFrxSjuuXCzNGOoXlLyD6An0pCMDy_V-pbS1uxJEXhghqVDqjR3eOOkyT2qPCSRTRrsdAEIw/s1600/tumblr-icon+small.png' alt=''/></a><br/></div><br/><div/><br/><div/><br/><div><i><b>Giveaway</b></i></div><br/></div><br/></div><br/><p><a rel='nofollow' href='http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b4c00095/' id='rc-b4c00095' class='rafl'>a Rafflecopter giveaway</a></p><br/> <br/><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/2014/01/23/oh-the-places-i-go/'>Oh, the places I go...</a>Z.A. Maxfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02573777376812317486noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34729067640931229.post-3074522590432971262014-01-21T09:55:00.001-08:002014-01-21T09:55:22.305-08:00It's Release Day!<p style='text-align: center;'><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/My-Heartache-Cowboy-Banner.jpg'><img height='287' width='660' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/My-Heartache-Cowboy-Banner.jpg' alt='My Heartache Cowboy Banner' class='aligncenter wp-image-4897'/></a></p><br/><p style='text-align: center;'><a class='small-button smallred' href='#'>Blog Tour Homepage</a></p><br/><div/><br/><div><a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2a8FImXOpxxa-wN755U__Wg27Yc9Cqt0KTJxLsX8BWnRc439p2PMg9czo0o1f_rygCwgY94kJENpT4mwygojWHMA9NkIZyxgZsWdowLo_Le1rL44I742_HFMgGO6bcs7e95RHrAtGBw/s1600/Book+Cover+-+My+Heartache+Cowboy+(The+Cowboys+%232)+.jpg'><img height='320' width='204' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2a8FImXOpxxa-wN755U__Wg27Yc9Cqt0KTJxLsX8BWnRc439p2PMg9czo0o1f_rygCwgY94kJENpT4mwygojWHMA9NkIZyxgZsWdowLo_Le1rL44I742_HFMgGO6bcs7e95RHrAtGBw/s320/Book+Cover+-+My+Heartache+Cowboy+(The+Cowboys+%232)+.jpg' alt='' style='border: 0px;' class='alignleft'/></a></div><br/><div><b>My Heartache Cowboy</b></div><br/><div><b>(Cowboy Series, Bk #2)<br/><br/>By Z.A. Maxfield</b></div><br/><div/><br/><div><b>Blurb: </b></div><br/><p><b>Can love conquer all?</b></p><br/><p>Jimmy Rafferty and Eddie Molina go way back at the J-Bar ranch. Theyâve worked together, bunked together, camped out, and drank together. So how has Jimmy failed to notice that Eddie is gay? Eddie has not failed to notice that his friend has a serious drinking problem, and heâs determined to help Jimmy kick the booze cold turkey.</p><br/><p>Taking him up to a snowbound cabin to detox, Eddie is confronted with Jimmyâs fierce denial. But the pains of withdrawal are nothing for Jimmy compared with the heartache of denying his true feelings and his deep longingâ¦for the one man who cares for him more than anyone else on earth.</p><br/><div/><br/><div><a target='_blank' href='https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18338605-my-heartache-cowboy?from_search=true'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKuqxTJE1ahAbEQPmWXwIlp4n9otqFGzCoIrDqW-3smSNVINbXjpqbjaLfc4osAaaiG8I1ilbTl6qXZ-VL-5iogl4xvWAV0vEKGp7I8nPLTJIM_VJbz44asJ2qyYvtV4C5fnEufTk-tw/s1600/Goodreads-button.png' alt=''/></a></div><br/><div/><br/><div>Available for purchase at</div><br/><div/><br/><div><br/><a target='_blank' href='http://www.amazon.com/My-Heartache-Cowboy-Intermix-Maxfield-ebook/dp/B00AMOOHB2/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389207549&sr=1-1&keywords=B00AMOOHB2'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ1BOmoOFZs5CFyRgHmPt0kW8GLUZoAbdtKB_ZV5_BnVAXkHnjNdTgMhd8sA90Co3QsMpqY_ANMjCGuhTrSNvr5wznv3K5DZczcnSL_bGVVt_vqKDxefgzX1kPO2bZt35E4OQQ36rGcA/s1600/waxcreative-amazon-kindle.png' alt=''/></a> <a target='_blank' href='http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/my-heartache-cowboy-za-maxfield/1115590115?ean=9781101633496'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihHcW4VxBT7ifkkjSO_ZNBB-aUIXdbiHMZNC-2Z7lnwjgxlT4zdaNSQOCSRefl5L_GEKk0qQftKVuMgAFvNGVhY-okyYCVPvoIfdUGb5wfWeY9lEou3u1_v2-azs9Unz_5dclEZ0_l9g/s1600/waxcreative-bn-nook.png' alt=''/></a> <a target='_blank' href='http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/my-heartache-cowboy'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmjWx9_fW7VpP31BXcBbH6tTr2wiIz3kAk0DW0eA7htYP9sG3fcU-bQw1Bmr4pboY5lmP9Pcn3DoaMbtQuIAkyygykQ-YCUbRXXbo2_nbJHS0PRCyOSV2UDNHRiFxEjSW_xlFBgM4taA/s1600/Kobo.png' alt=''/></a> <a target='_blank' href='https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/my-heartache-cowboy/id586733132?mt=11'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7G_ZVeY5N5g2U4rTLLC2RKpLN1TAVowXFWjbO9cDiva-uBI6k0VCS4IfbY-OWtbm5a7LwHU3WxmCh76qh8aDeEkIrAL0Ee0nD8Q5Em_8Sh5Hd45ORDE1F0dwEScpvuJ9k4FldMon38A/s1600/waxcreative-ibooks.png' alt=''/></a><br/></div><br/><p> </p><br/><div/><br/><div/><br/><div/><br/><div><i><b>Excerpt</b></i></div><br/><div/><br/><div/><br/><div/><br/><p>When I woke, I was alone and the truck wasnât moving.</p><br/><p>Who the hell did Eddie think he was, leaving me asleep by myself in a truck outside in the freezing cold? My pa and my older brother, Jonas, used to do that. Weâd be on the road, and when I fell asleep, theyâd leave me in the parking lot of some dive bar or motelâjust leave me asleep outside in the dark. Iâd wake up with no clue where I was, no idea if they were coming back or if I should go in and try to find them.</p><br/><p>My first useful thought was to look for the keys, because I hadnât forgotten what Eddie said. I hadnât forgotten the plans him and boss Malloy made for me behind my back. It would serve them right if I up and hightailed it back to the J-Bar with Eddieâs truck and no Eddie.</p><br/><p>No keys.</p><br/><p>Not like that was going to stop me. Where the hell did Eddie get the idea Iâd go quietly? I slid over and tore the wiring out from under the dash. Found what I needed without hardly even looking.</p><br/><p>I hated waking up alone like that. Unwanted. Abandoned.</p><br/><p>One twist. Two. Touch the wires together and the engine should . . .</p><br/><p>Fuck.</p><br/><p>Nothing.</p><br/><p>What the hell? I checked I got the proper color-coated strands and tried again. I was frowning down at the mess of tangled wire when someone tapped on the window behind me.</p><br/><p>I glanced up and saw Eddie frowning down, no doubt pissed at what Iâd done to his truck. Serves you right for leaving me like that, you prick.</p><br/><p>âYou need a working engine for that,â he told me as he opened the door. âOne that has a battery.â</p><br/><p>âFuck you.â I spilled out of the car ready for a fistfight.</p><br/><p>âWhat?â Eddie jumped back.</p><br/><p>âWhy did you have to leave me like that? What did I ever do to you?â</p><br/><p>Eddie shook his head at me. âI donât have a clue what youâre talking about. You were sound asleep and I thought maybe you needed it.â</p><br/><p>I took a swing at him. âI hate waking up alone in a car like that.â</p><br/><p>Ed plucked my fist from the air and peered at me like he was trying to see through my skin. âI didnât know.â</p><br/><p>âI hate that. Left behind in the car like a damn dog. Like a fucking duffel bag. You canât be bothered to even wake me up and take me in out of the fucking snow.â</p><br/><p>Now Eddie frowned like he was thinking about it. Now, after the fact. âIâm sorry, Jimmy. I didnât think how youâd feel waking up alone like that. I wonât do it again.â</p><br/><p>âWould have served you right if I took your truck and left you up here to walk back to civilization, wherever the hell that is. Would have served you right if Iâd died out here.â</p><br/><p>âAll right, all right. Simmer down now.â</p><br/><p>I glared at him. âFuck you.â</p><br/><p>âItâs pretty civilized inside. How about you come in with me.â</p><br/><p>âHow about you suck my fuckingââ</p><br/><p>âThatâs enough.â He turned and headed toward the cabinâs welcoming front door. âI almost didnât bother to disable the damn thing, but I thought on the off chance you knew what you were doing and couldââ</p><br/><p>âWhich I did,â I pointed out.</p><br/><p>âCome inside.â He jerked his chin toward the cabin like I was a dog and I was supposed to just follow along and yip around at his heels.</p><br/><p>I debated making a run at him, but frankly, Eddie was a tough buzzard. He wasnât too much older than me, just forty-two compared to my thirty-eight. But I was a lover, not a fighter, or at least thatâs how I thought of myself. Back there on the road, Eddie had proved he wasnât above using violence to get his way in this, so I went along.</p><br/><p>Youâre going to have to sleep sometime.</p><br/><p>Eddie led me into a rustic-looking cabin that seemed awful nice for the middle of nowhere. There was a place for us to hang our hats just inside the door, over a table with a passel of pictures on it. There were old time black-and-whites of families and framed pictures of a good-looking man, a pretty woman, and some kids. There were some of the kids alone, and holy cow, there were probably a dozen pictures of Ed. He looked so young in a couple of them, they must have been from before we met.</p><br/><p>One of Ed and the unknown man caught my eye. Something about the difference in height, the casual way they leaned together, the way they looked at each other, made me think this was Edâs friend from the road, Don. Even though theyâd both aged some since it was taken, I was almost sure of it.</p><br/><p>No knobby hands, no weathered angel, this Don was good looking, without a doubt. He was lanky and chiseled. He had an intelligent face and a smile that drew the eye. He seemed sure of himself and charming. Whatever Iâd seen in the darkness outside the car had to be a trick of the light.</p><br/><p>Ed looked so young and earnest next to him it took my breath away. Brawny and tan, he wore a yoked Western shirt with the sleeves rolled up past well-muscled forearms and he eyed Don like he would follow him anywhere.</p><br/><p>And that Don, he looked like he could appreciate a guy like Ed, as well.</p><br/><p>Hadnât I seen firsthand how much he did appreciate him?</p><br/><div/><br/><div><br/><div><b><i>About the Author</i></b></div><br/><div/><br/><div><br/><p>Z. A. Maxfield started writing in 2007 on a dare from her children and never looked back. Pathologically disorganized, and perennially optimistic, she writes as much as she can, reads as much as she dares, and enjoys her time with family and friends. Three things reverberate throughout all her stories: Unconditional love, redemption, and the belief that miracles happen when we least expect them.If anyone asks her how a wife and mother of four can find time for a writing career, sheâll answer, âItâs amazing what you can accomplish if you give up housework.â</p><br/><div/><br/></div><br/><div><br/><div><a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTxwFN4j4WHSKnrCK23Wt1X3HgUNaB1hNasuUF4DYOTxIcZfLM0T4oZTTjTuTN0DWgrSQBCJA64bfsqDwC3wf8hGgHoLaPmOlfXhMSKpe-R7TArcYPxmofC_Y0NkKOdsLmnXW9xhCs5A/s1600/Author+Picture.jpg'><img height='200' width='200' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTxwFN4j4WHSKnrCK23Wt1X3HgUNaB1hNasuUF4DYOTxIcZfLM0T4oZTTjTuTN0DWgrSQBCJA64bfsqDwC3wf8hGgHoLaPmOlfXhMSKpe-R7TArcYPxmofC_Y0NkKOdsLmnXW9xhCs5A/s200/Author+Picture.jpg' alt=''/></a></div><br/><div/><br/><div/><br/><div><i>You can find ZA Maxfield at </i></div><br/><div/><br/><div><br/><a target='_blank' href='http://zamaxfield.com/'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6IvX63Y8t47NN6KtdIWgXZbWwfYuaZUIBFzi3YbyYVmvtxtHBoWsgnlBBa44aUuR1T6lrEyK90QZsSqzYbc9sHWgUMxjWMKwXlO_CxYVB1nvBJnJcQET65AKp-RteC9Ey99-g29dnZg/s1600/bloodWhiteButton+-+Website+Small.png' alt=''/></a> <a target='_blank' href='https://www.facebook.com/pages/ZAMaxfield/165809416786338'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia-sHA4Ch8976GplW6TahpqdCFU0jX0yhyiqqyJShlBev64Y-X5Cglb0Bjym73kD0JybOcHAvjfvV4YWKBYVvkPc127C1D1k6vJLkH0gr8ky_-HIgPlhA7RVpIE-xmc2Zcs0pJYqwg7g/s1600/Facebook+Button.png.png' alt=''/></a> <a target='_blank' href='https://twitter.com/ZAMaxfield'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ4rA7moWtDJl0kShGwMr4MTLdqy62BTuHQ2Wda_oCk9_6AOj5aGgA0AsqIGGwQEtZWYFcU9h9X-xGsWhVLrPLj-nePVsmQPYVxy7mZ9mhCKPlLFSmaVEtpNZOyNcGGgTb1PMY8ASm0A/s1600/Twitter+button.png' alt=''/></a> <a target='_blank' href='http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2738500.Z_A_Maxfield'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm2C28HaH-1XNIGTh78M0PPv_jDq9KApGrfRF2Y9oWfyxr5upRAa5uFF3PdpLm7_FphyphenhyphenHj52XQ3wfznO-VJK3OhN2mu5PCmuhdh0mPVkJfdRYbxKJ65-wEV4BSUT7p6AVw667A_gp0zA/s1600/waxcreative-goodreads.png' alt=''/></a> <a target='_blank' href='http://zamaxfield.tumblr.com/'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwCAYvBBA7gSwNYbjwvIKTDFMsF-eSJSVgzahspYf1v7dM98SGtsMsNJ6gUFSwdW23cwLFrxSjuuXCzNGOoXlLyD6An0pCMDy_V-pbS1uxJEXhghqVDqjR3eOOkyT2qPCSRTRrsdAEIw/s1600/tumblr-icon+small.png' alt=''/></a><br/></div><br/><div/><br/><div/><br/><div><i><b>Giveaway</b></i></div><br/></div><br/></div><br/><p><a rel='nofollow' href='http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b4c00095/' id='rc-b4c00095' class='rafl'>a Rafflecopter giveaway</a></p><br/> <br/><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/2014/01/21/its-release-day/'>It's Release Day!</a>Z.A. Maxfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02573777376812317486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34729067640931229.post-27680403903980650672014-01-19T12:01:00.001-08:002014-01-19T12:01:18.897-08:00Sunday Brunch Blog - 1/19/2014<p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/2618370_small.jpg'><img height='166' width='300' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/2618370_small-300x166.jpg' alt='A Grungy French Brunch And Breakfast Sign Outside A Restaurant' class='size-medium wp-image-4931 alignleft'/></a>Last week there were TWO brunch options, the first seating featured Amy Lane, Cherie Noel, and Christopher Koehler, who discussed their New Years’ Resolutions.  