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Four free LGBTQ books from Riptide Publishing

McKay

From Riptide Publishing: “So many people are devastated by last night’s election. We are too. Today, we thought some people might need a Happily Ever After. Even a fictional one.

So, we are offering four LGBTQ books for free this week, so that anyone, no matter their financial means, can read these stories of love and hope.”

ROLLER GIRL by Vanessa North (f/f contemporary with a trans lead), LEAD ME NOT by Ann Gallagher (inspirational m/m), PICKUP MEN by LC Chase (m/m cowboys), and WHEN TO HOLD THEM by GB Gordon (contemporary m/m).

These books are free through November 16.

I figure a lot of us could use something to comfort and distract us right about now.

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Up-coming Releases

McKay

As Ari knows, I’m never happier than when we have at least three works listed in our “Coming Soon!” box in the sidebar of our website, so as you can imagine, I’m thrilled that we now have nine works listed!

Dreamspinner has picked up several of our previously published works and will be re-releasing them in 2017, and we’ve gotten a contract and some estimated dates so they’ll be mixed in with our new releases.

I’m happy to say we’ll have something — new or repub — coming out almost every month in 2017, and that’s just with Dreamspinner. We’ve decided to self-publish some of the works that Dreamspinner didn’t pick up, and we’ve set a goal of getting at least one or two out before the end of 2016.

Our main goal is getting the Herc’s Mercs series out, including the 6th book, which hasn’t been published anywhere before. We did a pretty thorough revision of book 1, so our readers will see some significant differences between the repub and the original release. The main thing we changed is Jude’s characterization and his relationship with his grandmother, and we developed the antagonist’s character and presence in the story a little more.

We haven’t decided how much we’ll tweak the other books in the series; right now, our focus is on finishing a couple of new works, one of which has a looming deadline. But we’re looking forward to making the entire series available again soon!

Pulling all those works from our back catalog was ouchy, so I’m pleased so many of them found a new home with Dreamspinner, and I look forward to them being available to our readers again. We’re going to rebuild our catalog slowly but surely, and we’ve already taken the first steps toward making that happen!

 

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Regarding Torquere Press

McKay

Ari has been talking about our situation with Torquere a little on Twitter and Facebook, but we decided it was time to address the situation more directly on our website.

The bottom line is this: Torquere Press hasn’t paid us for quarter 2. No author has been paid for Q2 that I’m aware of. We have yet to receive royalty reports for Q3, and I’m not holding my breath for a Q3 check either. The owner of Torquere hasn’t provided any concrete plan that I’m aware of for paying authors what they’re owed for the books they wrote and sold in good faith to Torquere Press. From what I understand, she isn’t responding to emails either.

If she wants to dig herself out of the hole she’s in, she needs to offer complete transparency on what happened and where the money she should have put aside to pay the authors with went. She needs to tell the authors her plan for paying royalties owed. She needs to communicate with the authors regularly and provide evidence as to how she plans to get Torquere Press back on track.

As readers of our blog know, we joined other former Torquere authors in requesting the rights back to our books a few weeks ago. We did receive our rights back to everything but our most recent novel, Blood Bathory: Be Not Proud. The owner of Torquere claimed that if we wanted the rights back to that one, she’d have to garnish our royalties because it hadn’t been out long enough to earn back its publication costs. We decided to let it remain for the time being.

If you’re currently a writer at Torquere, I’d strongly recommend trying to get your rights back if you haven’t already. If you’re a new writer looking for a place to submit your work, I’d strongly recommend not submitting anything to Torquere. I don’t know if they’ll be able to bounce back or if they’ll go down the same path as Ellora’s Cave, but either way, Ari and I aren’t sticking around to find out.

 

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Striking Sparks is ready for preorder!

McKay

Our new contemporary romance, Striking Sparks, is coming out next month, and you can preorder it now from Dreamspinner Press!

Striking Sparks is our first contribution to the Dreamspun line (and it definitely won’t be our last), and it will be available on December 15.

The stakes are high and the heat is on.

Beau Walker, owner of the Barbecue Shack, needs the help of Jake Parnell, his one-time rival and secret crush, in a televised barbecue competition. Beau is a proud man, but the stakes are high, and smart, sexy Jake is his only hope, even if being around Jake reawakens the attraction he’s fought for years.

Jake left his hometown, determined to build a life somewhere his sexuality wouldn’t hurt his family’s restaurant business—and far away from hunky, obstinate Beau Walker. Then his twin, Josh, is killed, and Jake returns to support his brother’s wife and children. Despite his reservations, he agrees to go head-to-head against Beau on national television. Between stress and grief, as well as pride and determination, only one thing is certain—the heat between Beau and Jake extends well beyond the kitchen.

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First re-home!

McKay

Ari and I are pleased to let everyone know that we’ve successfully started the re-homing process! We’ve revised and significantly expanded Letters from Cupid, one of our Valentine’s Day stories, and the second edition will be released in February, 2017, by Dreamspinner Press.

This is one of our favorite holiday stories, so we enjoyed revisiting it. We found several places where we could develop Macon and Derek’s budding relationship outside the letters, and we developed Macon himself more. While rereading it, we realized we hadn’t even identified what he teaches! So we made him part of the creative writing faculty in the department and had the book he was working on be a collection of short stories. We also let Mark — Derek’s ex, who breaks up with him at the beginning of the story — be a little more prominent.

Even though the revising and re-homing process has put some extra work on our plate that we didn’t expect, I’m finding it quite satisfying to go back and look at older works with an eye toward improving them. I think Letters from Cupid had room for growth, and I’m pleased with the changes we’ve made. Hopefully our readers will like them as well!