New submission...

I was introduced to gay romance by the place I review for. Prior to 2006, I had never read a gay romance, never even knew they existed. Well, what can I say, now I'm hooked! So much so that I decided to try my hand at writing a couple of them. I'm presently working on Doomed to Be Charmed, a paranormal gay romance, and I just finished and submitted to a publisher Homecoming a science fiction gay romance.

Homecoming came about because I wanted to just write something and finish it. I love writing longer novel lengths but sometimes as an author I just want to write and finish something for that feeling of accomplishment you get when you do finish a work no matter how big or small. That can be the beauty of non-fiction articles which I also write, but I wanted to do something fiction. Anyway, this idea popped into my head and the old "what if?" reared its head, and became, "What if a younger man left his lover to see the universe, but then realized that it wasn't what he really wanted? Would his lover who was older, accept him back into his life after five years or would he want revenge for the pain he was caused?" Anyway that's the premise of Homecoming which I really enjoyed writing. It took me about six hours total from rough draft to polished version, but I was very happy with it when it was completed.

I'll be posting here once I hear back from the publisher I submitted it to!

Space: THE FINAL FRONTIER

I just finished watching "When We Left Earth" on the Discovery channel. It was a great series that went from Kennedy's challenge to land a man on the moon in ten years to our plan to send a manned spacecraft to Mars. There have been so many challenges and hazards along the way that some critic have said it's just a waste of money.
I beg to differ.
The space program lifts us up out of our self-focused thoughts, away from disputes between countries and takes us up into the heavens with wonder and awe etched in the skies. It is euphoric to think that we have actually had a man on the moon and that we might some day set foot on the red planet. Humankind have always had wanderlust surging through our veins. We want to know what's out there. Just like Fox Mulner, we search for "the truth" that's out there.
But even if you could care less what is in the universe, you have to appreciate the achievements that have been accomplished. Without the efforts of the space program, there would be no cell phone service, no satellite TV, no GPS,; not even Velcro.
It fills me with excitement as I await the next adventure by man into space.
What about you? How do you feel about the space program? Are you like me, excited and enthused, or do you think it's a big waste of time and money.
Sarah McNeal
Author of THE VIOLIN at Amira Press
THE DARK ISLE at New Concepts Publishing
LAKE OF SORROWS at New Concepts publishing

Ebooks and print books

I have been experimenting with ebooks for the past year or two, because there are books that I have on computer that would probably not have been published. I love writing and write far more stuff than any one publisher would want to put out. So far I have had a best seller in A Shameful Secret/ Anne Ireland/Amira Press. Of course the sales are not anywhere near what you expect from a mainstream papberback or hardback, but it was a book I loved and I am happy for it to be out there. I think on the whole that is the way to look at ebooks for the moment. Enjoy them being out there. However, I am convinced that evetually ebook will overtake print if only to save the trees!

My book Too Hot To Handle, a sensual contemporary as Linda Sole and out with Eternal Press is a book I would never have produced just as it is had it not been for ebooks. I find it such fun to promote. fingers crossed it will do well!

First Sentences, Redux

Last week the lovely Sarah McNeal blogged about beginnings, and the first sentence of each book. Thinking about what to say this week, I decided I'd piggyback off her and share the opening lines to some of my work, and some of my books to read.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte - "I have just returned from a visit to my landlord - the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with."

Great Expectations, Charles Dickens - "My father's family name being Pirrip, and my christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip."

The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner - "Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting."

I do disagree with Ms. McNeal's statement that stories like these would never sell today. I think the first line is important, true, but not the end all, be all. In fact, it's near impossible to judge a book by its first line. Are we a culture of decreasingly short attention spans? Yep. But I think lovers of books still know the game, so to speak. So here are my first lines:


Svetkavista - "The night air was damp and cool on her bare arms as she approached the flickering light of the bonfire, a distant beacon lighting her way across the field."

Leading Her to Heaven - "Lady Susanna Cavendish paced her antechamber like a tiger in the London Zoo."

Caging Kat - "Kat did her best to suppress a groan as she took a quick survey of the ballroom."

Unspeakable - "The ballroom was insufferably hot, and Trevor's mood, foul to begin with, was worsening rapidly."

Eyes Like Yours - "The dream is the same night after night, so startlingly vivid that at times I wake convinced it is real."

A Scandalous Arrangement - "Anna blinked back the tears that clouded her vision and shook her head, trying to banish the thoughts that plagued her."

Woman of the Forest - "She fled to the forest."

Reckless Liaisons - "The horse’s hooves beat a clamorous tattoo against the cobbled streets, stirring the low fog that had settled like a blanket."

A Compromising Evening - "Bloody hell, he was bored."

Endings

ENDINGS

Just like real life, endings in our books are sometimes dramatic, occasionally sudden, once in a while drug out in like a terminal illness but then, just every now and then, they are sweet, just and better than you ever thought they could be.

I love it when the story gets the main characters into a deeper and ever deeper mess. There just doesn't seem to be any way out, until the characters just throw in everything but the kitchen sink, against all odds, giving it one last shot, all or nothing and then, despite all the cards stacked against them, they come out on top, win the woman or man of their dreams, become the town hero and win the day. Even better, because of their enormous effort and noble character, they win the lottery or find the gold at the end of the rainbow as well as winning their true love and defeating the enemy.

I've written some good endings and some so-so endings. I have two favorites. The first is from the first short story I wrote that was published by Rhapsody Romance back in the day. It's about a woman with a horrible scar on her face who has discovered a way to surgically implant artificial optics to help the blind see. The hero is a man of the future whose people are all born blind--except him. At the very end the heroine is embarrassed that he can see her horrible scarred face. Here is the ending from BLIND INTUITION.

"Oh, Maria," Roth whispered as he kissed me and cupped my face in his hands, "Everything will work itself out."
He brushed my cheek gently with the back of his hand, "And the scar, well, who doesn't have a scar of some kind or other? A scar is just a place that hurt once then healed."

The second ending is from THE VIOLIN published this year by Amira Press. Of course, I might just wait to share that one with you since it would ruin the story for you. But you get my point I'm sure that endings are as important as beginnings. If that story doesn't end the way you promised, readers are going to howl with disappointment and I can't blame them. I've quit reading books by authors who left me high and dry at the end. I read Stephen King's IT. It was a fat book filled with clues about a monster that no one could see but children. There were so many wonderful clues about innocence, water and the lack of response by adults. I knew the end was going to be something spectacular. Well, disappointment reigns because the wonderful clues were just red herrings leading nowhere and the monster turned out to be a lame space spider. Yep. Space spider. That was the last Stephen King I ever read. As much as I respect him, it's like he just got tired of writing the story and dumped me off at the curb.

Endings are difficult to write, as difficult as beginnings. But when it's done right, it's the cake, the icing and the plate!

I hope you've read or written some great endings and I would be glad if you would share those endings with me. Bring 'em on.

All good things to your corner of the universe.

Sarah McNeal

http://www.sarahmcneal.com/

http://amirapresssays.blogspot.com/

The Homeless Heiress

The Homeless Heiress/ Anne Herries is my new Regency coming in July from Harlequin Mills and Boon. I have another Regency in December and two more books from Severn House this year. The Lie/Linda Sole is the first in a series called the Family Feud. Forbidden Love/Anne Herries is the third in the Upstairs Downstairs series.

On the ebook side I have just had a book published by Eternal Press. Too Hot To Handle/Linda Sole. They are bringing an Anne Ireland book out in September hopefully, which is a historical time slip. I still have a couple more contracted books to do for Red rose Publishing.