pretensesoup

pretensesoup, 6 months ago to romancelandia

Voting for the Indie Ink Awards is open! Dionysus in Wisconsin has been nominated in both Best Mentor Character and LGBTQ+ Representation. So...if you're voting, think of it/us (me?).

https://indiestorygeek.com/a/indie-ink-awards-2023

@bookstodon @romancelandia #books #awards #indieInkAwards

pretensesoup, 6 months ago to bookstodon

I don't exactly know how to work ARC copies for a sequel, but okay. If you're interested in an ARC copy of Old Time Religion, click here: https://forms.gle/qnE9go4kM8Z1ZubJA

None of these are disqualifying questions. If you haven't read Dionysus in Wisconsin yet, I can give you a copy of that too. I expect to have ARCs ready to go around 1/1.

Old Time Religion is an urban fantasy/queer historical romance set in 1970 in Wisconsin.

@bookstodon @romancelandia #books #romancelandia #ReadersOfMastodon

pretensesoup, 6 months ago to bookstodon

My publisher kind of went overboard on the award nominations.

Someone: Em, don't you publish yourself?

Me: Ssshhhhh.

https://books2read.com/u/49dN1p

#books #urbanFantasy @bookstodon @romancelandia #indieAuthors @lgbtqbookstodon

willaful, 6 months ago to romancebooks

#WhatchaReading ? I just finished Seeing Blind by Poppy Dale, a very sweet, sort of "shop around the corner" romance which is my catnip. Part epistolary, which is also my catnip. Kisses only. Kiss only, really. 😁

One character has prosopagnosia, which is a significant disability for him. Can't say if it's an accurate portrayal but it was very interesting.

Slightly disconcerting that it's set in Manhattan and CA but the author is quite obviously British. 😁

@romancelandia
@romancebooks

pretensesoup, 6 months ago to mmromance

The holidays are stressful. Treat yourself to a book with a happy ending. Sam and Ulysses meet in September, fight evil together all autumn, and face off against a god in late December, so this is the perfect time of year to read it. Plus, you'll be ready for the sequel in January.

https://books2read.com/u/49dN1p
https://bookshop.org/p/books/dionysus-in-wisconsin-e-h-lupton/20101801

#urbanFantasy #mmRomance #romancelandia #gayRomance
@bookstodon #books #IndieAuthors @mmromance @lgbtqbookstodon #WritingCommunity

willaful, 7 months ago to romancebooks

I discovered I could use a Nora Roberts book for a challenge prompt, which is awesome... but now how do I pick from her 143,679 book backlist?!

@romancelandia
@romancebooks

herhandsmyhands, 7 months ago to romancelandia

@romancelandia

I had such high hopes for this book, and it didn't go well, sadly: my review of Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord, by Celeste Connally.

#RomBkBlog

https://herhandsmyhands.wordpress.com/2023/11/20/act-like-a-lady-think-like-a-lord-by-celeste-connally/

chestas, 7 months ago to bookstodon

I've just seen the Netflix series All The Light We Cannot See, based on the novel by Anthony Doerr which is sitting on my bookcase. It has tempted me to read and/or reread some novels based in WWII.

Does anyone have any recommendations of novels based historically in or around WWII?

#books #bookstodon @bookstodon #history #historicalfiction

willaful, 7 months ago to romancebooks

#WhatchaReading ? I just finished Dionysus in Wisconsin and I'd feel a little delicate about mentioning it since the author is on this instance, but fortunately I loved it. 😁 It's kind of like if Neil Gaiman and Cat Sebastian collaborated on a m/m historical fantasy romance. Magic, myths, high stakes, true love.

@romancelandia
@romancebooks

pretensesoup, 7 months ago to bookstodon

Ok, if you're in a book club and the book really doesn't speak to you...do you force yourself to finish it?

