Can Two Hollywood Hunks Find Love this Christmas?

Meet Ryan and Cary, the Hollywood stars of my new Christmas romance Where the Lovelight Gleams -- available today from Loose Id!

This Christmas, actor Ryan Drake is pining. He may get to kiss gorgeous Cary Holloway on the set of their hit TV show, Space Academy, but he knows it’ll never happen in real life. Charming Cary–the son of Hollywood royalty–is straight, as evidenced by his starlet girlfriend. But Christmas is a time for unexpected gifts, and Cary accepts Ryan’s invitation to leave the palm trees behind and spend the holiday with his family at their cabin in the Great White North.

Amid the snow and mistletoe, Ryan struggles to keep his longing under wraps. Little does he know, Cary wrestles with his own unspoken desires and his very identity. Surrounded by family and holiday joy, their warm friendship deepens. Will these two co-stars have the courage to brave Hollywood pressures and take their romance offscreen–or will it be only in their dreams?

 Buy it today from Loose Id and find out! :D

p.s. Check out the Make the Yuletide Gay holiday book giveaway extravaganza!

Make the Yuletide Gay!

If you’re like me, you’re eager to read holiday-themed romances this time of year. Whether it’s Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanza, I love them all. So I thought I’d bring the holiday stories to me! Make the Yuletide Gay is a holiday extravaganza featuring giveaways, holiday recipes and plenty of hot man-on-man action.

A variety of authors are guest blogging at my website this month until December 23, so visit often for festive reading suggestions, contests and more! Happy holidays!

Here Comes the Snow...in Summer

I’m getting to the end of another round of edits to my current manuscript. Part of this book takes place during a blizzard that lands on top of my two heroes as they travel across the US to celebrate Christmas with their families. Well, here in Ohio it’s the middle of July and 80° F outside. Not much going on in the way of snow or Christmas.

It can be a challenge to add in the layers of sensory descriptions that give the story a sense of time and place when you’re ready to hit the pool while your characters are slogging through the snowdrifts.

But that dichotomy can make writing about a particular setting an engaging challenge. By writing about a time and/or place I’m not currently (or have never been) familiar with, I get a chance to do a little research, get inspired, and think outside the box in order to find a unique, vivid detail that will help ground the reader in the scene.

I’ve talked before (and maybe even on this blog) about how I like to use photos for inspiration, especially for settings. Here’s what helped me get in the spirit of winter and all things Christmas:

- I searched for winter and Christmas images at stock photography sites, Google Images, and other photo sites like flickr.com to help spark my creativity.

- While browsing the pics I kept a list of details that came to mind (including scents and sounds) and then related the most relevant ones to my character (his past, present, and future) and how he might emotionally react to each detail.

- I had the fan blowing on my face while I viewed the photos. Gave me that nice cool feeling that helped me forget it was hot outside. It was almost like being in the middle of a blizzard. Almost.

- Oh and I sang along with Christmas carols on my iPod. Because that’s just fun.

Had it been winter here in Ohio, I might not have gone to such lengths to get inspired, and I may have missed opportunities to push my descriptions past what I usually think of in terms of Christmas and the winter weather.

Of course, I hope I always push to write interesting setting descriptions, but this time around I’m glad I had a chance to write about winter in summer.

I'd love to hear other ideas...how would you get into the holiday spirit mid-summer?

Happy Holidays (a little early)!

Sloan Parker
www.sloanparker.com

Oprah Recommends Dickens, I Recommend Loose-Id's Not Quite Christmas

Last week, Oprah selected the 65th book for her insanely, popular book club. Since it's the holidays, I'm sure many of her viewers were expecting a novel that would embody the spirit of the season.

A tome so feel good and belly-achingly heartwarming, every one of her one billion plus viewers around the world would run out and purchase gazillions of copies like so many times in the past.

Personally I think her current pick, a special-packaged edition of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations and Tale of Two Cities, feels sort of like a lump of coal. And I think many of her loyal readers will also question if they've been naughty or nice.

Book length aside, Dickens' plots aren't the happiest. Who could ever forget an orphan pickpocket's iconic request for more gruel? I'm flumoxed by her choices because it's not as if Dickens didn't pen several Christmas-themed stories, including the holiday favorite, A Christmas Carol. Instead, she choose one of the two most depressing stories from the Victorian writer's catalogue and two stories that have nothing to do with the season.

Am I missing something?

Maybe there's something in these two tales featuring angry mobs, a mentally and physically abused orphan, an unfortunate spinster who sits around in an old wedding gown, and prisoners locked up because of the family they were born to. Or maybe I'm just over-analyzing this and it's just an ill-informed recommendation by a social icon who's never read anything by Charles Dickens. Me thinks it's the latter.

Fortunately, the season isn't over. You still have time to salvage your holiday reading list by curling up with Loose-Id's special collection of holiday themed romances, Not Quite Christmas! So save Dickens for another day. You won't be sorry. Each story in the collection is scorching, they embody the spirit of season and they won't bumb you out with convicts filing off a limb and threatening innocent children.

Enjoy and happy holidays!

Not Quite Christmas Collection

So, what do you think of Oprah's holiday picks? Any Not Quite Christmas book you really love so far?

Posted by Koko Brown
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