I love to read. I read over 200 M/M or male ménage books in 2011.
Not all of these books were published in 2011, in fact a few of them were published between 2007-2010 instead, but I just got to read them late. This is my Top Reads-list.
Best of the Best in no particular order:
Nothing Ever Happens by Sue Brown - This is a book about finding love where you don't want to find it. It has a controversial theme (cheating) and in general, it's not for everyone. But boy is it a great book!
Static by L.A. Witt - If you're looking for a unique story, this is it. Transgender-theme.
Bear, Otter, and the Kid by T.J. Klune - The loveliest family story of the year. Great writing and just generally perfect, faulty, annoying, witty characters.
A Solid Core of Alpha by Amy Lane - The biggest genre-surprise of the year. I don't like sci-fi. This book blew me away as a writer, as much as it did as a reader.
Hot Head by Damon Suede - What's not to love about firemen and a great gay for you-story that is written in such a great way? Mhmm...
Kindred Hearts by Rowan Speedwell - Language, characters, making me read historical without cringing... Perfect.
Honorable Mentions:
I'll Be Your Drill, Soldier by Crystal Rose - Army story. One of the best, heart wrenching, funniest stories out there.
Duck! by Kim Dare - This will forever be one of my favorite BDSM and shifter-books.
Take My Picture by Giselle Ellis – One of the most heart wrenching, beautiful stories out there.
Acquainted with the Night by Tymber Dalton - You could call this book crack-fiction. It's a multiple partners-story, a sci-fi story and a story where males can get pregnant. It's certainly not for everyone, but it will forever remain one of my favorite books despite my intentions of never reading it, lol.
Remastering Jerna by Ann Somerville - If you like BDSM, you need to read this book. That's all.
Private Eye by S.E. Culpepper - A lovely, slow build and strong, likeable characters.
Rules of Engagement by L.A. Witt - Sensual, sexy, gorgeous book. (published in 2009)
Yakuza Pride by H.J. Brues - Made even someone who doesn't generally go for Japan-themed things swoon. In so many ways...
Snakeskin Boots by Xara X. Xanakas - Shifters. All kinds of shifters. So much fun!
Room at the Top by Jane Davitt & Alexa Snow - One of my top BDSM-books of the year. Very fresh in the genre.
Dark Horse (and the rest of the series) by Kate Sherwood - Some of my favorite M/M/M-books.
Another Way by Anna Martin - I'm biased, because Anna is a friend, but I love this book so much.
Basic Training by Marquesate - I really like this a LOT. Another solid army-themed story.
I Was An Alien Cat Toy by Ann Somerville - Despite the stupid name, this books is GREAT. I didn't like the ending, it's not your typical HEA, so be forewarned. But it's a lovely book nevertheless.
Muscling Through by J.L. Merrow - Different, funny, gorgeous story.
Between Sinners and Saints by Marie Sexton - Everyone who knows me knows how I shy away from anything religious. A religion as a theme makes me gag. That said, this is the only book I've read where it didn't annoy me at all. A great read.
My Fair Captain (and the rest of the series) by J.L. Langley - I do know this is a book from 2007, but I just read it this year. Amazingly good read for someone who couldn't care less about regency or sci-fi.
Visible Friend by K.Z. Snow - I don't read paranormal as such, but I loved the unique take in this story.
The Locker Room by Amy Lane - Who wouldn't love Xander and Chris.
Special Delivery and Double Blind by Heidi Cullinan - Both of these were published in 2010, but I read them this year and fell in love with all the main characters. Lovely writing and a great story.
Keeping Promise Rock (and the rest of the series) by Amy Lane - These books changed me as a writer, reader and as a person. I'm not even hesitant to say it. I love them so much.
Zero at the Bone by Jane Seville - This is a book from 2009 too, but I read it in early 2011. Definitely one of the best books I read all year.
Driftwood by Harper Fox - This was pretty much a done deal for me. It has everything I love in it and you should read it. Just because I say so.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
The Weirdly Miraculous 2011
Everyone is doing these end of the year-posts, so I decided to look back a little too. Yeah, I'm a regular sheep following the herd...
