I... got a starred review. From the School Library Journal.

That's never happened before.

And can I frame "VERDICT: Highly recommended for hi-lo readers who loved Heartstopper." because I'd like to frame that.

#QueerYA #QueerRomance #HiLo

Hey writers, join me in 3 weeks to jump start your HEA through this online class!

https://loft.org/classes/plan-and-start-your-romance-novel

#Romancelandia #RomanceWriters #QueerRomance #OnlineClasses #AmWriting #AmWritingRomance #WritingCraft @writers
@romancelandia

My latest curated queer romance new release list is up now. All over the rainbow in terms of queer rep, yay! 🏳️‍🌈 📚 If you like anything from sci-fi to historical, fantasy to contemporary, there's a queer romance here for you.

Find it here: https://skyewritesromance.com/new-queer-romances-august-2023/

If you don't get it by email already, sign up now: https://tinyletter.com/skyekilaen

#QueerRomance #LGBTQBooks #Sapphic #Bisexual #Polyamory #SelfPromo #SelfPromotion @lgbtqbookstodon @sapphicbooks

I am severely stuck at the "Falling in love" portion of my 2nd shifter romance novel, in a scene where they should be getting to know each other better at a wedding reception... extremely tempted to just let them bond over Dragon Age 2 or something way too specific, just to get them freaking -talking- despite character A's social anxiety (he took a xanax but that still doesn't mean he knows how to do small talk...)

#amWriting #gayRomanceWriter #IndieWriters #ShifterRomance #NovelWriter #QueerRomance

Five days to go! If you have been sleeping on picking up my new book Dionysus in Wisconsin, there's a giveaway. See here for details: https://gaybookpromotions.wordpress.com/2023/08/14/dionysus-in-wisconsin-by-e-h-lupton-giveaway/

Direct link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZ96HWSP

It's urban fantasy/historical romance set in Madison in 1969. It's got a little noir mystery vibe. It's got a low-angst relationship. There's no homophobia and no cliffhanger.

@romancelandia #mmRomance #historicalRomance #queerRomance #gayRomance #urbanfantasy #fantasy #giveaway

Kicking off a little book promotion thing. If you have been sleeping on picking up Dionysus in Wisconsin, there's a giveaway if you sign up for my newsletter. See here for details: https://gaybookpromotions.wordpress.com/2023/08/14/dionysus-in-wisconsin-by-e-h-lupton-giveaway/

If you just want a copy, here's the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZ96HWSP

If you just want newsletter privileges, click here: https://tinyletter.com/ehlupton

@bookstodon @bookstodon #mmRomance #historicalRomance #queerRomance #urbanfantasybooks

Kicking off a little book promotion thing. If you have been sleeping on picking up Dionysus in Wisconsin, there's a giveaway if you sign up for my newsletter. See here for details: https://gaybookpromotions.wordpress.com/2023/08/14/dionysus-in-wisconsin-by-e-h-lupton-giveaway/

If you just want a copy, here's the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZ96HWSP

If you just want newsletter privileges, click here: https://tinyletter.com/ehlupton

@bookstodon @bookstodon #mmRomance #historicalRomance #queerRomance #urbanfantasybooks

(Seymour and Milo have just confessed their mutual attraction and are getting cuddly on the couch. Milo POV. Totally SFW excerpt!)

“You in this sweater…” he murmurs.

“You like this sweater?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Roger that. Tomorrow I’m donating the rest of my wardrobe.”

He giggles.

“Including the pants,” I add.

He raises his eyebrows. His thumb moves against my thigh. “Going twenty-four/seven pantsless is a pretty bold move.”

“Yeah, well, cut out the middle man, right?”

He breaks up laughing.

“Sorry,” I murmur. “I’m realizing I quip a lot when I’m nervous.”

“Shut up. It’s cute.” He looks me in the eyes. “So you’re nervous?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Me too.”

“You are?”

“Of course.”

“Haven’t you done this lots?”

He grins, shows those canine teeth. “I see you’ve clocked me as a slut.”

I giggle. “No, I mean…most people have done this a lot more than me.”

His grin fades a little. “I’ve done this a lot-a lot, yeah. But…it…mostly hasn’t been meaningful.”

