Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in Hop Against Homophobia.  It was a fantastic event with tons of great posts by some amazing people.  We're so happy to announce a winner from the great folks who stopped by our little old blog.  Our random number picker has been whirring and smoking and has spat out the name of the chosen commentator.

Drumroll please!

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KimberlyFDR!  Come on down!  We're sending you our Super Special Blood Howl prize pack, just in time for Blood in the Sand's release on June 1st.  Check your email for the deets.

Again, we so appreciate being able to take part in this.  The discussion of homophobia can be painful at times, uncomfortable, frustrating, infuriating, and sometimes it seems hopeless.  But it is the only way we can move forward.  Every conversation we have, every time we're able to come together and, with respect and love, talk and share and empathize, that's how we're most human.  That's how we'll be able to become something so much better.

-Alex & Robin

Joy Comes With the Morning

It's Hop against Homophobia time!  This is such an amazing idea and Robin and I feel so lucky to have a chance to bring a focus to this issue.  Obviously, we both feel so strongly about the idea of combating homophobia with information, knowledge, and patient education, so we think the idea of getting several hundred of us together to talk about it is incredible.

Here's how we thought we'd do things.  I decided the only way we could really talk about homophobia and what that means to us now is to share my personal story.  As I told Robin the other day, it's pretty much the most generic 'Gay Person in the Midwest' story in the world, but I think sometimes, sharing something like that is the most important thing you can do.  Not because it's extraordinary - nothing about my life has really been that - but because it's not.  Because there are so many people, I know, who have grown up like I have, who have faced the same things I did.  I wish I'd known that, when I was younger.  Maybe this will be our own little Oprah moment, a way to all sit on the couch and have a drink and talk.

Of course, we also want to give some stuff away.  Everything's better with a give away!  Leave us your thoughts in the comments below, share your own experiences, ask questions, just say hi.  Make sure to include some way to get a hold of you, and you are entered to win this awesome prize pack.

Included are:  A signed paperback of Blood Howl (just in time to read before the sequel, Blood in the Sand, gets a release date announced), your very own whistle necklace (so you'll never get lost), and a dog tag and cling sticker from one of my favorite non-profit groups, the Human Rights Campaign.  (The profits from buying those, just like everything else from the HRC store, goes straight back to the organization.)

We're so incredibly grateful to the organizers of the Hop against Homophobia.  This is a fantastic idea, and we look forward to seeing what other members of the m/m fiction community have to say.  Writing gay fiction, for Robin and I, is one of the most rewarding experiences we could hope to have.  Not only do we get to do what we've always wanted to do - write - but we get to develop characters we believe in and stories we love.  Really, we have it pretty damn good.

Celebrating Dreamspinner Press

So, we think Dreamspinner Press is pretty awesome. They consistently put out amazing material, they feature huge amounts of incredible authors, and they are one of the best Gay Romance publishers out there.

In honor of recognizing the fact that Dreamspinner Press is, as aforementioned, awesome, Sue Brown is going to be promoting Dreamspinner works on her blog to support them and the authors. We, of course, signed up.

But in lieu of offering a free book to go along with it, we've decided to do something else:

We're pledging a $25 donation to The Point Foundation, in honor of Dreamspinner Press.

The Point Foundation is a national LGBT scholarship fund organization that provides mentoring, financial support and leadership training to students who are marginalized due to sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. It has recently celebrated its 10 year anniversary, and it's seen rapid growth due to good financial decisions by its organizers.

We think that organizations like this are critical in a world where LGBT students can still be marginalized. Students - teens and young adults - already have enough stress and craziness in their lives, they shouldn't have to deal with bigotry on top of all of that.

And, well, their website says it more eloquently than I can:

Applicants to Point Foundation and subsequent scholars, turn to Point Foundation because their families are either unable or unwilling to support them and their goals for higher education. Each student has a compelling and inspiring story of overcoming incredible obstacles and hardships. Many have been cruelly rejected by their families, forced to leave home, and cut off from all financial support. Yet Point Scholars are excelling at our nation's most prestigious and demanding universities and colleges, while also leading in a variety of extracurricular and community service activities.

We think that The Point Foundation is doing amazing things, hence our donation.

Sue Brown has pledged to match our $25!

If anybody else wants to do the same, comment here or PM us on Facebook. We're going to list the names of donors here in this blogpost, and we're also going to tell Facebook about how awesome you are for supporting this. But your donation doesn't have to be $25 - it can be $1, it can be $5, it can be however much you want to give. Every single dollar really does help.

Donations of $25 or over mean that you have the option of making your donation in honor of whomever you wish. So let's celebrate Dreamspinner Press. Let's celebrate the fact that we can publish and read quality gay fiction. Let's celebrate the fact that we can reach out and giving a helping hand to people that need it.

Hop Against Homophobia

Since starting this venture into the writing world, Robin and I have found out a couple of different things.  Writing action sequences while giggling over dirty jokes is harder than one might think, wine and coffee can actually sustain you through any writer's block, chocolate might actually be essential for the editing process, and there are a whole lot of people out there who are passionate about the same things we are.

As a gay couple, as writers, hell, as human beings, Robin and I feel it's our responsibility to take any platform we're given and use it to raise awareness and understanding for causes that are closest to our hearts.  Which is why we're so excited about Hop Against Homophobia.

