There's a new queer romance anthology out that benefits RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) - Summer Fair.
Summer festivals bring the aroma of popcorn, the excitement of rides, and the promise of real-life enchantment. Seven authors bring you original love stories, each set at a different summer celebration. You’ll experience the thrill of the Chicago World’s fair through the eyes of a plucky girl reporter and the quiet desperation of a teen working a summer job at a traveling carnival. Get whisked away on romantic journeys around the world from a sweet Texas Dewberry Festival to a lantern-filled temple celebration to a surprisingly rowdy New England Founders Day. Whether it’s the magic of a Renaissance Fair, the excitement of a Theater Retreat, or the pulse of a Music Festival, you’re sure to get geared up for all things summer with this delightful new collection.
Note: Most stories are fantasy, but this anthology also includes historical, paranormal and contemporary works.
Including:
- Riding the Wave by Annabeth Leong
- Amaryllis and New Lace by Gregory L. Norris
- Salty and Sweet by R.L. Merrill
- Dewberry Kisses by CM Peters
- All the World by Marie Piper
- Carnie by Sienna Saint-Cyr
- The Storyteller’s Side by Harley Easton
- With Stars in His Eyes by Arden de Winter
Giveaway
The authors are giving away a $75 Amazon gift card – for a chance to win, enter via Rafflecopter.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b60e8d4723/?
Excerpt
From All the World by Marie Piper
“I’ve been up in the wheel,” but Cathleen didn’t say no. “You don’t have to buy me a ticket.”
“But I want to,” Anna said. “I want to go up there with you. The line is long. It may be the last thing I get to do today, and though I’m terrified I can’t pass up the chance to do something that is once-in-a-lifetime.”
“No, I imagine you can’t.” Wiping her face, Cathleen finished her hot dog. Anna did the same, and they returned their glasses to the Pabst booth and then got into the long line for the wheel. Children bounced in line, excited to go up but bored with waiting. Men smoked and sent the wafts of smoke across all the people in line, and more than one person looked nervous about going into the sky in the steel contraption.
Anna and Cathleen bought tickets and, by virtue of space, were shoved together as they shuffled slowly to the front.
“Mercy, but it’s high.” Anna felt as if she might be sick.
“You don’t have to do it, you know.”
“But I’ve already bought a ticket.”
“Someone’d pay you for it.”
“But I’ve come all this way and I’m here standing underneath it. Besides, what’ll I do if I don’t—go look at the Fisheries?”
She felt a warm hand take hers and nearly fainted. Cathleen had taken her hand. “Don’t be afraid. It’s fun. It really is.”
“Thank you.”
“And if it collapses and we die, at least we’ll die together.”
Anna groaned but did not take her hand away. Hand in hand, they reached the front of the line and waited with a group of thirty others for the next car to come down and to board. Cathleen pulled them to a windowed corner where they could both press against the glass.
Still, they held hands.
And when the car started to move, Anna squeezed hard from nerves without thinking. Cathleen ducked her head in and put her lips to Anna’s. It was brief, just a momentary touch, but then she whispered into Anna’s ear. “Don’t be afraid.”
Anna wasn’t. Cathleen’s lips against hers had taken away all the fear she had felt about the Ferris Wheel, and then some. With Cathleen beside her, their fingers entwined, she rode the car that rose into the air and beheld the entire fair in all directions before her. She saw the Coliseum of the Wild West show, and the balloon in the sky, and all the trains, and all the people, and all the way back to the basin where she’d first entered the fair off the Lake. The sun was just beginning to go down in the sky. Soon, it would be evening, and Anna would need to get on her way—but with the incredible views and the hand of the lovely girl in hers, and Anna’s heart swelled about to bursting. She could have wept at it all, at this perfect day.
The car started to descent.
“We get one more loop,” Cathleen said.
“I wish it was a hundred,” Anna replied, turning to her friend. “I wish we could stay here forever.” It was an honest confession.
Cathleen smiled, but sadly. With the displays below, Anna felt as if she could see all the world ahead of her. And all the world seemed so small and unimportant.
One of the things writers don’t enjoy much is editing. Not all of us, but some. I’d much rather be writing, creating, brainstorming, researching, outlining. But editing is a necessary evil.
To make it easier on myself, I edit with either music in the background or a movie/TV series I’ve seen before so it doesn’t distract me...too much. I stopped writing with music a while ago because that distracted me even more; I’d spend more time creating a playlist than properly writing. Even while editing now, it’s ambiance music or classical, preferably cello (isn’t it so beautiful?).
