Category Archives: promo

Now Available: The Water-Irises

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And here’s the last short story of this collection, finally available. :) “The Water-Irises” is a French fairy tale, which I wrote about five or so years ago. Hugh LaCaille is also the prototype of Garrick Mortimer from the Desmond and Garrick series.

Hugh LaCaille’s quiet, scholarly life is interrupted one day by a wealthy but obnoxious businessman who hires Hugh as a tutor to his young son. Ignace Fournier is incensed Aubin’s passion for nature and poetry is a threat to his dream of seeing the boy grow up to be just as successful as his father in commerce. When Hugh finally meets Aubin, he realizes there’s a great deal more than what meets the eye as far as the boy’s concerned … particularly his curious and outlandish stories involving a strange kingdom found at the bottom of a pond filled with water-irises.

The most alarming claim Aubin makes touches on a special friendship he’s nurtured with the young ruler of that mysterious kingdom. Forced under time pressure to instill discipline into the boy, Hugh grapples with questions he’s never before faced, and he finds himself looking deeper into his heart for difficult answers … and even more difficult choices.

You can purchase the story and read an excerpt over here.

And here’s a bonus for you – while Queerteen Press usually offers a 20% for all new releases, they’re offering a site-wide special for the Memorial Day weekend, and all books purchased from the site are offered at a 30% discount through Monday. :)

Now Available: The Bridge

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Short story number eight is now available! “The Bridge” is the only non-fantasy story that I’m releasing in this group, though it does have a very, very slight hint of the supernatural toward the end, and I wrote that in for a bit of humor. Anyway, here’s the blurb:

Remy Pépin’s been dealt too many harsh blows in his young life. Orphaned, miserably poor, and subjected to occasional bullying from his employer, Remy’s only source of joy and hope is in a superstition shared by a dear friend, Mathilde Jolicoeur. It’s a superstition involving a lit candle sitting by a window, which Mathilde claims attracts luck.

Day after day, Remy lights his candle and waits, convincing himself not to hope for good fortune to come his way — until one snowy evening, when another boy appears at his doorstep, seeking shelter.

The book page at the publisher contains an excerpt, and you can check it out here. As is the usual deal, you’re also entitled to a 20% new release discount if you purchase the story directly from Queerteen Press, and that discount will be good for a week from the release date.

Now Available: Clouds’ Illusions

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Here’s short story number seven from me! :) “Clouds’ Illusions” is a modern fairy tale-y thing that, frankly, I really can’t describe more accurately as it’s a story that you shouldn’t read literally. Yeah, it’s an extended metaphor about a gay kid’s process of maturation.

Five-year-old Simon, along with his parents and older sister Amy, go to a carnival one day. When a sudden deluge separates the family and leaves Simon alone and frightened, the child undergoes a journey of maturation as he searches for his parents and sister.

Wandering through the ruined carnival, Simon encounters rain-soaked clowns, muddied carnival-goers, and a special young boy named Brian, who’s also lost. The longer Simon stays in the carnival and the rain that continues to threaten everyone’s fun, the more he learns about life, and he leaves the carnival a man with hopeful prospects ahead of him.

“Clouds’ Illusions” is a modern fairy tale, a metaphor for a young gay man’s coming-of-age with all its illusions and truths, and the wisdom that comes from the marriage of rain and sun.

An excerpt can be read at the book page, and you’re also entitled to a new release discount of 20%, which will be good for a week. :)

Trivia bit: this story was inspired by this song (rather sentimental, I know):

Now Available: Erl-King

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After a few weeks’ break due to the release of Mimi Attacks!, the next short story is finally available.

Baltasar grows up in a world of absolutes, of black and white, right and wrong. Just as his brothers and sisters who went before him, the boy is groomed to follow only one road, at the end of which is a life no different from his parents’ and grandparents’. His parents’ strict teachings and the naïveté that results, however, render him ignored and friendless, and Baltasar spends much time alone.

During one of his solitary wanderings in the countryside, he stumbles across an enchanted land and its melancholy, ageless ruler — a land full of color and magic, and a bond that defies everything he’s always known about the world. But what’s unusual, tempting, and exciting doesn’t always lead to a clearer path, and Baltasar is forced to choose between two wildly diverging worlds, with each exacting a high price.

“Erl-King” is a retelling of Goethe’s ballad by the same title.

Since this is a short story, not a novel, it’s only available in e-book format. If you purchase directly from the publisher, you’ll receive a 20% new release discount, which will be good for a limited time. You’ll also see an excerpt posted there, and if you do purchase the story, I hope you enjoy it!

Now Available: Mimi Attacks!

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And the day finally arrives for this book to be available, LOL! I do feel pretty badly, though, skipping all of 2011 and not keeping the Masks series updated till now. But I am trying to make up for that by (hopefully) releasing Dr. Morbid later this year.

So here’s the blurb:

Following Arachnaman’s bigoted, hateful attacks, life in beleaguered Vintage City finally quiets down, but it doesn’t last long. Eric’s father begins to show symptoms of extreme fatigue, symptoms that Eric notices in a number of other people he sees elsewhere. Along with the superheroes, he tries to find a common denominator in all this, the surprising result being a new perfume shop that hawks very strong fragrances. A familiar pair of supervillains is suspected, but before the heroes can further investigate the motives behind this threat, people exhibiting symptoms of illness are transformed in the most shocking way, throwing Vintage City in a state of panic.

In the meantime, Eric monitors the Unofficial Calais Fan Club, which is now exploding with romantic Mary Sue fanfiction involving Calais as well as curious messages posted by a girl who’s apparently wildly in love with the superhero. References to her making “new friends” alert Eric to suspect that she and the current mayhem being inflicted on Vintage City are somehow tied together. The stakes are now raised for Eric, whose father has become a victim to a new crime wave and whose superhero boyfriend might also be under threat. All this, and he’s yet to survive school and find a job.

And all y’all know the drill, yeah? If you purchase directly from the publisher, you’ll receive a 20% new release discount, which will be offered up to a week after the release date.

The e-book is officially released today, and you can purchase a copy here. The print book, though technically scheduled for release on March 31, is already live at the publisher’s site, which I’m guessing means that you can pre-order a print copy now. :)

The coming week will see me neck-deep in revision work for Dr. Morbid, and once that’s done (can’t say for sure how long that phase will take me), I’m starting on the new series I mentioned before. I’ve been thinking about it on and off while working on Dr. Morbid, and I’m getting really hyper. I can’t wait to get started on it. Even though it’s another contemporary fantasy, I’m hoping that the new scenery and new characters will stoke the fires well enough to keep that dreaded burnout from happening. It tends to eat me up whenever I work on two or more stories back-to-back in the same genre.

It’s best to focus on the positive and the “what ifs”. So I’ll do that. :)