Looking Back at 2015 titles

Continuing with the Deirdre O'Dare back list, I'm going to feature two titles from last year in today's post. Remember, you have to get them by March 30, 2016 and best location to do it is: http://www.amberquill.com/store/m/137-Deirdre-O-Dare.aspx?pi=4

A Cop and A Con grew out of a remark by a fairly well known writer some years back at a workshop: If your hero is a firefighter, your heroine --or other hero--should be an arsonist. That sounds kind of foolish at first glance but think about it. In a love story there needs to be a nearly insurmountable obstacle standing between te two parties and their happy ever after. If the two main characters follow conflicting professions, that;s a big barrier. So, a cop and a convict...
As I often do, I found a couple of canine characters worked their way into the tale too and at times darn near steal the scene. This will e one of my long term favorittes, I think, because I put a lot of heart into it. It's one I will try to rehome but that may take awhile. Here is the cover and the blurb.

Blurb: When a cop and a newly released convict cross paths, few cons can expect anything but a cold shoulder and mistrust. Struggling back to the home he knows no longer exists, Ike Hernandez meets a cop who seems to be different. He isn’t sure he can believe the kindness he receives will continue. Still, he wants to learn to trust again and regain his lost self-respect.

Perry Parker became a law enforcement officer because he wanted to help people. He’d seen first-hand the results of poverty, alcohol and drug abuse, a crumbling economy and the insidious effects of peer pressure and bad examples on the youth. He’d watched hardship trickle down to crush the youngest and weakest. He found there was not a lot he could do, but now and then he discovered someone he could help. Would the lost man with the little dog that he picked up one bitter cold and stormy night be one of them?

Pursuing tales about a new drug dealer in his county, Perry starts to doubt the man he’s befriended, but he still feels Ike is a decent person. When the real dealers seek to take advantage of the convict’s past, it takes Perry and his unofficial canine partner and the little stray Ike had adopted to save the day. Can a cop, a con, and two dogs make an unorthodox family?

The other 2015 release I want to share is Return to Atsileigh. It is a spin off and kind of a sequel to my very first m/m romance which was so well received it changed my writing focus in many ways. I had never tried anything remotely like science fiction, although I have been an avid sci fi reader for years,  and I really did not think I could write a gay romance! Treading Dangerous Ground changed that in a huge way. I knew there was more to the story but it took awhile to make the story work. Finally I got 'er done! Here is the blurb and cover. 

Blurb: The sequel to Amber Allure’s Best Seller Treading Dangerous Ground...

Some years ago, Hightower’s Betrayal ended the existing settlement of old world Native Americans on the obscure world of Atsileigh. But was Hightower the betrayer or the betrayed?

Floyd Jaxon, Nathan No Horses, and Jamison Hightower, nephew of the earlier Hightower, meet as cadets at the Unifleet Training base. They alternately razz each other and share in some steamy interludes as they are drawn into the growing plot to mark Hightower’s Betrayal with a return to Atsileigh.

Can their budding friendship withstand the dangers and demands they must face? Will Nate’s contempt for the Hightower name destroy any chances for a long-term connection among them? The future looms ahead, filled with threat and promise. How the three young men grow to deal with it and each other will impact them all...

More from Deirdre's back list

My second release at Amber Quill, Pickup Man  was the first of a series of three tales that were closely related, so I am going to hit all three this time. The series was titled The Rodeo Girls and the plots center around three women who are close friends that found love in various aspects of their favorite sport. The covers, of course, feature the hunky cowboys they hooked up with. The second tale, Portrait of a Cowboy was my fourth release and Cowboy First Aid was my fifth.  They are stand alone tales but can best be read in a group!

They are available in ebook form and in the print anthology Daring Delights. Buy them at http://www.amberquill.com/store/m/137-Deirdre-O-Dare.aspx

Here are the covers and the blurbs follow each one.

 High school librarian Jana's best friends Kim and Tracy accuse her of being a professional spinster, still single at twenty-seven. On a bet with them, the weekend of the big rodeo, Jana goes to the favorite nightspot of the rodeo crowd to try to pick up a cowboy. Before the night is over, she knows the steak dinner she'll win from her friends is by far the least of her prizes. Once she gets acquainted with Ty, the phrase "ride 'em cowboy" takes on a whole new meaning. She just might run her brand on this one!

 Sports photographer Kim is down on cowboys. Since her divorce, she is determined to go it on her own. Most of the rodeo crowd knows she won't date a performer. When she literally trips over hunky Wolf Voegler, however, she has to rethink her rule. Swept away by his gorgeous looks and his European charm, she rationalizes: surely one dinner date won't hurt…or even one unforgettable night of passion. Before it is over, though, she finds herself wanting more than just a portrait of this cowboy as a keepsake..

