The Gallows Tree - excerpt

The Gallows Tree - excerpt

Available from Silver

Blurb

Cody Garret is only just finding his way after an abusive relationship ended with his ex in prison. Coming to England to restore Mill Cottage is his way of running so he has time to heal. His goal is simple—hire a company to help make the mill cottage saleable then go back to the States.

What he doesn’t count on is meeting Sebastian Toulson-Brown, the brother of his contractor and the man who may be able to show him he can stop running.

But first Cody and Sebastian must deal with the ghosts of lost loves and the destinies that are woven into the story of the mill and the sycamore trees that stand on its land, one of which might be the gallows tree.

Excerpt

They reached central Milton Keynes in very little time at all. The change from village in the middle of nowhere to huge modern city was kind of eerie, almost as creepy as hearing non-existent horses and murmured words that made no sense. Sitting in Pizza Hut and ordering food was a welcome shot of normality, and grabbing the seat diagonal to Seb meant he could concentrate on his food rather than worry about staring at the poor guy. They talked about the film they were going to see, about American football versus rugby, and about the cute waitress that hovered every so often and stared at Tristan.

"So you didn't want to bring your girlfriend over from the States with you?" Justin asked coyly.

Cody stiffened at the personal question. "No."

"What's her name?" Justin added another question with a teasing glint in his eye. "Is she pretty? What does she do?"

"I don't have a girlfriend."

"At the moment?" Tristan interrupted.

"Guys—" Seb said through gritted teeth.

"No. No girlfriend at the moment." Cody sipped on his Coke and concentrated hard on the poster proclaiming two for one on Thursdays. He could handle teasing; it's what his sister did best.

"No girlfriend at the moment or no girlfriend at all?" Justin asked in a far too innocent tone of voice. Cody
looked at him suspiciously even as Seb snapped at him.

"Bloody hell, Justin."

"Cody, are you gay?" Tristan was clearly the one who had drawn the short straw. Cody put his drink down
and took a deep breath.

"Why? Is it a problem if I am?" Cody asked.

"Hell no…" Seb started, and then buried his head in his hands as Tristan handed a twenty pound note over to Justin with a resigned sigh.

"Wait. You bet on whether or not I was gay?" Cody asked carefully. He wasn't entirely sure whether to laugh or shout, stay or walk.

"They bet on anything. They bet on when I would come out to our parents. Tris won that one," Seb said with
more than a little sarcasm in his voice, which was muffled by his jacket. Cody felt amusement bubble inside, and he couldn't have held in his humor if he tried. Within seconds, he was laughing. He hadn't laughed like this in so long, and he couldn't stop. Seb lifted his head in bemusement, and Cody snorted at the expression.

"Your brothers just won me ten dollars," Cody said, finally managing to get the words out. "I had this bet with my sister about how long it would take you all to ask."

Tristan and Justin stared like he was mad, and then as they put two and two together, they joined in with the laughing.

Seb simply buried his face again with a muttered "I'm surrounded by idiots".

"Hey, Cody," Tristan said suddenly, and Seb raised his head with a look of pure horror. "You like Seb?" Cody smiled; he knew where this was going.

"Don't start this, Tris; I can get my own bloody dates."

"Just saying, little brother. You don't get to meet many guys in Lower Ferrers—"

"Tris—"

"Yeah," Cody interrupted, "I like Seb. What's not to like?" Wow. That was kind of a brave thing he had said
there, putting an actual opinion out there. Seb cast him a grateful look and mouthed "I'm sorry", but Cody dismissed it with a shake of his head. This was normal. This was sibling rivalry, teasing, and it was easy to lose himself in it.

Reviews from Literary Nymphs

Reviews from Literary Nymphs

The Vampire Contract 4.5/5: RJ Scott has created an exceptionally humorous saga. I particularly enjoyed the argumentative interaction between Connor and Micah. However, the passionate attraction between them is clearly illustrated.

Broken Memories (written with Diane Adams) 4/5: Doug McKenna is a true Alpha wolf and has little respect for those he considers weak. He doesn’t understand how Sam could have experienced something so terrible he would be as broken as he is. But he also realizes Sam is in desperate need of someone to take care of him and believes he’s the one perfect for the job…and his wolf agrees.

Guarding Morgan 4/5: Guarding Morgan is the first release in R.J. Scott’s new series, A Sanctuary Story. Having a character go into a witness protection situation isn’t a new premise but in this case, Ms. Scott twisted it around and started with action and Morgan running for his life.

Oracle 4/5: It’s a balancing act between romance and suspense {...}There’s even a little romance between two of the secondary characters that fits in nicely with the story. So, the crux is that I enjoyed this intriguing action filled book and think you likely will too.

Shattered Secrets (written with Diane Adams) 4/5: Shattered Secrets is the first book in the new series In The Shadow Of The Wolf by Diane Adams and R.J. Scott and it’s a promising look into their shifter world.

Back Home 4/5: Back Home is another intense emotional story by author R.J. Scott that’s filled with drama, pain and what it means to be part of a family.

