Monthly Archives: March 2010

Contests, Reading

Ebook Giveaway: Dangerous Distractions by Mia Watts [CONTEST CLOSED]

46 Comments

Many thanks to Mia Watts for donating a copy of her freshly released m/m romance, Dangerous Distractions, for me to give away to a lucky reader!

An afterhour’s dare has Detective David Rook kissing the sexiest pair of lips he’s seen in a long time. He doesn’t expect it will shake his closeted lifestyle to the core. Now that ATF Agent Nate Giamanti is working with him on a case, Rook can’t avoid his forbidden desires.

Nate challenges Rook with every encounter, but when Rook backs off, Nate doesn’t want the drama that goes with hiding his sexuality, even if it means he could have a lot more of the detective in his bed. When their suspect trains his sights on Nate, will Rook finally get queened or lose the game to a killer?

You can read an excerpt here.

About Mia:

You know all about Mia already! 😉

Contest Rules

  • To enter, leave a comment stating that you are entering the contest. Contest closes 7 pm CDT, Tuesday, April 6.
  • If you haven’t commented before, your comment will not be visible until after I moderate it. Please do not leave a second comment because your first doesn’t show up! The blog gnomes will decide your comments are spam and then only luck and counterintuitive espionage will salvage your entry…
  • If your comment is actually an advertisement or if your CommentLuv link turns it into an advertisement, your comment will be deleted. (Most of you do not need to worry – this refers to some pretty clever comment spam.)
  • Winners will be selected by random number.
  • You must leave a valid email address in the “Email” portion of the comment form.
  • Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from stumblingoverchaos.com!
  • If a winner doesn’t respond to my congratulations email within 48 hours, I will select another winner.
  • If you win, please respect the author’s intellectual property and don’t make copies of the ebook for anyone else.
  • This contest is open worldwide!

“Perhaps it has escaped your attention that you are not feeding us yet, Mom, and our dinnertime is only an hour away!” -Mayhem

“I feel so pale and weak… I think I’m going to fall off the ottoman at any moment…” -Chaos

Excerpts, Reading

Excerpt: Dangerous Distractions by Mia Watts

Dangerous Distraction
By Mia Watts
Excerpt

Rook knew what he had to do. The man had brought it on himself, the asshole. There were rules among alpha dogs. You pissed on the property, not the other dog. He needed to be taken down a peg, sent through the doors with his charismatic tail tucked between his legs and yelping. Strip his alpha. Make him a bitch. Besides, Rook had the undeniable urge to taste those sarcastically twisting lips.

He caught the man behind the neck with lightning speed, cradled his nape with laced fingers, and drew him in. The man looked surprised. He should be. It kind of surprised Rook with how easy it was to suck face with the enemy.

Rook’s lips made contact, claiming the other man’s mouth with firm pressure. The man’s bottom lip felt fuller than the top, soft, unexpectedly so. He grabbed Rook’s forearms and pulled, but Rook held fast, stroking his tongue in and deep when the man grimaced. Rook held him as his tongue explored. Fingers bit the insides of Rook’s wrists. He ignored the pain.

Free fucking beer for a month. He’s gonna give in soon. Any minute.

Hoots sounded around them. There was a cheer, some chanting. Rook heard Fucktardpissant above the bunch shouting something lame. The digging fingers hurt a little less, the grimace relaxed, and in another second the tables turned.

Aggressive dominance was stolen from Rook as the man responded, tangling his tongue with his instead of pulling away. Rook’s stomach spiraled downwards, made the floor unsteady again. It changed everything, softened, ripened, stretched until the only thing holding his wayward stomach up, was Rook’s stiff cock playing kick-stand to his shivering insides.

His pulse raced, his head swam, and Rook almost lost touch with reality as he barely strangled off the groan rising in his chest. He pulled away first, stumbling backwards. He stared at the other man, dragged the back of his hand across his mouth.

Gedry yelled, “The ninth ain’t got their own beer and pretzels?” Peripheral sound came rushing back, reminding Rook what he’d been doing and why he had thought kissing the man had been a good idea. Why had that been, again?

“What the fuck was that?” one of the ninth asked, his voice high pitched and nervous.

Rook shored himself up with arrogance he didn’t feel. He turned to the other four with a wide, knowing grin. “Who’s next?”

“The fucking seventh wants to have your baby cops, Nate,” another said, sneering. Nate’s friends laughed tightly.

He didn’t look at Nate, certain he’d notice how shaken the kiss had left Rook. Nonetheless, he listened for Nate’s response as he opened his arms in a “bring it on” gesture.

