A Happy World Book Day Giveaway

I’m a huge fan and supporter of World Book Day. I’ve been a reader for as long as I can remember. For the last ten years I have been lucky enough to work in a library, and I also write books. If you take that to mean that my life more or less revolves around books, you wouldn’t be far from the truth.

In the past I have officially signed up for World Book Day events, and I thoroughly enjoyed giving away copies of first ‘The Book Thief’ by Markus Zusak and subsequently ‘The Blind Assassin’ by Margaret Atwood.

This year I didn’t sign up, but allowing the day to pass without doing something book related just doesn’t feel right, so I’ve decided to run a flash giveaway.

This Tuesday Equality, the second book in the Dublin Virtues Trilogy, will become available for early download on the Pride Publishing website, but I’m giving away one e-copy today. In order to enter, just leave a comment below telling me why you love books and/or why equality is important to you. I will be picking a winner at midnight (Irish time) tonight.

What’s the book about, you ask?

Love is love. But what if the fight for equality gets in the way of building a relationship?

Lorcan Barrett has never considered himself relationship material. After his parents made it perfectly clear they’d never welcome a partner of his into their home, he learned to love his own company and now can’t imagine sharing his life with another. After a single passionate kiss with Eric Kavanagh—the night before he travels to Canada for three months—Lorcan’s no longer sure he wants to be on his own. The problem is, he has no idea what sharing his life with someone else might entail.

Eric Kavanagh grew up in a loving and supportive family and had always assumed he’d end up in a committed relationship. Sure that he’s found the one, Eric doesn’t worry about the fact that Lorcan has no experience when it comes to love and relationships. They are good together, so what could possibly go wrong?

When both men get involved in the marriage equality referendum in Ireland, it appears to bring them even closer together, until Lorcan’s insecurities get the upper hand and he shuts Eric out. Will the fight for a Yes vote cost them their relationship, or will they be able to find a balance between the love they share and the need for equality?

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So if you’d like to get your hands on this story twenty-four hours before anybody else can, start commenting below now. And don’t forget to leave a contact email address and your preferred format (E-pub or PDF).

Good luck!

Hop for Visibility, Awareness and Equality

Today is International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia and I am proud and delighted to take part in the Hop for Visibility, Awareness and Equality. I hope you’ll enjoy my post on the aftermath of the marriage equality referendum in Ireland and that you’ll enter my give-away at the bottom of this post.

If you want to know more about the Blog Hop and the numerous blogs participating in this fabulous initiative, please click on the link below this image: 

Hop for Visibility, Awareness and Equality.

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As you may (or may not) know I live in Ireland. Today it is almost a year to the day since this little country I call home said yes to marriage equality in a referendum. With that in mind I decided this blog hop might be a good occasion to take a look at what happened after the result was announced.

I thought about it for a while and realised I couldn’t remember anything relating to the referendum result hitting the headlines since then. Yes, I’m fairly sure there was a report on the first same sex couple to tie the knot, but other than that, nothing sprang to mind.

While I do try to stay in touch with current affairs I’m the first to admit that I don’t catch everything, so I took to Google and entered ‘Ireland after the marriage equality referendum’ and found no stories other than those relating to the day the result was announced. Just to be sure I also tried ‘Ireland, marriage equality referendum aftermath’, but the search result was the same.

As far as I can tell nothing changed. I mean, of course things changed for those in same sex relationships. They now have an option they never had before; they have reached a level of equality that is still a dream for too many people around the world. But there hasn’t been a backlash, there have been no cases of civil servants refusing a couple their marriage certificate because they happened to be the same sex, the priests stopped talking about the subject, and there has been no stalling on the part of politicians. The referendum was passed, the law was changed and gay and lesbian couples could and did get married.

And that is because equality really isn’t that complicated. All it means is that those who are human all have the same rights and the same obligations. Equality doesn’t take anything away from those who were privileged before; it ‘only’ gives to those who were disadvantaged. I will never understand what drives people to deny others the rights they themselves take for granted. A world in which all are equal is a world with less strife and conflict and therefore a better place for all. It really is that simple.

