The last couple of weeks since the release of Seeing You from Samhain Publishing have been really wonderful. Overwhelming in a good way.

And crazy. I’m starting to sympathize with that poor chicken running around looking for its head. *g*

I’ve been guest blogging a fair bit. I know my own blog is very jealous of the time I’ve spent with others, and I’d promise to blog more on here but I think I might be blogged out for a bit. Surely I can’t be interesting enough to talk THAT much. Heh.

Don’t think I ever posted about it, but I was over at lovely and talented Clare London’s spot for her month-long birthday bash (which was a blast!). I talked about the value (or not) of the epilogue and one of the reasons why I love epublishing so much.

I spent some time over at the Samhellion blog talking about size. Of fiction, get your mind out of the gutter! I like ‘em long these days. 

Today, tomorrow, and Saturday I’m over at DIK, invited by the fabulously discerning and prolific Jen from Well Read. I have to say it’s a blast, with sand, sun, fruity drinks–and of course–hunky men. Today I’m answering some questions about the REAL Dakota, and tomorrow and Sat. I”ll be talking about some of my favorite romance tropes and sexual tension. Stop on by and make sure to leave a comment on any of the three posts as I’ll be picking two commenters to receive a FREE FREE FREE copy of Seeing You. (the FREE FREE FREE…well that’s a flag for anyone skimming this post, aren’t I sweet? *g*)

Seeing You has also received some great reviews for those of you who are thinking about buying–you should!–or are curious.

Wave over at Reviews by Jessewave was the first to offer a review, giving it 4 out of 5 stars and hitting on an ingenious marketing strategy: curiosity. She said, "I thought that the best part of the book was Wade’s unusual courtship which you will have to read for yourself – let’s just say that the author showed a great deal of imagination." You can read the rest of the review here.

British Bulldog over at Rainbow Reviews also gave it 4 stars out of 5 and thought, "The story’s greatest strength is how it shows the slow coming together of Wade and Dylan, as both men heal from Simon’s death." He also commented on my "first-class job" and "mastery of words." (That TICKLED me, I say!) You can read the rest here.

Jen over at Well Read gave Seeing You a grade of Very Good and found that "as a study in overcoming grief this novella was spot on" and it "managed all this without being too heavy on the angst." You can check out what else she said here.

Joan/Sarah F. from Dear Author also reviewed Seeing You (I was completely flabbergasted that it had even been reviewed on such a popular site). She gave it a B- and thought it was a "beautifully-done story of loss and recovery." You can read the rest of the review here.

Mrs. Giggles also reviewed Seeing You, and while some parts worked for her, some didn’t and she gave it a 78 out 100. The review itself made me laugh out loud three times while reading it, which is probably an odd reaction to enjoy a less than positive review of your own work, but what can I say? I’m strange. You can read her review here.

And finally the lovely Elisa Rolle reposted her review of Seeing You, saying the "mood is definitely not light, but the story is very romantic." You can read the rest of the review here.

So that’s what a few people have thought so far of my wee little story.  And though it’s early days, it seems to be selling pretty well. SY spent two weeks on the MBaM Bestseller list, with a few days at #2. It’s also listed as one of the highest rated and bestselling gay and contemporary ebooks over at ARe. It fluctuates a lot (and I’m not sure how much it really means) but it’s been staying pretty high in a couple popular Amazon categories. (I think at the moment it’s #5 in Kindle Store > Kindle Books > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Gay & Lesbian and #6 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Literature & Fiction > Fiction > Gay.)

And after all this news I should probably say…If you haven’t already and you’d like to, you can pick up a copy of Seeing You here.

So there it is. Post-release news and updates. I hope you’re not as tired as I am! *g*

Seriously though, I can’t tell you how pleased I am. I love hearing from readers and reading reviews (truly I do, whether positive OR negative) because I like to see what worked for someone and what didn’t. And if you’ll forgive me a moment of emotionalism on my professional blog…I wrote Seeing You over two years ago and it was very different from anything I wrote before it and everything I’ve written since. It’s special to me, flaws and all, and I thought for a while of not trying to publish it (but submitted it impulsively the first time around). Writing it helped–in a small way– during a time when my heart was breaking as someone I loved was losing a battle to a terminal illness. The grief…well that was my own. But the recovery…that was how I imagined it to be at the time. Whether I was successful or not in terms of the story, I’ll leave that up to the readers. And now in some ways, I feel like I’m quietly closing a chapter in my life–and I’m smiling about it. That’s a good thing.

Current Mood:  accomplished

Blurb:

Love can be found among the pieces of a broken heart.

The night his brother, Simon, was killed in an accident, Dylan took on a double load of guilt. Guilt for walking away unscathed…and for secretly loving Simon’s partner, Wade. Unable to bear the pain, Dylan left the Lazy G ranch to rebuild his life elsewhere.