Seeing my main job is in radio, I have to work with music every single day. I cannot escape it...ever. So, I thought I could make you a Top 25 of songs and what they mean while you edit.
- Sober by P!nk - Unlike some, I can’t edit with a glass of wine. Sober is best for me. Bucket of cappuccino (from Tim Hortons preferably. I’m Canadian, eh? ;)
- Locked Away by R. City & Adam Levine - You know you’ll have to do that if you want to get your head in the right space.
- Hold Back the River by James Bay for all those moments you want to cry your eyeballs out seeing the work you still have left (I know, I’m on chapter 13 of my 28-chapter novel and have another novel to edit after)
- Can’t Feel My Head by The Weeknd for that migraine forming while you concentrate on the same paragraph for half an hour.
- Use Somebody by Kings of Leon for the times you want to reach out to a fellow writer for an opinion or simple reassurance that you’re not on the wrong path.
- 2 Heads by Coleman Hell because some days, you’d need two of those to figure everything out.
- Cocoon by Milky Chance for when you want to wrap yourself in a duvet and close out the world while you edit.
- Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode for when music gets too much. But then this list is useless! *insert crazy laugh*
- Hysteria by Def Leppard - You know that’ll happen when you’ve been working on your manuscript too long without a break.
- I Hate Everything About You by Three Days Grace for when you just can’t look at your manuscript anymore.
- Keep the Faith by Bon Jovi so you never lose sight of the end goal.
- I Miss You by Blink-182 for all the friends’ invitations you’ve had to turn down to work on your manuscript.
- Crazy by Aerosmith for when you cannot brain anymore and slowly go crazy from reading the same sentences over and over.
- Message in a Bottle by The Police for when you need so much help that you want to put your manuscript in a bottle, throw it in the ocean, and hope for the best.
- Flames by David Guetta & Sia for when you’re just about ready to throw your manuscript into a fiery pit.
- Under Pressure by Queen & David Bowie. The title of this song speaks volume!
- All Night Long by Lionel Richie because you know you’ll pull all-nighters to finish in time.
- Happy by Pharrell Williams or Dancing Queen by ABBA for the happy dance you want to perform when you’re near the end.
- Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen for when you’re finally done… until you have to edit a second time.
- Cloud #9 by Bryan Adams for that short period of time you have between the first and second edit when you think everything you did is perfect.
- Killing Me Softly by Roberta Flack for when your manuscript comes back to you and you have to start all over again. (Suggestion: press the non-stop button on this playlist).
- Never by Heart for when you think you’ll never be this crazy and write a novel ever again. You know you will.
- Don’t Look Back in Anger by Oasis because you know you’ve done everything you could and there’s no reason to hate the editing process so much.
- Let It Go by Luba. It’s over and you can’t do anything more except wait for a response from the publishing house.
- Holiday by Madonna so you can take a break before getting back to the writing board.
Here we are, you have a full playlist that should help you through editing. You can add your own, though I suggest encouraging ones. Good luck!
CM Peters would like to be ageless but hasn’t found the fountain of youth just yet. She works in the communications field but her true passion is writing. She hails from Québec and has been back at writing regularly after a long break since college.
An eclectic writer, CM is equally at home penning short erotica, quality fanfiction, and elaborate sci-fi and fantasy novels. Whatever genre she is working in, CM always centers her stories around complex, relatable characters. At the moment, she's hard at work editing a novel...then two more!
She’s been published in erotica and romance anthologies, a collaborative book with Gallery Books, and co-edited a few anthologies.
If she's not furiously typing, you'll surely find her with her eyes staring at the chocolate-brown beam in her living room to organize her next outline before putting it down on paper.
About the Authors
The brain child of Chicago romance author Marie Piper, the StoryPenners is a collection of fiction and romance authors dedicated to producing independent anthologies to support charitable causes. The StoryPenners has members from the Midwest, the West Coast, New England, Canada, England, and Australia.
Original Members: Marie Piper, Harley Easton, CM Peters, S.B. Roark, and Sienna Saint-Cyr
Contributing StoryPenners: Randi Perrin, Annabeth Leong, Gregory L. Norris, R.L. Merrill, Katey Tattrie, R. Diamond, Arden de Winter
Previous Anthologies:
Melt
Haunt
Author Websites:
http://annabethleong.blogspot.com/
https://www.harleyeaston.com/
http://www.rlmerrillauthor.com
http://www.mariepiper.com/contact/
https://siennasaintcyr.wordpress.com/
http://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/
Thank you for the post!
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