Wednesday, December 25, 2013

The Year My Character Gave Me Socks!

*~*~MERRY CHRISTMAS~*~*

I got some truly AMAZING gifts this Christmas: an apothecary set from my husband, a rejection journal from McFannywiggle (to let me know I'm in good company when I get that dreaded rejection!), and the dachshund-rific Dachshund-opoly from JC! And also... *drum roll* the sushi socks...

 
Holy...moly...WOWZA! Green! Sushi! Socks! <3 This, of course, was for my library's first annual "Sock"ret Santa gift exchange where we drew names all exchanged socks. Except, my Green! Sushi! Socks! were from someone very special. Chloe Devereaux.
 

 

O'Tierney, who is this Chloe Devereaux? Well, hopefully you won't be asking me that after March 2014! Chloe is the mother of one of my MCs in Sweet Giordan, Please Remember which DSP is putting out this Spring.

And a VERY sweet "Sock"ret Santa cared enough to make sure my sassy southern chara sent me sushi socks. Green ones.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Wednesday Briefs!


I'm joining a cool flash fiction community!

http://wedbriefsfic.com/

Once again, that crazy cat JC Wallace has talked me into expanding my horizons. How does he do that?!

My first piece of fiction will be up on January 1st, 2014--a new challenge, for a brand new year!

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

What Kind of Dachshunds Are the Best Kind of Dachshunds?

Husband and I just got *THE BEST PRESENT EVER* from my most amazingly AMAZING friend JC Wallace who knows I have a ...slight... obsession with dachshunds! <3



Dachshunds have always = Christmas for me. When I was growing up, both sides of the family had dachshunds and when we would all get together, they would roam in a pack. Some years there were dachshund puppies. I saw my first ever long-hair at Christmas and then my first ever dapple. For me, Christmas IS dachshunds. I don't remember if I told JC that particular story or not, but given that he's the coolest dood in the world, he probably just knew.




Thank you so much for making this a DACHSHUND-RIFIC xmas, JC Wallace!

Ps. My totally chill and laid back and unexcitable husband has been snuggling the game for the last fifteen minutes.

Monday, December 9, 2013

Under the Table and Into His Heart!

I've contracted a new work with Dreamspinner Press called Under the Table and Into His Heart. This short story will be released for their Valentine Rainbow Event, but it is not part of a compilation--it's a stand alone work! (Woo hoo!) Each of the titles in the event will have a different color of the rainbow for its cover... I jumped immediately on green. Don't think green has anything to do with Valentine's Day? At Under the Table host club, it's all about the green!

Here's my official blurb from DSP:

At the Under the Table host club, Valentine’s Day means one thing: cash. Neglected housewives, newly ex-girlfriends, and lovelorn thirtysomethings pay for the attention of handsome men. Shy bartender Jem has always wanted to be a host, and when the club’s owner, Miss Rye, accepts a contract from a MensLove Convention, Jem volunteers to flirt and make out with another host for the ladies’ entertainment. Bailey, an older man who’s had his eye on Jem, convinces Miss Rye to let him be Jem’s partner, and everyone gets more than they expected—especially Jem and Bailey.

I'm super pumped about this little 10K work because... it kicks off a BRAND NEW SERIES I'm writing called Dirty Business that follows the men of the Under the Table Host Club and their wickedly profit-minded proprietor.

Hope you will enjoy!

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Sweet AND Spicy

I've been asked a lot lately, "How *spicy* are your stories?" And I get my confused face on because I'm not QUITE sure how to answer. Truth is, it depends from story to story.

For example: The novel I just submitted for consideration - all sweet, nothing graphic at all. The short I'm writing? Mom, I love you, but please don't read that story. Seriously. Don't. And then Sweet Giordan, Please Remember the novella Dreamspinner Press is publishing this Spring is somewhere between. Sensual scenes, not TOO descriptive.