May 17th - 20th, starting on the International Day Against Homophobia, we're going to be participating in a massive, M/M themed blog hop.  There's over 140 m/m authors, publishers, and reviewers signed up so far and I'm sure the list will just keep growing.

There'll be giveaways galore, which we all love, but most importantly there'll be some awesome awareness and discussion about the face of the m/m community.  The best response to hatred, to ignorance, is information and openness.  I sincerely hope that everyone who loves this genre, who feels passionately about this cause, will participate.

Also, free stuff!  Can't go wrong with that.

More details to come.

Flasher Fiction Friday!

Who says I can't do new things?  As a fun way to stretch my writing muscles, so to speak, I decided to take part in Flasher Fiction Friday with a group of talented authors.  The goal?  Take one picture and interpret it any way we like.  The catch?  100 words.  No more, no less.

Hopefully my humble first offering will do.

-Alex

Interviews and Reviews

More interviews and reviews!

"This book was brilliant.  It’s not your usual werewolf story and there are no instant mates or love."

MM Good Book Reviews Rates Blood Howl 4.5 Stars. They are fast becoming one of my favorite sites - they're lovely people, and they give honest reviews. It's really nice to get a bit of constructive criticism with reviews.

"Blood Howl was something of an isolationist story. It’s like the half-open door, it was always intended to be very much the first of a series. Everything that we introduced about the greater world was a shadow on the wall of the cave, not fully explained, because neither of the main characters were in a position to do so. In the next book, we kick that door wide open, and will continue kicking various other doors down in books to follow."

It's Raining Men: Interview. This was a fun interview to do - thanks to Ike for making this possible! Here we babble about how we started writing, how we co-wrote, and our thoughts on the fact that there needs to be more gay fiction on bookshelves. We also posted a bit of a teaser from the next book in the series!

Now That We're on the Other Side

Amazingly, it's been a little over two weeks since the release of Blood Howl.  Robin and I were talking about it yesterday, and it seems impossible it's been so little time.  It feels like months since we were sitting up all night, waiting for that clock to tick over, like two impossible children on Christmas Eve.  How incredible, to know that the story we dreamed up, that we worked over and offered out, hearts in our throats, has now actually be read by people we've never met.  More than read, in some cases, people are actually enjoying it.

It still blows my mind.  I know Blood Howl isn't perfect.  Indeed, it's more of an appetizer than anything, getting our toes wet in this complex world we're now exploring fully.  But it is something we are proud of, it is the story we wanted to tell, and we realize we are incredibly blessed to have done been able to share that.  Robin and I are hard at work writing the second in the series, but I found myself, today, taking a little time to think back.

If you've read the book, what's your favorite part?  I'll admit, mine is one that actually wasn't planned out at all.  At least, it wasn't until we were almost on top of it.  The scene at the zoo (and if you've read the book, I hope you know what I'm referring to) really came out of the characters themselves, and Robin and I following along a silly impulse.  Somehow, in the writing, it became one of my favorite moments of the whole book.

So what about you?  Do you have a favorite scene?  A line?  A character?  I must admit, I'm dying to know.  I feel like everyone who's read the book is now a friend, is someone that I share a secret with.  After so many months of my sweet partner and I being the only two who knew these characters, this story, it's dizzying to think that there are others we could discuss it with.

So please, if you'd like, let us know if there was anything that stuck with you.  I'd love to brew up a pot of coffee (tea for my better half, thank you very much, though I'm sure Robin would share) and sit down with you all and talk.

-Alex

Drug Addled Writings

Well, since I'm popping Vicodin like an extra on House (thanks to two very rude wisdom teeth that had the bad grace to grow in crooked and funky), writing has slowed significantly here in the Saxon-Kidwell household.  Never fear, though, we are still deep in the throes of Blood Howl's sequel.  Neither rain nor snow nor pain medication loopiness will keep us from our appointed task.

It does lend to some interesting scenes, though.

(Slight spoilers ahead, maybe, kind of.  If you haven't read Blood Howl.  Which, if you haven't, what's stopping you?  ARe has us featured on the front page, AND we're on sale.  Come on, that's like kismet if I ever heard of it.  Practically begging you to buy it and curl up with a nice cup of tea and/or whiskey, depending on your preferences.  In any case, here's the scene that never will be, along with a little something for my friend Tj Klune.)

Saturday Snark, Blood Howl Style

It's Saturday, and that can only mean one thing.  Time for Saturday Snark at the lovely Marie Sexton's blog!  For our humble contribution, we submit this exchange between Jed and David in Blood Howl.  Enjoy, and don't forget to share your own snark!  :)

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Sitting proudly in a glass vase were brightly colored foil wrappers, arranged like flowers. “I hope you got the triple extra large,” Jed smirked, reaching out to flick the edge of one of the condoms, the entire bouquet waving gleefully at them. “Or the ribbed, those are nice.”

“Glow in the dark,” David answered with a sly smile. “To help you find your cock.”

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Robin Muses About Redford and Character Making

Now that a week has passed since Blood Howl's release, I thought I'd take the time to talk a little about the character of Redford Reed. I like babbling about characters and inspirations, so you get to read it!

Obviously the following will contain massive spoilers for Blood Howl: