I'm visiting Joyfully Jay to talk about "Midwinter Night's Dream". In this post I'm sharing photos of the Springfield's farm - aka the farm I live on in Lancaster County, PA, which was the model for the books. Link below! http://joyfullyjay.com/2015/11/guest-post-midwinter-nights-dream-by-eli-easton/
Nov 25, 2015 is release day for my Christmas novella "Midwinter Night's Dream". Here's my desktop of images that inspired me. MICAH SPRINGFIELD
First, of course, is Micah Springfield, one of the MCs in the story. Micah is Hank's brother from "Unwrapping Hank". He's a laid-back, hippy kind of guy with dreads. The images that inspired me for Micah are pictures of SAMUEL LARSON from Glee. (yes, before he cut his hair)
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LEO DAYSON
Micah's love interest in "Midwinter Night's Dream" is Leo Dayson, a senior theater major, gay activist, and general OCD hard ass. For visuals, I found the picture below of a young Chris Hemsworth. The young part is key, because in the photo below, he's not the hugely muscled Thor version, but a thinner, more sensitive looking guy (but still intense).
MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM:
As might be apparent from the title, the plot of the story is inspired by the Shakespeare play, Midsummer Night's Dream. Leo is producing a version of Midsummer Night's Dream (the play) and he's going to be holding it in the Springfield family's barn.
The story also mirrors the play a bit, with Micah crushing on Leo, a girl named Yasmine crushing on Micah, and Leo's bff, Helen, crushing on Yasmine.
(above: From the 1999 film version of "Midsummer Night's Dream")
Sloane and Grinch make up our story's "Puck".
And a lot of the action is set, once again, on the Springfield family farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It's a snowy Christmas in the story.
I hope you enjoy this holiday romance. Merry Christmas!
Eli
I'm guesting on Love Bytes Reviews for the "How to Walk Like A Man" blog tour. In this post I talk about our 3 dogs and what they taught me about writing dog-shifter MCs. Cute dog pictures included! :-) My post on Love Bytes Reviews.
Come visit me on Sinfully MM Book Reviews where I'm guest posting about Mad Creek. I'm giving some hints as to the next book in the "Howl at the Moon" series!
Eli
To celebrate the release of "How to Walk Like a Man", Gigi at Gay Book Reviews did an interview with Roman, the hero of our story. You can read it here! Eli
Desktop: How to Walk Like a Man
It's my tradition to do a desktop post when I have a new story release, showing images that inspired my story. Today is release day for “How to Walk Like a Man” and here's my desktop post!
"How to Walk Like a Man" is the second book in my “Howl at the Moon” series. It features a brand new couple and romance, but it’s worthwhile to read “How to Howl At the Moon” first to get into the setting and universe.
NOTE: All of these images were taken off the web and fit my mental picture of the story. However, none of them are actually related to the story or characters IRL!
ROMAN:
I searched for quite a while to find the right ‘mental model’ for Roman. He’s a big guy and definitely military in personality and bearing. But I didn’t want a typical chisel-jawed model type. I found this photo below and loved it for Roman. He has a longer face and his ears stick out a bit. And, of course, he’s gorgeous! So apologizes to whoever this actually is (no, I don't know his name), but I liked this image as my inspiration for Roman.
MATT:
I have to admit, I have a weakness for guys with a sense of humor. That was Matt’s most important attribute for me. Ryan Reynolds fits the bill and is a nice mixture of hot and funny/real.
SHERIFF LANCE BEAUFORT & TIM
Lance and Tim’s romance was featured in the first book in the series “How to Howl at the Moon”, but they’re in this second book as well.
MAD CREEK
My husband and I lived in Oakhurst, California for a time. That’s how I picture the setting for Mad Creek, up in the California mountains. But Mad Creek is even smaller and more remote that most real towns in the area.
Above – looking down on the town from a ridgeline with Roman and Matt!
THE SIERRA NEVADA MOUNTAINS
SHERIFF’S OFFICE UNIFORMS AND GEAR
For the Sherrif’s office vehicles and uniforms, I used those from other towns in the Sierra Nevadas. I found some photos that even included service dogs!
Their uniforms – I don’t think anyone could talk Roman into wearing a tie!
Lance’s SUV
Roman’s truck
ROMAN’S DOG FORM & JAMES (his K9 Handler)
DEA uniform (Matt)
Often the DEA will wear simple black jackets or T-shirts with the DEA insignia on the back.