The winner for that was Trix! Thanks for commenting, Trix, I know it was a bit confusing to have two different brunches last week, and I should be back on track here for the forthcoming few weeks anyway.</p><br/><p>The second seating of Sunday Brunch last week featured LE Franks, KA Mitchell, and James Buchanan. Their question was about favorite winter pastimes and their winner was Jeff!</p><br/><p>This week’s question is about state of mind. I’m really hoping you comment here, I’d like to get a lively discussion going:</p><br/><p><span style='font-size: large;'><strong>Is your glass half-full, half-empty, or poisoned? </strong></span></p><br/><p>Do you know people who have it good and think it’s bad? Do you know people who have it bad, but just keep on chugging like the little engine that could? Which type are you? Were you born that way? Or did circumstances make you that way? What do you think? Tell me in the comments below!</p><br/><p><em>And for a change,</em> <strong>I’m</strong> going to be one of the authors who answers my question…</p><br/><p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/My-Heartache-Cowboy.jpg'><img height='300' width='192' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/My-Heartache-Cowboy-192x300.jpg' alt='My Heartache Cowboy' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4472'/></a>I came up with this question because I have always felt like the sole optimist in my family.</p><br/><p>My parents had tough times growing up — my dad experienced prejudice and war in Europe and my mother lived through the Great Depression. Yet I know lots of people who have gone through the same time period and emerged hopeful and confident.</p><br/><p>I know people who suffered far greater losses, both physically and emotionally than my parents did, yet still manage to expect a favorable outcome from everyday situations. I’ve often wondered whether there is a genetic component to it, or…well… I wonder about those things because I’m adopted and the most optimistic person I know — my husband — comes from a line of optimists going back to the plague years. They’ve been through all kinds of hell, and they still have a positive outlook. My husband is the kind of guy who, if he fell out of a plane, would text me pictures all the way down with the caption, “Look, isn’t this cool?”</p><br/><p> </p><br/><p>What triggers one person to look on the bright side and another to get lost in the shadows? I don’t know. I only know when I’m recapping the year of a bad accident, or a the year our house burned, I am usually mitigating it, saying, “Well… of course we were so lucky. We all got out okay. We had insurance. We had friends who helped us out. We had fun, even. It was an adventure.” We <em>were</em> lucky. I always feel <em>lucky</em>, I always feel <em>blessed</em>, even when bad things happen. I got to be there when my father died, I got to help lay my mother to rest. Those things were possible and I felt <em>lucky</em>.</p><br/><p>To an optimist, this means I’m rolling with the punches right? To my mother, it just meant NOTHING REALLY BAD HAS HAPPENED YET. There will be another shoe, and when it drops, you will no longer be able to feel lucky.</p><br/><p>Which always sounds like a curse to me. “Someday all that happy you’re storing up right now will not be enough, and then you will understand how I feel.”</p><br/><p>I’m not charmed. I’ve been in car accidents. We lost both my parents and parents-in-law. My house burned and I lost most of my most treasured sentimental possessions. Our finances suffered severe setbacks during the recession we’ve never recovered from. I expect, in time, to lose my health and/or my beloved husband to the diseases of old age and eventually I expect to die. I don’t expect it will be easy or painless. Those things aren’t what ifs, they’re given.</p><br/><p>And <strong>of course</strong> I fear every mother’s nightmare — the loss of my children. You can never be prepared for that. The loss of one of my kids would probably put me in the ground early, and yet, it only makes me want to love them even more right this very second. It makes me want to wake them up and ask them every question I have, to find every little thing about them so I can commit it to memory for later. It makes me want to really wallow in what I have right now, and not look ahead to how it might all be taken away.</p><br/><p>So I’m not really sure. Am I an optimist? A pessimist? I realist? Am I fooling myself that I have a pretty good attitude and I can go with the flow, whatever happens? I really don’t know. I hope so, but I really don’t know. I guess I’ll say what I always say… Stay Tuned…</p><br/><p>Pre-Order <strong>My Heartache Cowboy</strong> at <a href='http://www.amazon.com/My-Heartache-Cowboy-Z-A-Maxfield-ebook/dp/B00AMOOHB2/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2'>Amazon</a></p><br/><p style='text-align: center;'>~*~</p><br/><p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/SP_MoreThanJustAGoodBook_coverMd.jpg'><img height='300' width='200' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/SP_MoreThanJustAGoodBook_coverMd.jpg' alt='SP_MoreThanJustAGoodBook_coverMd' class='alignleft size-full wp-image-4932'/></a></p><br/><p>Half full! I want to keep adding to it, adding to the joy of living. Iâve got so much more I want to learn, to experience, to say, to share, to write. I want to fill that cup with everything I possibly can. And I want to share all those things with others, and then keep on filling up that cup again and again.</p><br/><p> </p><br/><p>Writing (and reading) fiction is a big part of that for me. With each new story, I get to experience all that passion and suspense and love that goes into those charactersâ lives, and itâs such a rush to take that journey with them. Iâm also very fortunate that, as a writer, I get to share all that with others, and then do it all over again and again.</p><br/><p> </p><br/><p>Thanks so much ZAM for including me in your Sunday Brunch blog series. âSloan Parker</p><br/><p> </p><br/><p>Purchase <em><strong>MORE THAN JUST A GOOD BOOK</strong></em>: <a href='http://www.amazon.com/More-Than-Just-Good-Book-ebook/dp/B00GPRP4SU/'>Amazon</a>  <a href='http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/more-than-just-a-good-book-sloan-parker/1117391115'>B&N</a>   <a href='http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-morethanjustagoodbook-1350499-149.html'>All Romance eBooks</a>.</p><br/><p> </p><br/> <br/><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/2014/01/19/sunday-brunch-blog-1192014/'>Sunday Brunch Blog - 1/19/2014</a>Z.A. Maxfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02573777376812317486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34729067640931229.post-62707205189806502942014-01-16T12:31:00.001-08:002014-01-16T12:31:27.138-08:00LR Cafe 2013 - nominee<p style='text-align: center;'><strong><span style='font-size: x-large;'>This Just In…</span></strong></p><br/><p style='text-align: center;'><strong>Eddie: Grime Doesn’t Pay </strong>is an LR Cafe nominee for Best Contemporary Book</p><br/><p style='text-align: center;'><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/LRC-Nominee.jpg'><img height='240' width='240' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/LRC-Nominee.jpg' alt='Masquerade mask, beads and feather in sepia' class='aligncenter wp-image-4908'/></a></p><br/><p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/ZM_GrimeDoesntPay-Eddie_coverin.jpg'><img height='300' width='200' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/ZM_GrimeDoesntPay-Eddie_coverin-200x300.jpg' alt='ZM_GrimeDoesn'tPay-Eddie_coverin' class='alignleft'/></a><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/BestsellerIcon100X100.jpg'><img height='100' width='100' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/BestsellerIcon100X100.jpg' alt='BestsellerIcon100X100' class='alignright'/></a>Eddie and Andrew have dynamite chemistry. But Eddie is profoundly dyslexic, and Andrew lives to read. Andrew is pathologically disorganized, and Eddie likes things neat and clutter-free.</p><br/><p>Andrew is desperately ashamed of his hoarder father, and Eddie is embarrassed by his lack of education — secrets that could pull them apart even as a friend’s tragedy brings them together.</p><br/><p>When Andrew’s father’s condition deteriorates and he nearly dies because of his compulsion, Eddie and Andrew must learn compassion begins with loving oneself.</p><br/><p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/my-books/eddie-grime-doesnt-pay/excerpt-eddie-grime-doesnt-pay/'>Read More, HERE</a></p><br/><p> </p><br/><p> </p><br/><p> </p><br/><p> </p><br/><p> </p><br/> <br/><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/2014/01/16/lr-cafe-2013-nominee/'>LR Cafe 2013 - nominee</a>Z.A. Maxfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02573777376812317486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34729067640931229.post-34965490473074945722014-01-15T12:05:00.001-08:002014-01-15T12:05:04.394-08:00This Just In...<p width='300' align='alignleft' id='attachment_3403'> <a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IMG_0083-e1372360884211.jpg'><img height='225' width='300' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IMG_0083-300x225.jpg' alt='OH, my God. Asymmetrical FRING my A**' class='size-medium wp-image-3403'/></a> <snap class='wpimgcaption'>ZAM AT RT 2013</snap></p><br/><p>I made the blog my landing page. Yes! This is the same website, but rather than have that same old boring landing page, I decided to do my posts up front here. You can still find all the information you need about me and links to freebies and all that other good stuff under the <a href='http://zamaxfield.com/about-me/'>About Me</a> page.</p><br/><p>If you want to get to the books? Click on <a href='http://zamaxfield.com/my-books/'>books</a>.</p><br/><p style='text-align: center;'>Berkley is getting ready to release <em><strong>My Heartache Cowboy</strong></em> on the 21st of January. I’m very excited about this one, these guys are really dear to my heart. I’ll be embarking on a massive blog tour, so forewarned is forearmed, yeah? I plan to be everywhere.</p><br/><p style='text-align: center;'>Tune me out if you get sick of me, but I’ll be stopping at people’s blogs with interviews, getting shout-outs from fellow authors, and giving away prizes.</p><br/><p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/My-Heartache-Cowboy-Banner.jpg'><img height='130' width='300' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/My-Heartache-Cowboy-Banner-300x130.jpg' alt='My Heartache Cowboy Banner' class='aligncenter size-medium wp-image-4897'/></a></p><br/><p style='text-align: center;'><a class='small-button smallorange' href='http://www.amazon.com/My-Heartache-Cowboy-Z-A-Maxfield-ebook/dp/B00AMOOHB2/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2'>Click to Pre-order My Heartache Cowboy</a></p><br/><p style='text-align: center;'>Last but not least, if you haven’t signed up for my newsletter, now’s the time. I’ll be conducting a SUPER-SEEKRIT contest for Newsletter members only. Would you like a chance to be a part of J-Bar history? If you loved Crispin and Malloy, you’re going to want to be in on this!</p><br/><p style='text-align: center;'><a class='small-button smallred' href='http://eepurl.com/CkhMX'>Join Club ZAM Now!</a></p><br/><p> </p><br/> <br/><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/2014/01/15/this-just-in-3/'>This Just In...</a>Z.A. Maxfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02573777376812317486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34729067640931229.post-12870181187180741542014-01-14T08:38:00.001-08:002014-01-14T08:38:49.466-08:00Teaser Tuesday with author DC Juris<p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/iStock_000027538366XSmall.jpg'><img height='199' width='300' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/iStock_000027538366XSmall-300x199.jpg' alt='iStock_000027538366XSmall' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4457'/></a></p><br/><p>Today my guest is DC Juris, an online pal I had the good fortune to finally meet at one of the GRLs!</p><br/><p>Who is DC Juris? In a few words, he’s a Star Trek loving, cupcake making, football watching, rubber duck collecting, drag show attending, full of fabulous with a capital F kinda guy.</p><br/><p>In a few more words, he’s a Southern transplant who has retained none of his accent but all of his charm, an out and proud transgender bisexual Geek living in Upstate New York with his husband, three dogs, three cats, two Tribbles, two Ceti Alpha V eels, and a menagerie of Halloween props just creepy enough to keep people guessing about his sanity.