The Heart of Texas - A Golden Blush Recommended Read: The Heart of Texas is the first book by R.J. Scott that I’ve had the pleasure of reading and after experiencing the quality of the writing and the depth of the storytelling, it won’t be my last. Honestly, I don’t gush about a book very often but I really liked this one. It grabbed me on the first page and didn’t let go until the very end.



All Romance eBooks, LLC 2011 Trend Analysis

All Romance eBooks, LLC 2011 Trend Analysis

As a self published author with All Romance Ebooks (Love is in the title and Love is in the Hallways, YA) I receive emails from them every so often and I have just have a *review of the year* email and thought you may be interested in some of their results:

They receive 5.8 million hits/month to their website - I wish I did...

All Romance, has an Alexa rank in the U.S. of 6,330 (trust me as an ex web designer that is *very good*)

Total publishers with ARe in 2011 = Approx 7600

Romance titles in inventory 2011 = over 65,000 - around 7,300 of those are labelled *GAY*

What amazes me is that it is often *GAY* books that end up in the top ten on the right hand side! We rock!
The bulk of sales are to U.S. customers. The top ten markets sold to are: United States, Canada, UK, Australia, Germany, India, New Zealand Philippines, Malaysia, and the Netherlands.

*YAY UK!* ROFL

Incidentally the top ten U.S. markets are California, Texas, New York, Florida, Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, Illinois, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

Last but by no means least... the most interesting statistic to me... Buying gender for all romance books: Female = 89% - Male = 11%... I wonder if that is the same for *gay* books... interesting...

Christmas Songs Top Ten: No 2 - Greg Lake -I Believe In Father Christmas

Christmas Songs Top Ten: No 2 - Greg Lake -I Believe In Father Christmas




RJ's Top Ten Christmas Songs...
  1. ...
  2. Greg Lake -I Believe In Father Christmas
  3. Bing Crosby - White Christmas
  4. Take That - Babe
  5. East 17 - Stay Another Day
  6. Chris de Burgh - A Spaceman Came Travelling
  7. The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale of New York
  8. Johnny Mathis, When a child is born
  9. Jona Lewie - Stop the Cavalry
  10. Wham - Last Christmas

The Christmas Throwaway gets 6th place in the Rainbow Awards Best Gay Contemporary Romance category

The Christmas Throwaway gets 6th place in the Rainbow Awards Best Gay Contemporary Romance category

I'm really pleased that The Christmas Throwaway has received an honourable mention and 6th place in the Rainbow Awards Best Gay Contemporary Romance category.

From the awards page:

'From the first chapter, the author draws you into the story and you cannot put the book down until the very end. I like how the author described just enough about the setting and did not bog it down with a description of everything. You still got the feel of the people of the town and the feeling of the season. Oh wow! I just can't say enough about the characters. Plain and simple, every now and then a reader can come across a story and you FEEL what the characters are feeling and that is exactly how I felt reading this story. -- Rachel '

*A special thank you to Elisa for running the awards and to Silver Publishing for all their hard work in promoting and supporting their authors*

Blurb:

Christmas is a time for giving - what do you do when no one gives a damn?
For Zachary Weston Christmas means sleeping on a churchyard bench in the freezing snow with nothing better in his future. Thrown out of his home for being gay, he is left without money or, it seems, anywhere to go. Until a stranger shows him that some people do give a lot more than a damn.

Ben Hamilton is a rookie cop in his small home town. He finds a young throwaway, fresh from the city, sleeping on a bench in the churchyard on a snowy Christmas Eve. Can he be the one to give Zachary his own Christmas miracle?

BUY LINKS - Silver Publishing :: Amazon


Author Interview - Toni Griffin

Author Interview - Toni Griffin

Buy Link for My Christmas Present

Welcome to Toni Griffin, fellow Silver author and writer of the best selling Holland Brothers series... So many questions so little time...

RJ: Being in the Southern hemisphere do you really have Christmas in the heat?

TG: Lol. Oh yeah. The temperatures are usually between thirty and thirty-five degrees Celsius and that doesn’t even include the humidity. If it rains then the day can get extremely hot and muggy. Thank god for air conditioning and my pool is all I have to say.

RJ: *shudders* I hate the heat! ROFL... *sends you some ice*... So I love *My Christmas Present* just saying... how about telling us something about the book... and my favourite demand... sum up your characters in a FEW words...

TG: You kind of get used to it after you’ve lived here your entire life. I love the place, heat and all. So...My Christmas Present...Is my first endeavor into cowboys. It’s about Lucas a fresh faced twenty something, who’s just finished university and is finally coming home to stay. And Mitchell, a nearly forty year old seasoned cowboy, who Lucas has been in love with for the last nine years. The one big problem is that Mitchell is Lucas’ father’s best friend.

RJ: Well I read it in one sitting and I loved it! I notice it is in the Silver top ten so I must not be the only one!

This isn’t your first published work with Silver, as I mentioned up there you have the Holland Brother’s books... they were incredibly popular...congratulations! Was that quadrilogy your first foray into writing …?