Annnd some extras:
Penny (in dog form)
Minnie (in dog form)
You can check out the "How to Walk Like a Man" page with excerpt and buy links here!
Eli
For Boy Meets Boy Reviews anniversary, I' m visiting their site with a flash fic based on the photo below. It's called "HOT WORKOUT". Check it out. And happy anniversary!
Eli
Happy Halloween! It's my favorite holiday after Christmas. I hope you have some fun plans. My husband and I are going hiking today and then to a haunted house tonight.
In honor of Halloween, I wrote a flash fic for the Dreamspinner site. It's called "Stealing Candy from the Monster". Enjoy!
Eli
Along with the upcoming "How to Walk Like a Man", I have another book coming at Thanksgiving. It's my 2015 Christmas novella, "Midwinter Night's Dream". The main character, Micah, is the brother of Hank from last year's "Unwrapping Hank", but this novella can be read as a stand-alone.
The cover reveal is going on today at Gay Book Reviews and there's a give away of a gift certificate too, so stop by and sign up for the give away. You can also read an excerpt there.
Eli
Yay! It's taken some time to get my ducks in a row, but today is the cover reveal for "How to Walk Like a Man", the sequel to "How to Howl at the Moon"!
The cover reveal is taking place on two blogs: The Novel Approach and My Fiction Nook. Each blog features a different excerpt.
1. The Novel Approach (CLICK HERE)-- includes the first section in chapter 1 plus a giveaway of a $10 Amazon gift certificate.
2. My Fiction Nook (CLICK HERE)-- includes the second section in chapter 1 plus a giveaway of a $10 Amazon gift certificate.
The book is available for pre-order here. Release day is Nov 13!
I loved writing Roman's story and I hope you like it as much as I do.
Eli
"Among the Dead" is my novella in "Spirit", gothika #4, which is due out Oct 19th. You can pre-order here. I'm happy to be back in gothic land for Halloween, and to share this volume, once again, with the talented Kim Fielding, Jamie Fessenden, and BG Thomas.
This is the first part of the first chapter.
Excerpt:
1
The first time I saw the dead man in the bowler hat, I was on the Number 34 bus heading downtown.
It was the first Tuesday of the month, and I had to go into the office for my one-on-one with my boss, John Shaler. I hated first Tuesdays with the heat of a thousand pissed-off suns. But it was little enough forfeit to pay for having a steady job I could work from home the rest of the month. Thank God I’m the best dev Hora Systems has, or they would have kicked my agoraphobic ass to the curb a long time ago. I haven’t exactly been the ideal employee AC.
AC—After Concussion. My life is pretty much defined by Before Concussion and After Concussion.
That particular first Tuesday, I left my basement apartment on Capitol Hill with the usual vein-thrumming mix of nerves, terror, and utter dread. As soon as I got on the bus, I saw a dead woman. She was up front, in those seats that face the aisle. She’d probably gotten hit by a truck or some kind of machine. Her body was sliced into thirds like she’d been through a giant Veg-O-Matic. She sat close to the oblivious driver, a purse primly clutched in her lap, while blood pooled under her seat. I walked past, pretending I didn’t see her. My stomach threatened to toss up the Eggo and peanut butter I’d had for breakfast. I fucking hate blood. If I had my way, I’d never see it again.
A few stops later, an old couple got on and sat in the laps of two teenagers. Their lined faces were pinched into bitter, sour masks—the old couple, not the teenagers. They said nothing to each other, didn’t even look at each other, but their movements were perfectly in sync: scratch of the nose, shaking finger and mouthing something angrily, rock in their seat, gnash teeth, sigh. There they remained for three stops and then they hobbled off, each step perfectly mirrored.
Interlocked spirits liked that were particularly horrifying to me. The idea of spending eternity with someone you hated in life—it’s so unfair. You’d think you could escape the commitments you regretted in death. Right? I mean, what else is death for? It ends all corporeal pleasure and shit, so there should be an upside. Debts cancelled, enemies escaped, mistakes left behind, and all that. But that’s not how it is. I’ve seen a lot of spirits who were stuck together. And let me tell you, it’s rarely down to true love.
I’ll take my loneliness, thanks.
Despite my commitment to being single, I found myself craning my neck when we drove past Volunteer Park. But I didn’t see the beautiful boy in the red hoodie. I hadn’t seen him in a long time.