Maybe a result of being in the middle of a lengthy and serious writing project, but I've bounced out of a lot of books this year, and a lot of them have been from book club. Maybe I should be pushing myself more, but this isn't grad school, so...I don't know.

@bookstodon

herhandsmyhands, 7 months ago to romancelandia

@romancelandia I read Vanessa Riley's Murder in Westminster, the first in Lady Worthing series; I rant a bit about trad publ editors.

#RomBkBlog

https://herhandsmyhands.wordpress.com/2023/11/10/murder-in-westminster-by-vanessa-riley/

pretensesoup, 7 months ago to bookstodon

Today I thought I'd put all my links in one place.

If you're curious about Dionysus in Wisconsin, you can listen to me read the first chapter here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDSlNulRx6s&t=28s

Dionysus in Wisconsin buy link: https://books2read.com/u/49dN1p

Old Time Religion preorder link: https://books2read.com/u/4jB8jl

Joy of Fishes links: https://www.amazon.com/Joy-Fishes-H-Lupton-ebook/dp/B00H9WCEGU or https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-joy-of-fishes-eh-lupton/1117677798

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/4412917.E_H_Lupton

#FediBookFair #ReadingCommunity #Books #IndieAuthor @bookstodon

The physics of ghosts The dao of death Grad school, but make it haunted The geography of reluctant feeling The Joy of Fishes, by EH Lupton A picture of a goldfish jumping out of a body of water and a large pretty galaxy above it.

pretensesoup, 7 months ago to bookstodon

If you're looking for a deeply philosophical novella about love, loss, and Daoism, check out The Joy of Fishes. Mara Daniels wanders around Chicago over one day and talks to the ghost of her fiancé, Benjamin Zhu.

It's on Kindle Unlimited and regular Kindle, also available in paperback: https://www.amazon.com/Joy-Fishes-H-Lupton-ebook/dp/B00H9WCEGU

It's also on B&N in paperback.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-joy-of-fishes-eh-lupton/1117677798

#FediBookFair #IndieAuthor #books #ReadingCommunity @bookstodon

pretensesoup, 7 months ago to bookstodon

Old Time Religion is a continuation of Sam and Ulysses's story. In March 1970, Ulysses is on the verge of handing in his dissertation when his ex-girlfriend Livia shows up and drops a mystery on his plate. Her husband was murdered by a magic cult, and since then she's been plagued by strange noises in the night and a magic book that may be cursed.

Preorders: https://books2read.com/u/4jB8jl

#FediBookFair #ReadingCommunity #Books #IndieAuthor @bookstodon

pretensesoup, 7 months ago to bookstodon

It's 1969. Grad student Ulysses Lenkov hears that something big and dangerous is coming. He traces the disturbance to an archivist named Samuel Sterling. Ulysses decides that he is going to be the one to protect Sam. Soon, they're fighting off demons and delving into Sam's family's weird, secret past while trying to negotiate their growing relationship. And all the while, Dionysus draws closer.

Link:
https://books2read.com/u/49dN1p

#FediBookFair #ReadingCommunity #Books #IndieAuthor @bookstodon

CommonMugwort, 7 months ago to bookstodon

@bookstodon No, historical romance author, your heroine’s skirt hem did not skim over the bluebells, nor did lilac petals fall onto her bright unbound hair.

What kind of details bring your suspension of disbelief plummeting to the ground, fellow readers? For me, it’s often mistakes about plants, or food.

pretensesoup, 7 months ago to mmromance

Pleased to announce this is up for preorder. It's set in 1970, there's magic and gods and drugs and queer romance, and I did actually write a couple of songs for the Macbeth musical. It's a direct sequel to Dionysus in Wisconsin, so if you haven't read that weird fever dream yet, now is a good time to check it out.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C5XX9BH3

(There will be a paperback too. Just no preorder)