A year later he reluctantly responds to his sister’s plea to come home, where he finds the Lazy G falling apart. And so is Wade. Wade has stopped caring about the ranch, about everything that should matter most to him.

Though there’s more ranch work than one man can possibly handle, Dylan throws himself into the task. Wondering how he’s going to find the strength to pull Wade out of the fog of grief when his own is still as raw as a fresh wound. Wondering when Wade will finally see that his second chance for happiness is standing right in front of him.

Warning: Contains explicit, emotionally charged m/m sex. Extra box of tissues required. You could use your sleeve, of course, but we don’t recommend it.

 Excerpt:

I hadn’t dreamed about the accident in weeks, hadn’t woken up sweating and crying and wondering "why me?" in months. I had recently, in fact, started dreaming of our childhood together, of Simon and Erin and our parents, Annie and Fred. I dreamed of the day I came to live with them when I was six, bewildered by the disappearance of my mother and this concept called death, when this Simon boy sat and held my hand all night when I was too scared to sleep. I dreamed of the time a pair of nine-year-old boys thought they could hitchhike to California instead of doing their chores, but wound up waiting at Miss Flossie’s house for our parents to pick us up while the town librarian fed us stale cookies and Lactaid. I dreamed of the time twelve-year-old Simon tried to convince Erin she was adopted and was really born at a house located at 666 Damnation Drive, of the moment when she looked at Simon and said, “If you’re trying to make me cry, it won’t work. Dylan was adopted by Mom and Dad and look how lucky we all are.”

Much better dreams than nightmares of blood and death and grief.

My attention was caught by the light flashing on in the kitchen of the ranch house, and I wondered what Wade dreamed about at night. A moment later it looked like the front door had opened, and I squinted, trying to see in the darkness if Wade was outside. Then the moonlight caught him as he stood at the top of the porch steps, his face tilted up to the rain.

I watched as he made his way down the steps, over the mud and grass, to the corral fence. Puzzled, I stared. This wasn’t a drizzle. It was a storm, and even if it were almost summer, a drenching would sap body heat pretty quickly. “Christ, what the hell is he doing? Doesn’t he care if he gets pneumonia?”

Abruptly I realized, no, he didn’t care. That was the point. And just like that, once again I felt the burn of anger infusing my limbs, powering through me as I dragged my Levi’s and boots on, bubbling under the surface as I stomped down the hall and out the door. I didn’t stop until I reached Wade where he was leaning against the fence, and I grabbed his shoulder and whirled him around to face me.

“What are you doing?” I barely recognized my own voice.

He blinked water out of his eyes and stared dumbly at me before saying, “What?”

“I said, what are you doing out here? I know it might seem like a nice night for a walk to you, but I thought I might inform you that it’s fucking pouring outside.”

Wade looked away, as if he was too tired to even look me in the face, and said, “Go back to bed, Dylan.” Then he turned back around to lean on the fence, dismissing me, and my anger turned to rage.

It felt like someone else moving after that. Someone else’s hand grabbing Wade’s shoulder to turn him around again, someone else’s arm that cocked back and let fly straight into Wade’s granite jaw, someone else that watched as Wade’s head snapped back from the force and he stumbled against the fence. Because surely it couldn’t have been me that touched Wade in anger.

But it was definitely me that went down, without a fence to catch me, when Wade’s fist connected to my own jaw. I was sure that would hurt later, but at the moment I couldn’t feel anything except anger and relief that Wade was still fighting.

I scrambled back up out of the mud, and then it was happening so fast, the adrenaline moving through my veins as we both grunted and swore and swung our limbs, that I wasn’t sure who was landing punches where. We were like one beast, ugly and flailing. I hadn’t brawled like this since Johnny Baron, one of the linebackers in high school, had called Simon a faggot when we were juniors.

The rain and mud were making things slippery, and then we were on the ground wrestling like a couple kids in the mud, both of us obviously no longer going for blood. Wade managed to roll me onto my back and straddle me, and I felt mud oozing around my head. I could barely see with the rain falling into my eyes.

It felt like the mud was seeping into my ears, which was just fucking nasty, and I stopped struggling for control and reached out, grabbed a handful of mud and aimed it for Wade’s face.

It landed around his left temple and I smashed it into his hair and ear as best I could. I started laughing when Wade stopped moving and just sat back, looking down at me as if I had suddenly turned into a purple dinosaur.

I laughed and laughed until I was scared I would never stop laughing, and all the while Wade looked down at me with his mouth hanging open in shock. Which just made me bellow more as he was catching mouthfuls of rainwater like that.

Just as Wade was starting to look really concerned, the laughter just dried up, and I became aware that we were out in a thunderstorm and it was pouring, and I hadn’t bothered with a shirt. I wouldn’t be surprised if my nipples were little blue pebbles, and I grinned at the weird thought.

That must have been the final straw, because Wade grabbed my chin and forced me to meet his gaze. “Are you fucking crazy?”

I considered this. “Probably. But if I’m crazy for lying here in the mud and laughing in the rain, aren’t you crazy for watching me do it?”

Wade grinned and said, “Probably.” The grin caught me off guard. It had been so long since I had seen it, making him look unexpectedly boyish despite the years carved into his face. I looked at that grin and the momentarily happy look in his eyes, and I couldn’t breathe.

As if he was deflating, the look faded from his face and he said, “Why did you hit me?”

“Because I couldn’t stand it one more minute. Not one more fucking second.”

“Stand what?”

“Watching you give up.”

“I have not.” But he said it quietly, and I knew he didn’t even believe himself.

“You have. What do you think Simon would say?” I winced as I said this, hating myself for it, and Wade looked like I had punched him again.

“I—”

“Simon died. Not you. I want you to stop acting like it was you that died on that highway.”

“How do you know it wasn’t?”

That physically hurt. “Because that’s bullshit. I watched my brother die in my arms, okay? I watched and for a while, I wish I had, too. You’re not the only one who lost something that day, and I’m sick of watching you wish you could join him when the rest of us are doing the best we can to pick up the pieces.”

Wade snarled back at me, “Why do you care now? You just left. Just packed your bags and left like I was nothing to you. Like this place was nothing to you.”

That left me momentarily speechless. “I… Wade.” I wasn’t sure what to say. I tried again. “I just… I was trying to adjust to a world without my brother in it, and every time I looked at you I kept waiting for you to get angry that I walked away from the crash and Simon didn’t. I just couldn’t stay for that.” I told myself that the burning in my eyes was from the mud and rain.

Wade looked shocked. “You thought that? I… Never.” He scrubbed his hands over his face, not that it did any good. “Christ, I thought a million times that it shouldn’t have been Simon. But I never once thought it should have been you instead.”

I hoped Wade would think it was only rain leaking around my eyes. “I… Thank you. Didn’t want to think of you hating me.”

“No.” Wade was looking down at me, and I was about to ask him to get off me because I could feel my teeth getting ready to chatter, when he let out this weird choking sound. Then he said, “What do you want from me, Dylan?”

Click here to buy!

Okay, don’t mind the singing–that’s probably just the dayquil carrying a tune–but I do want to give my new cover art a chance to shine because I think it’s scrumptious. 

So ta-da! Here’s the new cover art for my cowboy novella, Seeing You, done by the very talented Natalie Winters. 

Seeing You will be out from Samhain Jan. 19, 2010!

 I’m beyond late posting these reviews, but I was waiting for some news about Seeing You and I thought I’d do it all up in one post.

The lovely and discerning Kassa reviewed the Studs & Spurs anthology and she gave my contribution 4 stars and called it "a sweet and romantic story." You can read the rest of the review here at Kassa’s LJ or here at reviewsbyjessewave. Thanks Kassa for the review!

The wonderful and prolific Elisa Rolle also reviewed the Studs & Spurs anthology. She also called it a "sweet romance" and said, "The mood is definitely less light, but the story is not less romantic." You can read the review here at Elisa’a LJ. Thanks Elisa for the review!

And in other related news, I recently signed a contract with Samhain to publish Seeing You as a standalone ebook. I’m so excited to be working with them, I really am. There’s no set release date yet, but it looks like probably February 2010 for the ebook edition of Seeing You.

I have a new novella, Seeing You, out now from MLR Press as part of the Studs & Spurs print anthology! I’m lucky enough to be included with three supremely talented authors: JL Langley, Kiernan Kelly, and Angela Fiddler. Yee-haw!

Blurb for Studs & Spurs

Saddles, spurs, Stetsons . . . and love? Sexy cowboys grab hold of more than a saddle in these entrancing stories from four talented authors of the genre. Kiernan Kelly takes us on an adventurous cattle drive to the Oregon Territory with a greenhorn and an old hand. Angela Fiddler’s retired rodeo men accept each other and the black riders. Two men overcome grief, rebuild a ranch and find love in Dakota Flint’s story. And JL Langley offers a light-hearted tale of a city boy and a rancher filled with love, laughter and a marriage of convenience?

Blurb for Seeing You

Everything changed for Dylan the night his brother, Simon, was killed in an accident. Unable to face the pain–or Simon’s partner, Wade–Dylan leaves life on the Lazy G ranch behind. Over a year later, Dylan gets a call saying he’s needed at home and he returns to find both the Lazy G and Wade in bad shape. Will Dylan and Wade be able to deal with their grief and rebuild the ranch? And will Wade see that sometimes you can find happiness again?