This time last year I was waiting anxiously to hear from Dreamspinner Press about my anthology submission. It was nervewrecking, mainly because I loved the story, Auld Lang Syne, and it was my first foray into what I knew I wanted to write: original M/M-fiction.
As some of you know by now, the story didn't make it into the anthology, instead Dreamspinner wanted it separately, and the novella is out there on it's own. I still remember the feeling of getting that email, by the way, early in 2011, saying they wanted it. It was all so worth it...
Incidentally my first published work was a M/M/F-short story for another publisher, Summerhouse Publishing. An online acquaintance had founded a publishing company and I had a story. It ended up published, and even though I've since fallen out with Summerhouse, I don't regret sending them The Double Ds.
At the end of the year 2011, I have met the goal I set myself way back in ancient history: I have had a novel published. By Any Other Name is a decent first try and I know many people have liked, even loved it. It's not my favorite thing of what I've written and I see faults in it, but it is a decent book with a LOT of things in it that I still managed to make mine. I wanted to write a different book about abuse and a menage-relationship, and I think those boys pulled it off just fine.
I'm also pretty happy with the other things I have out there by now, all of which you can see on my Goodreads page in case you're wondering. :)
All the while I've been writing, all through 2011, I've been also battling some personal issues, the main one has been depression, the "friend" that has been following me for most of my adult life.
During 2011 I've made a lot of new friends, resurrected some old friendships (to a point) and I've certainly erased some people from my life (some of them repeatedly, because I'm a sucker for punishment...). I've learned that your time is limited, you'll not life forever, and so you should try to surround yourself with people you actually like. If someone makes you feel bad or evokes negative feelings, they should go, no matter who they are. Nobody is worth making you feel bad.
All in all, 2011 has been a decent year. I feel like I can maybe learn from my mistakes and failures or things I perceive as either, like selling my beloved stallion who was stressing me out and going to waste being a yard ornament, or having a person I once considered a friend make me feel like crap all the time because of their social inaptitude and general obliviousness to other people's feelings. Oh and never mind the so called gay porn "star" and his antics, that was "fun" too.
Getting into those situations and letting them bother me as much as they did were failures and mistakes for sure. But I think I've learned from them. Now I'm tougher. Again.
The positive of 2011 is that I'm an author now. If I die tomorrow, the people left behind can call me an author. That's what matters to me. This is what I always wanted to be, This is what I didn't think would happen, or at least I needed a miracle. Well guess what. Miracles do happen. ;)
I think that my usual "I will not make New Year's resolutions!"-mantra will be effective this year too, but at least my first thought when the year is changing won't be "I will survive one more year." like it has been for so many years. I have some living to do, surviving won't cut it anymore.
Happy New Year and have a much better 2012, everyone!
(Oh and keep your eyes open, because there will be more stories out there from yours truly soon enough, starting from January 25th. I'm not going anywhere.)
This time last year I was waiting anxiously to hear from Dreamspinner Press about my anthology submission. It was nervewrecking, mainly because I loved the story, Auld Lang Syne, and it was my first foray into what I knew I wanted to write: original M/M-fiction.
As some of you know by now, the story didn't make it into the anthology, instead Dreamspinner wanted it separately, and the novella is out there on it's own. I still remember the feeling of getting that email, by the way, early in 2011, saying they wanted it. It was all so worth it...
Incidentally my first published work was a M/M/F-short story for another publisher, Summerhouse Publishing. An online acquaintance had founded a publishing company and I had a story. It ended up published, and even though I've since fallen out with Summerhouse, I don't regret sending them The Double Ds.
At the end of the year 2011, I have met the goal I set myself way back in ancient history: I have had a novel published. By Any Other Name is a decent first try and I know many people have liked, even loved it. It's not my favorite thing of what I've written and I see faults in it, but it is a decent book with a LOT of things in it that I still managed to make mine. I wanted to write a different book about abuse and a menage-relationship, and I think those boys pulled it off just fine.