</p><br/><p>He’s still hopelessly single when it comes to the woman in his life, and he’ll gladly entertain offers or applications for the position! In the rare event that His Geekiness is not writing, DC can be found watching and rewatching Star Trek (TOS), surfing the internet for <span style='text-decoration: line-through;'>porn</span> research, stalking things he “<i>needs</i>” on Ebay, reading, taking pictures of the world around him, or playing games on his iPhone, which he admits to being blissfully in love with. You can keep up with him at <a href='http://www.facebook.com/dcjuris'>www.facebook.com/dcjuris</a>, or <a href='http://www.dcjuris.com'>www.dcjuris.com</a>, or his blog at <a href='http://dcjuris.blogspot.com'>http://dcjuris.blogspot.com</a>.</p><br/><p>Here’s his snippet. Be sure to send guesses about which DC Juris book we have here to me at zamaxfield (at) zamaxfield (dot) com (you know the drill) and put Teaser Tuesday in the subject line. I will randomly select one winner who will get to choose an ebook from Daniel’s backlist!</p><br/><p>Last week’s random Teaser Tuesday winner, from #1 and #2, you lucky devil, TRIX! I’ll send your email to Kate and Carolina, thanks for playing along!</p><br/><p style='text-align: center;'>*****</p><br/><p>âUm, guys?â **** called out. âThereâs people coming.â</p><br/><p>******* tore his gaze away, though he didnât move, and his fingers dug into my cheek a little. âJust what we need. Fuck me,â he groaned.</p><br/><p><i>Iâd love to.</i></p><br/><p>He stood up and grabbed my hand to haul me up to my feet as well.</p><br/><p>âHey there!â one of the people shouted.</p><br/><p>******* chuckled. âInconspicuous lot, arenât they?â He glanced at me again. âYou sure youâre okay?â</p><br/><p>âYeah. Definitely.â I nodded. I didnât know if I was or not, but if ******* wanted me to be okay, Iâd be okay. Hell, Iâd have tried to be anything for him right then.</p><br/><p>âStay behind me,â he instructed as he walked up to them.</p><br/><p>Ten men and three women made up the group, and they looked to range in age anywhere from teenagers to a woman in her fifties, maybe. Iâd never been a really good judge of age. They were grungy and smellyâproof theyâd been on the streets for a while.</p><br/><p>âHi there!â one of the men stuck out his hand to *******. âIâm ***.â</p><br/><p>******* looked him up and down through narrow eyes, no doubt wondering, as was I, why he was being so friendly. âIâm *******.â</p><br/><p>âYou three out here by yourselves?â *** asked.</p><br/><p><i>If his name really was ***. </i>My stomach knotted at the way several of the men were ogling ****âas though he was a tasty snack. I edged over closer to him and listened as ******* and The Man Who Would Be Called *** exchanged pleasantries and small talk.</p><br/><p>âWeâre camped out a couple miles west of here. Itâs a real nice spot,â *** revealed. âYouâre welcome to come back with us.â</p><br/><p>******* shook his head. âWeâre headed east.â</p><br/><p>âToward Copper Valley? Yeah, everyone weâve met has been headed there. Itâs not too far out of your way, though. And your boy there looks like he could use some medical attention.â He pointed at me.</p><br/><p>I stood up straighter. âIâm fine.â I wasnât, though. It had taken all my strength to walk over to **** without showing the pain in my ankle, and I was pretty certain my right wrist was at least sprained.</p><br/><p>âHeâs bleeding.â One of the others pointed out. âHe get bitten?â</p><br/><p>I hadnât even realized the blood oozing from the scrapes on my arms, and seeping through the knees of my jeans.</p><br/><p>âHe fell.â ******* glanced at me. âJust a little bruised up.â</p><br/><p>âTheyâll smell him a mile away.â *** sniffed the air in apparent demonstration.</p><br/><p>âIâm fine,â I repeated.</p><br/><p>[Editor's note: okay now I'm officially shaking in my shoes for those guys. Lots of great tension here. Wow.]</p><br/><p> </p><br/> <br/><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/2014/01/14/teaser-tuesday-with-author-dc-juris/'>Teaser Tuesday with author DC Juris</a>Z.A. Maxfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02573777376812317486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34729067640931229.post-21518526137838439522014-01-12T15:28:00.001-08:002014-01-12T15:28:35.628-08:00Sunday Brunch Post - Second Breakfast<p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/saupload_mad_20hatter_20tea_20party.jpg'><img height='237' width='300' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/saupload_mad_20hatter_20tea_20party-300x237.jpg' alt='saupload_mad_20hatter_20tea_20party' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4535'/></a>Okay, and now we come to Second Breakfast, in honor of our Hobbit Friends, and also our rascally writer brunch host, who was out of town last week. This is the second edition of Sunday Brunch with Friends.</p><br/><p>Today we’re talking about winter holidays. I know, I know. You all understand that I come to winter from a completely different perspective. We have a mediterranean climate where I live, and there really isn’t any winter to speak of. I can go to the beach to surf (in a wetsuit) or the mountains to ski today. That’s how we roll. Where I live it’s between 60 degrees and 90 degrees 80% of the year.</p><br/><p>Last Sunday Brunch Winner: Kate!</p><br/><p>Not really all that excited to have no seasons, but I was born here. There are wintertime activities though, all over (besides holiday shopping) and today my pals answer the question:</p><br/><p><em style='line-height: 24px;'><strong><span style='font-size: x-large;'>What’s your favorite winter pastime?</span></strong></em></p><br/><p>Share your own favorite winter pastimes in the comments for a chance to win ebooks from these lovely authors. Just comment for a chance to win!</p><br/><p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/LEFranksSnowglobe.jpeg'><img height='300' width='198' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/LEFranksSnowglobe-198x300.jpeg' alt='LEFranksSnowglobe' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4861'/></a>Snowfall.</p><br/><p>At a time when most of the country has been inside shivering and cursing Jack Frost due to the mysterious (and apparently imaginary) phenomenon of the polar vortex, winter, for some of us living in bi-seasonal California, still holds its glittery appeal.</p><br/><p>When ZAM posed this question I was suddenly sucked through time, experiencing a shuffling of memories, all variations of me walking down snowy roads, in either the soft lux of daylight or in the pitch of a blanketed nightâ¦but in every scene, my head is thrown back, arms flung wide, my tongue stretched painfully past the point of resistance, straining to catch each fat goose-downy flake drifting by.</p><br/><p>It doesnât matter if the memory is from a frosty Salt Lake City night at age five when the snow was so high that the paths we wore through the backyard banked at our shoulders; or when my own girl was threeâswimming in an outdoor heated pool at Lake Tahoe in early February, the snow falling in our hair.</p><br/><p>Snowfall is Magic.</p><br/><p>I donât care how paltry the winter offering is; just standing outside in the drifting silence is enough to make my spirit soar.</p><br/><p>On the ground, snow becomes the material of adventure or exertionâdepending on age, inclination, and responsibilityâ¦but the stuff fresh from the sky is a wonder and I would give almost anything to be there in those moments with you, my frozen US friendsâcatching snowflakes. â Author LE Bryce</p><br/><p>Thank you Zam for including me in another Sunday Blog. My current release is <strong>Snow Globe</strong>, a short about an artist looking for his own piece of winter magic. [Editor's Note: I can't tell you how much I LOVE that cover. I just want to feed them hot soup!]</p><br/><p>You can find it at  <a href='http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4510'>Dream Spinner Press</a> or  <a href='http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Globe-Franks-ebook/dp/B00H0R79KU/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1389486866&sr=1-1&keywords=snow+globe+by+le+franks'>Amazon.com</a>.</p><br/><p style='text-align: center;'>~*~</p><br/><p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/BadAttitude300.jpg'><img height='300' width='200' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/BadAttitude300-200x300.jpg' alt='BadAttitude300' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4862'/></a>Winter. Ahhh. You know what the most awesome thing to do in the winter is? Not be hot. Now, before you all say, oh K.A., youâre always hotâand thank you very much, but thatâs just the writing talkingâIâm really talking about the outside temperature. I love being bundled in warm clothes, snuggling down under the weight of blankets with a good book or with someone to inspire a good book in me. Err, with me?</p><br/><p>And I love the muffling, insulation of snow. I love to stand in the woods and watch it fall, listen to the whispers of it as it deadens sound and makes everything a beautiful black and white picture with only evergreens and cardinals for splashes of color. I could stand there until I freeze.</p><br/><p>Oops, I think I may be channeling Wallace Stevens there.</p><br/><p>So then itâs back into the house under the fluffy, fuzzy blankets with tea and a good book. You know what else is awesome about winter? No one ever says, âYouâre going to stay inside and read on a day like this?â</p><br/><p>Yeah, so come on do it with me. Comfy surface? Check. Blankets? Check. Hot beverage? Check. Book? You donât have one? Well, leave a comment with your favorite winter activity and one will be randomly selected for a ten dollar Amazon gift card. Now, go forth and snuggle. [Editor's Note: COOL! A Givaway. Go forth and Comment!]</p><br/><p>Bad Attitude is available at  <a href='http://store.samhainpublishing.com/bad-attitude-p-7359.html'>Samhain</a>  <a href='http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Attitude-Baltimore-K-A-Mitchell-ebook/dp/B00AYOSV6C'>Amazon</a>  <a href='https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-badattitude-1171371-145.html'>ARE</a>  <a href='http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bad-attitude-ka-mitchell/1114192607?ean=9781619217003'>B&N</a></p><br/><p>[Editor’s second note: Check out what’s coming April 15th, one reason to LOVE Tax day this year:</p><br/><p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/BadInfluence-R-1.jpg'><img height='300' width='200' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/BadInfluence-R-1-200x300.jpg' alt='BadInfluence-R (1)' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4863'/></a></p><br/><p> </p><br/><p> </p><br/><p> </p><br/><p> </p><br/><p> </p><br/><p> </p><br/><p> </p><br/><p style='text-align: center;'>~*~</p><br/> <br/><p><img height='300' width='200' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/810X44wbq2L._SL1425_-200x300.jpg' alt='810X44wbq2L._SL1425_' style='line-height: 18px;' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4526'/></p><br/><p>Winter?</p><br/><p>We have winter in So. Cal?</p><br/><p>Seriously, I was riding around with the top down and wearing short sleeves on Christmas Eve. The week of New Years, I sweated through my leathers when I rode my Harley to the office. Winter around these parts means it just gets a little rainier.</p><br/><p>So, not so much winter, but the holidays in general. I love gearing up for them. Thanksgiving and Christmas and then on to New Years. Walking through the stores with all the snowy displays that are so out of place when itâs 80 degrees outside. Watching a Charlie Brown Christmas for the 10,000<sup>th</sup> time. Putting up all three trees (yes we have three full-sized trees throughout the house). Holiday meals. Get togethers. Finally, chowing down on LA Street Dogs while standing on Colorado Blvd. watching and smelling the floats of the Rose Parade as the punctuation mark at the end of that festive rollercoaster.</p><br/><p>If it rains, well then thatâs an excuse to huddle inside with the dogs, cats and kids and watch movies. We play a lot more poker, having friends over for that, since itâs in between sports seasons â which everyoneâs kids are involved in.</p><br/><p>The weather is similar, but âwinterâ does have a different vibe than spring or fall. ~~Author James Buchanan</p><br/><p>Purchase <em><strong>Laying Ghosts</strong></em><strong> </strong> <a href='http://www.amazon.com/Laying-Ghosts-Deputy-Joe-Novel-ebook/dp/B00B9J84FY/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1389568870&sr=1-1&keywords=Laying+Ghosts'>Amazon</a>  <a href='http://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.html'>ARE</a>  <a href='http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/laying-ghosts-james-buchanan/1114296589?ean=9781608207787'>B&N</a></p><br/><p> </p><br/> <br/><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/2014/01/12/sunday-brunch-post-second-breakfast/'>Sunday Brunch Post - Second Breakfast</a>Z.A. Maxfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02573777376812317486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34729067640931229.post-92214881707129809102014-01-12T11:30:00.001-08:002014-01-12T11:30:32.054-08:00Sunday Brunch - 1/12/14<p><img height='237' width='300' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/saupload_mad_20hatter_20tea_20party-300x237.jpg' alt='saupload_mad_20hatter_20tea_20party' style='line-height: 18px;' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4535'/></p><br/><p>I’m just going to admit something here: Lately I’ve had a LOT of balls in the air. Last year I had several book releases: <strong>Grime And Punishment</strong>, <strong>My Cowboy Heart</strong>, <strong>Grime Doesn’t Pay</strong> and <strong>Lost and Found</strong>. I also wrote two more books, <strong>My Heartache Cowboy</strong> and a new one no one has even heard about yet, tentatively titled <strong>Home The Hard Way</strong>, which I finished on New Year’s Day (and totaled 90,000 words) when I typed in the last period.