QUARANTINE is finally available!

Quarantine by Lisabet Sarai

M/M science fiction erotic romance

 

After seven years, Dylan will do anything for freedom.

During the plague of 2036

 

The Guardians locked up gay "carriers"  of the virus

 

In desolate quarantine camps

patrolled by cyborg warriors

and a few desperate men.

Rafe is sure he's not queer, but he can't resist Dylan

and helps him escape.

In the riot-scarred city of Sanfran

 

Dylan and Rafe fight for their lives

and their outlawed passion. 

When love is forbidden, the whole world's a prison.

 

Get your copy of Quarantine today! 

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?P_ID=1725

And remember - every comment you leave at Beyond Romance between now and the 28th of July counts as an entry toward my grand prize, a $50 bookstore gift certificate!

Quarantine Snog 1 - On the Run

It's almost time! Tomorrow is the day that Total-E-Bound releases my M/M scifi erotic romance Quarantine! So of course I have a snog from the book for you today. In fact, I'll have sexy M/M snogs every week during July, as part of my Man-fest blog celebration.

Every comment left on my blog between now and July 28th counts as an entry toward my grand prize of a $50 bookstore gift certificate. Furthermore, I'm running a blog tour on other authors' sites, giving away an ebook prize at every single one! (Those entries count toward the grand prize, too!)

And last but certainly not least, don't forget to visit Victoria Blisse at Snog Central. If you like sexy kisses, you'll find a host of other authors ready to give you what you want!

The snog below comes from early in Quarantine. Rafe and Dylan have managed to escape from Camp Malheur, but Dylan nearly succumbed to the fumes from the moat of toxic waste surrounding the camp. Rafe has found a temporary sanctuary in an abandoned gas station and tended to Dylan's needs - medical and otherwise.

****

The calm afterward felt strange. Dylan wasn’t used to this kind of peace. Rafe sprawled on top of Dylan’s body, his nappy head on Dylan’s shoulder. The weight felt comfortable, satisfying, completely right. Their legs tangled together and that felt right, too. So did the stickiness joining their abdomens.

Dylan raised a hand to his face. The blisters had started to scab over. The pain had faded. His throat was still a bit raw, but far less than before.

All the tension had evaporated. He knew, intellectually, that they were on the run, that they needed to keep moving, that they’d have to deal soon with the issues of food, clothing, and transport. Somehow none of it mattered. As long as he was here with Rafe, everything was fine.

His dark lover stirred in his arms. Rafe raised his head and searched Dylan’s face.

“How are you?” he asked.

“Much better. Can’t you tell?”

The burly ex-guard grinned. “Yeah, well you look pretty good. Well-fucked.”

“I am. Thanks to you.”

Rafe leaned forward as though to kiss him, then stopped himself. “Your lips still look chapped.”

Dylan pulled him closer. “Never mind that.” The kiss hurt, but not as much as forgoing it would have.

Rafe nuzzled his ear, sending bolts of pleasure straight to Dylan’s groin.

“I love you,” he whispered, so soft that Dylan could barely hear. “I must be crazy, but I can’t fucking help it.”

Dylan stroked Rafe’s cheek and gazed into his chocolate eyes. “I love you too.” For the first time, he meant it.

****

Be the first person you know to read Quarantine!

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?P_ID=1725

Fun Facts about Erika Pike

By Erika Pike (Guest Blogger)

[When I signed up with Erika to do a post on her blog as part of my Quarantine blog tour, she introduced me to her "ten fun facts" format. I thought it was so much fun, I asked her to do one for me! ~ Lisabet]

Thank you, Lisabet, for having me over!

I’m Erica Pike, but before we start it just so happens that today, on July 7th, my College Fun and Gays short story, Grade-A-Sex Deal, is available for FREE! This is only today, it’ll be back up for sale tomorrow. So go on, click the link and download it :)

Here are some fun facts about my books and writing:

My books inspire me! *Gasp*

The Walls Have Ears was inspired by the first erotic scene in A Life Without You, where Jesse and Adam masturbate on either side of a wall, all hot and bothered because they can hear each other.

Before I got signed…

I had written all but one publisher-published books that will be published this year. I’m currently working up a stash for next year. This is why it looks like I’ve been churning out books.

My stories are my life. Literally.

