Attention UK MM Authors and Fans: Check out the the new shiMMer Author Signing Event!

shimmer-avatar-date1An experienced team of UK-based bloggers and authors of M/M Romance
has arranged an Author Signing event for this genre.

Wouldn’t you like to be there?!

Authors –  Places are limited, so book your place SOON.

Readers and bloggers –
We’d love to see you all there, buy your ticket and mark it in your diary!

MORE INFO

❂ Coming soon: Fugue, Concord by Varian Krylov + Giveaway ❂

To start off this week, I asked one of my favourite authors to come on over to speak about her upcoming novel.

Let's give a warm welcome to the very talented Varian Krylov!

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Hi everybody! And Bey, thanks for having me back!

It's kind of funny, I'm a writer, but when I step away from my tall tales and try to write a blog post, I never know what to say. But today, after chasing my tail for a bit,  I decided it would be fun to talk about one of the inspirations for my upcoming novel, Fugue, Concord.

 

0 FE2A0564I'm from California, but for the last two years and change I've been living in my favorite city in the world—Barcelona. It's a fabulous place for lots of reasons: it's part of Spain's sunny Costa Brava, but in addition to being a beach city on the Mediterranean, it's also got mountains, and its urban center is studded with amazing architectural gems, with Roman walls, neogothic cathedrals, and beautiful modernist buildings by the whimsical genius Antoni Gaudi and others. Barcelona is also a culturally vibrant cosmopolitan hub, with fabulous art museums, galleries, and a thriving music scene.

So, when I decided to write something a bit lighter and more playful than Bad Things and Trasmundo,  I thought, hey, why not take my readers on a little vicarious holiday to Barcelona?

Raval El Jardi  FE2A3074Unlike most of my novels, much of Fugue, Concord is rooted in my own experiences venturing into the realm of independent filmmaking for a few years before I moved to Europe, and also my life living as an expat in Spain. I had a lot of fun taking these characters to my favorite beaches (where bathing suits are always optional), on evening strolls through the winding, narrow streets of the labyrinthine Gothic neighborhood, and out to savor the local night life amid a few of my favorite jazz clubs.

jazz en la playa _E2A2452eAnother of my favorite things about Barcelona is the Spanish men (I know, huge surprise, haha). And I'd love to introduce you to Ángel, the god of jazz.

If you want a sneak peak at Fugue, Concord before the novel comes out next month, you can read a long, juicy, NSFW excerpt at my website: http://variansfiction.wix.com/variankrylov

I'll also be posting updates and announcing giveaways on my Facebook page. If we're not already friends, don't be shy! I love talking to readers and fellow writers!

Besos!

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This book... oh this book. I want to visit Barcelona more than ever now :)

For a chance to win an ebook copy of Varian's book, Fugue, Concord (when it comes out), comment below and tell me where in the world you'd love to travel to. I'll pick one random winner on Monday, July 4th at 7pm EDT.

Good luck!

Launch Day! The Complications of T

 

It's live!

The Complications of T

Buy it now:
Amazon
All Romance eBooks
Smashwords

Download a 30% excerpt: epub or mobi

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The Complications of T – A Contemp Trans* Love Story by Bey Deckard

Sometime this week, I'll be publishing my newest novelette, The Complications of T. What is it about? Well... I left a little review of my book over at GR if you want to check it out, but the TL;DR of it is a bite-sized  love story featuring two men, one of them trans*.

Someone called it romantic. :) Well, it just might be.

Anyway - stay tuned.

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Trasmundo: Escape ★★★★★ | guest post, review, and giveaway

I'd like to welcome Varian back to my blog and wish her a very happy launch day of her new book Trasmundo: Escape

Read Varian's guest post about the link to art in Trasmundo, stay to take a look at my review of the book, and then comment for a chance to win an ecopy of the novel (winner will be chosen randomly on Monday, Aug. 10 2015).

 Without further ado... bestselling author, Varian Krylov!

Art and Trasmundo

KO by Zdzisław Beksiński
KO by Zdzisław Beksinski

Thanks for inviting me for a chat. *Waves to Bey and friends.*

Bey asked me to talk a bit about the importance of art in Trasmundo: Escape. First off, for those who don't know, Bey not only designed the beautiful book cover, but also created the wonderful pieces of Luka's art that appear in the novel. I was elated when Bey said he was up for creating some paintings to go in the novel, and I love how they turned out.

Probably because I identify with the need to solve life's puzzles by playing with words and images, and that compelling urge to connect to the people around me by sharing the alternate realities that hatch in my imagination, the protagonists in my novels are often creative souls: musicians, writers, photographers. Luka, the main character of Trasmundo: Escape is an artist. Largely because of how people have treated him all his life, he's a solitary and introverted person, so in some ways, his drawings and paintings are Luka's way of reaching outward and communicating. But art is also an escape from a cruel and violent world. The surreal landscapes he creates are worlds he retreats to when his reality becomes too lonely, painful or scary.

Apart from the importance of art as an aspect of Luka's character, I wanted to use references to other artists as a way of expanding and layering the tropes of war, exile, and identity in the story. A few years ago, I read an essay by Milan Kundera, and there's a line where he calls literature a silvery bridge linking distant lands and strangers, “the last observatory from which we can embrace human life as a whole.” That line really resonated with me. Since I first started reading literature from other parts of the world, it's been my way of trying to understand other cultures, and people from different places and times. Unlike reading a history book, or a newspaper, when I read a novel set in nineteenth century Russia or France, or contemporary Iran or India, novels show me how like me these people are, despite our unique cultures, languages, and historical circumstances.