For a while I really struggled with the expectations of others. Is she SWEET or is she SPICY? Because I write it ALL under the same name. There's almost a 50/50 split between the people in my life who want the Buffalo Wild Wings** (mmm... wings...) Blazin' level spicy and those who want strictly Cozy-Rom. Honestly, it all depends on my mood!

Last night as I was lamenting not being one or the other, my wise friend, Bacon-Editor, put it ALL in perspective.

"Raine, listen." she said, "Do you know Dickinson's? They makes lemon curd and jellies and snooty relishes and it's imported from England*. They are the best. So if they say something, then it's true. And Dickinson's says you can be sweet AND hot."

And then she plopped this jar down in front of me:


I'm Raine O'Tierney; my stories are ALWAYS the Sweetness, sometimes spicy too.

*We just learned Dickinson's was bought out by Smuckers, so it's no longer imported. This doesn't change the point though. :)
**I hella want some buffalo wings now.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Holy Wow-za, I have an estimated release date!

So... Sweet Giordan, Please Remember has an estimated release date of Mar-Apr 2014! A springtime release for a sweet, fresh story. I'm VERY pleased! (Though honestly, I would have been pleased with ANY release date. 2084? Yeah, I can work with that.)

I will say this... I've discovered that I actually ALWAYS had an estimated release date. Yes, going all the way back to the very first day I received the contract. It was actually IN the contract. Now you might be thinking, "Raine? Did you even read the contract?" Yes! I did! I uber-read it, if that's even possible. Out loud. Page by page. Stopping to re-read what I didn't understand.

But when I got to the last page, the release was down in the contact information and my eyes went... sliiiiiiiiide. It wasn't until a fellow Dreamspinner author pointed it out to me that I said, "Oh! There it is!" I'm a nerd.

Should I be so lucky as to be multi-published, I will not miss future release dates. I promise. :)

Friday, September 20, 2013

Welcome!

Welcome to my brand new website! If you found this by accident... that is awesome! What a strange internet journey you must have gone on to get here. I'd ask you about it, but you're probably tired. Take a load off! If you clicked here from my Facebook page, you rock! <3

So...

My goal is to fill this blog with passion, sweetness, love, and encouragement. And thoughts about writing, of course. Plus release dates. Can't forget the release dates.

As I have yet to receive my official release date, let me instead distract you with a cute picture of my doxie, Iron Klaus. (You'll recognize the name if you're a fan of From Eroica With Love) He's doing what he does best... Distracting me while I'm trying to type.


Many, many, many hours have been lost to this cute face.

- Raine O'Tierney

Monday, March 18, 2013

Christmas Craic & Mistletoe

Christmas Craic & Mistletoe (With Debbie McGowan)(Seeds of Tyrone bk 3)


Two couples, two unique stories of love at Christmastime...

Harrison and Paulo were once passionate lovers - until tragedy tore them apart. When the men miss an opportunity to reconnect at a Christmas party, Paulo is prepared to move heaven and earth to see Harrison again.

Michael's coming out didn't go down well in his conservative hometown of Omagh, and the bullies are out to get him. But he has a guardian angel on his side - his unrequited long-term crush, Tom.

Will the magic of Christmas in Ireland be enough to see these two couples through?

This book features characters from the Seeds of Tyrone series, but can be read and enjoyed independently.



That Eighteenth Summer

That Eighteenth Summer
(from the Love is an Open Road Event)

Available *FREE* from Amazon | All Romance eBooks | Barnes & NobleMMRomance Group Website | Smashwords | Kobo 


The summer of 2003, Ollie Hannigan's eighteenth summer, changes everything...

Ollie knows exactly where he's going and what his plan is: get a smokin' hot girlfriend (so she can cry over him when he enlists), join the military, work his way up to Army Ranger, and finally earn he respect of his big brother, Benjam.

But everything changes when a military car pulls up in front of the Hannigan household.

Now Ollie's world is in chaos. His friends have abandoned him, his plans are falling through left and right, and he doesn't know what he wants in life anymore. Plus, as if he wasn't already confused enough, his brother's best friend, Luca Santini, has caught Ollie's eye.