</p><br/><p>On top of that, I’m really not writing in a vacuum. It seems I have a home and a husband and four kids, without whom none of this is meaningful at all… I have friends. I also have a rich and vibrant fantasy life. I dunno. Sometimes I drop the ball. Last year I failed to post things when I was supposed to, which is why sometimes you get more than one Tuesday Teaser at a time, or more than one Sunday Brunch Question. (Like today.)</p><br/><p>And I’ve been unforgivably slow to post prizes in the mail. (I even found one of them in my car this week, because I had forgotten to post it at all.) I’ve been lax in keeping up cherished correspondences. I’ve given close local friends the impression I can’t be bothered to be social…</p><br/><p>So, I think since this week’s first question is:</p><br/><p><em><strong><span style='font-size: x-large;'>âWhat are your New Yearâs Resolutions and which one do you think youâll break first.â</span></strong></em></p><br/><p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/2010-04-30-15.51.31.jpg'><img height='224' width='300' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/2010-04-30-15.51.31-300x224.jpg' alt='2010-04-30 15.51.31' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-3490'/></a>I will answer with my New Year’s Resolutions first:</p><br/><p>I ZAM, will cherish my friends and family even more this year.</p><br/><p>I will not be as much of a hermit.</p><br/><p>I will brave the post office, even in the holiday season (or I will get everything out way ahead) Or I will send gift cards through the World Wide Web and you will not be disappointed by me ever again.</p><br/><p>I will set aside one day each week to create blog posts and stick to that schedule.</p><br/><p>I will not procrastinate.</p><br/><p>Those are mine, and I would say procrastination and schedules are the ones I’m likely to break first. ~~Author Z.A Maxfield</p><br/><p>You can give Z.A. Maxfield Holy Hell if she forgets any of these things, at her email address zamaxfield at zamaxfield dot com.</p><br/><p>Leave me your New Years’ Resolutions in the comment section below, please, I’m sure we’ll all enjoy looking back with the contentment of a job well done at the end of the year… OR NOT. *blushes*</p><br/><p style='text-align: center;'>~*~</p><br/><p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/BehindTheCurtain_postcard_front_DSP.jpg'><img height='300' width='204' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/BehindTheCurtain_postcard_front_DSP-204x300.jpg' alt='BehindTheCurtain_postcard_front_DSP' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4853'/></a>My New Year’s resolution was going to be not to commit to so much, because I’m exhausted!  But I broke that last night when I started writing a short story for a charity anthology at the urging of two (*aherm*) friends.  It was also going to be to make the diet stick– and I can honestly say I’ve been doing that.  Of course I’ve been sick and generally disgusting, and even fudge is unappetizing, so I’ve sort of had some help on that front.  And I was going to keep my business matters more in check, but then a credit card got pirated and I <i>still </i>need to buy plane tickets to Florida.  But I <i>definitely </i>need to find my lost Kindle.  This year.  I can only read so much on my phone.</p><br/><p>~~Author Amy Lane</p><br/><p>Purchase Behind the Curtain  <a href='http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4589'> Dreamspinner </a> <a href='http://www.amazon.com/Behind-Curtain-Amy-Lane-ebook/dp/B00HPY8IC6/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1389553238&sr=1-1&keywords=behind+the+curtain+amy+lane'>Amazon</a>  <a href='https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-behindthecurtain-1388754-149.html'>ARE</a></p><br/><p style='text-align: center;'>~*~</p><br/><p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/1483321_10152172149016214_792864345_a.jpg'><img height='160' width='160' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/1483321_10152172149016214_792864345_a.jpg' alt='1483321_10152172149016214_792864345_a' class='alignleft size-full wp-image-4856'/></a>First of all, hiya Zam! I so love coming over to hang out with you. The camaraderie, the cupcakes, the prospect of sighting one of your many vintage and uber-nerd-girl cool lunch boxes⦠well, I gotta admit it give me happy clappy hands. [Editor's Note: YOU ARE SO SWEET]</p><br/><p>Every. Single. Time.</p><br/><p>No fooling.</p><br/><p>Now that that is our of the way, I want to say hello to my fellow New Yearâs Resolversâ¦</p><br/><p>*psst. Zam. Is that a word? Resolver? Eh, I think the readers will get what I mean. Or, you know, point and laugh. Thatâs good too.* [Editor's Note: I like to think of myself as a <em><strong>*Resolutionary*</strong></em> Vive la Resolution]</p><br/><p>Right. Resolutions? Let me lay them out for you. Because hey, when I started thinking about New Yearâs Resolutions, I started thinking about the changes I want to see in my life this year, the ones that I want to be an embodiment of, and the ones whose glory I want to bask in.</p><br/><p>*Oh. Didja see that? Iâm pretty sure I just dangled a participle. Quick, scope out the room, Zam… Are there any editors whimpering and clutching their red pens? Wincing and cuddling up to their laptops or tablets? Ouch.*</p><br/><p>Ahem. Right. On to the resolve. Resolutely forward.</p><br/><p>1) Plan stuff and things out better. Seriously. Backwards planning. How long it takes to do such and such. When it needs to be done. When I need to start⦠yeah, already blew that one to hell and gone. Moving right along, then, nothing to see here, nothing to see. What? The woman flying by the seat of her pants and making it up as she goes? Seriously, nothing to see here. Ahem.</p><br/><p>2) Lose weight. Mainly for my health, but also because I am vain. No, really. And I have extreme shoe envy. Yes, yes, Marie Sexton, I am talking about your divine shoe collection. *salivates* Because I wanna wear my sexy shoes again, and at this weight my back wonât take the added stress. But if I slim down, I can *likely* wear heels for short bursts of time. Just long enough to make me happy and feed my sexy shoe fetish.</p><br/><p>3) Exercise more. Health, and did I mention Iâm just a wee bit vain? I want to look and feel my best. Plus, when I exercise I have so much more energy to write with! That right there is winning with a side of win.</p><br/><p>4) Write more. âNuff said.</p><br/><p>5) Study harder *eh, or smarter, whichever comes first* in school. Yes, Iâm back in school. Business major. Because there is just so much of this authoring that is all about the business aspects, and I figure I need to get myself rocking in that arena. The creativity? Got it. The writing skills? I learn a little more every day, and hope that every single book I put out is a little better than the one before. One day I want to hear folk say⦠âDo you see how much she grew as a writer over the course of her career?â And then of course, they can launch into a lovely soliloquy about how very brilliant my later works are. That would be awesome.</p><br/><p>6) Spend more time with my kidlet. Structured time. With body armor, a whip and a chair, because⦠sheesh. Have you seen a teenager lately? They are scary beasts, I tell you what. Yes. Iâno, I am not joking about the whip and chair. Okay, maybe a little bit joking. But only literally. There is no joking about needing all three of those things figuratively when dealing with the dreaded teen beast. So, this leads me directly to my next resolution.</p><br/><p>7) Receive a Presidential Medal of Courage in Parenting. *see above*</p><br/><p>8) Be more organized and stuff. *hmm. I may have mentioned this already. Lists are good. I like lists. And color coding them. Never mind.*</p><br/><p>9) Write every day. This one? Is the realio dealio, I am pushing to make this a reality. Because writing every day leads to writing better prose every day. Which in turn will spur me to be more organized, which will free up time to spend with the dreaded teen *cracking of whip sounds*, leading to being nominated for that Presidential award, freeing up time to exercise, which in turn leads to the weight loss and my ultimate goal of affording *via scads of book sales* the sexy shoes which my new, strongly muscled and svelte figure will enable me to do more than gaze at longingly.</p><br/><p>10) Possibly swear less, drink less coffee and give up chocolate. *bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha*<br/><br/>Everything hinges on the whole writing every day thing.</p><br/><p>Well, everything hinges on daily writing except for number ten. That oneâs fucking impossible. Especially without fortifying myself with coffee and chocolate first. So Iâll go right ahead and plan to break #10 at every given opportunity, because if I managed to fulfill all ten resolutions⦠well, youâd be obligated to go find the freaky space pod that ate my brains and produced the false, caffeine and chocolate free Cherie</p><br/><p>*Oh dear, I canât even say that without weeping just a little.*</p><br/><p>I have been writing every day. Writing my fingers and toes off since the first of the year, thatâs what Iâve been doing. In fact I even started earlier. November⦠yep, thatâs when I started the current push to be better about writing, editing, blog posting and hosting and promo, oh my⦠all the bits and bobs that go with being an author⦠November and December were a wee bit rocky for various reasons, but every single day since the first of the year Iâve been right on target. I can feel those sexy shoes getting closer and closer every day. My first product of this improved organization and stuff is the Big Bone Lick Anthology, which publishes January 24th. Kendall McKenna, Jambrea Jo Jones and I all wrote a story for the anthology set in and around Big Bone Lick Park.</p><br/><p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Big-Bone-Lick-Cover.jpg'><img height='300' width='190' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Big-Bone-Lick-Cover-190x300.jpg' alt='Big Bone Lick Cover' class='alignleft'/></a>I could not make up a name like that. Itâs a real place. True story. Hereâs the smexy cover for the story, and a wee little blurb.</p><br/><p>Blurb: Welcome to the Big Bone Lick Pack: A more friendly and hospitable group of werewolves youâll never meet! Visit with; âDevil Dog & Bad Wolfâ, a âBig Bad Bearâ and enjoy some âShifty Fox Shenanigansâ. Watch yourself, âround the state park, âcause we had a grizzly on the loose, just a bit ago. Our brave men and woman of the Boone County Sheriffâs Department have everything under control. (Except maybe their own love lives!) But if you find yourself needing a doctor, head on down to Rabbit Hash clinic, or St. Elizabethâs Hospital is just up the road a piece. We hope you enjoy your stay.</p><br/><p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/IMG_20140104_192137.jpg'><img height='225' width='300' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/IMG_20140104_192137-300x225.jpg' alt='IMG_20140104_192137' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4855'/></a>If you want more info on the silly behind the scenes shenanigans that went into creating the Big Bone Lick Pack, or the chance to win some fun prizes like the sweet fox pictured here, catch us on tour. Here’s the link:</p><br/><p><a href='http://talesfromthewritingcave.blogspot.com/p/big-bone-lick-pack-blog-tour.html%20'>TALES FROM THE WRITING CAVE</a></p><br/><p>Again, thanks for having me over for brunch, Zam!</p><br/><p style='text-align: center;'> ~*~</p><br/><p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/SettlingtheScore.jpg'><img height='300' width='200' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/SettlingtheScore.jpg' alt='SettlingtheScore' class='alignleft size-full wp-image-4857'/></a>I have a funny relationship with New Yearâs resolutions. Iâm generally against them. For starters, new yearâs day is an entirely arbitrary date on the calendar with no relation whatsoever to any celestial phenomenon. Seriously, itâs what? Roughly a week and a half past the winter solstice? I realize the calendar is a mess to begin with, but that would actually make sense for the end of one year and start of the new one. Think of itâthe day of the solstice is the rebirth of the sun after the longest night, so why not make it the start of the new year? Itâs perfect!</p><br/><p>Quixotic calls for calendar reform aside, I also think that if somethingâs worth doing, itâs worth doing when you think of it. Why wait for an artificial date on a calendar? Plan to do something improving in the new year? Great! Why not start now? In my case I wanted to get back in shape before the DSP Authors Weekend in Portland in April, so I hit returned to the gym in the middle of December instead of joining the new yearâs resolutionaries on January 1<sup>st</sup>. [Editor's Note: See? And I didn't even read this before and I coined that phrase above. Proof we share a brain. I think you got all the best parts though. Just saying']</p><br/><p>That said, I do make one resolution every year. Itâs the same resolution every year, and I blow that sucker out of the water before lunch. I resolve not to mock the deeply-held beliefs of others.