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Give-away:

I’ll be gifting an e-copy of either ‘Strangers in the Night’ or ‘Scenes from Adelaide Road’ to one of those who comment below. This hop runs from May 17^th to May 24^th so to give anybody who wants to enter the opportunity to do so, I’ll randomly pick a winner on May 26^th. Good luck J

A Happy Birthday Give-away

Happy Birthday to Me

As the title of this post suggests, today is my birthday. To be precise, I’m turning fifty-three today. I stopped paying real attention to my birthdays some years ago. After all, age is just a number and the older I get the more I feel my mental age is falling ever further behind the numerical reality.

This particular birthday is different though for two, strongly related, reasons.

My mother was fifty-three years young when she unexpectedly died. To put it in very blunt terms; if I live another five months I’ll be older than she ever got to be. This idea is both scary and devastatingly sad. I don’t think I truly knew how young fifty-three actually is until I reached the age myself.

This year also marks the moment in time when I will have had as many years with my mother as I’ve had without her. It is strange to think that from this year forward I will have lived ever more years without her love and support.

So yeah, this particular birthday is not as easy and festive as others have been and future birthdays will hopefully be. Having said that, my mother would be the first to tell me not to dwell on the negatives but to embrace the positives instead. With that in mind I’ve decided to turn today into a celebration.

As you may know, I am Dutch and in the Netherlands we have this wonderful tradition where people give a special treat to others on their birthday. This usually takes the form of cake or something edible along those lines. Since it is not possible to share sweet treats over the internet I’ve decided to do something else.

A few days ago I received my author paperback copies of Scenes from Adelaide Road from Pride Publishing. To celebrate my birthday I will be gifting one signed copy away. In order to win it, all you need to do is leave a comment on this blog post below. I’m happy to send the book to wherever the winner happens to live, so location won’t be an issue. Please leave a way for me to contact you with your comment. I’ll be picking a random winner on Sunday, January 31^st.

Good luck and Happy Birthday to Me! 

LGBTQ Push Back Charity Giveaway

Today I come to you with a request and bearing gifts. I'm very proud to be one of 224 participants in the LGBTQ Push Back Charity Giveaway, an event organised in order to give back to those charities and organisations that give so much.

I'm sure you've heard about the American Pizza Parlour owners who announced they would refuse to cater to LGBT weddings and subsequently received a million dollars in donations through GoFundMe. 

A million dollars (or Euros or Pounds) would make such a huge difference to the charities and organisations who work tirelessly on behalf of the LGBTQ community, and we - authors, bloggers and publishers - have decided it's time to make a stand.

Have a look at Diverse Readers' blog for a short story by A.J. Rose which illustrates what it is all about, as well as the rules and your opportunity to enter and win a book. The words former Irish President Mary McAleese used when talking about the marriage equality referendum, apply to the topic as a whole:

Blog Tour and give-away: Sue Brown, Clare London and The 'With a Kick' Series

I’m delighted to welcome Sue Brown to ‘The Way She Writes’. She’s here to tell us all about the With A Kick Series and her upcoming release Hissed as a Newt as well as A Twist and Two Balls by Clare London.

Sue has generously offered a copy of Hissed as a Newt to one reader. Leave a comment with a contact email address below between now and midnight on Sunday. A winner will be picked, announced and contacted on Monday September 29.

“All guys do emotional just in different ways. I eat ice-cream, you get drunk in the gutter…”

What is the With A Kick series all about? Love in an ice-cream shop, but ice-cream for adults. I am not an ice-cream aficionado at all. Unlike chocolate, ice-cream isn’t my soul food, but the day I was given a sorbet with alcohol poured over it was the day I tasted a little bit of heaven. I babbled on about this shop to Clare London and we formed an idea for this series in her garden office. Clare created a wonderful relationship between a failed actor and a Turkish taxi driver, and I wrote a story about a clown, Stan the clown.

Sadly the shop in London no longer exists. I can’t tell you how disappointed I was to return to Covent Garden to discover there was no more heaven in a tall glass. I wandered round and round the shops trying to find it, only to be severely disappointed. We needed our own shop. With A Kick is the place where love forms over glasses of naughty ice-cream. The men need comfort, ice-cream provides it, with a little extra kick of alcohol.

Hissed as a Newt (due out 29^th September 2014

Blurb: A drunk clown rolling around in the gutter is not what David Wright expects to find as he walks to With A Kick, his favourite ice-cream shop. David has had a lousy day. A literary agent has crushed his dreams and all he wants is the consolation of alcoholic ice-cream. He’s about to walk away when he realises the clown has been dumped by his boyfriend. On a whim, David takes the clown into With A Kick before he gets arrested. Underneath the smeared make-up, he meets Stan, who has just discovered his boyfriend and best friend getting more than friendly. Over ice-cream, David and Stan discuss their problems and discover maybe they can help each other.

