New Translations + news

Hi guys!

This year I've been mainly focusing on translations instead of developing new projects - I needed a break from writing. Last year was very stressful for me and by the end I was getting anxious just looking at my laptop. So I gave myself a bit of a break, but I never stopped working. Currently I have a few projects on the go, and quite a few translations were released very recently, including the Italian translation for Piece by Piece, and most recently Dreaming of Snow, which concludes the West End series. So the entire series is now out in Italian, check it out on Amazon (available on KU as well).

          

     

   

If Christmas romance is your jam, I've got Kiss and Ride coming out in Italian very soon! Just in time for the Holidays ;)

Also, my German publisher tells me the German edition of Cookies did very well, especially for a new author in that market, and they signed a few of my other books as well. The German translation of Snowed In was released this weekend by Cursed Verlag, check it out on Amazon and Cursed Verlag website. 

                   

I hope 2018 will be a bit more productive for me and I'll be able to release the projects I'm currently working on. I'll be able to say more a bit later on. For now, here's a little excerpt from my current WIP:

The music cut through my insides like a hot knife in butter, melting the edges and seamlessly sinking into me, leaving me open and raw. Every thump of the bass punched me in the gut; every high electronic screech shocked my nerve endings making my limbs twitch. Nobody noticed my movements were a bit unnatural, or if they did they didn't care. I danced and shook and shuddered on the crowded dance floor, time slowing down to an agonising crawl. The colourful beams of light passed over sweaty faces slowly, carefully, as if they were flashlights carried by rescuers, lingering on people’s features, trying to locate someone in need.

The thing was, everyone was in need here. In need of a release, of a good time, of a quick, uncomplicated fuck in the back. Everyone was chasing a high, one way or another. In my case, I wanted to forget; to silence the constant flow of thoughts and images chasing one another in my mind, fighting for dominance every damn second.

You killed him. You fucking killed him.

I was shouting at my mother as my father’s casket was lowered into the hole in the ground. Everyone was staring at us. Renee was holding me back. I couldn't see, my eyes were blind from rage and pain and tears.

I blinked.

It took a fraction of a second but felt like I closed my eyes for hours. When my heavy lids finally lifted I saw time had resumed its usual speed. A wall of noise hit me making me stagger backwards. I didn't go too far, half a step at the most, bumping into bodies moving to the fast rhythm. They jostled me back and forth for a while until I found my footing again.

I smiled. Raised my arms over my head and let the music take me again.

It felt good.

It always felt good.

I needed this, today more than ever.

You killed him.

You fucking killed him.

Stop!

“Finn,” Someone shouted in my ear, too loud even for the club. “Finn!”

Instinctively, I put my arms around the body currently invading my personal space. I let the familiarity of it, the closeness, the scent, wrap around me like a soft blanket on a cold day, and shivered.

“Don’t,” he said when I placed my lips on the pulse point of his neck. Strong hands gripped my shoulders, but didn't push me away. I straightened and met Aiden’s eyes.

Indie Hour - Nicola Haken

I'm so happy to welcome Nicola Haken to Indie Hour today! She's an author of both contemporary and LGBT romance, and I'm a huge fan!

TK: Hi Nicola and welcome to Indie Hour! So glad to have you as my fabulous guest!

How are you? I know you had some heath trouble over the recent months and got us all worried! Glad to see you on your feet and writing again.

NH: Thank you for having me! Thanks to a cocktail of medications, I’m feeling way better than I was. I’m still waiting for some tests and appointments because I’m proving to be a bit of a medical mystery at the moment! But, now anything sinister has been ruled out, my head is back in the game. Woohoo! 

TK: Tell me about your new book The Making of Matt. It’s the third book in your Souls of the Knight series, right?

NH: It is and, for now, the end of the series, but I never say never to anything. Matt was never supposed to have his own story, but readers saw something in him that, at the time Being Sawyer Knight was released, I didn’t. Several asked for his story, which at first I dismissed because this was an M/M series and Matt was not only straight, but a complete whore! Once the seed was planted, however, it continued to grow, and, now, here we are. I can’t see any other way for Matt anymore.

His story, of course, stays true to the personality everyone fell in love with. Matt continues to be immature, sarcastic, unwittingly offensive, and sometimes downright stupid. I’m biased, obviously, but it’s hard not to love those things about him. He’s an arsehole, but an adorable one! In this book, though, we see Matt Carter is also so much more than that. Beneath the humour lies a sensitive, caring, sometimes vulnerable man. He has some pretty tough things to deal with in his story and he doesn’t always react to them in an ideal way at first, but the important thing is he learns as he goes along. As a person, I think he grows a lot throughout this book. I doubt he’ll ever ‘grow up’ so to speak, and really, I wouldn’t want him to. I kinda love him!

TK: Congratulations on the enormous success of the book – it’s been in the top 100 of the entire Kindle paid store ever since it was released, along with a few other MM romance books released around the same time. How do you feel about the success of the MM genre in recent months?

NH: Holy freakin’ crapballs is all I can say to that! Matt’s success has blown me away and I can’t thank everyone who helped get him there enough. Anyone who follows my posts will have seen that I’ve been just as excited to have my fellow m/m authors there with me last week! I’ve only been a part of this genre for 18 months and it’s already grown so much in that time, which is AWESOME! I’m so honoured to be a part of it. I’ve met some of the best people in it, made some incredible friends, and I’m beyond happy that more people seem to be finding us. Next step for the m/m genre? Take over the world! 

TK: I know you write both MM and MF romance books, which I think is awesome. There’s a stigma attached to authors who openly cross genres, however. Have you been affected by it?

NH: Oh there definitely is, for some people at least. When I released Being Sawyer Knight I had my fair share of ‘this is why mf authors shouldn’t write mm’ comments. I refused to give those kind of statements a second thought. I write about people falling in love. If I can write one man convincingly in an m/f story, I can write about two in an m/m/. If they didn’t enjoy the story, they didn’t like my writing style, they thought it was a pile of crap, I accept that. No book is for every reader. But what I’ve written previously shouldn’t come into it.

I’m of course only referring to a few people there. On the whole, this genre and the people in it – authors, readers, and bloggers – are amazing! I’ve gained so many new readers and discovered some fantabulous authors too. All in all, I’m surrounded by awesome people and I try my best to concentrate on them and ignore anything negative. 

TK: Do you plan to go back to writing MF romance or are you more likely to concentrate on MM in the near future?

NH: As much as I love my m/f characters, and the readers and friends I made while writing them, I feel like I’ve found my home. I’ve always written in dual POV and even when writing m/f, I always enjoyed writing from the guy’s perspective more. I connect with them better somehow, I always have. I tell people this all the time, I genuinely had no idea the m/m genre existed until around two years ago when I accidentally stumbled upon a Kindle Alexander book. As soon as I read it, I felt like I’d been searching for this genre all my life! But it does, and I love it, and I’m afraid you won’t get rid of me easily! 

TK: How do you manage to run your own business – because let’s face it, being an indie author is a business, and it takes a lot of time and effort to run it – around your family and your kids? I only have one kid and I can barely breathe some days, let alone find time to write! What’s your secret?

NH: My secret is very little sleep! I have four kids aged between 12 and 3 (yeah, I don’t know what I was thinking either!) so I do most of my work when the two smaller ones are asleep at night. I don’t often go to sleep before 2AM, but I’m lucky to have a husband who works nights and does the school run when he comes home in the morning so I get to lie in till a whopping 9AM some days haha! Also, I’m not what you’d call a domestic goddess. I make time for all things work related by ignoring all things housework related :D 

TK: Is your family supportive of your career choice?

NH: Very. I wouldn’t be able to do this alone. My three boys are at school during the day, so my mum takes my daughter during that time so I have those hours to do my author thing. She also helps out with the things I never get around to, like washing, ironing, and cooking at weekends lol. In fairness, I’d probably never do those things anyway even if I wasn’t busy writing, but don’t tell my mum that ;-) 

TK: Do you like being an indie author? Have you considered publishing with a publishing house?

NH: When I first started out, like a lot of new authors, it was my dream to be traditionally published someday. But now? I’m not sure. I like the control I have over my own things. I’m happy (and tremendously grateful) for the success I’ve had on my own so far, and I also don’t cope well with deadlines or being told what to do lol. But I guess I can’t say for sure without ever having a discussion with a publisher. I’ve heard good and bad stories from both sides of the fence. But for now, I’m happy and proud to be an indie author! 