I relate to each of my stories in some way. In A Life Without You it’s Adam’s obsessive thinking (though mine wasn’t about a guy) and immaturity; in Absolutely Eric it’s the slow development of a dysfunctional relationship (I didn’t realize it until the relationship was over); in Hot Hands it’s being bullied; in Grade-A-Sex Deal it’s the depression; in The Walls Have Ears it’s the anxieties and insecurities (and a bit of stuttering); in Little Stalker it’s the questioning of sexuality; in Cold Skin it’s working through the difficult experience of being bullied; in Half-Baked Promises it’s the return to a small home town I couldn’t wait to leave in the first place. Okay, I don’t really relate to anything in In His Pocket, but it’s so short and was written just for fun.

They may be serious topics, but…

To make the serious topics in my stories more readable, I spice them up with humor.

Are gay men all about the sex?

Some reviewers say that I think gay men are all about the sex. I say that college guys do think about sex a lot - come on, you can’t deny that! That goes for gay AND straight guys. But I most certainly don’t think gay men in general are all about the sex. This brings me to…

I write gay male erotic romance!

If I were writing male/female erotic romances, I would be writing the exact same amount of sex with the same explicit scenes, but no one would ever accuse me of thinking m/f relationships were all about the sex. So for me, it’s not about the sexuality, it’s about the genre and what readers expect from that genre.

What people like and don’t like…

In my series of short stories, College Fun and Gays, I try to release a light/funny story after a heavier one. Grade-A-Sex Deal is serious, so is Little Stalker, but the ones on either side of those are lighter, with more humor. I’ve discovered that people don’t like the serious ones so much, so I might stick with humorous ones in the future (and tuck in the serious issues). People also seem to like sweet stories, so I might lean more in that direction - not that I’m trying to write only what people like, I also like writing sweet and funny. But I am writing for myself AND my lovely fans.

I am my characters…for a while…

I write from a single point of view and it’s hard for me to get out of character after I’ve finished writing a manuscript. I’m stuck in their humor and mindset for a while after. Is that weird? Eric, in Absolutely Eric, was the hardest to shake off.

His opinions, not mine!

My characters and I sometimes don’t share opinions and views. I hope readers understand that. I don’t, for example, believe that as a gay man, you can’t use “shopping” and “hate” in the same sentence, as Eric jokes to Alex in Absolutely Eric. Those are Eric’s views. I happen to know a gay man who abhors shopping. I do know another who loves it though, but then I know straight guys who love shopping as well. It’s to do with the person, not the sexuality.

Racial diversity.

I include non-Caucasians/ethnic people in my books. This really has nothing to do with me trying to be politically correct, it has more to do with me finding non-Caucasians/ethnicity attractive/interesting. That might have something to do with blue eyes, fair skin and blond hair being very common in Iceland. In fact, I was one such until my hair grew dark in my twenties. You can’t imagine how happy I was with my long dark hair! So yeah, opposites attracts and all that.

Okay, this has been fun!

You can find information about my books on my webpage: www.ericapike.com. My latest release is Absolutely Eric (Boston Boys #2). It’s the second in the series, but it can be read as a standalone. Well, technically, my latest release is the short story, Half-Baked Promises. It’s a FREE read, so go ahead ˆ.ˆ

If you’re curious about me, I have a:

Webpage/Blog

Facebook page

Twitter account

Goodreads page

Amazon page

[By the way, don't forget that all your comments at Beyond Romance in July count as entries toward the grand prize in my Quarantine blog tour! ~ Lisabet]

Outages

By Jambrea Jo Jones (Guest Blogger)

First—Thanks Lisabet for having me guest blog!

Now…on to the blog.

So I’ve had a fun weekend this past weekend. No power. I was caught in the big wind and rain storm. As I’m writing this, my home still doesn’t have power. I’m very lucky that my parents still have power. 

We’ve been crashing there. But think of all the things we take for granted. Air conditioning. Cold drinks. Your own bed. Food that isn’t rotten. Of course—all this is happening when we’re in a heat wave LOL. Doesn’t it figure? Now…if I had a couple of these hunks around—I might not care if I had power…

And the one thing I noticed is that no one knows how to properly do a four way stop. It’s like they’ve all gone crazy and just drive when they want to.

But what would happen if the whole world had no power, no way to communicate and the system of government as we now it now it had failed?