@bookstodon @romancelandia #books #urbanFantasy #indieAuthors #romancelandia @mmromance @lgbtqbookstodon

pretensesoup, 7 months ago to bookstodon

I don't remember if I posted this or not! If you have been interested in my novel Dionysus in Wisconsin but not sure you want to pull the trigger on a new writer, you can watch/hear me read the first chapter here while wearing a hand-appliqued jacket that includes a Dia de los Muertos skull patch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDSlNulRx6s&t=29s

Get the book:
https://books2read.com/u/49dN1p

@romancelandia @bookstodon #books #urbanFantasy #reading

lapis, 7 months ago to bookstodon

Hey Queer people:

Guess what's open?

https://www.queerliberationlibrary.org/

Sign up for a library card (digital holds, via libby) it may take up to a week to activate, but it's a FREE Library. sign up for it!

(Boosts welcome and encouraged)

@bookstodon

herhandsmyhands, 8 months ago to romancelandia

As a voracious reader who has a very tight budget and doesn't mind trying new authors: I wish to hell that publishers understood that they would get a lot more of my money, now and in the future, if they made first-in-series books accessible.

If you price all books in a series at $13 or more in digital, you are guaranteeing I won't be able to try, unless I remember to ask at the library.

@romancelandia #ReadingRant

herhandsmyhands, 8 months ago to romancelandia

I just learned that there's a series called...

THE ONE EYED ROYALS

do you wanna know where my brain went? do ya?

ETA: oh, sadness! it's not a series, it's the one book.

STILL!

@romancelandia

pretensesoup, 8 months ago to romancelandia

@romancelandia any recs for m/m or m/NB novels that are lowish angst, lots of interesting plot (like...Cat Sebastian x KJ Charles I guess)? Appreciate spice, am not a TJ Klune fan.

wendypalmer, 8 months ago to bookstodon

I live rurally and my library has been part of a consortium of 24 libraries across this part of the state where they all share a catalogue and patrons can borrow from all of them. Recently, courier costs have become too much and they’ve cut into blocks of 5 or so libraries for delivery (I honestly just thought they’d hired someone whose job it was to continuously circuit through the 24 libraries, collecting and returning books).

The other cost-cutting measure is that they no longer return books to the originating library. So I’m seeing “New to this library” bookmarks on quite a few books now.

One of the librarians casually told me that patrons still have membership in the full 24-library network. So that if I were to, say, visit one of the big towns now outside our small delivery block, I could, maybe, borrow books directly from there — and I could, you know, conveniently return it via my own library.

And then my library gets to keep it.

They’re very quietly deploying their readers to raid the bigger libraries 😂

@bookstodon
#Library #LibraryWars

willaful, 8 months ago to romancebooks

#WhatchaReading ? I read The Amazing Alpha Tau Boyfriend Project by Lisa Henry, which was very fun, but also made me uncomfortable in a way I find hard to define. Maybe the glorification of the "good" frat house, maybe the familiar humor that sounds more like my friends online than college boys. I'll probably read the next book though. On KU.

@romancelandia
@romancebooks

pretensesoup, 8 months ago to bookstodon

Tiny book reviews! @bookstodon

Saffron Alley by AJ Demas: Still love the characters and setting, pacing was a little odd.

Infinite Jes by Sam Starbuck: Fun characters, more Jewish than the last one, fade-to-black/sweet romance aspects made it feel a bit toothless, but adorable.

#books #romancelandia

pretensesoup, 8 months ago to bookstodon

My poem, "Someone Else's House," is up at Paranoid Tree! They do one poem per issue, so I'm all of volume 33. You can read it for free on their website, but also consider ordering it--It's a super cute little zine and the illustrations are adorable. Isabella Avedikian did a tremendous job.

https://www.paranoidtree.com/read/vol-33

#poetry #books #WritingCommunity @bookstodon

DocCarms, 8 months ago to bookstodon

There was a poll that stated—Rowling’s opening line in the HP series is one of best in the world. Someone posted about how there are a bunch of other opening statements that are better.

Here’s one of my personal favorites, from Gabriel Garcia Marquez (English translated):
“It is inevitable. The scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.”

What are some of your favorite opening lines in literature? 😊
@bookstodon #books #literature #writing #OpeningLines

pretensesoup, 9 months ago to mmromance

If you're looking for a good spooky season read, check out Dionysus in Wisconsin. It's got magic, mythos, music, demons, dancing, drugs, love, libraries, and literature aplenty.

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZ96HWSP
Everything link: https://books2read.com/u/49dN1p

@bookstodon @romancelandia @mmromance @lgbtqbookstodon #books #bookstodon #romancelandia #indieAuthor #reading #urbanFantasy #fantasy #romance

mjjmori, 9 months ago to bookstodon

I’ve gone back to an old #novel I’ve been writing for years- this time I’m getting it done! 😉

But, in doing so I have decided to change the prose text from past-tense to present-tense to give the #narrative some extra tension and forward drive.

It’s working out so far, but I’m not entirely convinced it’s the right thing to do. Most narratives are written in past-tense after all, so it might make my novel less inviting.

Thoughts? 🙂

@bookstodon @amwriting #amwriting #mjjmori

wendypalmer, 9 months ago to bookstodon

@bookstodon

Good to see previous #KindleUnlimited authors now appearing on #KoboPlus (which lets them list everywhere else as well) instead. The one author I was resigned to having to subscribe one more time to KU for is now on KP, I’m very pleased. I hope it works out better for the authors too.

pretensesoup, 9 months ago to romancelandia

I lack the cachet to publicize this correctly, but someone on Insta has been drawing fan art of some of my characters from Dionysus in Wisconsin and I'm blown away. If you're an insta person, go give them a ♥️ maybe.

Here's one of Ulysses:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CxEMeYBPvVt/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

#art @romancelandia @bookstodon #fanArt #DionysusInWisconsin

willaful, 9 months ago to romancebooks

#WhatchaReading ? I'm actually working on a review (!) of Out on a Limb, by Hannah Bonam-Young, which I mostly loved. Also doing way too many buddy reads, including Montana Sky by Nora Roberts and A Passage to India. You know, for a change of pace. 😁

@romancelandia
@romancebooks

franciscawrites, 9 months ago to bookstodon

Join in #13Books to know me because getting to know people by the books they hold close to their heart is great,

The Tombs of Atuan - Le Guin
Frankenstein - Shelley
Hunger Games - Collins
Last Unicorn - Beagle
The House of Spirits - Allende
The Handmaid's Tale - Atwood
The Left Hand of Darkness - Le Guin
Annihilation - VanderMeer
Three Times Lucky - Turnage
Good Omens - Pratchett Gaiman
Jane Eyre - Brontë
Pet Sematary - King
Howl's Moving Castle - Wynne Jones

@bookstodon #writingcommunity

pretensesoup, 9 months ago to lgbtqbookstodon

One reviewer on Goodreads wrote, "It's one of those books that has you actually holding your breath at least once. There were phrases that I had to speak aloud because they were so gorgeous I wanted to feel the weight and shape of them for myself."

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZ96HWSP
Universal: https://books2read.com/u/49dN1p

#books #Bookstodon #fantasy @romancelandia @bookstodon @lgbtqbookstodon #LGBTQBookstodon #romancelandia

pretensesoup, 1 year ago to mmromance

Today, the novel has slipped the surly bonds of earth and punched the face of god (which one? 🤔). I'm so excited for it to be out in the world.

It's Wisconsin without the "ope" kitsch. I hope you'll read it. Available in paperback, ebook, and kobo plus.

books2read: https://shorturl.at/cwIQW

Goodreads: https://shorturl.at/alxIP

@gayromance @romancelandia @mmromance @lgbtqbookstodon #urbanFantasy #historicalRomance #gayRomance #historicalFantasy #MadisonWi #1960s #bookstodon