Archive for the ‘Just Wait’ Category

Dude, here’s my sequel.

Thursday, February 9th, 2012

If you’ve been following my stuff a while, you’ve probably noticed that I’ve got a bit of a…hang up when it comes to sequels. In that I don’t have any. The recent release of Just Perfect is a prequel to a dark little story I wrote a while back called Just Wait, but Just Wait’s been out of print since 2007, so does Just Perfect even count as a prequel? I labeled it #1 in the Drayner series so I’m guessing not.

But now, finally, I have a bonafide Book Two. It seems right that it’s part of the One Good series, since that’s what I was working on when I angsted about sequels in Dude, where’s your sequel? Of course, it’s also kind of ironic (or maybe just sad—I don’t have a good grasp of irony) that back then I was working on One Good Verse.

Turns out, Book Two in the One Good series will not be One Good Verse.

It’s called One Good Year and it’s an Ace & Spade story. XD

The novella’s tentatively scheduled to release March 13th, 2012 from Loose Id. You can read a little more about it here.

I’m excited. Are you exited?

Note: While hidden, the new One Good series pages have been available to view for newsletter members since this past Sunday. One of the perks of being on that list is getting to peek at stuff a few days (if I’m on top of my game) before it goes live. They’ll be getting another sneak peek this Sunday, so if you’d like to join the list, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rowan_mcbride/. It’s newsletter-only and very low traffic, plus you can decide if you want to have all posts delivered to your inbox, or just the ones that include chapter/installment/story announcements by choosing the “special notice” option. Special notices do not include sneak peeks unless I’ve just posted a new installment to one of my serials.

Wow, that was a very long post script.

But I’m still excited. Are you still excited? 😀

Posted in Drayners, Just Perfect, Just Wait, One Good Hand, One Good series, One Good Verse, One Good Year, Publishers: Loose Id, Publishers: Torquere | 2 Comments »

Goals: I haz them.

Thursday, February 2nd, 2012

I didn’t write a New Year’s resolution post because I didn’t feel like I’d achieved much in 2010/2011. I sorta figured I was hella lucky to have a novella out in 2012 and shouldn’t push that luck. Plus I go through this thing periodically where I feel like I suck.

Then an old friend sent me a card. Inside, she had cut and pasted (as in actually cut and pasted, with paper and scissors and—I assume—paste) a dozen little quotes and images that reminded her of me. It made me laugh. It totally made me feel like I didn’t suck.

So I got back to writing, and my short little bonus fic turned into another novella. Sold novella to publisher. Rocked out to The Offspring in my living room. Realized it was only January and that this could get interesting.

Below are a list of my goals for 2012. I’m going to do my best to achieve them. I’m not going to beat myself up over it if I don’t. I’m also going to be flexible and open to change.

I think it’s going to be a good year.

  • Updates to the website

    • I didn’t put up any additions to Best of Rowan’s Ramblings for 2011, and there were some pretty good ones. (Check: 2-16-11)

    • I’m thinking of doing a bit of a redesign to the overall look and navigation to the site. For a while there I never had more than three published books out at a time, but I’m up to seven now so I think it’s fair to say that the trend is good and over. My book list is starting to look a little unruly.

    • I’d also like to make the place more mobile friendly. As is, it doesn’t look too bad on phones because the original design took into account smaller laptop/monitor screens, but a mobile option could make things cleaner and easier to navigate on a phone.
  • Updates to Stories

    • This is the year I finish The Jascian’s Toy. I can feel it.

    • Write One Good Verse, which will bring the One Good series to three. I do like that number. Plus I’ve been working on it forever and I’m really digging the world right now.

    • Maybe Touching Fire: Asher’s Magic. Asher Croft is so very hot and his story should be a lot of fun.

    • If things go well with Drayner series, #1: Just Perfect, maybe I’ll get the green light on #2: Just Wait, the rough of which is already done.

    • Get Want Me into e-book format. XD
  • Conventions

    • DragonCon, if any. I ditch it for something else this year there’s a certain group of friends who will probably murder me in my sleep.
  • Blogging

    • I’m going to try and get into a regular schedule. Maybe {gasp} write a few posts ahead of time, so I can have them set to upload automatically. Most likely Thursdays. Of course, all bets are off if I’m on a roll with the story section above.

    • Post parts 2 and 3 of my 2011 YaoiCon wrap-up before YaoiCon 2012. *headdesk*

I think that’s the plan. There’s some tweaks I want to make to my own attitude, which brings us to one of the quotes my friend sent me:

“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius, and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”
–Marilyn Monroe

There was a time when I wrote fearlessly, when—no matter how crazy the idea—I would take what came to me and run with it. Didn’t matter whether it was thirty-five foot giant alien teenagers kidnapping humans to be their toys, or hell-bent roommates sucking the life out of the objects of their desire. They were the stories inside me, and I had every confidence I could tell them.

That’s the big goal. The one I’m going to work hardest on. I want to write madly, brilliantly, ridiculously. I want to be the person in that carefully crafted card.

And I want to have a blast doing it.

Posted in Asher's Magic, Drayners, Just Perfect, Just Wait, One Good series, One Good Verse, One Good Year, Publishers: Loose Id, Serials: The Jascian's Toy, Touching Fire | 7 Comments »

Wrote a book! Signed a contract!

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011

It’s called Just Perfect, and it’s going to be published by Torquere Press. I can’t share a lot of details yet, but you can read the blurb as well as a short rambling about the story by me at: http://www.rowanmcbride.com/stories/drayners/justperfect/. Right now you can’t actually get to that page from anywhere on my site—the link I just posted is one of two access points to it. The first was posted on my newsletter back on Friday, which is one of the perks of being on the mailing list. 😉

Just Perfect is the (hopefully) first in my Drayner series. Unless you happened to catch my now out-of-print short story Just Wait back in 2007, then for you it’s a prequel. Although Just Wait may or may not still be an official part of the series anymore. It’s complicated. There were twins involved. Sexy, scary twins.

But hey, my first book in two years. And it’s all…dark and twisty and such. Should be good times whatever happens, yeah?

Posted in Drayners, Just Perfect, Just Wait, Muscle Growth, Muscle Theft, Publishers: Torquere | 10 Comments »

Feed the Fetish – Muscle Theft

Friday, November 6th, 2009

Okay, the original blog I’d intended to post today unexpectedly turned into a full blown rant. Being that I’m not one to post a rant unless I feel like I have a damned good reason, I’m going to let that post cool off for a bit while I consider it and start over with this one. 🙂

Muscle theft is a subgenre of muscle growth. It involves one party taking mass from another and hence making themselves bigger. For obvious reasons these are usually horror stories, often falling into the category of “erotic horror.” Sometimes you might root for the thief (ex: abused geek gets back at bullying jock) and other times the main character is unlikable but you can’t help reading anyway (sociopath finds out he can steal size and just runs with it).

I’ve written two muscle theft stories. One is “Want Me,” which features a classic jock/geek/roommate/magic spell scenario, and the other is “Just Wait” which I’d like to continue but has been a bit of a problem to place because it involves twins. I mention the two I’ve written because both stories were called “unique” in various reviews, and while I like to think that they are—indeed—quite brilliant (notice how here I automatically substitute “brilliant” for “unique.” It’s a writer coping mechanism, lol), I must admit that their base premises aren’t that unique within the muscle theft genre. No more so than a werewolf story featuring the wolf finding his mate under the full moon or a yaoi story with clear seme/uke dynamics.

I am in no way an expert on this genre and, come to think of it, the two stories I did write were both gifts for the same person, a guy who happens to kick ass in this genre. But I love reading the stories for the same reason I like watching scary movies—It gives me a darker kind of rush, and that’s okay in fiction.

So with that, for this month’s Feed the Fetish I’m posting links to a couple of muscle theft stories I’ve enjoyed over the last few years. For the sake of simplicity, all the links lead to stories on The Evolution Forum, which requires registration to read. But I’ve been a member for over three years now, and the only automated mail I’ve ever received are happy birthday notes. And even that’s customizable. I just happen to like birthday notes. The more I get, the more loved I feel.

/string of too much information.

Here are the links!

Alpha Dog by blackbird
A short story about why you really shouldn’t pick on people you think are weaker than you.

* Part 1

* Part 2

Shift by Xyggurat
This writer’s stories marked the first that made me really LIKE muscle theft. Plus, bits of Shift were written during my madcap attempt to write and post a book in a week, so there’s a bit of a nod to Want Me in one of the chapters. 🙂

* Part I

* Part II

* Part III

* Part IV

* Part V

* Part VI

* Part VII

* Part VIII

* Part IX

* Part X

* Part XI

Taking the Good by Clarence591
I haven’t read this one, but I’m way excited because it was recommended just now by a friend of mine who’s heavily into the genre and now I have something to read over the weekend. W00t!