Well—I might have written about it. Of course I had this planned WAY before I experienced this little power outage. I have a series called Alliance. It’s m/m sci-fi erotic romance. (Well...Book two was m/m/f) and my newest book is more like a prequel. People get to see how and why the Alliance was formed. The latest volume is called Annihilation and it's due out the end of July from Total-E-Bound.

Blurb

It’s the end of the world as they know it...

Ricardo Clark is ex-military working a nine to five job on Earth, a planet that was almost wiped out by the big flood of 2050. The world was changing and trying to regroup under a new government called the Alliance. For most it was business as usual. That is until the old government tries to take back over.
Gilliland Carter was tired of living on the streets. He took a job at a bakery hoping to put some normal back into his life. There was no need for his kind anymore, an undercover cop. The Alliance had a lock down on things and if you weren’t military, you weren’t needed. He didn’t exactly have the look of someone who’d fit into the soldier lifestyle with his tattoos and piercings.

Ricardo and Gilliland take a journey neither of them were prepared for. It will bring them to the brink of death, but can it also bring love? 

For more info, check out my website: http://www.jambrea.com

BIO:

I wanted to be the youngest romance author published, but life impeded the dream. I put aside writing and went to college briefly, then enlisted in the Air Force. After serving for two years in the Air Force I returned to my home in Indiana and started a family. A few years later I discovered yahoo groups and book reviews. I haven’t turned my head over my shoulder since—there’s no sense in looking back. Reviewing books invoked my muse and called the writing bug back. Friends earned along the journey kept pushing me along until I submitted my first manuscript to a publisher. Since that time, I’ve submitted many more, had a few rejected, had a few published, and I’m working hard at getting more stories crafted.

I live with my family in Indiana where I read and play with my son when I’m not writing. I love to read and receive reader feedback and since I’m addicted to the internet, you can often find me lurking there.

Reluctant Romance: Guys and Guys

[Since we're celebrating M/M fiction this month at Beyond Romance, I thought you might be interested in this new anthology, edited by Victoria Blisse and featuring some of your favorite erotic romance authors. ~ Lisabet]

Sometimes true love is reluctant to blossom and needs a little bit of coaxing in order to come out. But a strong will and a heart filled with determination will triumph every time! The authors of the Bigger Briefs present to you these m/m tales of lovers who just need a gentle prod to push them into the relationship they’ve been yearning for.

Excerpt 
From "Changing His Mind" by M.A. Church

While Zane showered, Neil picked up the living area and called in for a pizza to be delivered. He’d changed his mind; he didn’t want to go out. What he wanted was privacy. Zane had just joined him in the living area when the pizza guy showed up. Neil quickly paid him as Zane got them plates.

“Where do you want to eat?”

Zane shrugged. “In the living area is fine. I just usually sit in the couch.”

They ate in silence. He noticed that Zane acted like he hadn’t eaten in a month. Once they were finished, Neil moved closer to Zane on the couch, laying his arm behind Zane’s head.

“Okay, spill it. I want to know what’s the deal with you. You never leave to go to work, you shut yourself up in here for days on end, and you refuse to commit to me. No more, Zane. I can’t take it.”

Zane stared at Neil, then he stood up. “Maybe it would be easier to just show you.”

He led Neil to one of the bedrooms he kept closed. Opening the door, he stood to the side and waved his arm. “Everything you want to know is in there.” Then he turned away and went back to the living area.

Neil walked in the room. Covering one entire wall of the room were photographs. No, not photographs, covers—book covers. Covers he recognized. A laptop sat open on a desk and on it were endless paragraphs. A multi-purpose printer sat to one side. Notebooks, paper, and books lined a bookshelf. A mini-fridge sat in a corner and a coffee maker was close to the desk. Awards were all over the walls. Shocked, Neil took in the office—an author’s office. One of the biggest named authors’ office. His heart stuttered in his chest. Zane was the gay male author Sivad… which was his last name, Davis, spelled backwards.

“Dear Lord.”

Stumbling out the door, he found Zane on the couch, head in his heads. “So, now you know who I am.”

Neil sank down on the couch next to him. “Why’d you hide this? Why do you act like this is something to be ashamed of? Zane, you have a God given talent, and nothing—do you hear me—nothing to be ashamed of!”

Zane raised his head, meeting Neil’s eyes. “I’m not ashamed of being gay, or of what I write, in either career. But I kept them separate because I knew mainstream publishers would flip if they knew. Homophobia is alive and well, don’t think it’s not. I was dumped by some of those very same publishers when word got out.” 