EMT Tracey is down on cowboys—they live on the road and any day can suffer a crippling or fatal accident. Burned by her trucker ex-husband’s infidelity, she feels love and a traveling life style can never mix. When she picks up Skip Horton after he’s been trampled by two horses, she can’t help but notice his great physique. Then he awakens in the ambulance and steals a kiss. She’s torn between attraction and wrath.Damn randy cowboys! Will they never quit flirting?

When her impulsive offer ends with him spending the night at her home, the attraction explodes. This cowboy, even injured, can make her feel things she’s never felt before. But won’t he be gone tomorrow? She doesn’t dare let lust overrule her common sense, much less admit her feelings could be anything deeper. But how can she help wanting more and more and more when this cowboy provides first aid for her wounded heart and self-esteem?

My first and most recent titles

My first Amber Quill title was Karola's Hunt, which was one of the contest winners in 2004, the first year a contest was held to discover some new writers to add to their regulars. By odd coincidence, I got the email to let me know twelve years to the day from the date the firm will close its doors and site.

This was a fairly mild erotic tale but you have to recall that things have changed a bit in the passing years and we've kept pushing the envelope! It is still sexy and a read a bit out of the ordinary! It was called an example of "classy" erotica, spicy and explicit without being at all crass or crude.

Blurb: Karola, daughter of Diana, is totally innocent and wild, having never left the forest where she has grown up. Then one day she encounters an intruder, someone who looks a bit like her but also very different. In Damien she finds her first human friend and much, much more. Before the day is over, she has discovered what it means to be female as she is awakened to the delights of her sexuality and the first stirring of love.

But how can Karola ensure Damien will return again to play more of these magical games with her?

My most recent story is a gay romance, which has been the principle genre in which I have written for the past several years. It is a nostalgic contemporary, not quite far enough into the past to be historical but not in the twenty-first century, either. The tale is set in 1949 and that era posed some challenges in presenting a gay relationship at a time when attitudes were far less tolerant and homosexuality was still illegal in most places. Still, I enjoyed writing it and paid a kind of tribute to the magazine that was a way for me to find some friends long before the internet dating scene was even imagined! So here is Thank You, Ranch Romances

Blurb: Rancher Wade is struggling to hold his life together after his wife’s death leaves him with two small children as well as a ranch to run. In desperation, he puts a letter in a pulp magazine, announcing that he’s seeking a housekeeper and nanny to help him manage his home. The last thing he expects, however, is the young man who steps off the train in response to the ad.

Darnell is at the end of his rope. The war is over and jobs are hard to find, especially to one who has few skills other than cooking and keeping house, learned while he helped his abandoned mother keep their family intact. The letter he finds in a discarded magazine seems a godsend, so he jumps at the opportunity. It doesn’t take long to fall in love with young Ben and Winnie, but he also develops a huge crush on the rugged and manly Wade, who seems to be everything Darnell is not. Dare he dream that Wade might find him attractive, too?

In the 1940s, the vernacular used toward people such as Darnell are crude and insulting. Prejudice abounds, and he feels its keen cuts. Can he make himself a place in the lives of the family he has adopted, or will hate and suspicion send him fleeing?

Three months to complete your Deirdre O'Dare collection!

All of my back list books at Amber Quill are available and most at a discount from now until March 31. On that date they will be out of print and I cannot guarantee which ones will be available again and when that might happen. Since Deirdre has sixty three shorter--story and novella length-- titles plus eleven collcctions in print, I will try to feature a couple almost every day. That way you can check whether or not you have them and want to get them before they are gone. My page at AQP until the closing date is still at http://www.amberquill.com/store/m/137-Deirdre-O-Dare.aspx

All my titles are listed and available there from the first, Karola's Hunt to the most recent, Thank You, Ranch Romances. 

I am already talking to some other publishers, especially about my m/m romances and will definitely let you know how things go and what may be appearing in other venues within a few months. There are several other excellent publishers who either feature some GLBT books or publish them exclusively. A number of Amber Quill authors are already making arrangements to submit new work and republish older titles with them so it is likely that Deirdre O'Dare will be around iin the future.

Today in a separate post I will cover those two and every day or two until they are all posted, I'll feature a couple, one older and one newer.

An Editorial Comment

I have posted this same essay or article several places already but want to share it here also and keep it available since it is published in my own domain. It airs my heartfelt sentiments and I feel needs to be seen everywhere small prss publishers and authors may frequent. GMW aka Deirdre O'Dare and Gwynn  Morgan

RIP Amber Quill

By now almost everyone in the small and independent publishing world has heard the news that Amber Quill is closing its doors. While it comes as a shock to everyone, not the least to the authors who have published there, it is primarily a sign of the times.

How many mom and pop stores have closed when a Big Box superstore came to town? WalMart has killed hundreds of small local stores all over America. Good or bad, it is a fact of this era. Amazon is the nine hundred pound gorilla in every area of publishing outside of the New York hub and probably gaining ground there as well. Big dogs do not like competition and they do not subscribe to the traditional ethics of us small folk in determining how they get rid of any ‘lesser’ beings who dare to intrude on their profits.  It is not my intent to rant on the political aspects of the modern economy but I do want to point out that a firm finding itself unable to continue in this climate deserves no shame or scorn.

I am sure there will be rumors and snarkisms flying at this point. I’m here to warn you, watch out what you say. I have been with Amber Quill for twelve years and have a total of sixty two story and novella length works with them, five novels and eleven collections or anthologies in print. I did not stay there and submit to them the bulk of my work for this span of time because I had no other choices. I stayed there because I felt it was my best choice among the many e-publishers, a lot of whom have come and gone during the time I have been a published writer, since 2001. Many left a bad taste in the mouths of all who had associated with them. I am sure I do not need to name names! We all know who they were and who some still are.

At any rate, back in 2002 several authors who had been stung in just such situations banded together to form a company, vowing to do it right. In my opinion they did an admirable job. Amber Quill has billed itself “The gold standard in publishing” and I do not feel that was an exaggeration. In twelve years I have never had a late royalty check or a suspicious accounting statement of the period’s sales. I have not had to front any cost of creating my books and found the editing, formatting, cover art and all other services to be truly outstanding. From this and personal contact with them, I know how the owners have worked, the heart and soul they all put into it. I also feel their personal anguish at this time when they realized it was no longer economically feasible to continue with the enterprise they had birthed and nourished. As much as I grieve for myself and my fellow AQ authors in this loss, I hurt more for them. Yet I hope they can take pride and consolation in knowing they have done a truly outstanding job for the duration.

That being said, I do not want to hear any innuendos, no snarky, sly remarks and no scathing put downs period. Anything said in that vein would be completely false and ill-deserved as far as I am concerned. The owners and staff of Amber Quill has fought a good fight and created a memorable enterprise, one which will continue to be a gold standard which others will have to strive hard to emulate. Even in the difficult business of closing, they are acting with the highest ethics and sensitivity for all involved. I call that a true class act. RIP Amber Quill; you will be remembered by many with deep love and respect. To all those who must now walk away, go in well deserved peace and harmony. Hold your heads high and be proud; you have done more than many ever will.

All Good Things Must Eventually End

I have to share some saddening news which is going to have a major impact on my writing and publishing for some time. I regret to report that Amber Quill is closing their doors. Production of new releases has stopped as of January 1, 2016 and the web site will come down as of March 31. If you want to get any of my backlist titles or those of other AQP writers, you will need to act quickly before they are removed from the firm's site and all other sales venues.

There is a small irony in fact the day of the final closure will be exactly twelve years from the day I got the first email, equivalent of the author's infamous "the call", to let me know I was going to be an AQ author with my contest winning story, Karola's Hunt. Since then Deirdre O'Dare has had sixty three stories and novellas, and eleven printed anthologies or collections published and as Gwynn Morgan, four re-released novels.  It's been a wonderful experience in every way.

The pressure applied to all the small and independent publishers by the giant Amazon who can afford to do loss-leader prices and 'free' releases and many other tricks that a small firm cannot afford or compete with  brought this to pass. I am deeply saddened and shocked. Thus, the two stories I have talked about recently will not be released, at least for some time.

I am going to try to find another firm that will bring them out sometime this year and also homes for some of my backlist titles as well. I know, though, that it is getting harder to find small press firms these days and competition for slots is very keen. Over a hundred authors with multiple titles are being orphaned by Amber Quill's closure so that is a tidal wave of material seeking new venues.

I will do my best to keep you all posted as things unfold and hope my readers will stand by for a short while until I can find a new home for Deirdre O'Dare's work. Im ay offer a short freebie here now and then if I can manage to do so.

Go in peace and harmony, all!

Looking Ahead to 2016

I hope most of you have had a chance to check out Thank You, Ranch Romances by now. Its been out for a couple of weeks and is still on the first page of the main Amber Quill page.

As of December first, I have turned in two of three stories that will be coming out in the new year, one perhaps as early as January. In A Mule for a Princess, you will get to see how Orr and Jase from The Mule Man are faring as they make a cameo appearance in the new story. However, the new hero of this one is young Bobby Estrada who finds a new career working with mules and an hiw own amazing prince charming in dashing Irishman Doyle O'Brien whose niece is the "princess" who finds just the right little mule for her own.  In A New Leash on Life, two men who almost became lovers in school meet again and the old obsession is still there but they have some rocky times before they can actually rekindle that relationship and take it farther. Justin and Barry both have to overcome old habits, fears and doubts to actually get a new leash on life--together.

A third tale is still a work in progress at this point. We're doing a five story collection of tales inspired by the titles of Rolling Stones songs. Mine is Jumpin' Jack Flash  and the characters that have emerged for it are leading me on a wild adventure here so expect a somewhat off beat story, even by Deirdre O'Dare's standards! It opens at a carnival in a small town in Arkansas some years ago and from there---well, no spoilers here but trust me, it will be a wild, fun romp of a story. Way too soon for covers or release dates but you will be the first to know when they come.