* Part I

* Part II

* Part III

* Part IV

* Part V

If you read any of the above, let me know what you think! Even better, comment on the forum itself, since comments=love.

I’m also toying with the idea of making a more extensive list of muscle theft stories. If you have a favorite work, I’d be very interested in hearing your recommendations. 🙂

Have a great weekened!

Posted in Feed the Fetish, Just Wait, Muscle Growth, Muscle Theft, Want Me | 3 Comments »

Goodbye Drayner Twins (at least for now).

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

Note: This blog was originally published on my MySpace blog, March 24, 2008.

Just when I’ve buckled down and sent Warm Rush to a new publisher in the hopes of a re-release, I got the news that another of my stories will be homeless as of April 1st.

In about a week, Just Wait will no longer be available for purchase. And given my dark and sexy anti-heroes—Mark and Travis Drayner—are twins, it’s unlikely it’ll see the light of day for a while.

Dark Eden Press, the publisher currently housing Just Wait, is closing its doors next month. Although I’m depressed about seeing it go, I also understand why it had to be done. Two of its owners have been diagnosed with serious health problems, and rather than subject DEP to a slow deterioration, they chose to close. I’m sure it was a difficult decision, and I’m sure it was the right one given the circumstances.

Bottom line, if you haven’t met my Drayner Twins yet, you have until April 1st to do so. Same goes for the other excellent stories on the site at www.darkedenpress.com.

Health issues can throw a monkey wrench into the best situations. I’m posting Debra Durham’s letter to her authors below. We’re all definitely pulling for her.

***

 

From Debra Durham (March 24th, 2007): 

 

I don’t often share much personal stuff about myself or what is going on with me, so I never thought I would be coming to any of you with this but sometimes life comes at you and you have to deal with it, and this is one of those times for me.

 

I could beat around the bush here but that’s not me.  You deserve the truth even if it is painful for me to talk about.

 

I have found out recently, very recently, that my cancer has returned.  For those of you who do not know, this is my 6th time around with this in a little over 10 years.  It started as cervical cancer 10 years ago and each time has gotten worse and spread to other places.  I will be starting chemotherapy and radiation treatments shortly and as I have been through these same treatments twice already, I can honestly say it isn’t pretty.

 

After discussing the issues and options with Susan and Billi, and then Gretchen and Brenda, it was decided for a few reasons that I will discuss below, that the only option was to close Dark Eden as of April 1st.  I have to devote my energies and my time to getting better, and to my daughter.

 

One reason for closing is the treatment plan itself.  I will be in no shape to run a company, much less take care of anything else.  Another reason is with Brenda having gone back to work fulltime, that would leave just Gretchen to do it all and as great as she is, she can’t do it by herself.  Billi works fulltime and does her part of the business in the evenings and on weekends.  Susan has health problems that she didn’t have when we started this company and wouldn’t be able to do the things that I do.  It was hard enough after the house fire to keep things running smoothly and even then they were getting some help from me.  They pitched in and ran things beautifully after the fire but that was only for a few months, this would be for the next 6 months at the very least.

 

The last reason is all of you.  All of you deserve an owner who is going to be here, who is able to get the things done that need to be done.  I don’t want my authors trying to figure out why I haven’t answered emails for a couple of days, or why royalties are late, or wondering when the things that need to be taken care of are going to get done, when the reality is that I will be too sick to do it.

 

I will spend the next two weeks preparing letters to release your book rights to you, doing March royalties, and closing the readers group.  I will then begin shutting down all the DEP email addresses except for my own and forwarding all mail from that to my personal email address.  By May 1st, I would hope all payments have cleared the bank, and on that date I will also close the author group.

 

On a personal level, I feel horrible that this has to be done to all of you.  I have come to know almost every one of you personally and I feel as if I have let you all down when you trusted me with your stories, and I am so sorry for that.  You trusted in the fact that DEP would be around for a long while and I am truly sorry that we are not going to be.

 

If you have any questions or problems, please don’t hesitate to email me as I will be working to get last minute things tied up over the next several weeks.

 

Please feel free to post this on your blogs or websites as you see fit.  I would rather have the truth out about why we are closing, even if part of it is a personal issue, than to have DEP’s name trashed across the blog universe.  Lord knows some of those people do not have enough to do but sit around and pick their next victim.  I do not want it to be this company.