Excerpt:

“Sorry about the delay. It got busy all of a sudden. Do you want another ice-cream?” Lee looked enquiringly at Stan who shook his head.

“Do you do beer?”

“Coffee,” Lee said and from the tone of his voice that was all Stan was going to get.

David ducked his head to hide his smile.

“What happened to giving the customer what they want?”

“We give them what they need. And you need coffee, water and sleep.” Lee stalked off leaving Stan staring after him, his mouth open.

“He cut me off—in an ice-cream shop.”

“Patrick wouldn’t be happy if you made a mess. Patrick’s the owner. He’s big. You can taste my ice cream if you need a shot of alcohol.”

“Are you sure little Hitler over there won’t have us thrown out?” Stan asked snidely.

“I’m willing to take the risk if you are. Here, this spoon is clean.” David pushed the spoon over. “Dig in.”

Stan hesitated then he took a mouthful and moaned. David was hard put not to fidget at the obscene sound. He was aware of Lee’s frown from the counter but he couldn’t bring himself to care too much.

“What is in this?”

“Peach schnapps over vanilla sorbet.”

“It’s an orgasm in a bowl.”

“Tastes better though.” David smirked at him.

A Twist and Two Balls by Clare London

Eduardo Mancini is going to be a star of the London stage and screen. Or that was the plan. His alter ego Eddy March hasn’t got further than the chorus and a bit part in a TV series. His parents aren’t supportive, his agent can’t place his particular skills, and he’s finding it hard to hang onto his young dreams. Things go from bad to worse when he’s late for an important audition, hasn’t got enough money to pay the taxi fare, and is chased across the streets of Soho by the irate driver.

Eddy reaches what he believes is sanctuary – With A Kick, a store where ice creams are blended with alcohol and imagination, and where his friends can help him. But Nuri the taxi driver is persistent in his steady pursuit, above and beyond the money he’s owed. Despite their very different characters and background, Eddy and Nuri’s relationship goes from a complete unknown to a wary balancing act. There are still mistakes to be made, and hurdles to clear. And both of them have to admit that their life so far hasn’t gone the way they planned.

But maybe being caught by Nuri was just what Eddy’s career needed – both for his job and his heart.

About the Author

Sue Brown is owned by her dog and two children. When she isn't following their orders, she can be found plotting at her laptop. In fact she hides so she can plot, and has become at ignoring the orders.

Sue discovered M/M erotica at the time she woke up to find two men kissing on her favorite television series. The series was boring; the kissing was not. She may be late to the party, but she's made up for it since, writing fan fiction until she was brave enough to venture out into the world of original fiction.

Come over and talk to Sue at suebrown.stories@gmail.com.

Her website can be found at http://www.suebrownstories.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/suebrownstories

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/suebrownstories

Blog: http://suebrownsstories.blogspot.com/

Email: suebrown.stories@gmail.com

A First Time for Everything

Last Monday, August 25th, the First Annual BDSM Writers Conference Anthology was published by Riverdale Avenue Books. 

This anthology features a story of mine title 'A Virgin Again'. I'm rather proud those 3000 words of mine were deemed good enough to be included. 

Here's the blurb:

From soft and sweet submission to hard core vampire domination, and just about everything in between, the First Annual BDSM Writers Con Anthology offers lovers of erotic reading a rich spectrum of stories and flavors showcasing the breath of this genre. 

This anthology brings you the work of established award-wining erotica and erotic romance authors such as Roz Lee, Cris Anson and Debra Hyde to virgin authors Jessica Lust, Mia Koutras and Helena Stone. As an added bonus, there is a story by best-selling author Laura Antoniou from her Marketplace series, as well as a chapter from clinical sexologist and conference founder Dr. Charley Ferrer’s ground-breaking book BDSM The Naked Truth. 

Since, as the blurb says, I am one of three virgin authors, I am also new to and slightly uncomfortable with, promoting my own work. I therefore won't say a lot more about it except that I hope the blurb has made you curious enough to buy and read the book.

If you would like to try and win a copy please visit Diverse Reader's Straight not Narrow blog and enter the give-away there. The contest runs until Saturday August, 30th. Good luck.

Buy links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK