Today my first novella, All's Fair in Love and Advertising, was released from Dreamspinner Press.



( Blurb )

My deepest thanks to pun, chaneen and mindyfromohio for all your help with the story. You guys are the best!

Also, now available is my story for the Dreamspinner Mistletoe Madness Advent Calendar, Spam! It's What's for Christmas.



( Blurb )

Many thanks to chaneen for all her help with it!

So, I've had a few exciting developments lately.

--My first novella All's Fair in Love and Advertising has a publication date! It's due out on December 2nd.

( Cover Art )

( Blurb )

It's up on the Dreamspinner Coming Soon page. It has an actual ISBN number. That just makes me giddy!

--I've had a second novella accepted for publication by DreamSpinner, called Rules Were Made to Be Broken, about a guy who's a little bit of a control freak and is so desperate not to let his best friend find out he's in love with him that he comes up with all these rules for hiding the truth. The only problem? His best friend has never met a rule he didn't want to break!

--Bedknobs and Beanstalks, the anthology of m/m fairy tales, got a great review from Rainbow Reviews, which I would link to, but the site appears to be down at the moment.

As for upcoming stuff, I just sent off a Valentine's Day story, and I'm working on a story for the I Do Two anthology. Plus, I have what I think will be a novel-length story underway. There's also a ton of good stuff out there that I want to read. Why are there not more hours in the day???

Bedknobs and Beanstalks, a collection of m/m fairytales edited by EM Lynley from Ravenous Romance, is now available in various ebook formats.




Here's a description of it:

( Synopsis )

Here's the lineup of stories, including mine:

( List of stories )

Check it out!

Mistletoe Madness, the Christmas Advent Calendar from Dreamspinner Press is now on sale.

Here's how it works:
Your Christmas present to yourself. A story delivered automatically to your inbox each day in December. Over 1700 pages of fiction selling individually for $94.18. Buy early and save:

October - $39.99

November - $49.99

After December 1st, stories will be available individually or as a single downloadable zip file for $64.99.


Here's the blurb for my story:

Spam! It's What's for Christmas
By Lenore Black

‘Tis the season to be... fired, dumped, and befuddled about the future? Ben Richmond is not having a holly-jolly Christmas. In fact, life has been a wash since a knee injury ended his dream of a baseball career. He's so desperate that when he spies an ad for nude male models, he jumps at it, hoping he can pull off a grand gesture to win back his boyfriend. The only hitch? Photographer Gavin McNally. He’s demanding, seductive, and wears a pair of tight-fitting black pants like nobody’s business. Ben hasn’t been this attracted to someone in a long time, but is he really ready to call it quits with the ex?

You can read descriptions of all the stories on the site. I've got my eye on a number of them!

I just got word that Dreamspinner Press is going to publish my first novella All's Fair in Love and Advertising. It's about a neurotic creative director who falls for a prospective client, and has to figure out how to win the account and woo the man.

I'm just ridiculously excited about it. No word yet, of course, when it will be released, but I'll update when I find out.

Some exciting developments in the past few days!

First, my story "Fun and Games" in Sindustry, Volume 1 got a lovely mention in the review of the anthology at Dear Author.

“Fun and Games” by Lenore Black
I adored this sweet little story. Patrick is a video game designer, working the final kinks out of a game weeks before release. He’s not perfectly sculpted and toned—he’s a dork and kind of soft around the edges. His friends buy him a prostitute for his birthday, just so he’ll get laid. But Jack keeps coming back, “the gift that keeps on giving.” The connection between the characters, the fun they have and the affection between them makes this a gem of a story. Grade: A-

I was also pleased to see that two of the stories I'm very fond of in the anthology got lovely reviews as well: “Fin de Siècle” by S. Reesa Herberth and “As Beauty Does” by JL Merrow.

Second, I just got word that my story "Spam! It's What's for Christmas" has been accepted for the Dreamspinner Press Advent Calendar. Yay!

We've gone through the first round of edits on the fairy tale anthology, and the publisher is aiming to launch it around the end of September. Here's a list of stories and contributors:

Bedknobs & Beanstalks: Gay Erotic Fairy Tales

Clancy Nacht: Jack and the Giant Peenstalk
Elizabeth Black: Furousen – The Fountain of Youth
Kilt Kilpatrick: Handsome and Grateful
Jason Rubis: Ashes and Crystal
Mercy Loomis: Cry Wolf
Jay Di Meo: The Merman’s Tail
JL Merrow: The King’s Honor
Natalie Kingston: Swan Made
Lenore Black: The Rebelliously Single Prince
S.J. Frost: Kintaro

I'm so excited about this book. I really think it's going to be great, and I can't wait to read the other stories!

Just got word this morning that the story I submitted to the GLBT fairy tale anthology from Ravenous Romance tentatively titled Bedknobs and Beanstalks has been accepted. My story is called "The Rebelliously Single Prince" and is roughly based on the fairytale "The Twelve Dancing Princesses." No word yet when the anthology will be released.

Big thanks to elbomac and mindyfromohio for their editing help!

This is a little snippet I wrote using this photo I found on Flickr for inspiration. It's kind of a romance?



( Dapper Dan Imperial Clothes, 1575 words )

I was so excited to see that Jenre reviewed Sindustry, volume 1 at Reviews by Jessewave.

Here's the link to the entire review:
http://www.reviewsbyjessewave.com/?p=1399#more-1399

"Fun and Games" got a specific mention, which totally thrilled me:

My favourite story was Fun and Games by Lenore Black, which tells of geeky Patrick, who runs a company that produces video games from his home office. He never goes out of his front door to meet people and so his friends arrange for a hooker for his 25th birthday. That hooker is Jack, whose winning personality breaks down all Patrick’s objections to his friend’s ‘gift’. Patrick is surprised when Jack returns the next night as well, and the next and wonders how much this is costing his friends. Imagine his surprise (but not mine, I hasten to add) when Patrick discovers that his friends aren’t paying at all. I have a thing for geeky guys and Patrick was just the epitome of nerd. He spends all his time designing computer games; he never leaves his house; he has low self-esteem; and is completely clueless as to what is happening between him and Jack. This was a really lighthearted, fun read and even a minor misunderstanding at the end of the story didn’t prevent me from enjoying it.

I'm supposed to hear this week or next whether my fairy tale story was accepted into the Ravenous Romance anthology tentatively titled "Bedknobs and Beanstalks." Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Sindustry 1 was reviewed at Tam's Reads, and "Fun and Games" got a specific mention:

( Review )

Yay!

Rainbow Reviews gave Sindustry Volume 1 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Here's the review:
http://rainbow-reviews.com/?p=1585

I'm really glad that people seem to be enjoying the anthology!

Here's an update on my current projects:

--Submitted a story to this anthology of GLBT fairy tales, and I'm waiting to hear back about it.

--Working on revisions to a novella set in the advertising world--because I figured some good should come out of my years working as an advertising copy writer! Neurotic creative director Max Tomlin falls for prospective client Joe Bennett who is in the corporate dogfight of his life. Romance and intrigue ensue. I'm hoping to whip this into shape and send it out to an editor for consideration by the end of July.

--Currently writing a story for the upcoming Dreamspinner Press kink anthology. Aaron Fitchley has been half in love with his best friend Dale since they were teenagers, but it takes lip gloss and handcuffs to get him finally to do something about it. (Due August 20)

--Plotting a holiday-themed story in which some rather lewd email spam and a grumpy, unlikely Santa Claus bring together a down-on-his-luck, washed-out former jock and a photographer who can still see the potential in him. (Due September 1)

I'm going to have a busy couple of months, I think!

I'm excited to announce that Sindustry 1 goes on sale today.



Rentboys, strippers, hookers, and porn stars—these men are making a buck the hard way. This is Sindustry, where a quick fuck is more likely than a romantic kiss. But while they face the harsh light of reality every day, unexpected love finds them in all sorts of crazy ways. Take a look at Sindustry from the outside in, because for these guys, happily ever after is just around the corner.

It's available in print and e-book formats at the Dreamspinner Press website, and coming soon to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, All Romance eBooks, and other online book-buying places.

Below the cut are titles and descriptions of all the stories, including my story "Fun and Games."

( Working boys! )

I got the good word today from Dreamspinner Press that my story "Fun and Games" has been accepted for their Sindustry anthology, which features stories starring hookers, strippers, and other working guys. In fact, they had such a big response (because who doesn't like hooker stories, really?) that they're going to publish two volumes. My story will appear in the second volume, which will be released in July, 2009.

More details to come!

I just sent off my first submission, to Dreamspinner Press for their upcoming Sindustry anthology which features hookers, strippers, porn stars and other working boys getting a little loving. Of course, I couldn't resist! All my thanks to pun and oxoniensis for their invaluable help on the story. We'll see what the editors say.