Trasmundo by Remedios Varo
Trasmundo by Remedios Varo

In Trasmundo: Escape, I wanted to use the quotes that head each chapter, as well as a lot of other borrowed phrases that are woven into the story itself, and the works of the artists Luka admires, as a way of tying Luka and what he goes through, with the horrors of twentieth century history that happened decade after decade, all around the world. Because, even though Trasmundo takes place in a fictitious country, it reflects atrocities that really took place, like the Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust, what the Khmer Rouge did in Cambodia, and the genocides in Rwanda, and Yugoslavia. Some of the artists who are inspirations to Luka are people who lived through similarly traumatic moments in history. Uruguayan-born Remedios Varo fled Franco's Spain during the civil war and remained in exile in Paris; German artist Edgar Ende had his paintings confiscated and destroyed by the Nazis; Zdzisław Beksiński endured the Nazi invasion, and later the Soviet occupation of his native Poland.

I wanted to bring references to these artists, along with quotes from people like Walter Benjamin and Czesław Miłosz, together like threads, and weave them together into a unifying tapestry in Trasmundo: Exile, because when we are lucky enough to live in a time and place where we feel safe, conflicts that happen in places like Rwanda or Yugoslavia can feel so remote. Like they have nothing to do with us, who we are as individuals, and as a society. But unfortunately, I think the frailties that allow people to fall under the spell of the Hitlers of the world are universal, and we all need to be vigilant against those who are constantly circling, watching and waiting for a chance to use our fear and resentment of those who appear different from us, to expand their own power.

De Profundus by Edgar Ende
De Profundus by Edgar Ende

For me, this issue meshes perfectly with an m/m romance that also touches on homophobia. Ethnic cleansing focuses a population´s anxiety on religion and culture, but the hatred it foments is intimately twined with the same weakness that drives people to ostracize and persecute LGBT people. And Trasmundo: Escape is about two men, on opposite sides of an ethnic conflict, who look past the pointless hatred stirred up by leaders on both sides of the war, and find a friendship that slowly turns into something else. Something Luka, the young artist, never thought would be his.

 

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My Review - ★★★★★

trasmundo-final-900x1350I was so chuffed to collaborate with Varian and do the cover and other art for Trasmundo: Escape because this was such a great read for me. I haven’t read many books where one of the central MCs is an artist—as an artist myself, that alone made the book a fascinating read. However there is so much more to it.

For one, the tension in this book was very thick at times, which I loved—the stress of waiting to see whether war’s grasping claws would reach Luka, the worry over whether the risky escape would succeed… even the very precarious beginnings of the main relationship were all driving me forward, the words of the story compelling, and imagery vivid. However, the tension was tempered by Tarik’s calm confidence and the wonderful way that the two MCs came to find solace in each other.

luka-treeYep. I liked it even though it was romantic. No… wait… maybe because it was romantic.

Don’t get me wrong, the book is set against the dark, terrible backdrop of war and the ruthless, degenerates who are drawn to take part in it—but what Luka and Tarik have together spreads warmth and light across that sombre canvas, shaping a story that is both wonderfully sexy and beautifully touching.

I can’t wait for the next one.

 

 

The First Review of Murphy at The Blogger Girls!

JustJen says:

I just love when I read a follow up story and hearing the characters’ voices brings back all the memories of what I loved from the first book. Murphy and Sarge definitely did that for me here.

Aside from a new leg and some upgraded parts, it is the same Murphy and the same Sarge, doing what they do best, in all their glory. This is classified as BDSM, but they really have more of a DS and power exchange than any kind of traditional BDSM relationship. At this point, they are even more comfortable in their relationship as they now prepare for their next mission. The chapters switch between each character so that we get to see things from both perspectives. I absolutely love their dialog and the way they each speak. I smiled so many times at little things they said that make each stand out so distinctly.

Read the rest at The Blogger Girls + Check out my guest post for a giveaway

Grey skies… cozy on the couch with my dog.

Finished chapter 10 of the sequel to Caged - working title "Beyond the Spires" - and it's going well. I like the pace at which its going, considering I'm also in the middle of a collaborative project with another author (which just hit the 35K word mark this week).

I keep wanting to release excerpts of the WIP but there are spoilers. I wonder how other authors deal with that? Personally I'm the type of guy who absolutely hates spoilers - I go out of my way to avoid them as much as I can, which includes trying not to watching movie previews. (I am currently refraining from looking up anything about The Grand Budapest Hotel - the new Wes Anderson movie.)

I've been looking for a new desk, something antique and sturdy. Working on the couch is going to do in my back eventually.

I got confirmation for the date that my book participates in "Don't Buy My Love" at the Goodreads group M/M Romance - May 16th. Mark your calendars with that date if you want a free e-book in exchange for writing a fair review!

My sleepy, smiley writing companion

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Wondering which retailer pays me the most?

#1 is Payhip. Not a retailer, but an online shop that I've set up myself. This is where I make the most return on my books.

Then after that it gets a little complicated, but these are the three best choices:

At Eden Books*, I make 70% royalties for all titles.

At Smashwords, I make 60% royalties for all titles.

At Amazon, for books OVER $2.99 (USD) I make 70% royalties and for books UNDER $2.99 I make 35%

So... if the book is under $2.99, buy from Eden Books or Smashwords.

If the books is over $2.99, buy from Eden Books or Amazon.

But best of all, buy from my Payhip store :)

Questions? Contact Me!

*Not all my titles are available at Eden yet as of 25/09/23 - I'm working on it.

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