</p><br/><p>Well, what did you expect? Itâs like you donât even know me. Oh well, as Sue Brown remarked, my head would explode if I tried to keep that one.</p><br/><p>You can find me online at christopherkoehler.net/blog, on Facebook, or on Twitter @christopherink.</p><br/><p><a href='http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4472'><i>Settling the Score</i></a> is the fourth book in the CalPac Crew series, all available at Dreamspinner Press. It was released on December 16, 2013.</p><br/><p>Purchase <em><strong>Settling the Score </strong></em><strong> </strong><a href='http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4472'>Dreamspinner</a> <a href='http://www.amazon.com/Settling-Score-CalPac-Christopher-Koehler-ebook/dp/B00HCH21CE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389125789&sr=8-1&keywords=Settling+the+Score'>Amazon</a>  <a href='https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-settlingthescore-1374563-149.html'>ARE</a></p><br/><p> </p><br/><p> </p><br/><p> </p><br/> <br/><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/2014/01/12/sunday-brunch-11214/'>Sunday Brunch - 1/12/14</a>Z.A. Maxfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02573777376812317486noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34729067640931229.post-1392668053102540812014-01-09T21:14:00.001-08:002014-01-09T21:14:13.104-08:00Very Special Guest, Tara Lain!<p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/iStock_000027538366XSmall.jpg'><img height='199' width='300' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/iStock_000027538366XSmall-300x199.jpg' alt='iStock_000027538366XSmall' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4457'/></a>I do love my friends from the Orange County Chapter of the RWA. These ladies laugh with me, they cry with me. The worry about me as I worry about them. I love them dearly and I don’t know what I’d do without them. One of them, Tara Lain, has a brand new release, and she’s making a blog tour stop at my place, to talk about it. I just read this, it’s so nice! Without further ado, the awesome Tara Lain—></p><br/><p style='text-align: center;'><3<3<3<3<3</p><br/><p>Hi everyone! Iâm Tara Lain and I write The Beautiful Boys of Romance. Iâm so excited to be here on ZAMâs blog to introduce my new paranormal romance, <i>The Pack or the Panther</i>. This is my first werewolf book and, like most paranormals, it has a fair amount of plot, but the story is really about the characters. My hunky, tongue-tied werewolf and the solitary, snarky panther he falls in love with. Truly, thatâs what all my books are about –characters. One of the places I learned that — was from ZAM!</p><br/><p>You see, ZAM is my inspiration. One of three actually including Lynn Lorenz and Jet Mykles who I so admired as a reader that I wanted to write as well as they do. I still aspire to do that every day. Here are some of the things that I learned from ZAM –</p><br/><ul><br/><li>⢠No matter how simple or complex the story may be, the books that stay with you and ring your heart are all about the characters. If the people are deeply memorable, readers will forgive almost anything else.</li><br/><li>⢠Great stories donât have to be angst ridden. They may be — and many super books do rip your heart out — but often the stories that are the most popular are romantic and what ZAM calls âswoonyâ with only enough angst to keep you interested, but not so much as to get in the way of the HEA.</li><br/><li>⢠Expect the unexpected! ZAM always surprises. A guy so beautiful, the hero thinks heâs a girl and follows him across the country. A human so audacious, heâs not even scared of the most bad-ass vampire on earth. Romance that springs up in the midst of crime scene cleanup.</li><br/></ul><br/><p>And so much more! Thank you ZAM for everything you have taught me by example and face-to-face. Iâm honored to be your friend. And delighted to be here with my new book, The Pack or the Panther — #20 on my list of published works that you helped inspire!</p><br/><p><a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJV9lBDsJyVWFaNQdVrsMueknvEIsrjP5Zd1ASQCTsxVBw7qD9Z6V91lTqdx4bCYRQcXIMVuEIQ-AGCOIwTTtF-ZCCMPyBXoSgM2o9kSWvQ8RhBgYIwi4jUnwHwz-zkKuvI9CxxuxpBQ/s1600/PackorthePanther%5BThe%5DLG.jpg' style='clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;'><img height='400' width='265' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJV9lBDsJyVWFaNQdVrsMueknvEIsrjP5Zd1ASQCTsxVBw7qD9Z6V91lTqdx4bCYRQcXIMVuEIQ-AGCOIwTTtF-ZCCMPyBXoSgM2o9kSWvQ8RhBgYIwi4jUnwHwz-zkKuvI9CxxuxpBQ/s400/PackorthePanther%5BThe%5DLG.jpg' alt=''/></a></p><br/><p><b>The Pack or the Panther</b></p><br/><p><b>(Tales of the Harker Pack Series)<br/><br/>By Tara Lain</b></p><br/><p>Blurb:</p><br/><p>Cole Harker, son of an alpha werewolf, is bigger and more powerful than most wolves, tongue-tied in groups, and gay. For twenty-four years, heâs lived to please his family and packâeven letting them promise him in marriage to female werewolf Analiese to secure a pack alliance and help save them from a powerful gangster who wants their land. Then Cole meets Analieseâs half-brother, panther shifter Paris Marketo, and for the first time, Cole wants something for himself.</p><br/><p>When Analiese runs off to marry a human, Cole finally has a chance with Paris, but the solitary cat rejects him, the pack, and everything it represents. Then Cole discovers the gangster wants Paris too and wonât rest until he has him. What started as a land dispute turns into World War Wolf! But the bigger fight is the battle between cats and dogs.</p><br/><div style='text-align: center;'/><br/><div style='text-align: center;'><span style='font-family: inherit;'>Available for purchase at </span></div><br/><div style='clear: both; text-align: center;' class='separator'><a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ1BOmoOFZs5CFyRgHmPt0kW8GLUZoAbdtKB_ZV5_BnVAXkHnjNdTgMhd8sA90Co3QsMpqY_ANMjCGuhTrSNvr5wznv3K5DZczcnSL_bGVVt_vqKDxefgzX1kPO2bZt35E4OQQ36rGcA/s1600/waxcreative-amazon-kindle.png' style='margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ1BOmoOFZs5CFyRgHmPt0kW8GLUZoAbdtKB_ZV5_BnVAXkHnjNdTgMhd8sA90Co3QsMpqY_ANMjCGuhTrSNvr5wznv3K5DZczcnSL_bGVVt_vqKDxefgzX1kPO2bZt35E4OQQ36rGcA/s1600/waxcreative-amazon-kindle.png' alt=''/></a></div><br/><div style='text-align: center;'/><br/><div style='text-align: center;'/><br/><div style='clear: both; text-align: center;' class='separator'><a target='_blank' href='http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4569'><img height='81' width='200' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-_fQvnEAvV_xMKpyckYgJWGqXbPnR9tPgWnG8yYdy9zxXmtB2SOVNwULTa9mDM7egaPpxgksaVkR86klZnY072HJrCnOJMtWL37D80E8nkhtjfvRycLpUYBQCoywfXTNk_ZoWTP2TvA/s200/Dreamspinner+logo.jpg' alt=''/></a></div><br/><div style='text-align: center;'/><br/><div style='text-align: center;'/><br/><div style='text-align: center;'><span style='font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;'><i><b>EXCERPT</b></i></span></div><br/><div style='border: 1px solid #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, Garamond, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; height: 450px; line-height: 26px; overflow: auto; text-align: left; width: 600px;'><br/><div style='line-height: 150%;'><br/><div>Coleâs lips turned up just a smidge. âUh, you look good. I<br/><br/>wasnât expecting to see you.â</div><br/><div/><br/><div>âWhat the fuck?â He threw his hands in the air and collapsed<br/><br/>in a wing-back chair.</div><br/><div/><br/><div>âYou came to my show. Of course you expected to see me.â</div><br/><div/><br/><div>âUh, I mean I didnât expect to see you off stage.â</div><br/><div/><br/><div>Paris frowned. What kind of game was this? âWhat in the hell<br/><br/>are you talking about? You came here to get me.â</div><br/><div/><br/><div>âNo.â</div><br/><div>âWhat do you mean ânoâ?â</div><br/><div/><br/><div>âI didnât come here for you at all. I remembered that you<br/><br/>said Eliazer came here to see you, and it was the only place I knew to look for<br/><br/>him. Thatâs why I came.â</div><br/><div/><br/><div>âNot for me?â He wanted to scream and he wanted to cry.<br/><br/>Which one would win?</div><br/><div/><br/><div>âNo. You said to leave you alone.â</div><br/><div/><br/><div>âYou son of a bitch!â Paris leaped out of the chair and<br/><br/>hurled himself across the room at Cole with his fingers extended like claws. He<br/><br/>hit the wolf like a missile and scratched at his face. âYou bastard. You sucked<br/><br/>me in and got me involved with your ridiculous pack crap.â</div><br/><div/><br/><div>âWait. Hold on.â Cole wrapped a huge arm around his middle,<br/><br/>pulled Parisâs back against his chest, and held him with his feet off the<br/><br/>floor. The big, dumb, bastard!</div><br/><div>Paris kicked his feet, which was humiliating. âLet me go.â</div><br/><div/><br/><div>âAnd let you scratch me? No way.â</div><br/><div/><br/><div>Paris shook his head wildly. Frustration. âWhy did youâ? Why<br/><br/>didnât youâ? Shit!â</div><br/><div> âUh-uh. Youâre just a<br/><br/>confused kitty.â</div><br/><div/><br/><div>He had to stop this. Heat pushed behind his eyes. Damn. What<br/><br/>was going on? The words flew out. âYou didnât come for me.â</div><br/><div/><br/><div>For a second Cole said nothing. âYou said you didnât want<br/><br/>me. Hell, you practically tore down your parentsâ office door proving it.â</div><br/><div/><br/><div>Paris frowned. âThatâs right. I donât.â</div><br/><div/><br/><div>Cole loosened his grip just a little and let Parisâs feet<br/><br/>hit the floor, though his strong arms still held Parisâs body tight. It felt<br/><br/>way too good. âSo why should I come looking for you?â</div><br/><div/><br/><div>âBecause you want me?â</div><br/><div/><br/><div>âWhat gave you your first clue?â His voice held laughter.</div><br/><div/><br/><div>âThe nine-inch steel rod sticking in my butt?â</div><br/><div/><br/><div>A big hand slid down the front of Parisâs robe. âOh, like<br/><br/>the tentpole I see youâre sporting?â</div><br/><div/><br/><div>Coleâs fingers brushed the silk robe aside and closed around<br/><br/>Parisâs erection. âTell me you donât want me.â</div><br/><div/><br/><div>âI donât.â But his hips were thrusting his cock into Coleâs<br/><br/>hand. Liar hips.</div><br/><div>Cole pressed tight against Parisâs butt. That big cock<br/><br/>nestled between his ass cheeks. More!</div><br/><div/><br/><div>Oh hell. He was burning up! He turned in Coleâs loosened<br/><br/>embrace and grabbed his face, pushing his mouth hard against those carved lips.<br/><br/>He reached down, managed to pull Coleâs zipper past that hard-on from heaven,<br/><br/>and stood on tiptoe so he could rub their dicks together.</div><br/><div/><br/><div> Cole pulled back,<br/><br/>gasping. âI donât have long. Lindsey is outside waiting for me.â</div><br/><div>A low growl trembled past Parisâs lips. Shit, where did that<br/><br/>come from?</div><br/><div/><br/><div>Coleâs eyes widened. âLinds? Heâs just my friend. But<br/><br/>Eliazer is out there. I donât want to put Lindsey in danger.â</div><br/><div/><br/><p> </p><br/><div>Paris heard his own breath, hot and hard. âFuck me quick. I<br/><br/>canât stand it if you donât.â</div><br/></div><br/></div><br/><div style='text-align: center;'><b><i><span style='font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;'>About the Author</span></i></b></div><br/><div style='text-align: center;'/><br/><div style='text-align: left;'><br/><a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWb6Q-rF6w1HmmuQpfY7xAnxSt2z2pYVIxEc3vO1Lw8pIhLj-o4XcOT2Snhg9jbE0ey5MQdgNaabIUggOWrr1eMRIRoekB1rFuMgD_VHj045OwbbmPGsCAEHY6aNHfeYt3J1L4iVArsA/s1600/Author+Pic+1.jpg' style='clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;'><img height='189' width='200' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWb6Q-rF6w1HmmuQpfY7xAnxSt2z2pYVIxEc3vO1Lw8pIhLj-o4XcOT2Snhg9jbE0ey5MQdgNaabIUggOWrr1eMRIRoekB1rFuMgD_VHj045OwbbmPGsCAEHY6aNHfeYt3J1L4iVArsA/s200/Author+Pic+1.jpg' alt=''/></a>Tara Lain writes the Beautiful Boys of Romance in LGBT erotic romance novels that star her unique, charismatic heroes. Her first novel was published in January of 2011 and sheâs now somewhere around book 23. Her bestÂselling novels have garnered awards for Best Series, Best Contemporary Romance, Best Ménage, Best LGBT Romance, Best Gay Characters, and Tara has been named Best Writer of the Year in the LRC Awards. In her other job, Tara owns an advertising and public relations firm. She often does workshops on both author promotion and writing craft. She lives with her soulÂmate husband and her soulÂmate dog in Laguna Beach, California, a pretty seaside town where she sets a lot of her books. Passionate about diversity, justice, and new experiences, Tara says on her tombstone it will say âYesâ!