The bar continued to chant. The bar tender yelled to take it outside.

“Let’s go,” Nate said. His voice was barely loud enough to carry.

The bar cheered. Rook turned a slow circle like the champion in a fight, a cocky grin on his face as he bounced his wide-spread arms to the time of their chants. “Rook! Rook! Rook! Rook!”

The ninth began to file out and Rook kept his back to them, a deliberate show of disrespect and lack of concern.

A sharp, stinging slap zinged his ass. A warm body pressed up close to Rook’s back preventing him from turning. Nate, the fallen dog, whispered close to Rook’s ear from behind.

“It took one kiss to get you hard enough to pound nails. Another one, and your ass is mine for the taking. Next time we meet, I’m going to Queen your Rook, bitch.”

Contests, Reading

Ebook Giveaway: Bi Now, Gay Later by Kim Dare [CONTEST CLOSED]

47 Comments

Congrats to Jase, who won the copy of Immortal Curse (Witch Way, Book 1) by Bronwyn Green!

Many thanks to Kim Dare for donating an ebook copy of her forthcoming kinky m/m romance, Bi Now, Gay Later, for one lucky reader to win!

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Can a bi submissive really find happiness with a master who doesn’t believe bisexuality exists?

Jerry would be Denton’s ideal submissive – if only he would just get his last foot out of the closet and admit he’s properly gay. Denton loves Jerry, but he knows it’s a master’s responsibility to make sure his submissive doesn’t lie to himself or the rest of the world. He can’t let Jerry hide behind the bi-sexual label forever.

Jerry has no doubt that he’s one-hundred percent bi-sexual. He’s also well aware how much his master hates that fact. Jerry loves his master and he wants to please him, but he can’t lie and say he’s gay when he knows he’s not. Denton would be Jerry’s ideal master, if he could just accept the fact he’s bi.

Eventually, somebody’s going to have to give in and admit he’s wrong. The only question is who?

About Kim:

I’m 26 years old, from Wales, UK. I started writing Male/Male BDSM erotic romances in 2006 – back when I didn’t even know e-books existed, let alone kinky gay ones! Since then, I’ve broadened my horizons to include Male/Female stories, menages, shifters and a few other things, but I’ve never managed an entirely vanilla story, lol.

Since December 2008 I’ve published 22 novellas with Total-e-bound and Resplendence Publishing and I now write full time about kink, love and happy endings.

Contest Rules

  • To enter, leave a comment stating that you are entering the contest. Contest closes 7 pm CDT, Monday, April 5.
  • If you haven’t commented before, your comment will not be visible until after I moderate it. Please do not leave a second comment because your first doesn’t show up! The blog gnomes will decide your comments are spam and then only luck and counterintuitive espionage will salvage your entry…
  • If your comment is actually an advertisement or if your CommentLuv link turns it into an advertisement, your comment will be deleted. (Most of you do not need to worry – this refers to some pretty clever comment spam.)
  • Winners will be selected by random number.
  • You must leave a valid email address in the “Email” portion of the comment form.
  • Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from stumblingoverchaos.com!
  • If a winner doesn’t respond to my congratulations email within 48 hours, I will select another winner.
  • If you win, please respect the author’s intellectual property and don’t make copies of the ebook for anyone else.
  • This contest is open worldwide!

“Not now, Mom. Busy. If I blink, that ghost spider is going to get away!!” -Mayhem

Covers, Reading

Misadventures in Stock Photography: Part the Sixteenth (Meet Underwear Guy)

37 Comments

Meet Underwear Guy, who appears in two different poses. The first is the “Hey, check out my underwear pose” below, which doesn’t seem to be holding the female model’s attention, does it?

The second it the “Let me just slip out of my underwear” pose – looks like that pose caught her eye, hmm? (Carefully, lady, you just might get an eyeful…)

His underwear can be Photoshopped to a different color…*

or decorated to be more fun…**

Or even turned into pants!

Turning his underwear into pants is not restricted to the “Let me just slip out of my underwear pants” pose, either! (So versatile!)

What? You don’t care about his pants or underwear? Um, well, ok, we’ll hide ’em and we’ll give him long blond hair instead. How’s that?

…or maybe not. The female model looks somewhat perturbed, doesn’t she?

*At the time of this post, I counted 17 different “Lust Bites” titles using this cover. Might have to do an entire post using all those “Lust Bites” titles to tell a little story…

**Someone else can analyze that cover and let us know if the hearts show appropriate distortion based on location…

Poor sleepy Chaos… All four of his paws, plus the tip of his tail, are in this picture. Can you identify each bit?

*yaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnnnnn* -Chaos

Contests, Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

Pink fluff of linkity (I have no idea what that means, either)

32 Comments

Thanks to Ralph at The Dancing Dove, where I won a copy of Journey To Compromise by Mira Ismine, and to Kim Dare, at whose blog I won a copy of one of her books for only being a sort of bad guesser.

Contests

  • Authors Bronwyn Green and Paige Tyler gracefully dealt with both having released books called Just Right based on Little Red Riding Hood by having a joint contest! Visit both blogs by March 29 for your chance to win copies of both books.

Books & Reading

  • Really excellent post about DRM over at An American Editor. My favorite quote from the post: “Right now Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, and publishers are able to ignore the consumer in the nascent ebook market. But the backlash is coming.” (As an aside, I’ve chosen to reward publishers and bookstores that make and sell DRM-free books and avoid those that don’t have DRM-free offerings.)
  • Nice post over at Dear Author reacting to the complaint that ebooks and “the loss of the public nature of the physical artifact will result in the loss of culture.”
  • Gizmodo had a blurb about “online music industry giants” making a plea to stop music piracy. I couldn’t help but read the following sentence while thinking about the publishing industry and authors: “…it’s tough to take an earnest plea for buying music seriously when it comes from business middlemen rather than, you know, musicians.” So, authors, keep spreading the ebook anti-piracy message, because you are the people most likely to be heard.
  • Emily candidly discusses that topic we all avoid – book addiction (and there’s a great comic included!).

Learn Stuff

Moment of Silence

Knitting

Things That Amused Me

Cute Burns

Reading Update
Reading Update Update: I’m slowly working on adding my wee reviewettes to my LibraryThing. (Would that I had thought of this quite some time ago…) Depending on the tone and formality of said reviewettes, they’ll either be in the Reviews or the Comments field. When you view my LibraryThing, click on the various available styles until you find one that shows the comments. (Which letter that will be varies by browser, weirdly.)
The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny (Nightside, Book 10) by Simon R. Green. PI John Taylor’s back in another dark noirish urban fantasy; what else is there to say?
Almost Like Being in Love by Steve Kluger. Excellent m/m romance told in epistolary style about two boys (a nerd and a jock) who fall in love in high school and then lose touch with each other after going to college. I’d heard nothing but good about this book, yet I still wasn’t prepared for how it sucked me in. Highly recommended.
Hideout by Katie Allen. ebook. This excellent m/m romantic suspense is about a cop who’s guarding one of the characters from Private Dicks for seven months until he can testify in a trial. Really, why aren’t there more witness protection books that include remodeling the safe house? 🙂 Highly recommended. Hopefully, now that Katie’s writing full-time, she’ll give us some more of her excellent m/m romance soon. (Oh, and you really need to read Private Dicks first to get the most out of this book! I promise, it won’t be a hardship.) As if you hadn’t guessed, highly recommended.
Sex and Sexuality by Willa Okati. ebook. Ok m/m romance about a professor who went through “homosexual deprogramming” when he was younger and is now trying to follow the straight life, complete with evil bitch fiancee (more caricature than anything else). Published in 2007, this is definitely not one of Okati’s stronger books.
From Afar by Ava March. ebook. Very good historical paranormal m/m romance about a vampire obsessed by a young lord who has to change the lord into a vampire to save his life. The ending was a bit abrupt – perhaps there’s to be a sequel? (I know, I know, another historical!)
The Hit List by Anne Brooke. ebook. This m/m romance was a mixed read for me. I found the first third very frustrating, not really knowing what the heck was going on. In fact, I put the book aside and read the previous two books. When I returned to The Hit List, the middle third wasn’t quite so frustrating, and the final third was quite good. In fact, I started to suspect that the first third was meant to put the reader into the very confused headspace of the narrator.
Paul’s D’Marco by Leiland Dale. ebook short. Ok short m/m romantic suspense about a police detective and the psychic that’s called in to help the police find a serial child killer. A titch more editing and fleshing out the story would’ve moved this from ok to good.
Persistence Pays by Mara Ismine. ebook short. Very cute m/m romance about a martial artist who’s been trying for years to avoid spending too much time with his irresistible but slutty best friend.
Emergency (A City Hospital Novel) by Drew Zachary. ebook. Typical sweet’n’steamy m/m romance from Drew Zachary about an EMT who’s good friends with a doctor going through a divorce and questioning his sexuality. Very low angst.
Caught Running by Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux. ebook reread. Good m/m romance about two guys who went to high school together who are now teaching and coaching at that same school. (I noticed headhopping this time, but don’t remember noticing it the first time I read the book.)