See, a few years ago, BC, I used to ride my bike to work, and my daily route went past the park. I often saw a young guy at the entrance on the corner of 15th and Galer. He was maybe eighteen, wore a red hoodie and jeans, and had blond hair, a pretty face, and sad blue eyes. His clothes were always the same, rumpled and dirty. I thought he might be a street kid, but he could have just been dedicated to the Seattle grunge thing. He was always alone. I called him Red Riding Hood in my head, and I always looked for him when I rode past.
I wished I’d had the nerve to stop and talk to him back then, but I never did. He was long gone now, maybe away at college somewhere. He could have ditched the grunge for a suit and tie for all I knew.
The bus passed Volunteer Park and then Broadway, the main shopping drag on Capitol Hill.
At the Swedish hospital stop, he got on. The man in the bowler hat.
To be honest, my first reaction was to check him out. He was handsome—dark-haired and slender, with an intelligent, soulful-looking face. Besides the bowler hat, he wore a three-piece tweed suit, looking very genteel for the bus and a bit old-fashioned. It took a second glance to realize he was also, unfortunately, not alive.
I stared down at my shoes. The floor of the bus was fairly clean, with it being just after seven in the morning. The slightly bubbled blue flooring looked bright around my scuffed brown leather shoes. It was a bit embarrassing, as if to say, Even I, the floor of a public transit vehicle, am better groomed than you.
I was about to tuck my neglected shoes under my seat in shame when a pair of pointed, black boots stepped in front of me. The legs were covered in dark brown tweed pants and almost completely solid, but the prickling hair on my arms and the back of my neck told me what I knew anyway. It was him.
I swallowed and raised my eyes. I expected him to be staring straight out the window or perhaps around the bus. But no, his warm brown eyes were looking into mine.
My heart pounded, and fear slicked through me in a black, oily tide. I closed my eyes and counted to ten. Oh, God. Oh, God. Please be gone.
When I opened my eyes, he’d moved. He was now across the bus, a few feet away, as if backing off. But he was still staring at me. Shit. I took calming breaths and pretended I didn’t see him.
I glanced at the old lady sitting next to me to see if she’d noticed my freak-out, but she just sat reading her book.
When I got off at First and Bell, Bowler Hat followed me. He walked five steps behind me for the three blocks it took me to get to the Hora Systems offices, a dead man reflected in shop windows and the shiny surface of a black limousine. And when I passed through the revolving door at our building and signed in at reception, I risked a casual glance around.
He was there. He stood against the glass front of the building, his eyes fixed on me. He opened his mouth as if trying to speak.
“Hi, Joe,” I blurted out to the security guard, just to act normal, like nothing was wrong.
Joe grunted, not looking at me.
I headed to the elevators.
I will be a featured author at GRL in San Diego. Here's my schedule:
Thursday – 12:30-1:30pm – Author’s Lounge, Mission Ballroom D&E 6:30-8:30 - Dine with an Author Friday – 11:25-12:20pm, Author Q&A in Mission Bay A Saturday – 12:30-3 – Featured Author Book Signing Event (I'll have How to Howl at the Moon, The Mating of Michael, the new Sex in Seattle book 1 & 2 paperback, teasers of the upcoming "Midwinter Night's Dream" (my xmas story) and "How to Walk Like a Man" (Howl #2) and a drawing to win these new boos.
I'll also have some stuff in the Swag room. Hope to see you there!
Eli
I've had a spate of new audio books out this summer with more coming soon! I thought I'd say a little bit about them.
"The Mating of Michael" audio book is narrated by Michael Stellman, who also read my audio book "A Prairie Dog's Love Song". It's a wonderful listen. I like the youthfulness of his voice and the way he conveys emotion.
"The Lion and the Crow", read by Scott Richard Ehredt, is really a treat! I just finished listening to it myself on my morning walks. Scott has a mature, rich British voice that gives the story heaps of gravitas. He made the writing sound so wonderful! And I love all his character voices. Do try it!
COMING SOON
"Unwrapping Hank" audio, performed by Jason Frazier, should hopefully be out by early October. It's sounding awesome.
I hope to have Matthew Shaw read "How to Walk Like a Man" (the sequel to "How to Howl at the Moon") and have that one out by early December too.
Listening to audio books has really helped me rack up the miles on my Fitbit. (Or does my Fitbit help me get through more audio books?) Hope you've enjoyed some good ones lately too!