TK: What can we expect from Nicola next? Do you have any publishing schedule planned or are you taking it in stride?

NH: I’m not good with schedules! I’m well over half way through my latest work in progress which I plan (or should that be hope?!) to release in March 2016. It follows my new boys, James and Theo, and is worlds apart from Matt’s story in so many ways. New characters, new country, my first time writing in present tense… Also, these guys have a difficult, emotional, story to tell and I can only hope I do them justice. 

Right, it’s all fun and games until the Lightning Round!!!!

·         Do you prefer to be right or liked? Whichever causes the least drama!

·         Superman or Batman? Superman (come on, the dude can fly!)

·         Do you sing in the shower? I sing everywhere (much to the detriment of others!)

·         Are you a night owl or an early bird? Night owl

·         Who’s your dream mentor? I admire such a long list of people I couldn’t possibly choose!

·         Your phone or your kindle? Phone (although I have a kindle too!)

·         What’s your favourite food? Potatoes (cooked any way!)

·         Did you ever read a book because everyone else was reading it? If yes, which one? The only book I’ve ever done that with is Fifty Shades of Grey because I needed to see what all the hype was about. For the record, I loved it!

·         Pizza or sushi? Veggie I’ll go with pizza because the idea of sushi weirds me out, but I don’t really like either.

·         TV series or full length movies? TV series. I usually end up falling asleep through movies, yet I can binge watch TV shows for hours!

TK: Thank you, Nicola, for being such a brilliant guest!

NH: Thank you for having me!

If you want to get in touch with the fabulous Nicola, or just stalk her for updates about her new books, here's how:

Facebook      Website     Twitter     Amazon     Goodreads

I've been quiet.... Oh, so quiet....

So, yeah, I haven't been blogging or posting too much on social media lately. There's no dramatic reason behind it, really. It's summer and there's no school for the kids, and I'm kinda busy trying to keep my 8 year-old entertained.
At first, I felt like I was slacking, ignoring all my deadlines and upcoming projects. I had a persisting migraine for over a week, trying to figure out how to juggle my kid, my writing and everything else I have going on.

In the end, I had to admit I can't handle everything at once. I need to get rid of the constant guilt - if I'm working while my son is at home, bored out of his mind, I feel guilty. If I spend time with him doing fun stuff all day, I feel guilty for not working. It's catch 22, I guess.
That couldn't go on for much longer before my head exploded. So I let go of the guilt, and like a light switch turned on in my head, my migraine was gone.
My kid and I did some awesome stuff during the summer. We went to the theatre, to the cinema, cycled in the park, played tourists in London and had picnics in the park.
We also found new hobbies - gardening, baking and drawing! I suck majorly at all of those activities and yet I've always been fascinated by them. It was time to do things properly and learn.

  

Armed with know-how books, the proper equipment and determination, we tackled our new hobbies one by one and had so much fun doing it. Our garden is equipped with a greenhouse now and we have planted a ton of vegetable, herb and flower seeds for next year. We also made so many cakes and cookies that our friends and neighbours had to help with eating them all. And, our paintings found new homes and are currently hanging on friends and family's walls. 
Most importantly, we spent time together and had fun. How could I have been so stupid to think that working was more important than my kid is beyond me.
Anyway, the point of all this is that I've come to realise that while I do love writing and I do love connecting with readers and releasing new books, I can't go on feeling guilty for every second I'm doing something for fun instead of writing. I intend to keep up with my new hobbies even after the summer, and if my son wants to go do something fun after school, I'm not going to say 'no' anymore.
And who knows? Maybe that will make me more productive. After all, feeling at peace with your own self makes miracles happen ;)
Till next time!
xx

Piece by Piece news, teasers and excerpts

I posted a couple of excerpts from my upcoming book Piece by Piece on my Facebook author page and people went crazy with excitement. I can't even begin to explain how much that means to me. It pushes me to write and follow my schedule even when that's the last thing I feel like doing.

Writing is going well, although a nasty cold I acquired last week set me back a few thousand words, but I'm trying to catch up. It's not easy to write this book, mainly because it's very emotional. It'll be the most emotional book I've ever written and it's taking its toll on me. I need a break after certain scenes, and pushing through them is not always easy.