 

If I have not told all of you lately, it is and has been, a pleasure working with all of you gifted writers and DEP’s fantastic staff.

 

Debra Durham

President

Posted in Just Wait, myspace | No Comments »

Just Wait was reviewed by Crystal

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

Note: This blog was originally published on my MySpace blog, September 26, 2007.

and I got her heart thumping.  😉

To read what else she thought of my Drayner Twins, check out:

Book Reviews by Crystal

Just Wait is available for purchase at Dark Eden Press.

 

Posted in Just Wait, myspace, Review | No Comments »

How to Edit a Novel (if You’re Rowan McBride)

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

Note: This blog was originally published on my MySpace blog, August 18, 2007.

Scan through all the colored notes your editor inserted into what you had erroneously thought was a clean manuscript. Try not to have flashback of insane elementary school teacher as you look at all that red.

Scroll up to beginning of file. Take deep breath. Get up to snag a glass of water.

Begin reading manuscript. As you hit first set of suggested edits, declare aloud that the editor is nuts.

Anywhere from 5 seconds to 10 minutes later, realize that—damn!—the editor is probably right.

Get through fifteen pages. Totally rewrite six different paragraphs. As you’re staring at the online thesaurus looking for yet another word for “fire,” switch screens abruptly to write a poem. Post poem on blog.

Stare at manuscript. Decide that the episode of Bleach you’ve seen two times already is more important. Switch to Cartoon Network. Drool over Ishida.

Check blog to see if it’s gotten any comments.

At around two in the morning, tell yourself that you’re doing your manuscript and yourself a favor by getting some sleep.

Repeat this ritual more or less verbatim for the next three days.

On the fourth day (around page 52) drop everything to draw a fairly decent picture of Sasuke from Naruto.

Rework three paragraphs in a row. Check DeviantArt page to see if Sasuke pic got any comments or faves.

After another ten pages, get up to snag another glass of ice water. Wonder briefly if you’re getting enough water, down that glass and refill it. As you walk by your desk, you spot your scrapbook and note that you still haven’t pasted in the reviews for Just Wait. You’ve already put them on your site, but you haven’t printed them up yet and you really should—

You shake the thought away and sit down to your manuscript.

Check blog. Check DeviantArt account. Check email. Watch Bleach.

Decide that your scrapbook is taunting you. Stay strong. Spend a good ten minutes trying to figure out which Sins belong to which characters in Full Metal Alchemist. You’ve got five of them pinned down, but which one belongs to Mustang? You wonder if you should Google it.

Realize with a start how much time has passed since you started this damned thing. Realize you’ll never get to write your uber cool royal alien rock star yaoi story if you don’t finish your revisions. Realize if you don’t finish your revisions, Paul’s Dream will never be published, and your manga addiction is gonna hurt.


Finally buckle down.

You read. You focus. You fall into a depression because your freaking novel SUCKS.

You’re too action oriented when you write. You don’t have enough internal dialogue. You don’t vary your sentence structure enough. You certainly don’t have enough emotion. And why is this section so poorly written?

Revise. Revise. Revise.

Try to teach yourself new ways to write things on the fly. Hit the halfway point in the novel. Ignore scrapbook. Skip dinner.

After reading a while, wonder why this half reads so much easier than the first half. Begin to worry.


What made me think I could ever be a writer?

Shake off doubt. Keep reading and revising. Fall in love with characters all over again. Remember that you have two sequels planned and smile.

Reach last line in manuscript. Imagine what your cover might look like. Stretch your sore muscles, then jump up to watch the Naruto hundo marathon thing on CN. Help yourself to the ice cream you bought just because one of your characters adores it.

Relax. Swear you’ll write a blog about the entire ordeal.

Eat your ice cream, and feel pretty good.

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Posted in Anime/Cartoons, Art, Fun, Just Wait, myspace, Paul's Dream, Poetry, Touching Fire, Writing | No Comments »

Thank you

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

Note: This blog was originally published on my MySpace blog, July 30, 2007.

I want to express my sincerest gratitude to everyone who bought Just Wait this past weekend. In my last blog, I asked you to help me get on the Dark Eden Press bestseller list, and you did. In less than 24hours, you guys made me the NUMBER ONE selling author on the site!

You guys rock socks. Let us all engage in a virtual Snoopy Dance:

Thank you, my fans and friends, for making the first ebook release I’ve had in a while so amazing.

— Rowan McBride

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Wait’s Finally Over

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

Note: This blog was originally published on my MySpace blog, July 26, 2007.

My short story, Just Wait, is now on sale at Dark Eden Press! Ah, Mark and Travis. Good Twin Fun. I’ve been looking forward to this release forever, it seems. Not only did I have a blast writing it (these twins have so much fun being bad!) but it’s also my first e-book out since Twisted Shift closed. I must say, I’m a little nervous about being at a new publisher.

At Twisted, I dominated the bestseller list—I had the top three spots. But I’m the new kid on the block at DEP, and of course I’m nowhere in the rankings yet. Think you can change that for me?

Terribly shallow of me, I know. But I really, really want to be on that list.

If you get Just Wait, and you have an opinion on it, feel free to click the review button and write what you think of the story!

***

Another long-awaited story of mine, The Jascian’s Toy, has finally been updated. Jascian is the story of Blake, a human doctor who gets kidnaped to an alien world to be a toy. Lucky for him that his new ‘owner’ is painfully hot.

I posted Chapter 7 on The Evolution Forum and Nifty.org today. Both sites are free to access. The Jascian’s Toy is up at Evolution now, but it may take a little while for it to make its way through all the Nifty mirror sites, so if you read it there, be patient.

At Nifty, you can read all the installments in the Gay Male/Science Fiction and Fantasy section. Just scroll down and look for ‘jascians-toy’ and they’ll all be clustered in the same place.

Here are the links if you’d like to read the story on Evolution. Comments are enabled there, and I’m addicted, so feed my fix.

One Two Three Four Five Six Seven

Have a fantastic weekend, everyone. It’s still raining here, so it looks like I’ll be indoors catching up on my reading, listening to music, and watching anime. Which actually sounds like fun.

For reading, I’m going for DeathNote v12, Heaven Sent: Hell, and Basilisk. In music I’ve just discovered closethuman, and I’m all about them at the moment. In anime… Bleach and Naruto, of course. And episode 3 of Yami no Matsuei.

Yeah, I think that’s a pretty good list.

If you put Just Wait on your reading list, let me know what you think!

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Posted in Anime/Cartoons, Just Wait, Manga/Comics, myspace, Serials: The Jascian's Toy | No Comments »

On Death Note and Drayners

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

Note: This blog was originally published on my MySpace blog, June 18, 2007.

Lately I’ve been reading Death Note, and I think it might be influencing my writing. The central character—Light Yagami—is a sexy, brilliant mass murderer, and you somehow end up rooting for him to achieve his megalomaniacal dreams. You even love him for it.

Okay, the “love” part might just be me, and I’d rather not delve too deeply into what that means. So moving on:

Since I’ve started reading this manga, my own writing has gotten a bit…hmm…darker. In Want Me, Walker Cain casts a spell that locks on to Joel’s will and drags him into reality-shifting sex over and over. To add to the angst (and let’s face it—horror), Walker steals everything that Joel believes is good about his life. The guy’s insane, yet that perfect, unrepentant insanity kinda makes you like him.


Want Me is a wrenching novel, and I figured I’d stay shiny from there on out. But last week I sold a short story to Dark Eden Press, and there I was, reveling on the dark side.

I wouldn’t call this one wrenching, but I think that’s more a factor of point-of-view than story content. Where Want Me was told through the eyes of the victim, Just Wait is told from the PoV of Travis Drayner, who has no qualms about “borrowing” the physical attributes of other people and absorbing them into his own body. His twin brother Mark is even more powerful—he can take what he likes and he can keep it. But does Travis want him to stop stealing? Nope. Travis aches to see just how far his brother can go.

You can’t help yourself from liking Trav, though. He’s freaking adorable, despite the fact that meeting him and his brother in real life would probably scare the hell out of anyone with a decent sense of self-preservation. Light Yagami is sexy because he’s imaginary (at least, I hope that’s why he’s sexy), and the same goes for Drayners.

This new tone in my writing might just be a phase—I’ve finished volume seven (gaw!) of Death Note, and there are only twelve in the series. Either way, I don’t mind one bit. Walking on the dark side is fun. After all, that’s where the good cookies are. And apples. Lots and lots of apples.

Okay, the forbidden fruit thing is definitely Death Note influenced. But oh, it was so much fun working it into my Drayner story. It should be coming out soon—I don’t have a release date yet. So if you want to see how I worked apples into it, you’ll just have to…well…wait.

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