While Luca may be smokin' hot, he's definitely not the girlfriend Ollie was expecting!



Where the Grass is Greener

Where The Grass Is Greener (With Debbie McGowan)
(Seeds of Tyrone bk 2)

Mistakes were made, that’s for sure. But was it the night of passion? Or walking away afterward?

That’s the question Seamus Williams must face when he gets a late night phone call from someone he never expects to hear from again.

“I miss you, Shay.”

Chancey Bo Clearwater is a cowboy through and through. He spends his days finding work on whatever ranch will take him and his nights at the pool hall. He’s always done what needed doing and never thought much about what he wanted. ‘Til that drunken night with Seamus.

A world of problems now stand between Seamus and Chancey exploring what might have been, the least of which being the Atlantic Ocean. On one side there’s Chancey’s daughter who mood swings from angel to demon in two seconds flat; on the other there’s the new lodger, hogging Shay’s telly and his cornflakes, and making private Skype time hard to come by.

Is this relationship doomed before it ever begins? Or can a surprise announcement from Seamus’s brother be enough to help the two find their second chance?

Where the Grass is Greener is book two of the 
Seeds of Tyrone Series, but can be read independently of the first novel.



Sing Me Your Love Song

Sing Me Your Love Song
(from the Love is an Open Road Event)

Available *FREE* from All Romance eBooks | MMRomance Group Website |Smashwords | Amazon
Who wouldn’t be thrilled at the opportunity to see the red thread of fate that binds them to their destined lover? No more awkward dates, no more broken hearts, no more of the messy unknown that comes with finding “the one.” Just you and your perfect match, right? For Kennick, a Traveler whose red thread is getting mighty insistent, it’s more of a curse than a blessing. But he’s got a surefire plan for severing that nuisance once and for all. If only he’d prepared himself for what the thread leads him to: a drunk man in a wedding dress hugging a toilet. 

Fate is a funny thing.

All That Shimmers

All That Shimmers
(from Piece Us Back Together Anthology with L.J. LaBarthe and Cate Ashwood)

Available from Dreamspinner Press | Amazon | All Romance eBooks | Barnes & Noble

Beau Bell is a former Olympic hopeful, left paralyzed from the waist down after a car accident. He has every reason in the world to be pissed off and miserable, yet he’s training for the Paralympics Men's 100m—S6 division. The chair? Just a part of who he is now. Beau's attitude is golden. If only he could contend with this one little issue: errant erections and no way to relieve them!

NikÅ”a MerĆ­c is a lonely scientist and really bad poet living underneath the old building where he does his research. Every night he watches his neighbor through his basement window as he undresses in his wheelchair. Although there is no apparent reason for NikÅ”a to be unhappy, he’s struggled with depression his whole life and has tried to kill himself on multiple occasions.

When Beau proposes that his “voyeur” come over and help him experiment with the erections he can’t actually feel, the relationship they build is a sexual one. But the relationship they need is one that will heal each other’s heart as well.




~ ~ ~



Piece Us Back Together Anthology

Available from Dreamspinner Press

Life can seem bleak for people suffering devastating injuries or illnesses of the mind and body, and every day can be a struggle. But sometimes, when hope seems in short supply, they find a reason to keep up the fight. The men in these stories face some of the most difficult challenges imaginable, but fortunately they won’t be facing them alone, because when everything seems darkest, a point of light appears. With compassion, understanding, and love, these hurt souls have a chance to piece the broken parts of their lives and themselves into something strong and beautiful. Love might even be able to mend the most serious wounds of all—those of the heart.

Leaving Flowers

Leaving Flowers (with Debbie McGowan)

Available from Beaten Track Publishing | Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Barnes & Noble | All Romance eBooks | Smashwords


Shy and awkward since childhood, Aidan Degas is now a man lost. His twin—Aidan’s other half, Nadia—died tragically young, leaving him with nothing to get him through his days but his job at the prestigious Grand Heights Luxury Apartments and the flowers he lays upon her grave. When Aidan is assaulted on the job by a tenant, it’s the graveyard he turns to for strength and solace.