</div><br/><p style='text-align: center;'><em><strong><span style='font-size: large;'><a rel='nofollow' href='http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b4c00093/' id='rc-b4c00093' class='rafl'>Click here for a Rafflecopter Giveaway</a></span></strong></em></p><br/><div style='text-align: center;'/><br/><div style='text-align: center;'>You can find Tara at</div><br/><div style='text-align: center;'/><br/><div style='clear: both; text-align: center;' class='separator'><br/><a target='_blank' href='http://taralain.com/'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6IvX63Y8t47NN6KtdIWgXZbWwfYuaZUIBFzi3YbyYVmvtxtHBoWsgnlBBa44aUuR1T6lrEyK90QZsSqzYbc9sHWgUMxjWMKwXlO_CxYVB1nvBJnJcQET65AKp-RteC9Ey99-g29dnZg/s1600/bloodWhiteButton+-+Website+Small.png' alt=''/></a>  <a target='_blank' href='http://www.taralain.com/blog'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfpq4s6fHDjJRUwIyLZg0EWnlqNXDI-YjNISKY6K4tDpa1jhRv2dfTONUBT3P6-4YbLL12W_uGyebTFymgjKb2uphQD8u7JF20z2-C5Lsx3QjoJWk5V-CYZabQzAnOB-evVPS5K4Razw/s1600/blog_icon+small.png' alt=''/></a>  <a target='_blank' href='https://www.facebook.com/taralain'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia-sHA4Ch8976GplW6TahpqdCFU0jX0yhyiqqyJShlBev64Y-X5Cglb0Bjym73kD0JybOcHAvjfvV4YWKBYVvkPc127C1D1k6vJLkH0gr8ky_-HIgPlhA7RVpIE-xmc2Zcs0pJYqwg7g/s1600/Facebook+Button.png.png' alt=''/></a>  <a target='_blank' href='https://twitter.com/taralain'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ4rA7moWtDJl0kShGwMr4MTLdqy62BTuHQ2Wda_oCk9_6AOj5aGgA0AsqIGGwQEtZWYFcU9h9X-xGsWhVLrPLj-nePVsmQPYVxy7mZ9mhCKPlLFSmaVEtpNZOyNcGGgTb1PMY8ASm0A/s1600/Twitter+button.png' alt=''/></a>  <a target='_blank' href='https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4541791.Tara_Lain'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm2C28HaH-1XNIGTh78M0PPv_jDq9KApGrfRF2Y9oWfyxr5upRAa5uFF3PdpLm7_FphyphenhyphenHj52XQ3wfznO-VJK3OhN2mu5PCmuhdh0mPVkJfdRYbxKJ65-wEV4BSUT7p6AVw667A_gp0zA/s1600/waxcreative-goodreads.png' alt=''/></a>  <a target='_blank' href='http://www.pinterest.com/taralain/'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit1amhFP79uvSgbJiOkhalMyEt_BDW6OYSZfARi9wFppEHGOXRrnUS0hRtUUlPbN0pnKe80-FH92kjHXyC6HuY0wAes6OkX2DfTN2kWRLmWRXz7vpJL3tmDPY_-XH-b5VtKS0kQ8pHsg/s1600/pinterest++button.png.jpg' alt=''/></a><br/></div><br/> <br/><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/2014/01/09/very-special-guest-tara-lain/'>Very Special Guest, Tara Lain!</a>Z.A. Maxfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02573777376812317486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34729067640931229.post-29686594896063884392014-01-07T09:17:00.001-08:002014-01-07T09:17:40.897-08:00Teaser Tuesday - Part Two, Kate McMurray!<p>Welcome to Tuesday Teaser part TWO! Join me in welcoming my very good friend, Kate McMurray!</p><br/><p><a href='http://www.katemcmurray.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/signing.jpg' style='font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; color: #ff4b33;'><img height='300' width='198' src='http://www.katemcmurray.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/signing-198x300.jpg' alt='' title='signing' class='alignleft'/></a>Kate McMurray has been writing stories since she could hold a pen. She picked up her first romance novel when she was thirteen and has loved the genre ever since. She started writing gay romance after reading a book and thinking there should be more love stories with gay characters. Her first published novel, <i>In Hot Pursuit</i>, came out in February 2010, and sheâs been writing feverishly ever since. She likes stories that are brainy, funny, and of course sexy, with regular guy characters and urban sensibilities.</p><br/><p>Kate signing autographs at GayRomLit 2011</p><br/><p>When sheâs not writing, Kate works a nonfiction editor. She also reads a lot, plays the violin, knits and crochets, and drools over expensive handbags. Sheâs maybe a tiny bit obsessed with baseball. She lives in Brooklyn, NY, with a pesky cat.</p><br/><p>She is currently serving as president of <a href='http://www.rainbowromancewriters.com/%22'>Rainbow Romance Writers</a>, the LGBT romance chapter of <a href='http://www.rwa.org/'>Romance Writers of America</a>. Sheâs also active in <a href='http://rwanyc.com/'>RWA NYC</a>, the local New York City RWA chapter.</p><br/><p>Kate’s website <a href='http://www.KateMcMurray.com'>www.KateMcMurray.com</a></p><br/><p>You can email her at kate (at) katemcmurray.com.</p><br/><p>Here’s her teaser, are you ready?</p><br/><p>âWhat the hell is that thing?â I asked.</p><br/><p>He grinned ear to ear. â<i>This </i>is a Ducati. Best motorcycles in the world. Costs more than your yearly salary, normally. I bought this one for a song from a guy in Waukegan.â</p><br/><p>âItâs in terrible shape.â</p><br/><p>âNah, thatâs mostly on the outside.â He ran his hand over the front suspension. âWhat youâre looking at is a 1973 750 SuperSport. It looks like shit because the owner left it in his yard to rust for fifteen years. I think he also had some kind of accident, which is why the casings are all scratched. But I intend to restore it.â</p><br/><p>âDoes it even work?â</p><br/><p>âSure. The engine is sound. I drove it around the high school parking lot a little yesterday to be sure. The exterior is banged up, but inside, she purrs like a kitten.â I couldnât think of a time Iâd heard so much reverence in ***âs voice. He walked a lap around it, then stood next to me, still admiring his purchase. âYou want to go for a ride?â</p><br/><p>âAbsolutely not.â</p><br/><p>He laughed. âOkay. Well, so, Iâve got a connection to a parts dealer through my dad.â ***âs father was a mechanic, which I suspected was half the problem here. âIâve already talked to him. Heâs willing to sell me what I need at the wholesale price, and then I just need to paint it. I was thinking about red.â</p><br/><p>I wrinkled up my nose. âUgh, thatâs such a cliché.â</p><br/><p>He frowned. âWhatâs your favorite color?â</p><br/><p>âI dunno. Green?â</p><br/><p>âGreen it is. But not, like, bright kelly green. Army green. Manly green.â</p><br/><p>I continued to stare at the thing. All I could picture at first was *** perishing in a fiery crash. But then I started to imagine *** decked out like a biker in tight leather pants and a slick leather jacket, the motorcycle humming between his thighs….</p><br/><p>I coughed and took a step backward. âYou all right there?â he asked.</p><br/><p><i>Jesus, </i>I thought. <i>*** in head-to-toe leather. </i>I felt the flush rise up my neck to my face. Because that was an image to keep me warm on cold, lonely nights.</p><br/><p>Then I realized *** was staring at me, and I snapped out of it.</p><br/> <br/><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/2014/01/07/teaser-tuesday-part-two-kate-mcmurray/'>Teaser Tuesday - Part Two, Kate McMurray!</a>Z.A. Maxfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02573777376812317486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34729067640931229.post-4900731995053870922014-01-07T09:05:00.001-08:002014-01-07T09:05:43.160-08:00Teaser Tuesday - Part One! Carolina Valdez<p>Hi Teaser Tuesday Peeps! Today’s first teaser comes from author Carolina Valdez, who happens to be my very great pal from the Orange County Chapter of the RWA.</p><br/><p>Carolina Valdez lives in southern California with a husband–who was her college sweetheart–and a talking cat. Well, the cat is Siamese, and thinks he holds conversations with his owners. As a child Carolina entertained herself making up plays and stories. In third grade they showed up on paper; her first sale came when she was 23. Winning a contest with her first erotic romance sparked an interest in sizzling passion between a man and a woman. It was easy to make the leap to hot men loving hot men. Writing, she confesses, is an obsession that canât be repressed.</p><br/><p>Website: <a href='http://www.CarolinaValdez.com'>http://www.CarolinaValdez.com</a> Blog: <a href='http://fingerstothekeys.wordpress.com'>http://fingerstothekeys.wordpress.com</a> Facebook: <a href='http://www.facebook.com/author.carolina.valdez'>http://www.facebook.com/author.carolina.valdez</a> Twitter: <a href='http://www.twitter.com/carolina_valdez'>http://www.twitter.com/carolina_valdez</a></p><br/><p>Find her books on Amazon, Kindle Us and UK, Barnes and Noble, All Romance eBooks, Sony, and Amber Allure.</p><br/><p>***** was tending bar with ****** *******, whose long dreads were carefully tied back so as not to get in the drinks. This was *****’s first time doing a private gig in the fancy La Jolla digs. He was gay, ****** was gay, and he’d lay money that everyone here was. The testosterone was an almost palpable force in this all-male crowd.</p><br/><p>****** leaned in to say in *****’s ear, “Don’t look now, but the dick-throb of this group just hit the door.”</p><br/><p>***** was mixing California Surfer shots, but he’d noticed the faint lull in the chatter, despite the music blaring open throttle. Now periodic greetings filtered through to the bar.</p><br/><p>“Hey, man.”</p><br/><p>“Welcome back!”</p><br/><p>“Where ya been?”</p><br/><p>“Wha’s up?”</p><br/><p>He finished the shots and slid them, with a small white napkin, to the waiter, who was young and bald, but whose washboard abs filled out his snug muscle shirt. His stretch shorts barely covered his junk and butt, so tight as to be on the verge of splitting if he bent over. His arms bore tattoos in vivid colors and his feet were covered by high top, laced up boots in black.</p><br/><p>Figuring he must be pretty uncomfortable in shorts cutting into his crack, ***** didn’t envy him strutting his stuff in order to keep his job.</p><br/><p>The waiter loaded the drinks on his tray and excused his way through the crowd.</p><br/><p>Despite ******’s advice, ***** glanced at the tall newcomer as he wiped the bar down. Even viewing him from the rear, he could tell he oozed sex appeal without even trying. He was dressed all in black leather, his pants straining over what little showed of perfect glutes peeking from beneath his jacket. His thighs were wide, but he wasn’t flaunting it.</p><br/><p>***** had to admit his crotch tingled. He drew in a couple of deep breaths and let them out slowly. <i>Stop that, big guy. Keep your head down.</i></p><br/><p>His gaze wandered down the newcomer’s body to his boots and stopped. He recognized them–black Bates 924 Series. Interesting… more than interesting. If the boots told anything true, it was that he was, or had been, military.</p><br/><p>Once, so long ago it seemed like a trip back in a time machine, ***** had worn that boot, too. Now he wore Adidas black desert boots, and a brace on his lower right leg to stay upright and walking. Even in the heat of summer he wore long pants to cover scars that grossed people out.</p><br/><p>This man worked the room with an easy stride, touching knuckles, bumping chests and pulling in some men for close, guy-style hugs lasting only seconds. At one point, someone tried to welcome him with a kiss on his mouth, but even though ***** still saw only leather’s back, he could tell he smoothly avoided it and moved on.</p><br/><p>***** didn’t think the other guy was happy about the brush off. He got the feeling it didn’t bother the one who hadn’t responded to him.</p><br/><p>In the beginning, he’d tagged the new man as a biker because of the leather, but then he’d noticed the boots and the way he held himself; the way others seemed in awe of him. Read his bearing, and you knew he was someone special.</p><br/><p>There was a time when ***** had had that confidence, that walk of restrained swagger, too. He grinned to himself. Well, maybe it was outright swagger when with the other members of his team. Boots, bearing, and the way this man moved? It wasn’t biker it spelled out for ***** now, but Special Forces. <i>Delta, maybe?</i></p><br/><p>He’d had the pleasure of working on ops with some of the Army’s Delta Force men and–officers or enlisted–they were serious fellows. The only thing about their training that differed from his was that when they flew in the copters on a mission, they weren’t allowed to load their weapons until they’d taken fire.</p><br/><p>Fuck that. How insane was it to have an enemy scope you in his sites and fire while you’re jamming ammo into your gun? The first time he’d flown with them in Afghanistan, the minute they were in the helo, ***** had said, “Lock and load, men. Lock and load.” He wasn’t Delta, but he outranked them, and despite their regs, they seemed relieved to comply with his order. Before liftoff, all guns were loaded and ready. Good thing, too, because they’d almost immediately drawn enemy fire as they’d approached the pickup area.</p><br/><p>Their rescue mission successfully completed, they’d touched down at base camp with the helo intact and no injuries or loss of life. In appreciation for maybe having saved their asses, they’d tossed *****, fully clothed, in a cold shower and invited him to fly with them any time.</p><br/><p>Yep. Deltas were seriously great fellows.</p><br/><p>Judging from this guy now, if he was military, he was due for a regulation shave and haircut. If he was Delta, it wasn’t surprising these partiers were drawn to him. They were responding to a confidence and bearing that tagged him as a leader; a man’s man–the kind every man wanted to be, but too many were not. Since presence on any of the counter-terrorism teams was top secret, no one here except ***** would guess what he did for a living.</p><br/><p>(Editor’s note. Okay. NOW I WANT TO READ THIS and I don’t know what it is. Help me out folks!)</p><br/><p>Stay tuned for Tuesday Teaser part TWO, Kate MacMurray is next, and tonight, a special version of Sunday Brunch we’re going to be calling Taco Tuesday! Stick with me today, kiddie’s, I’m playing holiday catch up!