“Pink fluff, I devour you!” -Mayhem

Excerpts, Reading

Excerpt: Freeze Frame (Faerily Imperfect, Book 3) by Mia Watts

Freeze Frame (Faerily Imperfect, Book 3)
By Mia Watts
Excerpt

Sage let out a long, low whistle. “This one’s a brute, bro.”

“Yeah.” Dill’s lips twitched with a hint of pride. His arms folded across his chest, he was the standoff-ish version of his brother’s stance. “This is the guy you assigned to me.”

Sage relaxed with his hands on his hips.

“Did you call Mom?” Dill asked.

“She’s coming. She has to pick up some mini-quiche for her class,” Sage said. He motioned to Mason. “What happened?”

“Beat-down swarm. What class?”

“Your Vagina: The Cave of Creation,” Sage answered.

The two men looked at each other and shuddered.

“God, vaginas and mushy food with cheese? Who thought of that?” Dill asked.

“Fuck if I know.” Sage motioned to Mason’s sleeping form by way of changing the subject. “Can we get back to this guy?”

He didn’t want to. Mason would want privacy and Dill wanted to give it to him. The truth was, Mason was still a mark. He was their contract. No matter how much Dill wanted to protect him, he wasn’t the reason they were there. Jenson Price was.

He pulled back the sheet, revealing the gauze which already showed red from the seeping wound in Mason’s side. “He took a knife.”

Sage looked at Dill askance. “The best place for him is the hospital.”

“They’d ask questions, call the police.”

“It’s not your problem,” Sage said. “You shouldn’t have touched him.”

“You aren’t that cold, and neither am I.”

“No, but it complicates the job by a lot,” Sage pointed out. “If nothing else, you can get your sample and turn it in. That was your job. Now it’s over.”

He thought about the blood soaked gauze in the sterile bag. He didn’t know why Jenson wanted it. It wasn’t his business to know why, just to do. Well, he’d done. He could have just taken Mason’s shirt and sent it off to Jenson instead of washing it. He told himself it was because he didn’t want Mason to know someone was testing his blood.

It came down to shame. Dill liked what he’d seen of Mason. Every last sneer and each unforgiving edge of roughness he longed to soothe. A guy like Mason wouldn’t forgive him for invading his space, stealing his fucking DNA, and sending it off to a stranger. Hell, Dill didn’t forgive himself for doing what he knew he had to do.

“It’s not,” Dill said, trying to think of a reason to keep watching Mason, reasons to stay near him.

“Walk away, Dill.”

Contests, Reading

Ebook Giveaway: Freeze Frame (Faerily Imperfect, Book 3) by Mia Watts [CONTEST CLOSED]

50 Comments

Many thanks to Twin Cities author Mia Watts for donating a copy of her freshly released paranormal m/m romance, Freeze Frame (Faerily Imperfect, Book 3) for me to give away to a lucky reader! Read the rules carefully, because saying you want in on the contest isn’t going to be quite enough this time. It’s ok. It won’t be too difficult. I promise. Trust me. 🙂

Dill Harper can freeze time. It’s a faery gift which only works at the most inopportune times. Now he’s on a case for Harper Security, watching the very delectable ass of Mason Haliday, a man worth having, who doesn’t want to be had. When an unknown enemy puts a hit on Mason, the client and Dill are worried about the outcome. But how can Mason trust his heart to the man who’s been spying on him, despite the way Dill makes him feel under and over the covers?

You can read an excerpt here. (Don’t blame me if you’re unable to eat cheese after reading the excerpt! That’s all Mia…)

About Mia:

Mia makes her home in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she divides her time between a job and spying on people. Mia enjoys long walks in Como Park (except for the damn geese), daisies, dancing in the snow…(Delete prior sentence, meant for personal ad)…

Mr. Perfect may apply in person for a thorough evaluation and trial. All others will be towed.

Contest Rules

  • To enter, because Mia’s having a rough few weeks, please comment about something that makes you happy. Leave your comments by 7 pm CDT, Wednesday, March 31.
  • If you haven’t commented before, your comment will not be visible until after I moderate it. Please do not leave a second comment because your first doesn’t show up! The blog gnomes will decide your comments are spam and then only luck and counterintuitive espionage will salvage your entry…
  • If your comment is actually an advertisement or if your CommentLuv link turns it into an advertisement, your comment will be deleted. (Most of you do not need to worry – this refers to some pretty clever comment spam.)
  • Winners will be selected by random number.
  • You must leave a valid email address in the “Email” portion of the comment form.
  • Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from stumblingoverchaos.com!
  • If a winner doesn’t respond to my congratulations email within 48 hours, I will select another winner.
  • If you win, please respect the author’s intellectual property and don’t make copies of the ebook for anyone else.
  • This contest is open worldwide!