Neil took Zane’s hands, holding them tightly. “What happened?”

Taking a deep breath, Zane held it for a second, then released it. “Long story short, I caught my boyfriend of two years in bed with another man. I kicked his ass out. Pissed that he lost his free meal—me—he outed me. He knew what could happen—fact is, he did it to hurt me. Some of the mainstream publishers told me I needed to go elsewhere, and they were not very nice about it either. They were horrified that I wrote what they called gay porn.”

Reluctant Romance: Guys and Guys is available from:

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com

All Romance Ebooks

1PlaceForRomance

And if you want some smaller briefs... check out the Wednesday Briefs flash fiction website:

http://wednesdaybriefs.com/

Lisabet's July News

New and Upcoming Releases

There's less than a week left before my M/M science fiction novel Quarantine is released! In case you haven't heard (LOL), I'm planning a huge celebration, including a thirteen stop blog hop with different excerpts and a prize at every stop! The hop kicks off on the 6th of July at Victoria Blisse's place, and concludes on the 24th. In addition to the individual prizes, I'll select one person who comments during that period, either at a guest blog or at Beyond Romance to receive the Grand Prize, a $50 gift certificate to All Romance Ebooks.

Here's the blog hop schedule:

Date	Blog	URL
July 6	Victoria Blisse	http://victoriablisse.co.uk/friends-friday
July 10	Erica Pike	http://www.ericapike.com
July 11	Raine Delight	http://authorrainedelight.wordpress.com/
July 12	Brenda Williamson (An Eclectic Author)	http://www.aneclecticauthor.blogspot.com/
July 13	Jon Michaelson	http://www.jonmichaelsen.net/
July 14	Cerise DeLand	http://www.cerisedeland.com
July 16	K.D. Grace	http://kdgrace.co.uk/
July 17	Keta Diablo	http://thestuffofmythandmen.blogspot.com
July 18	Blak Rayne	http://www.blakrayneblog.com/
July 19	Romance Lives Forever (Kayelle Allen)	http://romancelivesforever.blogspot.com
July 20	Maria-Claire Payne	http://maria-clairepayne.com/blog
July 21	EM Lynley	http://www.emlynley.com
July 24	Silken Sheets and Seductions	http://silkensheetsandseduction.wordpress.com/blog/

All my blog guests in July will be M/M authors, too. I'll be hosting great authors like Erika Pike, Keta Diablo, Talia Carmichael, EM Lynley, and more! So if you like gay romance, I hope you'll plan to spend some time over at my place this month.

Unfortunately, I have a business trip that's taking me overseas smack in the middle of the tour. So I may not be around as much as I'd like to respond to your comments. However, I'll pick winners at each blog when I return.

In other news (yes, I do have other news!), my story Like Riding a Bicycle will be out next month as part of Rachel Kramer Bussel's anthology Anything for You: Erotica for Kinky Couples. You can read the blurb on my Coming Soon page and check out my new excerpt here.


Other News

In the Free Reading section of my site, I've added Lessons, a new BDSM piece, and a poem about unrequited love, Half Moon. I hope to have a new installment of "Cat Toy" for August.

Yesterday marked the start of The Romance Reviews huge summer party. They've got more than 400 prizes, including a $100 gift certificate grand prize. I'll be giving away a copy of Quarantine to one lucky reader on July 13th. All you have to do is answer a simple question about the book - and I'll even tell you where to go to find the answer! To play, just go to TRR's event page (http://www.theromancereviews.com/event.php).

August 1st is the submission deadline for Coming Together: In Vein. Please consider sharing your super sexy vampire fiction for a good cause. (Previously published work is acceptable.) For details visit my blog.

At the Erotica Readers & Writers Association, my latest column in my Erotogeek series is entitled "Backup Blues: or Murphy was a Freakin' Optimist". Trust me, one of these days your hard disk will fail. And what happens then?

Contests!

My Word of Mouth contest was something of a disappointment. I had so few entries that I've only picked a single winner, Tamsyn. Huge thanks to those of you who did spread the word. Guess I'll have to think of some other strategy to get my name known!

In fact - that's my contest for this month! Send an email to contest - at - lisabetsarai.com, using the subject line "Promo Suggestion". In the email, tell me the one most important thing you think I should do to promote my work to readers. Use your own experience as a guide. How do you find out about new authors? What do you think works best to get an author's name out?
Around the beginning of August, I'll randomly pick one entry. The prize is your choice of Master Me (BDSM anthology), Seeing Stars (Scifi anthology), or Treble (ménage anthology).

