Celebrate the release of Summer Fair: a Queer Anthology with the contributing authors and Other Worlds Ink! Author CM Peters drops an interview too! Learn more about the stories that include contemporary, historical and fantasy genres from authors: Arden de Winter, Harley Easton, Annabeth Leong, Gregory L. Norris, R.L. Merrill, Sienna Saint-Cyr, CM Peters, and Marie Piper! And enter in the mega giveaway: win a $75 Amazon gift card giveaway!
There's a new queer romance anthology out that benefits RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) - Summer Fair.
Summer festivals bring the aroma of popcorn, the excitement of rides, and the promise of real-life enchantment. Seven authors bring you original love stories, each set at a different summer celebration. You’ll experience the thrill of the Chicago World’s fair through the eyes of a plucky girl reporter and the quiet desperation of a teen working a summer job at a traveling carnival. Get whisked away on romantic journeys around the world from a sweet Texas Dewberry Festival to a lantern-filled temple celebration to a surprisingly rowdy New England Founders Day. Whether it’s the magic of a Renaissance Fair, the excitement of a Theater Retreat, or the pulse of a Music Festival, you’re sure to get geared up for all things summer with this delightful new collection.
Note: Most stories are fantasy, but this anthology also includes historical, paranormal and contemporary works.
Including:
- Riding the Wave by Annabeth Leong
- Amaryllis and New Lace by Gregory L. Norris
- Salty and Sweet by R.L. Merrill
- Dewberry Kisses by CM Peters
- All the World by Marie Piper
- Carnie by Sienna Saint-Cyr
- The Storyteller’s Side by Harley Easton
- With Stars in His Eyes by Arden de Winter
Giveaway
The authors are giving away a $75 Amazon gift card – for a chance to win, enter via Rafflecopter.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b60e8d4723/?
Author Interview: CM Peters
When did you know you wanted to write, and when did you discover that you were good at it?
I started writing fanfiction in my teenage years, but I didn’t know it was fanfiction (The Crow, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Don Juan De Marco). All I wanted to do was insert myself in my favorite movies. I took a looooong break and came back to writing four and half years ago. When did I discover I was good? Honestly, I still have the impostor syndrome and always feel odd when I’m told something I wrote was good.
How would you describe your writing style/genre?
All over the place. I have ideas for a crime novel, suspense, fantasy, another romance, historical/fantasy, erotica. I write what inspires me.
What do you do when you get writer’s block?
Freak out? Run around in the street screaming? I usually try to let go, do something else, but I get quite frustrated with it, and for me, frustration = anger in that case.
Do you use a pseudonym? If so, why?
I do. CM Peters is my pseudonym mainly because my real surname is French and most anglophones massacre it when they pronounce it.
How long on average does it take you to write a book?
The first three took 3-4 months each. My latest took eight months since I had to put it away for a while. It all really depends on when I can write (I work full-time) and how it all flows.
What do you do if you get a brilliant idea at a bad time?
I have a waterproof notepad in the shower. If in bed/at night, I dictate something to my phone. Or I grab a piece of paper to scribble things down.
Are you a full-time or part-time writer? How does that affect your writing?
I’m a part-time writer. It affects my writing and not because I try to steal some time at work during slower hours or breaks to write a bit. If not, I make it up on weekends.
Are you a plotter or a pantster?
PLOT PLOT PLOT! Oh, gawd, I’m annoying with that and keep adding to it until I realize my book would end up having 50 chapters.
Do your books spring to life from a character first or an idea?
Usually, an idea. But sometimes, I ‘see’ a character and build a story around him/her.
What is the most heartfelt thing a reader has said to you?
That I saved her life with one of my stories. It’s hard to describe what it did to me but I’m glad she’s still alive.
What was one of the most surprising things you’ve learned in writing your books? I love writing dialogue. I make myself laugh with those parts.
Where do you like to write? Anywhere I can. For some reason, I get really inspired in waiting rooms! o_0
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A nurse (changed my mind when I saw guts), a writer, a translator (too lazy to learn more languages), a writer, a radio jockey, and finally, an actress.
If you had the opportunity to live one year of your life over again, which year would you choose, and why?
August 2001 to May 2002. My last school year in college. Had a blast, met wonderful people, and made longlife connections.
Tell me one thing hardly anyone knows about you.
I still dream of being an actress.
Tell me about a unique or quirky habit of yours.
Even if I’m alone in my car while driving and go over a bump that makes me flop back on my seat, I shout ‘wooo!’. Yeah, I’m weird.
Were you a voracious reader as a child?
Some children are put in the corner because they’ve been bad. I was put in the corner with books because I did my schoolwork too fast in class. From then on, devoured anything I could.
What pets are currently on your keyboard, and what are their names? Pictures?