“Someday the window will be open again. I believe!” -Mayhem

Contests, Reading

Ebook Giveaway: Immortal Curse by Bronwyn Green [CONTEST CLOSED]

55 Comments

Congrats to Deanna, who won the copy of Hideout by Katie Allen! You guys were awesome and made Katie feel very welcome – I think she’ll be back. Thanks! 🙂

Many thanks to author Bronwyn Green for donating an ebook copy of her new paranormal romance, Immortal Curse (Witch Way, Book 1), for one lucky reader to win!

Cursed by a witch, Ian O’Meara has been trapped between the world of the living and the spirit realm for the last hundred and fifty years. Annoyed by having his eternity interrupted by amateur ghost hunters, he reaches through the veil to Emma Boulton knowing she can see and hear him even if the others can’t. When he discovers she can also feel him, he decides Emma is the most exciting thing to happen to him in the last century. Suddenly, escaping his miserable curse isn’t quite so appealing.

Much to her dismay, Emma has been able to see ghosts ever since she was a child. Most of the time she ignores them, but Ian makes that all but impossible. With his dark, good looks and his brooding personality, he’s a gothic novel hero come to life… so to speak.  She knows she should help him toward the light, but the only place he seems to be interested in is her bed. Falling in love with the charming spirit is all too easy, but is a future together possible between the living and the dead?

About Bronwyn:

Bronwyn lives in Michigan with her wonderful husband, two amazing sons and six somewhat-psychotic cats. When not tormenting her characters, she can usually be found helping with reading and writing projects in her sons’ classrooms as well as being the car pool mom extraordinaire for five teens and a  of couple preteens. Besides writing, she also enjoys reading, knitting, sewing, cross stitching, pottery, drawing – basically anything that helps her avoid cleaning and cooking.

Contest Rules

  • To enter, leave a comment below stating that you are entering the contest. Leave your comments by 7 pm CDT, Monday, March 29.
  • If you haven’t commented before, your comment will not be visible until after I moderate it. Please do not leave a second comment because your first doesn’t show up! The blog gnomes will decide your comments are spam and then only luck and counterintuitive espionage will salvage your entry…
  • If your comment is actually an advertisement or if your CommentLuv link turns it into an advertisement, your comment will be deleted. (Most of you do not need to worry – this refers to some pretty clever comment spam.)
  • Winners will be selected by random number.
  • You must leave a valid email address in the “Email” portion of the comment form.
  • Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from stumblingoverchaos.com!
  • If a winner doesn’t respond to my congratulations email within 48 hours, I will select another winner.
  • If you win, please respect the author’s intellectual property and don’t make copies of the ebook for anyone else.
  • This contest is open worldwide!

“I see a ghost! Or a spider! Or a ghost spider! I can’t quite tell…” -Mayhem

Don’t forget to enter the contest to win a copy of Kim Dare’s latest, Three-Minute Man! Contest closes 7 pm, March 25.

Covers, Reading

Misadventures in Stock Photography: Part the Fifteenth (Slouching Open Black Jacket Guy, with Towel)

36 Comments

Many thanks to Sydney, who helped me find the actual stock photos of our friend Slouching Open Black Jacket Guy. As you will see, the stock photos were particularly helpful this time. Shall we proceed?

Here’s the stock photo used in the next several covers. Carefully note that he is wearing jeans.

So… where did his jeans go?! And just whose lower body is that?? O_o

Maybe it’s safer to just leave those jeans alone and give him crazy blond hair instead?

Um, no. Not so much.

And is it

to be a

? SOBJG’s friend doesn’t look

on the idea, does he?

*blank stare* I got nothin’ for integrating this next cover into my little narrative. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Moving right along – let’s have another stock photo interlude, shall we? Again, carefully note that he is wearing jeans.

And despite attempts to get him to wear a

, he refused and instead slipped into something a bit more comfortable… and apparently emascualting. Because I don’t think that his lower half exactly looks male anymore in this next cover.

Thoughts? To help you in your analysis, here’s what SOBJG actually looks like in bikini bottoms…

*ahem*

“Mom, that poor boy has no fur at all! He must be so cold! I can’t bear to look at that poor cold boy anymore.” -Mayhem