Eli
This has been a good month for me and audio books! "The Mating of Michael" is also now available on audio book and it's wonderful! The narrator, Michael Stellman, previously recorded my story "A Prairie Dog's Love Song". He does a great job with "The Mating of Michael". You can hear a sample at the link below. Thanks, Dreamspinner, for producing this title! http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/The-Mating-of-Michael-Audiobook/B011S4ARJK/ref=a_search_c4_1_8_srTtl?qid=1437311913&sr=1-8
Dreamspinner Press has produced "The Lion and the Crow" on audiobook! It's now available on audible.com and will be showing up on Amazon shortly. I haven't heard the whole thing myself yet, but I loved the narrator's early audition. Should be awesome!
"How to Howl at the Moon" was the first audiobook my husband and I self-produced. I interviewed the narrator, Matthew Shaw, about what it was like to read his first m/m romance!
ELi
It's the final week of my "Author of the month" stint at My Fiction Nook! This week's post features the Sex in Seattle series and has a giveaway for an ebook of "The Mating of Michael". If you've already got a copy, you can give it to a friend. So go over and leave a comment! http://www.myfictionnook.com/2015/06/author-of-month-eli-easton-grand-finale.html
Thanks so much to My Fiction Nook for having me as their guest this month!
Eli
I'm on My Fiction Nook today for week 3 of my Author-of-the-week stint. Today's post features 3 of my books and a personal story about how I met my husband. Also there's a chance to win an audio book of "Unwrapping Hank" when it comes out! Jason Frazier is narrating. (and it's fucking awesome) http://www.myfictionnook.com/2015/06/author-of-month-eli-easton-week-three.html
Eli
I once heard a saying: the greatest days of a man's life are the day he buys a boat and the day he sells it. lol
Maybe there's a parallel for authors: the best days of an author's working life are the day he/she starts a new novel and the day he/she turns it in. I'm pretty sure that's the case for me, anyway.
Yesterday I submitted a new novel, tenatively titled "The Stolen Suitor", to Dreamspinner. It's a very plotty book with lots going on. It weighs in at 65K words, which is fairly long for me!
I wrote "A Prairie Dog's Love Song" in the spring of 2013 and it came out Dec of 2013. It's not one of my best-received books, but it's one of my own favorite. Even though it's contemporary, it has a folksy, down-home, cowboyish tone that was inspired by one of my favorite romance authors, Pamela Morsi ("Simple Jess", "Courting Miss Hattie").
When I wrote "Prairie Dog", I already had a sequel/series in mind, but nothing immediately came of it. Finally, I got to return to Clyde's Corner, Montana. "The Stolen Suitor" is the result. Joshua and Ben make an appearance in "The Stolen Suitor", but it's about a new couple and can be read as a stand alone.
Here's the (temporary, a quickie written by me) blurb:
The Stolen Suitor – by Eli Easton
Summary/blurb:
Mabe Crassen has an idea—a wicked, brilliant idea. She wants her older son, Eric, to court the pretty widow in town. If Eric marries her, the Crassens will own the biggest ranch in Clyde’s Corner, Montana. Unfortunately, the widow already has a suitor, Chris Ramsey, the local dandy. Mabe suspects Chris is light in the loafers and sets her younger son, Jeremy, to lure him astray.
Jeremy Crassen wants to go off to college and become a writer. Ever since his father went to prison when he was only seven, the name ‘Crassen’ has been the lowest of the low of Clyde’s Corner. Jeremy grew up hiding behind his long hair and disappearing into his stories. So when his mother promises to give him her blessing for college if he seduces away the suitor of a local widow, Jeremy agrees. Now shy, virginal, secretly gay Jeremy has to figure out how to attract Chris Ramsey, the rich son of the town’s Mercantile, who may or may not like men.
Chris Ramsey is back in Clyde’s Corner after ten years of living in Denver. The death of his best friend convinced Chris he was needed at home. Chris is a settling-down, family kind of guy, and his last free-loving boyfriend convinced Chris he’d never have that with a man. It seems like the right thing to do to marry up with Trix, his best friend’s widow, and help raise 4-year-old Janie. After all, there’s more to life than passion and sex.
It’s when we know exactly where we’re headed in life that lightening can strike out of nowhere. With any lucky we’ll end up, not with what we want, but with what we really need.
What do you think? Are you in?
Eli
Come visit "My Fiction Nook" today where I'm being featured as author of the month. Today's post includes a look at a few of my books, a list of things you didn't know about me and a giveaway of the "How to Howl at the Moon" audiobook! http://www.myfictionnook.com/2015/06/author-of-month-eli-easton-week-two.html
Eli