</p><br/> <br/><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/2014/01/07/teaser-tuesday-part-one-carolina-valdez/'>Teaser Tuesday - Part One! Carolina Valdez</a>Z.A. Maxfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02573777376812317486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34729067640931229.post-91325849087888586182013-12-29T00:26:00.001-08:002013-12-29T00:26:44.599-08:00Sunday Brunch Blog - 12/29/13<p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/saupload_mad_20hatter_20tea_20party.jpg'><img height='237' width='300' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/saupload_mad_20hatter_20tea_20party-300x237.jpg' alt='saupload_mad_20hatter_20tea_20party' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4535'/></a>This week, we’re looking at our most treasured holiday Memories, and it’s a little different, because instead of a book cover, one of one my very favorite writers gives us a treasured memory! Thanks Rick for sharing something so personal with us. And Jambrea? Love your story! You keep rocking that holiday goodness! I BELIEVE!</p><br/><p>Last week’s winner? <em><strong>Chris </strong><strong>!!!</strong><strong><br/></strong></em></p><br/><p>This week my guests will share their answers with us, and you, gentle readers, can give <strong>your</strong> answer to my question in the comment section below. I’ll choose one random person from the comments and reward them with an ebook surprise, it’s that simple!</p><br/><p><strong>Tell me what your answer to today’s question would be in the comments, and you could win an e-book!</strong></p><br/><p>This weeks question is: <strong>What is your favorite Holiday Memory?</strong><b> </b></p><br/><h2><br/><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Ricky-Christmas-1962.jpeg'><img height='300' width='300' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Ricky-Christmas-1962-300x300.jpeg' alt='Ricky Christmas 1962' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4826'/></a>Christmas Snapshot: 1962</h2><br/><p>© 2013 by Rick R. Reed</p><br/><p>When I look at this picture, it evokes a lotâhappy memories, a sense of loss, a bit of wonder, and gratitude. Thatâs me in the center with the cowboy hat, big ears, and tricycle. To my right is my mom, behind me my dad, and to my left is my sister Susan. Itâs Christmas 1962.</p><br/><p>Why does this old photograph induce such a complex mixture of emotion? For one, both of my parents are gone. My dad passed from a heart attack in 1990 and Mom succumbed to cancer in 2007. Seeing them both so young and beautiful only makes me miss them more. The death of a parent leaves in its wake a hole that can never be filled. For the child who survives, the world is never quite the same. So looking at this picture, back through many, many years, fills me with sadness and loss, for the family I once had.</p><br/><p>But I donât want to be maudlin. This same picture and same memory is also joyous. Look at our happiness! I am grateful I grew up with this quirky, sometimes dysfunctional unit, grateful I had a mother who showed me, every day, that love and family were the most important treasures we could have.</p><br/><p>Thereâs a kind of innocence here, too. It was the early 1960s and big changes were in store for the world and for each of us. It would take a biography-length post to fill you in on those, but itâs enough to say that the picture reminds me of a little boy who could be filled with simple happiness on Christmas morning by a little magic, lots of love, and the promise of future whose joys and sorrows had yet to be revealed.</p><br/><p><b>Giveaway</b></p><br/><p>My gift, to one commenter below (chosen by ZAM) will be a free copy of my Christmas story, â<a href='http://www.amazon.com/Matches-Press-Story-Holidays-2011-ebook/dp/B006JFVGUS/'>Matches</a>,â published by MLR Press. Itâs my m/m homage to the fairy tale, âThe Little Match Girl.â Hereâs the blurb:</p><br/><p>Christmas Eve should be a night filled with magic and love. But for Anderson, down on his luck and homeless in Chicago’s frigid chill, it’s a fight for survival. Whether he’s sleeping on the el, or holed up in an abandoned car, all he really has are his memories to keep him warm-memories of a time when he loved a man named Welk and the world was perfect. When Anderson finds a book of discarded matches on the sidewalk, he pockets them. Later, trying to keep the cold at bay hunkered down in a church entryway, Anderson discovers the matches are the key to bringing his memories of Welk, happiness, and security to life. Within their flames, visions dance-and perhaps a reunion with the man he loved most.</p><br/><p>Purchase <em><strong>Matches  </strong></em><a href='http://www.amazon.com/Matches-Press-Story-Holidays-2011-ebook/dp/B006JFVGUS/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1388304968&sr=1-1&keywords=Matches+Rick'>Amazon</a> <a href='http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=RR_MATCH'>MLR Press</a></p><br/><p style='text-align: center;'>~*~</p><br/><p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/OnceUponaPrince_WD.jpg'><img height='300' width='187' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/OnceUponaPrince_WD-187x300.jpg' alt='OnceUponaPrince_WD' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4827'/></a>I have two great holiday memories. One from when I was a kid and one from when my son, PMan, was a baby.</p><br/><p>Many moons ago I was at that age when I wasnât sure if I really believed. My brother who is two years younger than me was in the same boat. We were both saying how Santa wasnât real, but we werenât a hundred percent sure of it.</p><br/><p>That night we reluctantly went to bedâlike every Christmas because youâre too excited to sleep and all you can think about is opening presents. I had settled down into my bed when what did I hear? A clatterâOn. The. ROOF! Oh my goodness SANTA IS REAL!!! That was all I could think about until I finally fell asleep. My brother and I were both so excited.</p><br/><p>Now years later I figured it was just my step-dad on the roof trying to help us believe for one more year. Wellâit <i>was</i> my step-dad, but he was up there because we had a chimney fire and he was trying to put it out before it spread.</p><br/><p>So we could have had a very different Christmas that year.</p><br/><p>The other memory was from just after PMan was born. I really wasnât feeling the Christmas Spirit. I didnât want to put decorations up and I was even thinking about not setting up the tree. PMan was a baby, he wouldnât know any difference.</p><br/><p>One day I came home from work and walked into a wonderfully smelling house with decorations set up. My mom had driven into town and put on a wonderful roast in the crock pot. There was Christmas music playing in the background and I was ready for the season. — Author Jambrea Jo Jones (*Editor’s note. ZAM LOVES JAM)</p><br/><p>Purchase Once Upon A Prince  <a href='http://www.amazon.com/Once-Upon-Prince-Jambrea-Jones-ebook/dp/B00H8CZGZW/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1388304891&sr=1-3&keywords=once+upon+a+prince'>Amazon</a>  <a href='http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=J3PRINCE'>MLR Press</a></p><br/><p> </p><br/> <br/><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/2013/12/29/sunday-brunch-blog-122913/'>Sunday Brunch Blog - 12/29/13</a>Z.A. Maxfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02573777376812317486noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34729067640931229.post-64465292363555603732013-12-23T11:27:00.001-08:002013-12-23T11:27:45.498-08:00And the winners ARE... Drumroll please...<p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/Image.jpg'><img height='300' width='200' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/Image-200x300.jpg' alt='Image' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4471'/></a><span style='font-size: x-large;'>YAY! I get to announce the winners to the <em><strong>Lost and Found</strong></em> Blog tour!</span></p><br/><p><span style='font-size: x-large;'>Riptide $20 Gift Card:</span></p><br/><p><span style='font-size: xx-large;'>Suzanne</span></p><br/><p><span style='font-size: x-large;'>Playlist gift cards ($10) from iTunes:</span></p><br/><p><span style='font-size: xx-large;'>Nina, Sherry, and Sophia</span></p><br/><p>All the gift cards have been sent via email from Riptide and iTunes, so if you think you didn’t receive yours check your spam filters and then let me know. I’ll double check. Thanks to everyone who participated and made this so much fun for me. Thanks to my friends, my readers, all the wonderful bloggers and reviewers. May you be well, happy holidays, and I wish you the best of all good things in the New Year.</p><br/><p>XOXOXO</p><br/><p>ZAM</p><br/> <br/><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/2013/12/23/and-the-winners-are-drumroll-please/'>And the winners ARE... Drumroll please...</a>Z.A. Maxfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02573777376812317486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34729067640931229.post-17689738704034164462013-12-22T10:30:00.001-08:002013-12-22T10:30:03.834-08:00Sunday Brunch Blog 12/22/13<p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/saupload_mad_20hatter_20tea_20party.jpg'><img height='237' width='300' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/saupload_mad_20hatter_20tea_20party-300x237.jpg' alt='saupload_mad_20hatter_20tea_20party' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4535'/></a>This week, we could use a little help from the Spirit of Christmas Past, because we’re talking about spending time with (long dead) authors we love. Have you ever wanted to ask Franz Kafka if if drugs played any role in the writing of <em><strong>The Metamorphosis</strong></em> or do you want to know if Mary Shelley would be awesome to party with? (‘Cause I am SURE she would be.)</p><br/><p>This week we’re talking about interviewing our literary heroes even if they’re dead.</p><br/><p>Last week’s winner? <em><strong>Beth B.</strong><strong>!!!</strong><strong><br/></strong></em></p><br/><p>This week my guests will share their answers with us, and you, gentle readers, can give <strong>your</strong> answer to my question in the comment section below. I’ll choose one random person from the comments and reward them with an ebook surprise, it’s that simple!</p><br/><p><strong>Tell me what your answer to today’s question would be in the comments, and you could win an e-book!</strong></p><br/><p>This weeks question is: <b>If you could interview long-dead authors, who would you invite?</b></p><br/><p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/A-New-Orleans-Christmas.jpg'><img height='300' width='206' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/A-New-Orleans-Christmas-206x300.jpg' alt='A New Orleans Christmas' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4814'/></a></p><br/><p>Rueful, most vexed, that tender skin<br/><br/>Should accept so fell a wound,<br/><br/>He stamped and cracked stalks to the ground<br/><br/>Which had caused his dear girl pain.</p><br/><p>– Sylvia Plath, âBucolicsâ (<a href='http://www.internal.org/Sylvia_Plath/Bucolics'>http://www.internal.org/Sylvia_Plath/Bucolics</a>)</p><br/><p>During the holiday season, it seems a bit morbid to be focusing on dark works, but Iâve been told many times I possess a dark side. When Z.A. Maxfield posed the question about interviewing long-dead authors, I immediately thought of Sylvia Plath and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, who wrote the haunting short story âThe Yellow Wallpaper.â</p><br/><p>Growing up with a mother who suffered from mental illness, I supposed affects my early inspirations. Plath deals with depression through <i>The Bell Jar</i>, and poetry. The language of âBucolicsâ is brisk and shocking. Likewise, Gilman wrote about a woman slowly losing her mind, until the reader cannot discern the insanity from reality. – Author Louisa Bacio</p><br/><p><strong>The Vampire and The Werewolf: </strong> <a href='http://www.ravenousromance.com/fantastica/the-vampire-and-the-werewolf-a-new-orleans-christmas.php'>Ravenous Romance</a>, <a href='http://www.amazon.com/Vampire-Werewolf-Orleans-Christmas-ebook/dp/B006OBV1JI/ref=sr_1_6?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1324511879&sr=1-6'>Amazon Kindle</a> and <a href='https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-thevampireandthewerewolfaneworleanschristmas-661531-145.html'>ARe</a>.<a href='http://www.louisabacio.com'><em><strong><br/></strong></em></a></p><br/><p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/BrokenBonds_200.jpg'><img height='300' width='200' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/BrokenBonds_200.jpg' alt='BrokenBonds_200' class='alignleft size-full wp-image-4815'/></a></p><br/><div> <span style='font-size: medium;'>As a person and an author, I often feel the constrains of society. Not in any big or significant way, but more in the nature of, âWhy canât I say what I want to? Why do I have to be polite to people who donât deserve my good manners? Why do I have to hold back when they get away with doing what they want?â The long dead authors Iâd want to interview are two authors who didnât let polite society hold them back.