“…Really?”

He lowers his gaze. Nods.

“So you…don’t just like me like that. You like me like /that/.”

He doesn’t speak. Just raises his eyes again, with the answer in them.

#TakeOnMe

#writing #WritingCommunity #GayRomance #MMRomance #mm #mmr #nonbinary #NonbinaryWriters #NonbinaryRomance #QueerRomance #LGBTQromance #LGBTQbooks #LGBTQwriters #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #UrbanFantasy #AmWriting #cozy #plural #ND #queer #WIP #romance #QueerJoy #mlm #fluff #fluffy #GrumpySunshine

(A fairly spoilery moment in Milo's character development, but I feel like sharing it anyway. He's an Episcopal priest and a living saint according to all who know him, who falls in love with and tries to heal a traumatized, rough-around-the-edges ghost-whisperer, and accidentally uncovers his own trauma in the process. Here he's having a sort of flashback review of childhood family dinners growing up in a traditionalist Catholic household. It's worth noting that, to this day, Milo talks to God and hears God talk back. [This excerpt, I think, kind of works as a response to #PennedPossibilities 27—how does your MC self-soothe?])

They are screaming at each other again. I wish I could make them stop.

At least they are not screaming at me.

They hardly ever look at me at all.

Divine Mercy. The Lord looks at me always, from the painting on the kitchen wall, with his big, beautiful eyes. He is so quiet and kind. He listens. He never, ever screams.

Stay quiet. Don't draw their attention out of turn.

Stay kind, so they can’t bring themselves to hurt you.

When they speak to you, listen attentively. Eyes on them. Nod so they know you are a good boy and you are listening.

Eyes on them. Learn to notice the signs they are going to erupt. Submit. Appease. Make a joke. Disarm. Head off danger at the pass.

Getting tall…don’t stand too tall. Don’t give them a reason to fear you.

Stay their small, sweet, godly boy so they’ll never be angry at you.

Something wrong? Fix it. Hurry. Before they notice. You are smart and resourceful and can fix it before they notice.

You are getting older, wiser. Sometimes they listen now. Mediate. Support. Harmonize. Hold the moral high ground.

Keep the peace. Keep the peace. Keep the peace.

…And maybe, just maybe, if you are good enough and patient enough for long enough, and never ever ask anything for yourself, they will repent and heal and turn toward you and you will finally have a family.

You are strong. You can bear this burden.

...Too deprived. Too disappointed. Too little. Too much.

Surrender your desires to the Lord.

You are my beloved child, in whom I am well pleased. Your reward is in heaven and not of this world.

God is with me. Nothing hurts me anymore.

I can take on the pain of the world. I was born for it.

Milo wants nothing.

Milo needs nothing.

Milo is but a vessel of Divine Mercy.

Milo doesn’t exist.

#TakeOnMe

#writing #WritingCommunity #GayRomance #MMRomance #mm #mmr #nonbinary #NonbinaryWriters #NonbinaryRomance #QueerRomance #LGBTQromance #LGBTQbooks #LGBTQwriters #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #UrbanFantasy #AmWriting #cozy #plural #infj #hsp #ND #CPTSD #ReligiousTrauma #queer #WIP #romance #QueerJoy #mlm

Read queer romance? :heart_pride: 📚

My monthly newsletter centers self-pub & small press queer romances that may get overlooked. Trans, nonbinary, and ace romances, BIPOC authors, queer M/F, MCs over 40, polyam, & more.

July's list: https://bit.ly/3YqHcNe

Sign up: https://tinyletter.com/skyekilaen

@lgbtqbookstodon @sapphicbooks @mmromance @bookstodon #QueerRomance #lgbtq #Bookstodon

Maius gives another huff, then leans over and kisses him: Satisfied now?

Caomh regards him from under half-lowered lashes and snorts: As if!

Curving a hand around Maius' neck, he draws him over for another, longer kiss.

2/2

#HistoricalRomance
#QueerRomance

Holly Day has a new release today, celebrating National Sneak Some Zuccini onto your Neighbour's Porch Day! Read all about Vampire Food here!
#MMRomance #QueerRomance

https://allester.co.uk/holly-day-vampire-food/

Want to write a romance novel? Come jump-start your happily-ever-after!