But, having said that, I'm enjoying writing it way too much. The story is very impatient to get out and I'm doing everything I can to follow its lead.

Click on the cover to add it on Goodreads. I'll post the pre-order Amazon links as soon as I have them. As for the release date - I haven't set an exact date yet, but I'm aiming for early April.

For anyone who's missed the excerpts on my Facebook page, here's a little taste of the mood of the book:

Excerpt #1

Sonnie traced the rough lines on Riley's wrist, feeling the 

disfigured skin.

“How many times?” he asked softly.

Riley didn’t reply for a long time. He kept caressing Sonnie's 

shoulder.

“Two.”

Sonnie closed his eyes, willing himself to calm down. He 

wanted to scream, and hit, and kick until all the rage inside 

him leaked out. But he remained still, focused on his 

breathing and counted to twenty. 

His eyes filled with tears he hated. He hated feeling this 

impotent, this helpless to do anything about Riley's pain.

“Promise me you’ll never do it again,” he finally managed to 

say.

Riley didn't. He kept holding Sonnie but no words came out 

of his mouth.

Lifting his head off Riley's chest, Sonnie looked into his blue 

eyes. They were shining with unshed tears, gleaming like 

drops of rain in the soft light.

“Promise me.”

“I can’t.”

Excerpt #2

Slowly, the sobs lost their power, the tears dried, and the 

terrifying grief inside Riley subsided. He could take a breath 

without feeling like his lungs were on fire.

“I’m sorry,” he rasped as he pulled away. 

“Don’t be,” Sonnie said, stroking Riley's upper arm.

“It’s just so stupid!” Riley stood from the sofa, grabbing a 

tissue from the box on the coffee table and wiping his face. 

“He’s been gone for ten years, Sonnie. Ten fucking years and 

it still feels like it was yesterday.”

“Oh, honey,” Sonnie walked over to him, turning him around 

to look into his eyes. “It’s not stupid...”

“It’s your fault,” Riley interrupted without any heat in his 

voice. Sonnie closed his mouth, frowning, as he waited for 

Riley to continue. “You make me feel, Sonnie. Do you know 

how long it’s been since I felt?” Sonnie shook his head, his 

eyes misting over. “Six years. And I know that because it’s 

been six years since I opened this shop, and it saved me. I 

threw myself into it, into doing something I love, and grew 

numb. And it felt good. I hadn’t had a breakdown like that in 

six years, and then you come along with your sexy smile and 

your confidence and your honesty, and you make me want to 

feel again. You make me want to have a life, to dream about 

the future, to have friends again, and I don't know how to do 

that without him.”

Sonnie's frown softened, but it didn't disappear completely. 

Riley waited to see the imminent pity appear in his eyes, but 

instead, all he saw was steely resolve. 

“I’m not going to apologise for that, Riley, even though I 

didn't do it on purpose, but I’m glad it happened. I’m here for 

you, OK?” Sonnie reached out and cupped Riley's cheek, 

brushing a thumb over his cheekbone. Riley couldn't resist 

leaning into the touch, rubbing his cheek against Sonnie's 

palm. “As a friend,” Sonnie continued, and Riley couldn't 

help but feel disappointed. What did he expect? That Sonnie 

would throw himself at him, kiss him and declare eternal 

love? He was a mess, a huge fucking mess, and nobody in his 

right mind would want to get involved in that. “As someone 

you can count on. I’m not going to judge you, but I’m also not 

going to let you continue like this.” Sonnie took a step back, 

spreading his arms wide. “This life you’re leading is an 

existence, Riley. It’s like you’re already dead, just waiting to 

make it official.”

He couldn't have said it better himself. 

“And you’ve got too much soul to live like that.”

Riley said nothing. What could he say? That he knew his soul 

died ten years ago on that cold road, alone, in a pool of 

blood? That what he was left with was a mere fraction of a 

soul, the bare necessity to go on living?

Riley nodded. He couldn't voice any of that, not when Sonnie 

was looking at him with so much hope.