Patrick loves being assistant groundskeeper at the sprawling cemetery where he tends graves and offers a bit of comfort to mourners. When he sees a sad young man lingering over an old grave, his curiosity is strangely piqued for reasons he doesn’t understand. He’s never done this—struck up a friendship with a mourner. But soon that friendship blossoms into romance.

It’s not going to be easy for the pair. Aidan is so damaged, like petals crushed in an angry fist, and even with Patrick’s warm heart and Irish charm, it might not be enough to bring him back from the edge.


I'll Always Miss You

I'll Always Miss You 


Isa Zaman might forgive his parents for taking in a friend’s son if only he wasn't the most boring teenager in the universe. Macklin “Mackie” Cormack’s only interests are reading and the outdoors. Yeah, right. Isa's convinced Mackie is either a pyro or a klepto. Plus, as a white kid, Mackie looks ridiculous in the Zaman’s Arab-American household. Forced to share a bedroom, the boys keep butting heads until an absurd fight finally breaks the tension between them.

Isa’s just starting to figure life out: this new houseguest, his cultural identity, school, and even girls, when the entire family is uprooted from their home for reasons Isa can't understand. They move from their tiny city apartment to a giant, old house in a small town, hours away from everything he's ever known. Oh, and the new house? It's probably haunted, or so says the blank-faced ten-year-old next door who can't make facial expressions. As if things weren't weird enough, Isa's friendship with Mackie suddenly takes a strange turn down a path Isa's not sure he’s ready to follow. It turns out Mackie Cormac isn’t nearly as boring as Isa once imagined.


Alchemy Ever After

Alchemy Ever After (with SiĆ“n O'Tierney) 


The city of New Alexandria is filled with powerful magicians-in-training and mechanical follies, the world’s largest library, and marvels beyond compare. The allure of this modern metropolis draws young people from all over the world, but Idrian has come instead for the opportunity to learn the new art of alchemy. 

He’s been taken as an apprentice by Maketh, a scholar experimenting with new ways to combine technology and the ancient mystic arts. Together they’ve animated a living ice sculpture. Idrian cannot wait to unveil the sculpture alongside the other wonders at the annual Spring Festival. 

After witnessing his master in a passionate embrace with another student, Idrian’s mind drifts to things beyond alchemy. And when a warm touch accidentally awakens the consciousness within the living sculpture, Idrian learns firsthand about physicality and the magic of passion.

Bowl Full of Cherries

Bowl Full of Cherries 

Porker, Fatty, Tons-of-Fun: Crowley Fredericks has heard it all. He’s dropped a lot of weight since his high school days, but he’s still a big guy, and the painful words and bullying follow him. Rejected—again—because of his size, Crowley is starting to think that maybe love just isn’t meant for huskier men.

Averell Lang and his twin are so different they might as well not even be related. So when Rell’s brother brings his roommate home to snowy Susset for the holidays, Rell expects the worst—another uptight, pretentious hipster. What he discovers instead is Crowley. Nerdy, fascinating, attractive, Crowley. Rell never expected to look at a man this way, and what he sees in Crowley Fredericks is something he didn’t even know he was looking for. If both men can overcome their hang-ups, they might unwrap more than presents this holiday season.



Xmas Cake: A Modern Fairy Tale

Xmas Cake: A Modern Fairy Tale 
Once upon a snowy Christmas season, in the glowing metropolis of Midday... 

If this were a fairy tale Kyle would be the handsome prince and Riley would be the poor baker in distress. Oh wait, but that's exactly what it is! 

When Kyle Prince sees Riley collapse in the snow-covered parking lot, he swoops in to the rescue, whisking the feverish young man off to his high-rise apartment without a second thought. 

As Riley mends under Kyle's care, a feeling of closeness grows between the two men. But every fairy tale has its complications. Will the two find their happily ever after this Christmas?




