Jamie at Books & Ladders is hosting WE CAN(ADA) READ for the month of September. Check out the hashtag #WeCanadaRead on Twitter and Instagram for some great Canadian content all month long! (Check out the full schedule in the link below for the Pride giveaway, to see the daily list which includes other bloggers taking part) You can find Jamie on Twitter at @booksandladders
Books & Ladders is currently doing a giveaway for paperback copies of PRIDE MUST BE A PLACE, so you should head over there and enter! There will be one for someone in Canada and one for someone in the United States! GOOD LUCK! Click the link below:
Much thanks to Jamie and her crew over at BOOKS & LADDERS, not just for raising a voice for PRIDE but for showcasing Canadian talent throughout the entire month. Check out the site and discover some new (to you) Canadian authors!
Pride Must Be A Place has been out in the world for just over a week now. It released on Tuesday February 6th, 2018. It’s been doing well holding its own on Amazon and Kobo since it came out. I have to admit I’m extremely proud of this. I worked SO hard on this book!
When I see stuff like what is happening now on Amazon, it blows my mind! It’s #1 in Teen Homosexual Fiction AND #1 in Hot New Releases for the same category! I know, I know…Amazon is fickle and fast moving. I can look later today and it might not even appear on a chart. But right this second?! Swoon!
AND it’s not doing all that terrible at KOBO either!
I apologize. I’m just having a moment.
THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO EITHER BOUGHT THE BOOK OR SUPPORTED IT IN ANY WAY ON SOCIAL MEDIA. DOUBLE-THANKS IF YOU HAVE DONE BOTH! I AM FILLED WITH APPRECIATION! I hope that you enjoy your copy, if you picked one up!
Ezra Caine is gay. He’s sort of out at school but not at home, where he fears the wrath of his father’s bigotry. When Ezra’s flamboyantly out friend Alex Mills takes one too many beatings from homophobic bully Will Severe, Ezra finally snaps. Fed up with the situation at school, he decides to do something about it. With the help of his BFF, Nettie, and some unlikely allies, Ezra rallies to create their small-town school’s first gay-straight alliance. The Rainbow Alliance Club is formed. But the changes don’t come without hiccups, one of which being a messy scandal involving Alex and a gay hook-up app. As Ezra and his friends attempt to sway their school into an alliance of tolerance and acceptance, Ezra experiences a few surprises of his own on the home-front. He also learns the hard way that friendships out of convenience aren’t always a good idea, just as some enemies might not be as bad as he originally imagined them to be.
THANKS TO ALL! Enjoy the story of Ezra and Alex and Nettie and Marc and Simon and Will!
If you feel like leaving a review for PRIDE, you can do so at any Amazon and/or it can also be found on GOODREADS! There are already some amazing reviews up on Goodreads! Enjoy!
The waiting is the hardest part. Tom Petty was not wrong. When you put your heart and soul into something and your agent tells you it’s good, you see a kernel of a chance that maybe someone else will like it. Like it enough to pick it up. Like it enough to help you get it out into the world. Then your agent sends it out into the hands of waiting editors. And then you wait. And then you wait. And then you wait. I’m not complaining. Far from it. I’m thrilled that my agent believes in my latest novel. And I’m thrilled that editors like the sound of the premise enough to request a full read. And I’m grateful to all.
It’s just REALLY hard waiting. Especially when you know you ripped your heart out for this one…that you gave it your all and then some. My latest novel lived inside me for almost a full three years before I let it out. In that time, I cultivated it, imagined it and re-imagined it over and over again. As I wrote it, I literally felt like I was taking another pilgrimage to the Camino de Santiago where the novel is set. I LIVED it. And now, full-stop-wait. SO hard. SO VERY HARD. But I get it. I’ve been here before. Many times. I have patience. But I also wear out the worry-beads during this stage in the process. Boy, howdy…it’s intense. I question and re-question every sentence, every word, every character, every piece of dialogue. It’s a funny thing writers do to themselves during this stage of the process. Self-flagellation has NOTHING on the writer awaiting word on the status of their novel after it leaves the hands of their agent.
BREATHE. Breathe.
I thought I would share a pic of the Camino for a Thursday Throwback. (-: Because, you know, I almost never share Camino shots.