You can buy Studs & Spurs online through IndieBound.org:

Shop Indie Bookstores

Or you can order through Barnes and Noble or Amazon.

Excerpt

“What the fuck are you doing?” I barely recognized my own voice.

He blinked water out of his eyes and stared dumbly at me before saying, “What?”

“I said, what the fuck are you doing out here? I know it might seem like a nice night for a walk to you, but I thought I might inform you that it’s pouring outside.”

Wade looked away, as if he was too tired to even look me in the face, and said, “Go back to bed, Dylan.” Then he turned back around to lean on the fence, dismissing me, and my anger turned to rage.

It felt like someone else moving after that. Someone else’s hand grabbing Wade’s shoulder to turn him around again, someone else’s arm that cocked back and let fly straight into Wade’s granite jaw, someone else that watched as Wade’s head snapped back from the force and he stumbled against the fence. Because surely it couldn’t have been me that touched Wade in anger.

But it was definitely me that went down, without a fence to catch me, when Wade’s fist connected to my own jaw. I was sure that would hurt later, but at the moment, I couldn’t feel anything except anger and relief that Wade was still fighting.

I scrambled back up out of the mud and then it was happening so fast, the adrenaline moving through my veins as we both grunted and swore and swung our limbs, that I wasn’t sure who was landing punches where. We were like one beast, ugly and flailing. I hadn’t brawled like this since Eddie Baron, one of the linebackers in high school, had called Simon a faggot when we were juniors.

The rain and mud were making things slippery, and then we were on the ground wrestling like a couple kids in the mud, both of us obviously no longer going for blood. Wade managed to roll me onto my back and straddle me, and I felt mud oozing around my head. I could barely see with the rain falling into my eyes.

It felt like the mud was seeping into my ears, which was just fucking nasty, and I stopped struggling for control and reached out, grabbed a handful of mud and aimed it for Wade’s face.

It landed around his left temple and I smashed it into his hair and ear as best I could. I started laughing when Wade stopped moving and just sat back, looking down at me as if I had suddenly turned into a purple dinosaur.

I laughed and laughed until I was scared I would never stop laughing, and all the while Wade looked down at me with his mouth hanging open in shock. Which just made me bellow more as he was catching mouthfuls of rainwater like that.

Just as Wade was starting to look really concerned, the laughter just dried up and I became aware that we were out in a thunderstorm and it was pouring, and I hadn’t bothered with a shirt. I wouldn’t be surprised if my nipples were little blue pebbles, and I grinned at the weird thought.

That must have been the final straw, because Wade grabbed my chin and forced me to meet his gaze. “Are you fucking crazy?”

I considered this. “Probably. But if I’m crazy for lying here in the mud and laughing in the rain, aren’t you crazy for watching me do it?”

Wade grinned and said, “Probably.” The grin caught me off guard. It had been so long since I had seen it, making him look unexpectedly boyish despite the years carved into his face. I looked at that grin and the momentarily happy look in his eyes, and I couldn’t breathe.

As if he was deflating, the look faded from his face, and he said, “Why did you hit me?”

“Because I couldn’t stand it one more minute. Not one more fucking second.”

“Stand what?”

“Watching you give up.”

“I have not.” But he said it quietly, and I knew he didn’t even believe himself.

“You have. What do you think Simon would say?” I winced as I said this, hating myself for it, and Wade looked like I had punched him again.

“I–”

“Simon died. Not you. I want you to stop acting like it was you that died on that highway.”

“How do you know it wasn’t?”

That physically hurt. “Because that’s bullshit. I watched my brother die in my arms, okay? I watched and for a while I wish I had too. You’re not the only one who lost something that day, and I’m sick of watching you wish you could join him when the rest of us are doing the best we can to pick up the pieces.”

Wade snarled back at me, “Why do you care now? You just left. Just packed your bags and left like I was nothing to you. Like this place was nothing to you.”

That left me momentarily speechless. “I…Wade.” I wasn’t sure what to say. I tried again. “I just…I was trying to adjust to a world without my brother in it, and every time I looked at you I kept waiting for you to get angry that I walked away from the crash and Simon didn’t. I just couldn’t stay for that.” I told myself that the burning in my eyes was from the mud and rain.

Wade looked shocked. “You thought that? I…never.” He scrubbed his hands over his face, not that it did any good. “Christ, I thought a million times that it shouldn’t have been Simon. But I never once thought it should have been you instead.”

I hoped Wade would think it was only rain leaking around my eyes. “I…thank you. Didn’t want to think of you hating me.”

“No.” Wade was looking down at me, and I was about to ask him to get off me because I could feel my teeth getting ready to chatter, when he let out this weird choking sound. Then he said, “What do you want from me, Dylan?”