I'm also pretty happy with the other things I have out there by now, all of which you can see on my Goodreads page in case you're wondering. :)
All the while I've been writing, all through 2011, I've been also battling some personal issues, the main one has been depression, the "friend" that has been following me for most of my adult life.
During 2011 I've made a lot of new friends, resurrected some old friendships (to a point) and I've certainly erased some people from my life (some of them repeatedly, because I'm a sucker for punishment...). I've learned that your time is limited, you'll not life forever, and so you should try to surround yourself with people you actually like. If someone makes you feel bad or evokes negative feelings, they should go, no matter who they are. Nobody is worth making you feel bad.
All in all, 2011 has been a decent year. I feel like I can maybe learn from my mistakes and failures or things I perceive as either, like selling my beloved stallion who was stressing me out and going to waste being a yard ornament, or having a person I once considered a friend make me feel like crap all the time because of their social inaptitude and general obliviousness to other people's feelings. Oh and never mind the so called gay porn "star" and his antics, that was "fun" too.
Getting into those situations and letting them bother me as much as they did were failures and mistakes for sure. But I think I've learned from them. Now I'm tougher. Again.
The positive of 2011 is that I'm an author now. If I die tomorrow, the people left behind can call me an author. That's what matters to me. This is what I always wanted to be, This is what I didn't think would happen, or at least I needed a miracle. Well guess what. Miracles do happen. ;)
I think that my usual "I will not make New Year's resolutions!"-mantra will be effective this year too, but at least my first thought when the year is changing won't be "I will survive one more year." like it has been for so many years. I have some living to do, surviving won't cut it anymore.
Happy New Year and have a much better 2012, everyone!
(Oh and keep your eyes open, because there will be more stories out there from yours truly soon enough, starting from January 25th. I'm not going anywhere.)
Sunday, December 18, 2011
The Great Escape is here!
As promised, here it is.
The Great Escape, otherwise known as By Any Other Name holiday story is now online.
You can download it here on gdocs, but if you can't, for whatever reason, please email me and I'll send it to you instead.
Have a happy and peaceful rest of the year!
The Great Escape, otherwise known as By Any Other Name holiday story is now online.
You can download it here on gdocs, but if you can't, for whatever reason, please email me and I'll send it to you instead.
Have a happy and peaceful rest of the year!
Saturday, December 17, 2011
By Any Other Name-freebie coming right up!
I wasn't going to do this, but I will anyway.
Suddenly yesterday, Thom, Dru and Skye began chatting in my head. They want a Christmas story. So I'm in the process of writing one right now. You should have it before Christmas Eve and I'll post the link for a .pdf download here, on my Facebook and my Twitter. (You can find links for those on my website, www.tiafielding.com).
On other news, I've contracted a first book in a series that I call, at the moment, Finnshifters. It's basically my take on the shapeshifter-lore and the story is placed in Finland. In my universe there are "cat and dog" shifters, and the first book is about Mikael, a half-shifter who runs his small family farm his dad turned into a shifter sanctuary, and the shifter he falls in love with. Naturally it's also about the "farm family", a lot of different kinds of people and I hope you'll like it!
Chuffed, book 1, will be out at some point in May-June 2012.
Suddenly yesterday, Thom, Dru and Skye began chatting in my head. They want a Christmas story. So I'm in the process of writing one right now. You should have it before Christmas Eve and I'll post the link for a .pdf download here, on my Facebook and my Twitter. (You can find links for those on my website, www.tiafielding.com).
On other news, I've contracted a first book in a series that I call, at the moment, Finnshifters. It's basically my take on the shapeshifter-lore and the story is placed in Finland. In my universe there are "cat and dog" shifters, and the first book is about Mikael, a half-shifter who runs his small family farm his dad turned into a shifter sanctuary, and the shifter he falls in love with. Naturally it's also about the "farm family", a lot of different kinds of people and I hope you'll like it!
Chuffed, book 1, will be out at some point in May-June 2012.
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