Samos, Spain – Along the Camino de Santiago
I thought I would share this particular picture because the town of Samos figures in my latest novel. There are a few scenes that take place in Samos, but I think my favourite is the one at the end of the chapter that features the beautiful town and its cathedral. This fence is throughout the town around the large cathedral there. At the end of the chapter three of my characters–Diego, Shania, and Bastien–leap this fence and walk into the river, clothes and all.
This pic is also from the Cathedral in Samos. There’s a walk-around outside balcony that is literally covered with murals. They’re breathtaking. The setting is also featured in my novel. Diego, Shania, and Manny find a doppelganger for Diego on the wall.
That’s all. Two pics. The throwback is from MAY 2014, when I walked a portion of the Camino de Santiago with an organized group of Canadian pilgrims. The novel I completed last fall was festering in the back of my mind during that entire journey.
MY FINGERS ARE CROSSED for my Camino novel. I feel like I really gave it my everything and I hope it gets to see the light of day!
NOW…a mention of my upcoming release…which has nothing to do with the above. PRIDE MUST BE A PLACE is set to release in 5 days on FEBRUARY 6th! The first draft for this novel was mostly written at the 2015 Muskoka Novel Marathon. See below for a synopsis, cover and buy links. You can PRE-ORDER the Kindle version now…get it before the 6th and it’ll drop and be ready for you to read on your Kindle on the morning of the 6th!
PRIDE MUST BE A PLACE:
Ezra Caine is gay. He’s sort of out at school but not at home, where he fears the wrath of his father’s bigotry. When Ezra’s flamboyantly out friend Alex Mills takes one too many beatings from homophobic bully Will Severe, Ezra finally snaps. Fed up with the situation at school, he decides to do something about it.
With the help of his BFF, Nettie, and some unlikely allies, Ezra rallies to create their small-town school’s first gay-straight alliance. The Rainbow Alliance Club is formed. But the changes don’t come without hiccups, one of which being a messy scandal involving Alex and a gay hook-up app.
As Ezra and his friends attempt to sway their school into an alliance of tolerance and acceptance, Ezra experiences a few surprises of his own on the home-front. He also learns the hard way that friendships out of convenience aren’t always a good idea, just as some enemies might not be as bad as he originally imagined them to be.
Click on the pic below to preorder on AMAZON NOW! Only $3. The link is for USA, but it’s also available at AMAZON CANADA, KOBO, and BARNES & NOBLE.
My 6th novel will soon be available to readers! You can now pre-order the ebook on AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE and KOBO!
PRE-ORDER PRIDE MUST BE A PLACE today and start reading on February 6th. You can get it for around $3. Click one of the links below to shop for the ebook in your favourite estore:
Click the above pic to go to Barnes & Noble to pre-order PRIDE.
In the USA, you can click the above pic to pre-order PRIDE at AMAZON.
In Canada, you can click the above pic to pre-order PRIDE at AMAZON.
Click on the above pic to pre-order PRIDE from KOBO.
Ezra Caine is a Grade 11 high school student who happens to be gay. He’s sort of out at school but not at home, where he fears his father’s bigotry would be his undoing. When Ezra’s flamboyantly out friend Alex Mills takes one too many beatings from school bully Will Severe, Ezra finally snaps. Fed up with the homophobic tensions at school, he decides to do something about the situation.
With the help of best-friend-for-life, Nettie, along with some rather unlikely allies, Ezra rallies to create their small-town school’s first gay-straight alliance. The Rainbow Alliance Club is formed.
But the changes don’t come without hiccups. The biggest of these hiccups sends Alex to the hospital as he attempts to destroy the homophobic Will Severe with a scandal he himself created through a questionable gay dating app he shouldn’t have even been on.
Along with these struggles, though, come several signs the group’s efforts might just be the catalyst for change they desired. As Ezra and his friends attempt to sway the school into an alliance of tolerance and acceptance, Ezra experiences a few surprises of his own on the home-front. He also learns the hard way that friendships out of convenience aren’t always a good idea, just as some enemies might not be as bad as he originally imagined them to be.
Add Pride Must Be A Place to your Goodreads shelf. Click the g!
