4/06/2012

Flash Fiction Friday : Cheater



Cheater

"Don't look at me like I'm a particularly nasty insect that's crawled uninvited under your microscope lens." He puffed lightly on his cigarette.
"I didn't say you were." He was too gorgeous to be called a bug.
"No, the look says it all." He sneered.
"You're cheating."
"I'm sorry. It'll never happen again."
"Because you got caught. I'll never trust you again." My gaze lingered on the lean lines of his body with regret.
"You're overreacting."
"Did I ever really know you?"
"It's just a fucking Scrabble game, Chris."
"You cheated me. What's to keep you from cheating on me?"

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4/05/2012

Crawl in Bed With SA MEADE


Crawling Into Bed With
SA Meade
And a Good Book

Important things first, are these sheets silk or cotton?
Cotton. Silk is too slidey.


What are you wearing?
Knickers and a smile.




What are we snacking on in bed while we read tonight?

Godiva Chocolates. (in my dreams).


If I open this nightstand drawer, what will I find?

Discarded scratch cards from the National lottery, the instructions for the alarm clock and whatever detritus my beloved has fished out of his pockets.


Interesting. *pokes SA* Do you roll up in the blankets like a burrito, or kick the covers off during the night?
It depends on the weather. If it’s cold then it’s the burrito thing. In the warm weather, I definitely kick the duvet off.


Ahh...I see.  Can I put my cold feet on your calves to warm them up?
Do you have a death wish?


Ahem... no.  Can I borrow a pair of socks?  What are we reading? 

 The silence left by the end of the music was broken by the soft clunk of the station’s heating system kicking in for the night. Paul’s leg brushed against mine. Without wine to dull the heat, I crossed my legs and tried not to think what his closeness was doing to me. I struggled for something to say.
            “Thanks for the curry.” It seemed as good a start as any.
            “My pleasure.” He shifted beside me until our shoulders touched. “It’s nice to cook for someone. It’s not really worth just cooking for myself. Do you cook?”
            “A bit, but it’s fairly basic stuff.I’ve been known to open a tin or two and heat the contents up.”
            Paul laughed. “You’ll have to show me what you can do.”
            “All right, I will, one of these days.”
            He slid his arm across the back of the settee. “I’ll hold you to that.”
            I fought the urge to edge closer.
            Paul moved until the gap between us disappeared. I felt his hand, light on my hair. “You don’t mind, do you?”
            The hesitancy in his voice took me by surprise. He was no longer the station boss. He was just a man, finding his way.
            “No, I don’t mind at all.”
            “It’s been a long time since I’ve really enjoyed someone’s company”—Paul curled his fingers into my hair—“the way I enjoy yours.”
            I wanted to kiss him. I wanted him to kiss me. “I enjoy your company, too.” I turned to face him.
            Paul’s eyes were veiled in the twilight of the room. He glided his fingers over my skin, bringing them to rest on either side of my face. He leaned close, his lips parted.
I twisted my fingers into his hair and kissed him, sliding my tongue along the curl of his lower lip until his mouth opened beneath mine. Everything throbbed. Everything ached.
“Oh…Jesus…Michael.” Paul sighed, his breath warm on my lips. He rested his forehead against mine. “Talk about still waters.”


You can more on SA and her work at : http://kestrelrising.blogspot.com/


4/03/2012

Men and Romance...never the Twain Shall Meet?

Welcome guest blogger Jean Joachim today. She's adding her two cents to the topic of the month: Men Can't Write Romance.  That's not my opinion- it's a statement I picked up over at GR.  Some people believe it's true- others don't.  Read Jean's column today and let us know what you think.  Everyone who comments on each post in this series will be entered to win an Amazon gift card worth $10. The series will run every Tuesday in April, and that gives you four chances to comment to win!


Who Says Men Can’t Write Romance?