Lisabet's Pick of the Month

My Pick of the Month for July is the blog of newly published author Louisa Masters. Louisa will be my guest later in July at Beyond Romance. She's working really hard to get the word about her recently released Sexy Snax piece, One Night in a Bar.

Sunday Snog: Crossed Hearts (M/M)

Today's the first day of July, which means it's the first day of Man Fest, my M/M extravaganza celebrating the release of Quarantine. 

In keeping with the gay romance/erotica theme, I've got a passionate snog from my novella Crossed Hearts. For the past six years, Jason Hofstadter has attended the Four States Annual Scrabble Tournament. Jason comes to the Four States for two reasons: to play Scrabble and to get laid. Every year since his first, he has managed to hook up with one of the other players for some sexual fun. This year he has a chance at the grand prize in the tournament. Meanwhile he figures that he has hit the jackpot when he spots handsome, bookish Matt Sawyer, who's competing at the Four States for the first time. 

Shy and seemingly innocent, Matt turns out to be full of surprises. First he jumps Jason in the rest room at Starbucks. Then he reveals that he's into BDSM and encourages Jason to experiment with topping him. Finally, despite his lack of experience with tournament play, Matt ends up competing with Jason in the semi-final round.  When Matt throws the game he should have won, Jason is forced to confront his own feelings: about winning, about casual sex, and about Matt.

And after you've enjoyed Jason's and Matt's kiss, don't forget to visit Snog Central, where Victoria Blisse has lots more sexy oral action for your delectation.

******

The elevator doors had scarcely closed before Matt was on him, arms like steel bands locked around Jason’s body. Matt’s mouth was hard and demanding, not at all what Jason expected. His tongue pried Jason’s lips apart and plunged inside. Hands roamed down Jason’s back to grip the swell of his butt. Strong fingers dug into his flesh, pulling his hips against the stony lump in Matt’s crotch. Friction sent white-hot jets of pleasure sizzling up his spine. 

 

He tasted the berry-flavoured residue of Matt’s wine. He smelled the rich funk of dried sweat from their afternoon jaunt. He clutched at Matt’s shirt, pulling it up so he could slide his hands over the contours of the other man’s naked back, smooth as sun-warmed marble.

Matt pushed him against the mirrored wall, releasing his mouth to lick a path down his neck to the hollow of his throat. Jason sucked in his breath as Matt pinched his nipple. A star of green pain bloomed then ripened to golden delight. Matt ground his erection against Jason’s thigh, his own thigh pressed firmly between Jason’s legs. Jason’s dick pulsed helplessly against the hard limb that held it captive.

His eyes fluttered open. He glimpsed their reflection in the opposite mirror, over Matt’s shoulder. Matt’s head bent to Jason’s chest, suckling him through his shirt. Jason’s hands were buried in Matt’s loose jeans, stroking the boy’s silky butt. Their bodies squirmed in slow motion as each tortured the other’s trapped penis. It was beautiful and obscene.

The lift chimed as it reached Jason’s floor. The doors slid open. They tumbled out, hands still tangled in each other’s clothing. The corridor appeared to be empty—hopefully, everyone was down in the ballroom, listening to speeches, watching videos of last year’s highlights. Matt caught Jason again, halfway down the hall, flattening him against some stranger’s door and claiming his mouth.

“Wait—Matt, hold on, just a second…” Matt stole his breath. Jason couldn’t talk, couldn’t think. He was ready to explode. He struggled out from underneath the younger man’s weight and half-dragged Matt down to his room at the end of the hall.

He fumbled for his wallet in the pocket of his tight jeans, every motion transmitted to his aching dick. He managed to extract the key card, while Matt circled Jason’s waist from behind and rubbed his cock up and down Jason’s crack. Jason’s hand trembled as he tried to slide the card into the slot. The light remained red. “Matt, please! I can’t do this…” Matt reached down between Jason’s legs, stroking then squeezing. “Damn it, Matt!” Jason protested, weak from the pleasure that shimmered through him. 

 

Finally, the LED turned green. Jason wrenched himself from Matt’s grasp and pushed the handle. The door swung inward. The two men fell into the room and collapsed onto the bed.