Leave class with a concrete plan for your project + feedback from an editor who specializes in romance (= me). We'll explore key romance building blocks from a perspective committed to diversity & inclusion.

Online class starts 20 Sept. Please share 💖

https://loft.org/classes/plan-and-start-your-romance-novel

@edibuddies @writers @romancelandia @bookstodon #WritingCraft #AmWritingRomance #Romancelandia #QueerRomance #FictionWriting

Good morning #bookstodon! My other pen name has the first of a new series of mm rockstar romances releasing today! It's still 99c for a couple of days.

A tired rock star and a judgemental gardener...what could possibly go wrong?

https://books2read.com/ReluctantRockstar

#gayromance #MMRomance #queerromance #lgbtqromance @bookstodon @lgbtqbookstodon @gayromance @mmromance @mmbookstodon

Low angst? Christmas-in-July? Romance? Still a few days to hop on a dozen other authors (and m'self!) and pick up a deal.

https://books.bookfunnel.com/lowangst-christmas-july-2023/z7edxajvy7

#QueerRomance #GayRomance

(Reclusive ghost whisperer Seymour is crashing with his new colleague, recently ordained Episcopal priest and unconventional exorcist Milo, until the two of them can find a way to neutralize a demonic presence that's taken over Seymour's house. Despite Seymour's trademark misanthropy, an awkward little friendship is starting to bloom.)

I catch him looking at me again. Not at my eyes, for once. “Okay...do I, uh…have something on me or…?”

Milo’s eyes widen. “I’m so sorry, no…I keep looking at your hair.”

“My hair…?”

“I guess you could say I’m neurodivergent in some unspecified way and sometimes I become preoccupied with things.”

“…Like my hair?”

“It’s pretty. It’s very dark and shiny and I like the way the cut frames your face and kind of swoops over your eye and conforms to the shape of your head in the back.”

“Oh. Uh…thank you…?”

“I’m sorry if it makes you uncomfortable. I have to remind myself it’s unsettling for people if you stare at them. Because personally I never mind it. In fact I think it’s strange that most people seem afraid to look at each other. Anyway…I like your hair. But I’ll try harder not to stare at it.”

“It’s okay,” I hear myself saying.

He blinks. “…Is it?”

“I mean…it’s not a big deal or anything.”

“No, I know it’s weird. I was bad about it when I was younger and people really didn’t like it.”

“I don’t, uh…I don’t really mind.”

“…Really?”

“Yeah. It’s fine.”

We lapse into silence for a moment. He’s still stealing glances at me, but seems even shyer now, despite the permission—keeps looking away when our eyes meet.

“Do you…like having your hair brushed?” he asks out of the blue.

“Uh…I guess? Are you…you saying…you want to…?”

“I think it might get it out of my system. But I know that’s weird, so it’s completely okay if you’d rather I didn’t.”

“…You want to brush my hair.”

His fingers flutter against his knee. “I feel like it might resolve the fixation. But it’s totally okay if you don’t want me to. Actually, no—I’m sorry I asked. It puts you on the spot, doesn’t it? No, no—it’s okay.” He closes his eyes; lays his hand on his chest as it rises and falls in a soft, slow breath: “I can manage this myself…”

“Um…I guess you can brush it,” I hear myself say.

His eyes spring open, rounder than I’ve ever seen them. “Are you sure?”

“I mean…somebody’s gotta do it. If you don’t, I’ll just have to do it myself at some point.”

He giggles. “Um…okay. Thank you.”

“You’re…welcome?”

He pops up. “I have a really nice brush my hairstylist recommended. Let me go get it.”

#TakeOnMe

#writing #WritingCommunity #GayRomance #mm #mmr #nonbinary #NonbinaryWriters #NonbinaryRomance #QueerRomance #LGBTQromance #LGBTQbooks #LGBTQwriters #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #UrbanFantasy #AmWriting #plural #ND #CPTSD #queer #WIP #romance #QueerJoy #mlm

My new contemporary pen name's first novella launches next Tuesday. Can you help me get to 100 pre-orders before then?