 Men have been writing romance longer than women. For example, William Shakespeare’s timeless, romantic play, Romeo and Juliet has been played, replayed, imitated and rewritten, countless times. Other Shakespeare plays: “The Taming of the Shrew”, “Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Twelfth Night”, to name a few, have strong romantic themes. Miguel de Cervantes, sixteenth century Spanish author, wrote of the chaste love of Don Quixote for his Ducinea.
Women in those days were forbidden from writing under their own names and later on, a few brave, talented women wrote under the pseudonyms of George Eliot and George Sand. Hey, this article is about men!
Men continued to write great literature with romantic elements like, Sons and Lovers and Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, Main Street by Sinclair Lewis, Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller, From Here to Eternity by James Jones and Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald, to mention only a few.
And that, you may say, is that for men in romance. And I say WRONG, Cupid-breath. Men are still incredibly romantic today and while some, like the phenomenally talented Brindle Chase and Nicholas Sparks write heterosexual romance books, others, like the brilliant Lee Brazil and a countless number of his friends and colleagues write gay romance books.
Some men, intrigued by romance but looking for bigger bucks, have moved away from publishing into the higher-paying realm of screenwriting. Many of the best romance movies, past and present, have been written by men. You’ll find men’s hearts take flight in this most visual of media, creating romantic situations, great dialogue for women and scorching love scenes on celluloid. From Casablanca written by Julius Epstein to Ghost, written by Bruce Joel Rubin. From The Philadelphia Story by David Ogden Stewart to, Serendipity by Mark Klein, men have been penning romance for the big screen since movies began.
Many of our favorite classic romantic movies are written by men…almost any Fred Astaire movie, It Happened One Night, While You Were Sleeping (okay, this is my favorite) and Sabrina
And when it comes to a more present-day movie romance, one male writer shines through the rest. Richard Curtis, a non-descript man, has written several of the most popular, most romantic movies in recent history, including: Notting Hill, Love, Actually and both Bridget Jones Diary movies.
            While women lay claim to soft hearted romantic notions, men buy most of the flowers, fancy chocolates, expensive jewelry (engagement rings) and kneel in humiliating positions to claim the hand of their lady fair. Or put their proposal on the big screen at Yankee Stadium. According to Wikipedia, Valentine’s Day, as we know it, was created by poets (men) during the time of Geoffrey Chaucer in the Middle Ages. And what of poets? Who are “The Romantic Poets”? All men: William Blake, Lord Byron, William Wordsworth, Samuel Coleridge, Percy Shelley and John Keats, to name a few.
            What about romantic music? The most romantic music in the United States, except for Jazz, came from early Broadway musicals, dominated by men. Composers and lyricists like: Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, Lerner and Loewe, Rogers and Hammerstein, Rogers and Hart, wrote some of the most romantic music ever.
            So why shouldn’t men take their romantic notions back to the written page, where it all started? No reason. Men, I hand you a pen and a pad. Please, put your sexy, romantic notions down on paper. I’m reaching into my purse and getting in line to buy your sigh-inducing, heat-producing, all-encompassing romantic books. Write on!  
             





Find out more about Jean and her work at : http://jeanjoachim.blogspot.com/


4/01/2012

Truth or Dare Paper Back Give Away : The Rules of the Game


Y'all have met, Havan, right? My beloved muse? The one who holds my hand when I hit submit, passes the tequila when things are good, bad, or about to get ugly? 

She had this marvelous Idea for how to give away a signed copy of Truth or Dare, the paperback that contains Keeping House, Telling the Truth and Giving Up. 

It's easy. Kind of. 

We'll play our own little game of memory.  I'll post two pieces of dialogue from each book, you tell me who said what, and we'll draw a winner from those who answer correctly. 

To recap: You match six pieces of dialogue to the person who said it. 


Email me the correct answers at lee(dot)brazil@ymail.com. 


Havan and I will conduct a random draw from among those who correctly match ALL six bits of dialogue to the correct character.

The winner will receive a signed paperback copy of Truth or Dare. 


April 8 - First set of questions

April 15 - Second set of questions

April 22 - Last 2 posts - get your email sent! 

April 29 - Winner posted


(International players accepted, must leave contact email to win, must respond to notification of winning within seven days of April 29 or prize will be forfeit.)

That's it!  Come back next week for the first round of questions! 

Be Yourself

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. ~e.e. cummings, 1955
The Romance Reviews