meredith_shayne

My Cutting Out blog tour has now come to its conclusion, with the following posts:

I talk about Australia versus New Zealand at Two Men Are Better Than One (and highlight a HILARIOUS video from a Flight of the Conchords episode)

At My Fiction Nook, there's an exclusive excerpt from the book, plus a 4-star review from Sandra, who says:

I loved the descriptions of the landscape, loved how the author didn't shy back from showing the reality of shearing, working with sheep, and how hard these men work for the money they make. The writing is crisp, straight-forward, realistic and organic. A wonderfully rounded story, a character study of two men, and a romance that is, while quiet, also strong and enduring.

 

I'm also delighted to report that Cutting Out has been nominated in two categories in the Goodreads Member's Choice Awards - Best Contemporary/Mainstream and Best Blue Collar. Thanks so much to those who nominated it!

You have to be a member of the group to vote, but if you are, the topic at the group is here. Voting opens November 28th.



 





 

 

 

 

 

 

So I've been tagged by the lovely Nic Starr to participate in the Meet the Character Blog Hop, where those of us who are so inclined talk a little bit about the characters from our latest books. Nic introduced us to Dave Simpson, from her upcoming release A Day at a Time. You can read more about Dave in Nic's post here. A Day at a Time will be out on October 29th, and you can preorder it from Dreamspinner Press here.



Blurb

Sean Vargos is quiet, well respected, and dedicated to his job. But Dave Simpson sees Sean as more than a coworker. He's fought his attraction to Sean for months but can't get him out of his thoughts.

They tentatively embark on a relationship, but Sean isn’t all that he seems. He struggles to put his past behind him and overcome his fears.

Dave, with his good looks and open nature, accepts that sometimes Sean’s doubts get the better of him and he runs. Dave just wants the chance to show Sean he can be trusted and the past doesn't have to dictate their future.

~~~

Now it's time for you to meet Shane, from my newly released novel, Cutting Out.

What is the name of your character?

Shane Cooper, Coop to his friends. "That Aussie bastard" to people who are not his friends. :)

Is he a fictional or a historic person?

Most definitely fictional.

When and where is the story set?

Cutting Out is a contemporary romance set in New Zealand, mostly in the shearing sheds of various sheep farms across the country. Queenstown and Christchurch also feature.

What should we know about him?

He's Australian, something that is rare enough in New Zealand that everybody constantly comments on it. He's been in New Zealand for 10 years, after leaving Australia for reasons that he never talks about. He's a shearer at the top of his game, earning the title of gun shearer without breaking a sweat. He turns 40 during the course of the story, and all he sees when he looks in the mirror is the grey in his hair and the crows feet at the corners of his eyes.

What is the main conflict? What messes up his life?

Meeting a young shearer by the name of Lachlan Moore. Fifteen years Shane's junior, when we meet Lachie he's a bit of a party boy, but then he suffers a personal tragedy during the Christchurch earthquake that changes his life forever. Shane wants to get to know Lachie more than he's wanted anything for a while, but Lachie's issues build a sturdy, almost-insurmountable wall between them.

What is the personal goal of the character?

To have a quiet, peaceful life. He's ready to settle down and find someone who's more than just a one-night fling.

Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

The book is called Cutting Out, and it's available now from Bottom Drawer Publications



 

Blurb

A twenty-year veteran of the shearing shed, Aussie Shane Cooper loves his job, and the home he’s made for himself in New Zealand. If he’s a little lonely, he’s got good mates to keep his spirits up. When a hot, cocky young shearer named Lachlan Moore catches his eye at a competition, he’s content to look but not touch, knowing the young man is out of his league.

Lachie wouldn’t mind a piece of Shane, but the gorgeous gun shearer from Australia is soon forgotten when the Christchurch earthquake hits, and tragedy strikes Lachie’s family. Lachie deals with it the best he can, cutting himself off from all he knows. A year later and he’s back in the shearing shed, out of practice and lacking confidence. That Shane’s there to watch him flounder doesn’t help his nerves.

As Lachlan struggles to re-acclimatise, Shane can’t resist giving him a hand to get back on his feet. As they move from friends to something more, Shane finds himself wanting to know everything he can about Lachie. But Lachie’s got secrets he desperately wants to keep, and when things come to a head, those secrets might just mean the end of them before they’ve truly begun.

~~~

Now to introduce you to the two authors who I'm handing the blog hop baton to. Both of these lovely ladies will be posting on November 3rd, so watch out for their posts. Enjoy the rest of the blog hop!

LJ LaBarthe (Blog: http://misslj_author.livejournal.com/)

A long-term friend of mine, LJ has just released Mythica from Bottom Drawer Publications.