</span>Lord Byron and Oscar Wilde were as reknowned for their personal lives as they were for their literary works. Sure, they seem like a popular answer to ZAMâs Sunday Brunch question, but my reasons for wanting to interview them probably donât fit the conventional mold. For one, I probably wouldnât ask them much about their writing. Iâd want to ask them about what itâs like to flaunt the conventions and set your inner self free. Iâve always been more interested in their personal lives because thatâs what fueled their muse. Every writerâs personal life fuels their muse whether they admit to it or not and these two literary figures had very flamboyant, donât-give-a-damn-about-convention lives.Lord Byron had a notorious affair with the married Lady Caroline Lamb who styled him, âmad, bad and dangerous to know.â He was rumored to have had homosexual affairs as well as an incestuous one with his half-sister. No one could accuse Byron of having lived a conventional life and Oscar Wilde was just as unconventional.  Wilde famously gave an explanation of âthe love that dare not speak its nameâ in court during his trial for sodomy and public indecency. I donât think he meant those words to become the banner for homosexuality that theyâve become but I wonder if heâd like that they did. Itâs definitely a question Iâd ask him.Neither of these literary figures seems to have cared much about what others said of them. It only makes me wonder if they had any regrets for the way they lived their lives. It makes me wonder if their lifestyles and their flaunting of conventions helped fuel their muses. The recklessness, the sense of freedom they must have had while flying in the face of convention, inspires me and if I had the ability to interview them that is what I would want them to talk about.<br/><p>I recently sent a short story to RWA for possible inclusion in their first ever anthology. I donât know yet whether it will be accepted for the book and I wonder if it is the only MM story they received. Itâs entitled Flying in the Face of Convention and I wonder if Wilde and Byron would like it. At the very least, I imagine it would be a spirited conversation if we were to discuss it together!</p><br/><p>Purchase Broken Bonds at <a href='http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Bonds-Souls-Bondage-Book-ebook/dp/B00ASZC00U/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1387736641&sr=8-2&keywords=Broken+Bonds'>Amazon</a>  <a href='https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-brokenbonds-1031967-147.html'>ARE </a> <a href='http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/broken-bonds-lex-valentine/1114077062?ean=2940044211506'>B&N</a> and NOW(!!!) in audio book at <a href='http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/broken-bonds-lex-valentine/1114077062?ean=2940044211506'>Audible</a></p><br/></div><br/> <br/><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/2013/12/22/sunday-brunch-blog-122213/'>Sunday Brunch Blog 12/22/13</a>Z.A. Maxfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02573777376812317486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34729067640931229.post-25230187392541113652013-12-18T07:52:00.001-08:002013-12-18T07:52:59.170-08:00Tuesday Teasers - CRIKEY! It's Wednesday!<p><strong><em><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/iStock_000027538366XSmall.jpg'><img height='199' width='300' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/iStock_000027538366XSmall-300x199.jpg' alt='iStock_000027538366XSmall' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4457'/></a>Yes! I’m a day late. I don’t even know why. I blame it on the holi-DAZE and a </em></strong><b><i>writing deadline.</i></b></p><br/><p>So today I want to welcome not one but TWO fabulous Tuesday Teaser authors:</p><br/><p>Author Number one is the amazing <strong>Marie Sexton</strong>. She of the fabulous shoes.</p><br/><p>Marie Sexton lives in Colorado. Sheâs a fan of just about anything that involves muscular young men piling on top of each other. In particular, she loves the Denver Broncos and enjoys going to the games with her husband. Her imaginary friends often tag along. Marie has one daughter, two cats, and one dog, all of whom seem bent on destroying what remains of her sanity. She loves them anyway. You can find Marie at <a href='http://mariesexton.net/'>her website, HERE</a>, and on <a href='Facebook:%20http://www.facebook.com/MarieSexton.author'>Facebook</a> and <a href='Twitter:%20http://twitter.com/MarieSexton'>Twitter</a>.</p><br/><p><span style='font-size: large;'>Don’t Forget!</span></p><br/><div><span style='font-size: large;'><em>Readers, your mission is to guess which KC Burn book this comes from, you know the drill. <strong>Email me at zamaxfield @ zamaxfield dot com and put Teaser Tuesdays in the subject line. Guess the name of the book and I’ll draw the winner before next Tuesday —— Here’s  Marie’s excerpt:</strong></em></span></div><br/><div><em><strong> </strong></em></div><br/><div><span style='font-size: large;'>**** sharpened his pencil and he started to draw.</span></div><br/><p>His art took him away, as it so often did. He lost all sense of space and time. He barely noticed the soreness in his backside from sitting on the ground, or the pain in his shoulder from his hunched position. He knew only shapes and lines, reflections and light. It was a calm place inside him that occupied him, yet left some remote corner of his mind free and clear to think of other things. Today, he thought only of the sun and the grass and how surprisingly good it felt to be there. He had worried he wouldnât fit in here, and maybe he didnât, but he found it suited him all the same.</p><br/><p>He didnât see or hear  ****** approaching. It wasnât until he sat down next to **** in the grass that he noticed him at all. **** looked over at him in surprise.</p><br/><p>****** didnât look at him. He didnât say anything, either. He sat there, his knees up and his forearms draped over them, staring out into the field, and **** waited, wondering what in the world was on the manâs mind.</p><br/><p>****** finally looked over at him and he seemed startled to find **** watching him. âAm I bothering you?â he asked.</p><br/><p>âNot at all,â **** said. âI missed you at breakfast.â</p><br/><p>****** shrugged uncomfortably, obviously disconcerted by such a frank statement. He looked down at Arenâs sketchpad. âWhatâre you drawing?â</p><br/><p>**** hesitated, afraid ****** would make fun of him for his art as he had the first day theyâd met, back in Milton, but he saw no mockery in his eyes. Only friendly curiosity.</p><br/><p>He held his sketchbook out and ****** took it.</p><br/><p>He didnât say anything for the longest time. He looked at the drawing, then up at the bull in the field, then down again at the drawing. He seemed puzzled. âI donât get it,â he said at last. âI can see itâs the bull, but itâs not the same at all.â</p><br/><p>****âs heart fell at the words. âI guess itâs not very good,â he said, reaching to take the pad back.</p><br/><p>****** pulled it out of his reach, still looking at it. âThat ainât what I said. Itâs justâ¦â he looked up at the bull again, then down at the sketchpad, his brows furrowed as he tried to find the words. âWhen I look at your picture, he looks⦠Well, I guess he looks strong. And proud. He looks special, like heâs something way more than all the other cattle.â He looked back up at the bull standing in the grass, lazily chewing his cud. âBut heâs just a bull,â he said, pointing out at him. âNothing special at all.â</p><br/><p>It was such awkward praise, and yet **** found himself smiling. He felt something inside him swell with pride. âThat means I did it right,â he said.</p><br/><p style='text-align: center;'>~*~</p><br/><p><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/iStock_000006911745XSmall.jpg'><img height='199' width='300' src='http://zamaxfield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/iStock_000006911745XSmall-300x199.jpg' alt='iStock_000006911745XSmall' class='alignleft size-medium wp-image-4454'/></a>AND BECAUSE I’m a DITZ, and you had to wait: Here’s a second Tuesday Teaser, from the lovely and talented CR Guiliano!</p><br/><p>CR writes in many genres, but is most happy writing the love between two men (or more!).</p><br/><p>CR has a huge warren of plot bunnies that is growing every day and canât wait to fill out the story ideas and share them. CR is a committed advocate for the GLBT community and does her best to change societyâs attitudes, one mind at a time. <a href='http://crguiliano-author.blogspot.com'>You can find CR’s blog here.</a></p><br/><p>Now for CR’s excerpt:</p><br/><p>The nurse led **** down a sterile, white hallway lined with glass doors and most covered with thick curtains. The ones that were open had no patients. They stopped outside of 9B and **** felt himself shaking. The nurse turned back to him, laying a hand on the sliding doorâs handle.</p><br/><p>âAs many times as I tell people not to be shocked or dismayed at the condition of their loved one or the number of machines and wires connected to them, it never really helps. It will look much worse than it is. Heâs comfortable, shouldnât be in any pain and <i>is</i> healing. Do you have any questions before you go in?â</p><br/><p>**** was nodding at the nurse. âUm, just one. I was told he was being kept in a drug induced coma, but heard his mother say he was waking up?â **** asked. The nurse smiled at him.</p><br/><p>âMr. ******â last CT scan this morning showed the swelling in his brain had gone down by almost 89% so he has been taken off the drugs to keep him unconscious. He does have pain medication and antibiotics in his IV and he has a g-tube and catheter. At the rate heâs going, he might even be moved to a regular room by tomorrow.â The nurse said and then giggled. âIt is common knowledge around here what Mr. ****** said to Dr. *******, so you have become somewhat of a celebrity. We all believe his recovery is directly related to how much he loves you.â She added and **** blushed furiously. The nurse patted his arm kindly. âEveryone only has fifteen minutes to visit him in ICU, however, you have authority to stay as long as you like. Just donât tire him out too much. He needs restâ¦and your presenceâ¦more than anything to heal.â The nurse finished, gave him a gentle push towards the door as she slid it open and then walked to her station outside ******âs room.</p><br/><p>**** stared at the curtain, then gently pushed it aside and entered the room. Immediately, he was assaulted with the antiseptic hospital smell, the constant beeping of machines and the low drone of the TV mounted on the wall in the corner. He took a deep breath and lifted his eyes to gaze at the man he loved. He cringed at the bruises that were the most prominent thing he noticed first. ******âs face was a mass of blue, black and purple. One eye was almost swollen shut. ****âs gaze quickly traveled down ******âs body. Most was covered by a light blanket, but he could see the bulges that indicated casts. He knew there was one on ******âs ankle and his right arm. His left arm was scraped, the skin raw as it lie on top of the covers, the IV needle taped to the indent at his elbow. **** didnât know what they were doing for his hip, but he certainly could relate to that discomfort. He noticed ******âs feet were moving restlessly and almost grinned. He knew why. From the time heâd met ******, the man could not stand to have his feet covered. Thad moved quietly to the bottom of the bed and carefully lifted the blanket and sheet off ******âs feet. One had a cast on it, but looking at ******âs face, **** saw the immediate relief there, and ****** sighed. Silently, he moved to stand next to the bed, his hand coming up to gently brush ******âs hair off his forehead. He skin was cool to the touch and **** was thankful. Hot skin could mean infection. Even **** knew that much. He should after his hip had gotten infected, which was the main reason he would be forever dependent on prescription pain killers. Just even being here was playing havoc on ****âs bad memories. The smells and sounds bringing back his own stay in the hospital. He continued to gaze down at ******, watching him sleep. So overwhelmingly grateful that ****** was alive, **** leaned down and pressed his lips to ******âs, giving him a tender kiss. He pulled up only far enough to whisper to him. âI love you.â When he stood again, he was startled to see ******âs beautiful hazel eyes open and directly on him, boring into his own green eyes. *****âs lips twitched, but he didnât smile. He did mouth âI love you tooâ back at **** and ****âs eyes stung with tears. One escaped and traveled down his cheek. ****** lifted his uninjured arm and brushed the tear with the back of his fingers. **** captured his hand gently and held it against his chest, right above his heart. ****** mouthed again, âDonât cryâ at **** and **** gave him a wavering smile. ****** puckered his lips at him, making a smacking sound and **** laughed. He leaned down to kiss ****** again, feeling ****** kiss him back. <i>God! It felt so good to have ****** respond</i>. To feel his lips move under his after thinking heâd never feel that again. **** heard the heart monitor attached to ****** speed up and he reluctantly broke the kiss.</p><br/> <br/><a href='http://zamaxfield.com/2013/12/18/tuesday-teasers-crikey-its-wednesday/'>Tuesday Teasers - CRIKEY! It's Wednesday!</a>Z.A. Maxfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02573777376812317486noreply@blogger.com0