I. Am. A. Storyteller

A friend of mine started telling me a story the other day while we were out on our daily 5K run. It began really promising:

“There is a bridge somewhere in Scotland,” she said, “over a shallow river, and every dog that walks along that bridge feels the overwhelming urge to jump off it. Many dogs have died there,” she finished.

“But why?” I asked intrigued.

“Don’t know. They never found out,” she said and continued running next to me as if it was perfectly OK to start a promising story, get my attention, wake my curiosity and then BAM! slamming me into a dead end wall.

“Let me stop you right there,” I said, slowing my run to a lazy jog. “This is not how you tell a story.”

“But that’s all I know,” she protested.

“In that case you have two options – either make up a suitable ending or never ever tell that story to anyone! It’s absolutely pointless.”

My friend just shrugged and we continued running in silence. She didn’t get it. She couldn’t grasp why I’ve been so disappointed. She simply isn’t  a storyteller.

Everybody knows at least one person who is such a wonderful storyteller that you listen to them with mouths involuntarily open, eyes sparkling with amazement and hungrily absorbing every word. They could be describing the contents of their weekly recycling bin for all you care. But they do it with such finesse that everybody is sucked into the story right up until the very exciting end. Yes, exciting ending – that’s one of the components of a good story. But first things first.

Nobody cares if the story you are telling is entirely true. You may have changed a few details like the wind strength or the receptionist’s hair colour or the amount of alcohol consumed; you may have exaggerated a bit here and there; you may have made the build up to the exciting ending a bit longer; you may have even made the ending itself a bit more exciting. But in the end what’s important is that it’s interesting. Nobody is going to google the facts of your story but everybody would be laughing/crying/clapping (whatever your aim is) in the end.

Let’s face it – most things that happen in our everyday lives are pretty boring. That’s why we, storytellers, have to twist and model the simple daily events into interesting stories to tell at dinner. Otherwise we are facing dull conversations and our children’s sparkle-less eyes every single night. Do what you have to do to make people around you interested in what you are saying – move around, make descriptive hand gestures, play roles and change voices, be sarcastic, be funny, change the story to suit your needs. I can promise you, when you see your companions’ glowing faces or when your child snuggles next to you with the request for yet another story, you won’t be sorry.

Just bear in mind that it’s addicting.

True story?

 What is this fascination with true stories? “Inspired by a true story” is NOT a unique selling point anymore! Who cares if it’s real? Certainly not me.

I want to read interesting stories, I couldn’t care less if they actually happened or not. To be honest, I prefer if they didn’t actually happen. Haven’t we got enough reality in our lives already? Don’t you want to detach yourself from the real world for the length of a movie or a book? I know I do.

I don’t want “believable” characters. I want characters who do things no actual person would do, or at least not anybody I know. I want characters who love and hate passionately, much more than any of us “real” people can comprehend. I want characters who go on such adventures and survive such disasters that none of us can even imagine. I want characters who take me on a journey, on an emotional turmoil that no actual person can live through.

And I don’t care if facts are exaggerated or even completely made up. I don’t care if no such technology or weapon or world exists. I don’t care if CSI agents are made-up to the last detail of their pretty little faces or that they are wearing heels – it’s much more pleasant to watch than a swarm of people in white overalls, don’t you think? I don’t care if there’s no such thing as vampires in the “real” world or that the Japanese didn’t actually come up with a synthetic blood substitute.

You know when your uncle caught that medium-sized fish he’s so proud of? Remember when he started telling the story how the fish was a foot long, the sea was calm and he had two other mates in the boat with him? And do you remember how from mouth to mouth, from day to day, the story grew in front of your eyes until the fish became five feet, there were giant waves and your uncle was all alone in his little boat in the middle of the storm? Which story do you like more?

Can you imagine a world without imagination? Because that’s what you are asking for if you want to read and watch “true stories”. We have so much mundane truth in our lives, why bring it in our books and films as well? Why not think of something bigger, scarier, more romantic, more unbelievable, more colourful?

There is enough of that already, some would argue. We want to experience something believable, something real! And I’m not saying that you shouldn’t, everybody is free to read, watch and listen to whatever they like, I just don’t understand it. I cannot comprehend the desire to be sucked in somebody else’s real life. Let alone the “true story” selling point.

When it’s a good story, who cares if it’s true?