Standish/Frost Fair - and sealing wax

[erastes]

I had an email from my editor at Perseus yesterday. She'd bought, read, and really loved Hard and Fast. This makes me hugely happy.

Also, I had an email from a man who had read Standish. It really made me tear up (soppy Erastes!) because he reinforced everything that I believed when I started out writing gay historical fiction.  My thought was that a few people had written it - but not many - and SURELY gay men must  want the costumes, and the romance, and the adventure, and the alpha males and the duels.  All the things that I loved about period drama - why should they be any different?  It's been wonderful to find out that I was right, and that gay men are looking for all the same things that anyone else is - why should they be different After all?  Part of what he said:

"I have all ways loved historical romance such as Jane Eyre and secretly wished the hero/heroine(s) were two males.   I never knew that books like yours existed.

 

Thank you so very much you have made a hopeless romantic very happy"

It makes a hopeless author very happy too. Every email I've had from men - and oddly, most of my emails ARE from men, even thought I assume that most of my readers are women - has said similar things, specially about not knowing that gay romance exists.  I always give them links!

Other news:  I have the cover for Frost Fair - it's not too bad.  I'll never be a fan of half naked people on covers but it's not bad. I wanted something with the fair, but I know there would be copyright problems to do that - and Frost is pretty difficult to show.  However, I can't help but think that their skins would be rather blue were they really standing nekkid waist deep in frozen water.  They'd be dead. There's no outdoor sex in the book, so don't expect it!  :D




And I've added a Frost Fair page to the website, with a section of the first chapter if anyone would like to read it HERE.

Oh.And that hisssst! click! that the Dog Whisperer uses?  Doesn't work on cats.

Comments

[spikeyboots.livejournal.com]

Congratulations darling!

I always run into problems when I gget into arguments with friends who think they know all about the gay community - and I often pipe up with what I've 'learnt' from my years in fandom, with stuff like you've written above - rarely to my friends believe me, but I know it's true. :)

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Spikey- so nice to hear from you! And yes - there are no absolutes. Which I'm very pleased about.

:)

[shiawmeimei.livejournal.com]

Nothing works on cats... LOL

And since I am a fan of half nekkid men let me say, "Niiiiiice cover!" Should sell well. My next EC (DOUBLE HAPPINESS) has two really nekkid men on the cover. Lots of skin. When it hit the EC coming soon page, my website hits quadrupled!

Also, you're allowed to get soppy when readers email you feedback like that! LOL

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Severus just looked at me with big eyes when I hissed/clicked at him as if to say "mother's gone mad" and continued to plunder the bin as if I wasn't there.

He's a demon

Good, I'm glad you like it. It still has to have the Linden Bay gubbins on it, so I hope that all the different fonts don't make it too busy.

[vashtan.livejournal.com]

Those emails are wonderful, aren't they?

I just acquired Standish and will read it once I have a few hours. :) (I have to read the next Manna Francis novel first, though, and do some paid editing/reading).

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Aw thank you hun, hope you like it.

[ggymeta.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

I sent you an email, and you're probably going to be pissed at me.

You need to explain to your pub that decorative type should never be used on the authors name. :/ I think this cover will look better with your name under the title text, in a more clean serif font.

Just saying. >.>

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Oh I agree with you - but I'm afraid LBR don't listen to anyone really when it comes to cover designs!

[ggymeta.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

0_0 I would made a passionate plea.

This is what scares me about publishers outside of manga/comics. There's some pubs I'll never submit to because they have public statements about how 'they know what's best for the cover of your story' and so they'll choose your cover. As a published writer of comics, I come from a very visual medium-- so I know what's best for my story. ^_- (Also, I have an intense aversion to renderings or stock photos--but that's just me being opinionated.)

The cover does looks good...except for that font.

Good luck on this BTW, I hope it does well. ^^

[megleigh.livejournal.com]

I like the cover, with the same reservations about the font and placement on your name. I think it makes the book look like the title is Erastes and the Author is Frost Fair.

Still the picture is, as you say, not bad.

I will buy a copy once it is released. :)

[suryaofvulcan.livejournal.com]

Brrrr - chilly. And my first thought was that their winkles would be the size of ... well, winkles in that cold water.

But it's emails like that that make it all worthwhile.

[mzcalypso.livejournal.com]

Send this bit of exceedingly useful information to Linden Bay. Especially if you're a graphics professional. Probably won't help, but it couldn't hurt.

[alex-beecroft.livejournal.com]

That's not bad at all :) I like the way they're clearly generating the steam which is surrounding the title, though I agree that the realistic reaction to being waist deep in ice is probably panic followed by death. This is romance, after all :)

It will look better surrounded by the black borders LBR use. I found that with mine. It'll bring out all the colours and make it look more dramatic. So on the whole, yes, I like it :)

[erastes.livejournal.com]

A friend suggested they were being seen in a steam room through a frosty window which works too!

Looking forward to the finished version! Thanks!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

*giggles* that's very true!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I'll mention the font, I think, and the placement.

Thanks Margaret!

[rwday.livejournal.com]

I'm glad they liked it (of course they did!) but I've got definite mixed feelings about the cover. It looks like your name is melting. I would have thought they'd want something on the cover to clue people in that it's a Regency, but naked guys are good too. Even if all their bits would have frozen and broken off in the first 5 minutes...

[erastes.livejournal.com]

The trouble is that there are NO pictures of men in Regency costumes on any of the stock photo sites - I posted about this a week or so ago and said it was an ideal business opportunity for someone with camera skillz - all theyneed to do is rent a couple of uniforms, or outfits of the era from a costume shop, get some twinks dressed up and do some poses. Nothing graphic - loose cravats, a hand in a waistcoat, that sort of thing.

[sleveen.livejournal.com]

Also, I had an email from a man who had read Standish. It really made me tear up (soppy Erastes!) because he reinforced everything that I believed when I started out writing gay historical fiction.

Oh, wow...now THAT is what I call the ultimate in positive reinforcement and valuable feedback! That must feel absolutely marvellous - good for you! *hoists virtual champagne glass* That's awesome.

I always loved getting to see the cover for the first time - even if it's not quite what you had envisioned, it's always nice, I think, to realise that you are that much closer to publication...that things are moving along. How exciting is that??? Whoa. :-)