Sharpe and Loki, shelter cats, they drive me nuts but I love them.
What was the first book that made you cry?
Marie-Tempête by Dominique Demers, read in my teenage years. The story is about a teenager getting pregnant at the worst time possible and her wading through it all. The birthing scene made me bawl in class.
What other artistic pursuits (it any) do you indulge in apart from writing? Competitive cat brushing, looming, karaoke
What do you like to read in your free time?
These days, autobiographies.
If you could create a new holiday, what would it be?
Writers week. One full week off every month to write without anything else to do.
If you were stuck on a desert island all alone with only three things, what would they be?
Toilet paper (cause really, leaves??), an endless supply of notebooks, Tom Hiddleston. No, he’s not a thing. Okay, chocolate.
What fantasy realm would you choose to live in and why?
The Marvel universe for the win!
Would you visit the future or the past, and why?
The past, to have time to learn more, read more, love more. Why know the future? So you can stress about it?
How does the world end?
In bed with a good book.
Star Trek or Star Wars? Why?
Star Trek for Benedict Cumberbatch’s Khan and Star Wars for Princess Leia.
Excerpt
From All the World by Marie Piper
She decided to do something bold. “Come up in the wheel with me.”“I’ve been up in the wheel,” but Cathleen didn’t say no. “You don’t have to buy me a ticket.”
“But I want to,” Anna said. “I want to go up there with you. The line is long. It may be the last thing I get to do today, and though I’m terrified I can’t pass up the chance to do something that is once-in-a-lifetime.”
“No, I imagine you can’t.” Wiping her face, Cathleen finished her hot dog. Anna did the same, and they returned their glasses to the Pabst booth and then got into the long line for the wheel. Children bounced in line, excited to go up but bored with waiting. Men smoked and sent the wafts of smoke across all the people in line, and more than one person looked nervous about going into the sky in the steel contraption.
Anna and Cathleen bought tickets and, by virtue of space, were shoved together as they shuffled slowly to the front.
“Mercy, but it’s high.” Anna felt as if she might be sick.
“You don’t have to do it, you know.”
“But I’ve already bought a ticket.”
“Someone’d pay you for it.”
“But I’ve come all this way and I’m here standing underneath it. Besides, what’ll I do if I don’t—go look at the Fisheries?”
She felt a warm hand take hers and nearly fainted. Cathleen had taken her hand. “Don’t be afraid. It’s fun. It really is.”
“Thank you.”
“And if it collapses and we die, at least we’ll die together.”
Anna groaned but did not take her hand away. Hand in hand, they reached the front of the line and waited with a group of thirty others for the next car to come down and to board. Cathleen pulled them to a windowed corner where they could both press against the glass.
Still, they held hands.
And when the car started to move, Anna squeezed hard from nerves without thinking. Cathleen ducked her head in and put her lips to Anna’s. It was brief, just a momentary touch, but then she whispered into Anna’s ear. “Don’t be afraid.”
Anna wasn’t. Cathleen’s lips against hers had taken away all the fear she had felt about the Ferris Wheel, and then some. With Cathleen beside her, their fingers entwined, she rode the car that rose into the air and beheld the entire fair in all directions before her. She saw the Coliseum of the Wild West show, and the balloon in the sky, and all the trains, and all the people, and all the way back to the basin where she’d first entered the fair off the Lake. The sun was just beginning to go down in the sky. Soon, it would be evening, and Anna would need to get on her way—but with the incredible views and the hand of the lovely girl in hers, and Anna’s heart swelled about to bursting. She could have wept at it all, at this perfect day.
The car started to descent.
“We get one more loop,” Cathleen said.
“I wish it was a hundred,” Anna replied, turning to her friend. “I wish we could stay here forever.” It was an honest confession.
Cathleen smiled, but sadly. With the displays below, Anna felt as if she could see all the world ahead of her. And all the world seemed so small and unimportant.
About the Authors
The brain child of Chicago romance author Marie Piper, the StoryPenners is a collection of fiction and romance authors dedicated to producing independent anthologies to support charitable causes. The StoryPenners has members from the Midwest, the West Coast, New England, Canada, England, and Australia.
Original Members: Marie Piper, Harley Easton, CM Peters, S.B. Roark, and Sienna Saint-Cyr
Contributing StoryPenners: Randi Perrin, Annabeth Leong, Gregory L. Norris, R.L. Merrill, Katey Tattrie, R. Diamond, Arden de Winter
Previous Anthologies:
Melt
Haunt
Author Websites:
http://annabethleong.blogspot.com/
https://www.harleyeaston.com/
http://www.rlmerrillauthor.com
http://www.mariepiper.com/contact/
https://siennasaintcyr.wordpress.com/
http://gregorylnorris.blogspot.com/
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