A tired rockstar and a judgemental gardener. What could possibly go wrong?

https://a.co/d/hQbQXGw

#Bookstodon #MMRomance #lgbtqbooks #queerbooks #QueerRomance #gayromance

@bookstodon @lgbtqbookstodon @mmromance @mmbookstodon @gayromance

The answer to 19 is short, so throwing 2 in there also, on my quest to get caught up!

19. Fun fact: Milo played center for his Catholic high school boys' varsity hockey team. (Probably the whole extent of the physical violence he's committed in his life.) Seymour has never played sports but is addicted to video games, especially CRPGs.

2. Seymour hasn't done much in the way of taking meaningful risks yet in his life. He has a history of taking certain habitual risks to distract himself: excessive alcohol consumption, risky sex...taunting angry ghosts. (The latter's actually a bit more on the meaningful side, since he's doing it to help the ghosts, but still not a deeply radical risk for someone who habitually disregards his own physical safety as a way of dissociating.)

Milo is intimate with the reality of impermanence and takes meaningful risks as a way of life, including being radically emotionally honest, connecting empathically to traumatized people, and trying to rehabilitate demons instead of sending them to hell. That said, there are risks he hasn't yet considered taking—such as seeking fulfillment for personal desires he pushed out of mind a long time ago.

#TakeOnMe

#PennedPossibilities #writing #WritingCommunity #GayRomance #mm #mmr #nonbinary #NonbinaryWriters #NonbinaryRomance #QueerRomance #LGBTQromance #LGBTQbooks #LGBTQwriters #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #UrbanFantasy #AmWriting #plural #CPTSD #queer #WIP #romance #QueerJoy #mlm @lgbtqbookstodon

(Might do one extra #PennedPossibilities each day till I've caught up on the ones I find most inspiring—because some of these are really good!)

I think when his story begins Seymour has a latent conviction that he's going to kill himself one day. It's his worst fear and the reason he keeps his life so closed off—so many things trigger him, and suicide's a very real possible consequence whenever he gets triggered. His best hope if he avoids that fate—so he believes—is growing old alone with the stray cats he feeds and his ghost pals who live in his house with him (between intermittent forays into toxic relationships).

Milo doesn't put a lot of stock in destiny; he's a mystic, and to him God represents a timeless present moment in which all things are possible, so in his mind the future's never fixed. That said, his belief in big dreams and fresh starts usually finds its application sparking hope in others who need it, and Milo's never imagined much for himself beyond a life of contemplation and social service.

#TakeOnMe

#writing #WritingCommunity #GayRomance #mm #mmr #nonbinary #NonbinaryWriters #NonbinaryRomance #QueerRomance #LGBTQromance #LGBTQbooks #LGBTQwriters #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #UrbanFantasy #AmWriting #plural #CPTSD #queer #WIP #romance #QueerJoy #mlm @lgbtqbookstodon

#PennedPossibilities 18 (Hi! I'm seeing this hashtag floating around...could someone please tell me where the prompts are coming from? 🙏 )

SEYMOUR: That's a personal fucking question. I...guess you could say I've let go of everything I ever loved or wanted. Not because I had to. Because I just don't have it in me to hold on. Good things never stay, right? Or at the very least they never stay good. So I get out ahead of the bullshit. As soon as they go hot, I go cold. (That's right, I'm a serial ghoster. And yes, as a professional ghost-whisperer, I get the irony.)

MILO: Something I loved and had to let go of was the Catholic Church...and with it, all the moral high ground I had with my parents. They used to be so proud of me for following my calling to become a priest. Now I'm finally ordained, but because it's in the Episcopal Church and not the Catholic Church, to them I'm just a "lapsed Catholic." But for me it wasn't a choice. I wasn't going to stay part of any institution that wouldn't be welcoming to my trans sister.

#TakeOnMe

#writing #WritingCommunity #GayRomance #mm #mmr #nonbinary #NonbinaryWriters #NonbinaryRomance #QueerRomance #LGBTQromance #LGBTQbooks #LGBTQwriters #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #UrbanFantasy #AmWriting #plural #CPTSD #queer #WIP #romance #QueerJoy #mlm @lgbtqbookstodon