TG: Thanks, I’m really glad you liked MCP. I find it extremely nerve racking when i have a new release. This one especially as this was my first contemporary.

To tell you the truth I'm still stunned at how popular the Holland Brothers has been. It was my first foray in to writing and I never thought I would have my first book published let alone five of them. It still amazes me sometimes. I’m so much more a Maths person than an English one. My editor really must hate me. lol.

The wonderful Reese Dante covers for the Holland Brothers series with Silver Publishing

RJ: Had you done any writing before?

TG: Never. I was reading a fair bit due to a few personal issues, I would just pick up a story and lose myself in the words on the page and get to forget about all the drama at home. Then one day as I was leaving work Brian popped into my head and started talking. The man just wouldn’t shut up, so I gave in and wrote his story. Can’t say I'm too mad at him now.

RJ: How do you like writing for Silver? Oh and name check your editor! My editor is Devin and she is a goddess amongst goddesses... her and Kathy save my life daily... otherwise all of my heroes would have three arms, changing eye colour and different names!

TG: I love writing for Silver. Devin was fantastic and actually was the editor for my first two books. But at the moment Jason has done my last three and I love him. He catches so many of my stupid little mistakes. Sometimes I just have to roll my eyes at myself and wonder what the hell I was thinking when I typed that.


RJ: So a successful series, a wonderful Christmas story... what is next for Toni Griffin?

TG: I Have Frankie’s Vamp submitted and due out in April 2012. This is book one in my Hot Encounters Series. At the moment I am currently writing Dealing with the Dead. This is book one in The Thompson Agency series. This is about Necromancers. So I'm hoping to have a little fun with that. And for everyone who keeps asking me about my wolves, I will then be starting The Atherton Pack. So that should keep me pretty busy for a while.

RJ: Lastly the, before I let you go write, tell me quick answers to the following questions:

Castle in bullet proof Writer vest... something all writers need.
Favourite Film: How the hell do I answer that.... Ummm. Love the Pirates of the Caribbean films, Seen the Die Hard and Lethal Weapon movies more times than I can count growing up. Any girly movie really. there’s nothing wrong with a good romantic comedy in my book.

Favourite TV Show: Love Bones and Castle... oh and Big Bang Theory for a laugh

Favourite Christmas Song: Don’t really have a fave xmas song but my fave normal song is Bruno Mars - Just the way you are. I listened to that song so many times when I was writing Forbidden Mate

Your most wonderful Christmas Memory: Every Christmas with my Daughter is a memory I will cherish and keep forever

Your favourite Christmas present *EVER*: When I was a kid my brothers and I got a Trampoline from Santa. As an Adult …. I honestly can’t think of a single gift I've received in the last ten years that is truly memorable.... hmmm Will have to spend some time and think on that. I’m sure there has to be something. lol

RJ: Thank you so much for taking the time to come chat with me! Have a wonderful Christmas and your daughter too!

TG: Thank you so much for inviting me along. I’ve had a blast.

oOo

Toni’s books can all be found at Silver Publishing and her website is www.tonigriffin.net

FestiviTea - Autism and Christmas

FestiviTea - Autism and Christmas

I was asked by Sylvia Violet to post a recipe for Christmas on her blog and it got me thinking about something we have in the UK called *The FestiviTea Party*, a fundraising initiative from the National Autistic Society in the UK.

As The National Autistic Society (UK) say – “For most of us the Christmas season is full of fun, laughter and family, but for people with autism it can be a particularly difficult time: they may be confused and frightened by sudden changes of routine, unusual foods and new social activities.”

It seems unreal at times but the things we take for granted that neurotypical (‘normal’) kids can handle impact on autistic kids in different ways. Take, for example, changing lessons in a school day to practise a school play for instance. Or parents watching said play when very often autistic kids don’t want to be looked at. How about a sudden change in food? One day sweets are rationed, the next it seems kids are receiving treats from everyone, everywhere, and chocolate first thing in the morning from an advent calendar is positively encouraged! That confuses the 'normal' kids let alone the ones with issues!

Then...how about the stranger in red who visits you when you are asleep? Try explaining that one to a child who has no concept of Christmas. My son only started to accept Christmas and the man in red at the age of eleven and now one hundred percent expects Santa will be visiting his room. Difficult when Matt doesn’t actually sleep much…

B and Matt
Anyway to me, the point of bringing the FestiviTea to people’s attention isn't the whole fundraising thing, although y’know funds are cool. It’s just an excuse to pass on a few interesting facts that may get people chatting about the Autistic Spectrum.

Did you know?
  • Autism doesn't just affect children. Children with autism grow up to be adults with autism. 
  • Over 40% of children with autism have been bullied at school. 
  • Autism is a hidden disability - you can't always tell if someone has it. 
  • Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how a person communicates with, and relates to, other people. It also affects how they make sense of the world around them. 
  • It is a spectrum condition, which means that, while all people with autism share certain difficulties, their condition will affect them in different ways. 
  • People with autism may also experience over- or under-sensitivity to sounds, touch, tastes, smells, light or colours. 
If you want to know more... The National Autistic Society