(You can see my part @ 5:24)


Available from Beaten Track Publishing | Amazon.com | Amazon UK | All Romance eBooks | Barnes & Noble

Boughs of Evergreen: A Holiday Anthology


Boughs of Evergreen is a two-volume collection of short stories celebrating the holiday season in all its diversity. Penned by authors from the UK, the USA, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, these are tales of the young and the not-so-young from many different walks of life.

Themes of family, friendship and romance take readers on a journey through some of the major holidays, both past and present, including Thanksgiving, Advent, St. Lucia Day, Hanukkah, Eid, Saturnalia, Winter Solstice, Yule, Christmas and New Year. In each we find at the very least hope, and often love, peace and happiness.

Each story will also be published individually as ebooks on 1st December, 2014.

Proceeds from sales of this anthology will be donated to The Trevor Project. The Trevor Project is the leading national organization [USA] providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) young people ages 13-24.

For more information, visit: www.thetrevorproject.org.




Most Beautiful Words

Most Beautiful Words
Twelve-year-old Autumn's world is shattered when her beloved Great-Pop, Tommy Johnson, suffers a stroke that leaves him comatose. With everyone around her resigning themselves to the inevitable, Autumn is the only one not willing to give up. She and Great-Pop have more secret stories to share with each other, after all. More stories about Roy McMillan—the great love of Tommy's life whom he lost fifty years ago. 

Autumn struggles to keep Great-Pop on this side of death's door. But how can she compete with the beautiful and mysterious Valley—a place of surreal magic where the sun never sets? Especially when there's someone familiar in the Valley who will do everything he can to keep Great-Pop from returning to her.







My Fiction Nook's Best of 2014


Best Gay Fantasy Romance
Most Beautiful Words by Raine O’Tierney

Best Gay Debut
Most Beautiful Words by Raine O’Tierney

Somebody Nice!

Somebody Nice!
(from the 2014 Don't Read in the Closet Event)

Available FREE from: MMRomance Group | Goodreads | Amazon | Smashwords | All Romance eBooks

Milo and Danny's relationship is just starting to heat up, but Milo's not quite ready to be introduced as "the boyfriend" to Danny's adopted daughter, Melissa. So what happens when precocious Melissa takes it upon herself to find Danny a girlfriend and enlists the help of her school librarian, Milo, along the way? An adorable story about family and romance.

~ ~ ~

This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Love’s Landscapes" event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story. 

Prompt:

Dear Author,
NewYorkDating.com Profile
Name: Danny
Age: 35
Location: New York City
Sexuality: Male seeking Male
Looking for: a nice person! Who loves dogs! And children!
About Me 

This is Danny, he is a very nice person and he is very funny, but I think he is lonely. He helped me when my mom wanted to sell me to a reality show and now I live with him and I wanted to do something back for him so I want to find someone for him, because he has only me and Bunny, that’s his dog, who is really big. And I’m 7 years old and Danny is 35, which is really old, but that doesn’t matter he looks younger. Miss Portwood, my teacher said I need to say what Danny likes to do and he likes to walk with Bunny and work out and play football with me and Bunny and he works also, I think he is a police officer or something, he has a really cool car! And he has a ring in his nipple, which I think is really ouch, but he says people like it. I don’t understand why but Danny says I need to be older but I’m already 7.

Hugs, Melissa

Under the Table and Into His Heart

Under the Table and Into His Heart
(part of the A Valentine Rainbow collection)


At the Under the Table host club, Valentine’s Day means one thing: cash. Neglected housewives, newly ex-girlfriends, and lovelorn thirtysomethings pay for the attention of handsome men. Shy bartender Jem has always wanted to be a host, and when the club’s owner, Miss Rye, accepts a contract from a MensLove Convention, Jem volunteers to flirt and make out with another host for the ladies’ entertainment. Bailey, an older man who’s had his eye on Jem, convinces Miss Rye to let him be Jem’s partner, and everyone gets more than they expected—especially Jem and Bailey.