Even More Stories!

Just in time for the weekend come two short stories sure to get you in the Halloween mood! Yesterday The House That Pip Built went up for sale. That was my first m/m story (as opposed to m/m/f), and it's a hot and sweet little tale of lust and loneliness. And ghosts. Or something like a ghost, anyway. Pip is available at Smashwords, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.

Today, for your reading pleasure, is The Sub Fairy. This little D/s gem is set (mostly) at a Halloween party, where the female narrator is enjoying being a costume accessory for her husband/dom. Is it exhibitionism if no one else knows you're getting worked up on it? Decide for yourself. Available at Smashwords, and soon at Amazon and B&N.

Stay safe at your Halloween parties this weekend, my lovelies, and check back on Monday for this year's Free Halloween Short Story!

The October Roundup: Publications, Reviews, a Sale, and an Excerpt

Wow, October was a fabulous month for me, but also very busy! I had a great time at the wedding of two of my good friends last night, a perfect cap to a great month.

First up, Hungry For Your Love released on Thursday, and is already up to #1 on Ravenous Romance's website. This anthology has generated a ton of buzz already, including a quiz to find out if your boyfriend is a zombie, and even a mention in Publisher's Weekly, and the print rights have been sold to St. Martin's Press! The print version is scheduled to be out next year for Halloween.

I am incredibly excited about the print sale. St. Martin's is a big name imprint of Macmillan, and publishes books from such authors as Sherrilyn Kenyon and Sue Grafton. Not that I don't love the other anthologies I'm in, and Bite Me was available in print from the first, but it is going to be so freaking cool to be able to walk into my local Barnes & Noble and pick up a copy of a book that I'm in. Squee! Not to mention getting my name out there, which is half the point of writing the short stories, honestly.

Next up, we've gotten a couple of reviews over at GoodReads for Bedknobs and Beanstalks. Of the anthology as a whole, Carole says "It's always hard to rate an anthology because the writing skill and enjoyment potential is different for each story, but here the stories are of uniformly high quality. All of the stories are cleverly fleshed out, using the original tale as a skeleton and branching out into new and imaginative territory." And Kathy says "I love anthologies, but I've learned to expect that not all the stories in it are going to appeal to me. Well, this anthology threw that assumption out the window! There are nine very different stories and each one of them, in my opinion, is a winner." I'm told there will also be a review posted sometime today over at Rainbow Reviews.

Last week also saw two great reviews for Taste Test: Scared Stiff. The first review is over at Well Read. For the anthology as a whole, the reviewer says: "This trio of mini ghost stories may be perfect for Halloween, but don’t worry you are more likely feel amused and heartened by these romantic stories than scared out of your wits...I had a great deal of fun reading these stories which are perfect Halloween reads." And of my story, "The House That Pip Built By Mercy Loomis was a tongue in cheek look at a haunted house where the ghost is very friendly indeed." This is the second time a reviewer has commented on my tongue-in-cheek humor, which amuses me because that's not something I actually try to do on purpose. (I suppose that's why it apparently works!) There's a link to a longer review over at Reviews by Jesse Wave, but right now the page is not coming up. I'll post snippets from that later.

Two more reviews for Like a Thorn. Dark Diva Reviews says "This is a variation on The Princess and The Pea, and was a nice tale. I enjoyed the interaction between the Princess and her part-time maid/full-time lover. I enjoyed the role changes, in which the maid is the Mistress and the Princess is the submissive. There is a twist at the end that just makes this story." She also calls the story a "charming romp," and gives the anthology as a whole 4.5 out of 5 divas. After reviewing "Skin Deep" and "Last Mistress of the Chatelaine," Lisabet Sarai over at the ERWA website comments "The other three stories in the anthology offer somewhat lighter fare. The brightest is "The Princess and the Peony" by Mercy Loomis." And of the anthology as a whole, she says "The stories in this collection more or less fulfill the promise of the introduction. They are original, well-crafted, and varied. All are laced with at least a bit of darkness. My biggest criticism of this collection is that it is too short."

I also found out that my story "The Sub Fairy" will be published in May 2010 by Cleis Press as part of the Please, Sir anthology edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel. Woot! I've been wanting to work with them for awhile now so it's exciting to finally get into one of their anthologies. "The Sub Fairy" is about a married vanilla couple and how they discover a wonderful D/s relationship.

And last but not least, here is an excerpt from Hungry For Your Love. This is the very beginning, because frankly without the beginning I couldn't think of an excerpt that would still make sense... This will also give you a little insight into Dave from "A Wild Hunt," although Dave and Joseph are different people. Enjoy!

"White Knight, Black Horse"
by Mercy Loomis

I don't know if I can rightly describe it to you, what it's like. When you are seized by the loa there is no memory, no knowledge of what passes. The loa, the voodoo spirits that act as intermediaries between God and men, are fond of using humans as their horses when they wish to pass on a message or join in a celebration. It's said that the loa displace their horse's ti bon ange, the little good angel, the spark of their host's personality. Either they hold it safe in their keeping, or no one has been stupid enough to try to steal the soul of a loa's horse.

I would imagine the loa would take a dim view of such a thing.

But God knows, I had been ridden before, and coming out of the ground was nothing like it.

The bokor, the sorcerer, called me from the earth, and I came.

I was bound. I was beaten.

And the bokor stole my ti bon ange.

I can tell you all this, for I remember it. It is not the same as being ridden, not at all.

New Release from Torquere Press

Today is the release date for Taste Test: Scared Stiff from Torquere Press.

This anthology features just three authors: myself, JL Merrow, and Sunny Moraine. The three of us will be hanging out over at Torquere's LiveJournal all day tomorrow, so stop on by!

In my story, "The House that Pip Built," Caleb wants desperately to be in the same fraternity as his longtime crush, Evan. Will he be able to spend enough time in a haunted house to get his wish?

Here's an excerpt:

Mickey had climbed the steps and was just now laying his hand on the knob. Caleb watched him impatiently. Caleb’s name had come up second, so once Mickey was done it would be his turn. He schooled himself to patience, knowing the other boy had to spend at least five minutes in the house, and might stay longer to prove his courage.

The house pulsed.

That was the only way Caleb could think of it. For a brief moment it was as if the whole building swam in his vision. A sound like a breath came from it, quickly followed by Mickey’s yelp as he stumbled back from the door, nearly falling down the steps.

It was like the house was staring at the boy.

“Fuck this noise,” Mickey said, and bolted for the street.

The other pledges had gone absolutely still. Caleb jumped when Evan’s hand came down on his shoulder.

“You’re up,” Evan said.

Caleb nodded, little tingles of attraction running through him from the older boy’s touch, distracting him from his fear. He could stand a little staring at for Evan’s sake. Squaring his shoulders, he marched up the steps and took hold of the doorknob.

Two New Stories Getting Published Next Week

Two new short stories are getting published next week! First up, on October 20th is "Cry Wolf" in the Bedknobs and Beanstalks anthology of m/m erotic fairy tales from Ravenous Romance. No one in the village believes Wil’s stories about the wolf, except the girl he’s being forced to marry. But the wolf has other plans for Wil – and troubles of his own.

Then, on October 21st comes "The House That Pip Built" in the Taste Test: Scared Stiff anthology from Torquere Press. In this story, college freshman Caleb agrees to enter a haunted house in order to get into the frat of his long-time crush, Evan, but the entity in the house has plans of its own.

Also on the 21st will be the third free installment of "A Wild Hunt" here on the blog.

In other news, I finally got a new day job, so I will be working full time again, at least for a few months. However, you'll still be able to find the same bloggy goodness on Tuesdays and Fridays, and any other day I have something to say!

New Sale

Hi folks. Just a quick update.

I'm pleased to announce that my short story "The House that Pip Built" will be appearing in Torquere Press's upcoming Taste Test anthology "Scared Stiff" and should be available around Halloween. In this story, college freshman Caleb agrees to enter a haunted house in order to get into the frat of his long-time crush, Evan, but the entity in the house has plans of its own.

In other news, I'm still sick. Blah. I won't bore you with the details, but I will admit that it's making me a lot less inclined to write. I'm at least getting some good research time in, and I did do about a thousand words of summary writing on Friday. I'm hoping to finish the summary this week and start digging in to the novel prequel, as well as finish revising 1794 and get that sent out. I'm also poking at a few other ideas to figure out what word range they are likely to be, and I'll probably start fleshing out one of those too in the hopes of doing another mid-length piece in the 10k to 20k word range.