Blurb

Caiden Jones is part-selkie and lives an idyllic life by the sea in South Australia. He’s had his fair share of disappointments, like being kept out of the Navy due to his mythica status, but overall he’s got a pretty good life. Until he’s in the wrong place at the right time.

Cai steps in to subdue an out-of-control minotaur and in the process suffers a serious injury to his ribs. As Cai struggles to breathe, a gorgeous suit-clad sy’lph with mesmerising blue eyes races to his rescue. When it’s learned that the minotaur was poisoned, the sy’lph, Gray, makes it his personal mission to keep Cai and his family safe.

Cai has always harboured some resentment towards the sy’lph because of their easy acceptance into the community, so the attraction he feels for Gray takes him by surprise. But how can they find out what this might mean when the lives of Cai and his family are endangered by someone closer than they realise?

Renae Kaye (Blog: http://renaekaye.weebly.com/renae-blogs)

Renae is a woman after my own heart; that is, she likes to write about shearers. Her new release, The Shearing Gun, is available from Dreamspinner Press.

Blurb

At twenty-five, Hank owns a small parcel of land in Australia’s rural southwest where he supplements his income from the property with seasonal shearing. Hank is a “shearing gun”—an ace shearer able to shear large numbers of sheep in a single day. His own father kicked him out when his sexuality was revealed, and since no one would ever hire a gay shearer, Hank has remained firmly closeted ever since.

Elliot is the newbie doctor in town—city-born and somewhat shell-shocked from his transplant to the country. When a football injury brings Hank to Elliot’s attention, an inappropriate sexual glance and the stuttered apology afterward kickstarts their friendship. Romance and love soon blossom, but it’s hard for either of them to hope for anything permanent. As if the constant threat of being caught isn’t enough, Elliot’s contract runs out after only a year.

The #bandslash blog tour continues on Jet's blog with Piper Vaughn & Mj O'shea's 'Lucky Moon' rockstar series!

Go here for the interview with Piper and MJ

 

On Saturday, at 3pm US EST, I will be at the Dreamspinner Press Goodreads group doing a chat. It'll be Sunday morning for me, so if you come and talk to me you'll get to see what I'm like when I first wake up, so that'll be fun! I will be doing a giveaway during the chat, the exact details of which have yet to be decided, but I'm pondering it. I'll post the link to the chat when I have it. I hope to see you there!



PS. I think I forgot to post the original #bandslash post here. If you click on this link it'll explain everything. The first giveaway is done and dusted though, alas, but there's still one to go, and lots of interesting interviews in between!

Various places where you can find my books are having sales at the moment:

JMS Books are having 30% off ebooks all weekend (Reasonable Force).

At Torquere Press you can get 15% off your order all weekend with the code memday2012 (Rust Red: Galvanized)

Dreamspinner are entering the final week of their 5th birthday celebration, and that means that you can get my DSP books for 20% off until May 31st (Equilibrium paperback and ebook, and Tinsel and Dust)

Happy shopping!

Dreamspinner are having a "12 days of Christmas" promotion at their website from now until December 31st. The specials are being advertised in the DSP newsletter, but since the newsletter with the first lot of specials has gone out, here are the first 6 days worth of goodies:

Dec. 20 - 30% off all historicals

Dec. 21 - Free copy of Infected: Prey by Andrea Speed

Dec. 22 - 30% off all Westerns

Dec. 23 - Free copy of Bounty of Love by Scotty Cade

Dec. 24 - 30% off all Mystery Suspense

Dec. 25 - All ebooks in the Holiday Genre 30% off, all past Advent Sets discounted to $49.99

To take advantage of the final 6 specials, just sign up for the newsletter at the DSP site (Log in to your DSP account, go to "My Bookshelf", and under Email notifications, choose "subscribe or unsubscribe from newletters". Under "My Newsletter Subscriptions", check the box next to "General Newsletter").

From September 15-30, All Romance ebooks are offering a 25% rebate on all Dreamspinner titles. The rebate comes in the form of ebook bucks, ARe's in-store currency, which get credited to the customer's account. If you click on the banner above you'll get to all Dreamspinner's titles; if you want to pick up a copy of Equilibrium, you can go here. :)

Speaking of Equilibrium, I'm pleased to announce that I've sold a short story that's a mini-sequel to Equilibrium. It's a Burreela-based Christmas story called Tinsel and Dust, and it will be out in December, just in time for Christmas. :)

I've got some posts up at The Romance Studio talking about Equilibrium, and anyone who comments to one of those posts will go into a draw to win a copy of the book. The posts are here and here, and I hope to see you there!