Hey everyone, check it out! My short story has received its first 5 star review! Have you read the story yet? If you’re into M/M romance and video games, you definitely should!
By the way, I’m close to 100 followers. Once the writing blog hits 100 followers, I’ll have an awesome giveaway :) How about an eBook copy of my book, “Treat Me Kindly,” is that a good prize or what? Let’s get the blog to 100!
AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW YIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS!!!
Press START to Play: Briana Lawrence: Amazon.com: Kindle StoreThanks to darlingchristie for letting me know, she found my short story on Amazon! So you can download it here, too :) YAY!!! This means you can also leave reviews if you read it. Let’s get this story out there, everyone!
Check it out!
Good morning, everyone! Today is the big day! I’m going to post the short story first since that’s all ready to go :) My book should be ready for purchase later, there seems to be some kinks with the publisher’s website at the moment for the new releases.
So the gay romance story for Dreamspinner Press is “Press START to Play,” also known as, “That one story I forgot to let my mom read.” It’s eBook only, but it looks like there are several different electronic formats for it. Keep in mind that this story is NOT WORKSAFE BY ANY MEANS as it involves geekery, gaming, and sexy times between men.
There are two ways to read the story:
1. Buy the individual story itself for $3. That’s right, only $3 to get all of the wonderful video game references and romance that you want.
2. Buy the entire anthology to read over 1500 pages from other talented authors. It is the “Make a Play” sports anthology (yes I wrote about video games for a sports anthology guys)
Since this is release day I thought I would give you something more than that. How about a snippet from the story? And remember, don’t just buy the story, read it, enjoy it, tell me what you think, and tell others about it. Blog about it, review it, spread it around so that it’s EVERYWHERE!
Take care, everyone, and I’ll post in a couple of hours about the book :)
***
Lukis takes the controller, watching as the game loads and the animated sequence begins. The graphics are impressive—he guesses. The art style is interesting and themusic is catchy. He’s surprised when he realizes he recognizes some of the characters—various superheroes from the huge movie releases over the summer. There’s Spider-Man, who seems to have recovered from losing his uncle and fighting the giant lizard. Then there’s the Avengers, a team of attractive superheroes run by an angry black guy in an eye patch. “They in a fightin’ game?”
“Yep. It’s a combination of heroes and video-game characters. Figured you’d at least know who some of these guys are. Everyone does.”
Lukis frowns. “Where’s Batman?”
“Batman’s not in this. He’s DC, this is Marvel.”
“But Batman is cool. You said heroes, he should be here.”
Aaron laughs. “I ain’t sayin’ he ain’t cool, I’m just lettin’ ya know that he ain’t in this game. Marvel and DC are two different comic book companies. You know, it’d be like if our home football team and the rival team were in a game.”
“They are. It’s called Madden.”
***
It’s easy to tell how much fun I had with this, huh?And just a message in advance, thank you everyone for your support. I hope you enjoy this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. And as I said, don’t just buy it, read it, enjoy it, chat with me about it, tell your friends, talk about it with your friends, I want this story to get big. Review it, blog about it, tell me places to go where I should have people review it, draw fanart for it, just anything you can think of. As fun as it was to write it, I do actually have an important message in it that means a lot to me: stop assuming that geeks are just a waste of space. Just because we like video games, or anime, or whatever it is that we’re into doesn’t mean that we’re these losers with no lives. Also, and this is a big one, BLACK GEEKS EXIST! Stop being surprised about it. I made my characters black on purpose. I made the geeky gamer black because for some reason, I swear, people are still surprised when we play something other than like football or basketball or warshooter warfare shooter shooting.
So yeah, enjoy this piece by me :) $3 worth of entertainment, I promise you ^^
All right guys. Today is the day, as Aqualad says in Young Justice. This is the short story, the book will be posted later once the link starts working :) Until then, enjoy this thing I wrote about a gaming skeptic falling for a gaming geek. And remember: Batman is cool, he’s just not Marvel. And please, please tell other people about this, encourage them to read it too, and most definitely encourage them to talk to me about it (and you guys, talk to me about the story too! Tell me what you think ^^) $3 gets you an entertaining story where I snuck all sorts of geeky nods into a wide publication, from the snippet, to Street Fighter, even Persona 4 Arena makes it in. I went all out and I had a blast, so I want you all to enjoy it, too :)
Minnesota House PASSED the freedom to marry bill. Now it moves onto the Senate on Monday. If it passes there, then I begin my epic plan for the biggest, geekiest wedding EVER!
Back when I was to college, I was part of a Gundam Wing yaoi mailing list for Heero Yuy and Duo Maxwell (1x2x1 ML forever!) On that mailing list was a girl who called herself snowtigra. We started chatting over IRC (yeah this is how long ago this was) and ended up doing a fic together that was a terrible Resident Evil/Gundam Wing crossover that’s still on the internet somewhere, I’m sure.
Anyhow, long story short, we’re still together after 11 years somehow.
One day, while chatting over IRC, we started roleplaying with anime characters. They came from all sorts of series, from Gundam Wing, to Yu Yu Hakusho, and we just… kept doing it. We started calling it “dating.” She lived in Minnesota and I was in Iowa for school, so we were long distance, but every night we’d get online and “date.” This involved coming up with random plots for these characters, and as we got into more anime series and video games, more characters would show up. Like, “Hey, Gaara is really cool, we should put him somewhere,” or, “I’m really obsessed with Kanji and Naoto right now,” or, “Sebastian and Ciel, please.”
When I moved up to Minnesota, we got an apartment together. One day, after she picked me up from work, we found out that our apartment had been broken into. This included our laptops, which had the file on it we used to roleplay. So, we had to start all over again.
That’s when things changed.
Suddenly characters were changing. For example, we would think, “This would be awesome if it were a female lead,” and so boy characters changed to girl characters. Then we came up with the concept of “The Storyteller,” a creature who lives in a library full of books, each book depicting someone’s life. At some point we realized, you know, these Naruto characters aren’t really the same anymore. We sort of… created our own characters. Like we were still using the name “Haku” but it wasn’t really the same person.
Then, about two years ago, she randomly wrote up a teaser chapter. The characters were renamed, no more Ky Kiske or Gaara, no more heartless or Netherworld, because those things weren’t those things anymore. Then I added a bit to it. Then we sat down and made an outline. The outline ended up creating seven book ideas. She wrote the first one for NaNoWriMo two years ago, then I read over it and added things/took things out and jazzed it up.
We realized, “Fuck… we have a story here.” So she sent it to publishers.
Now we’re signing a contract with Alpha Wolf Publishing.
And thus became the dorkiest love story ever told. The Hunters series started with us being in a long distance relationship where we would roleplay every night to talk to one another.
To all of you roleplayers, fanfic writers, fan artists, and all that’s in between, here is my message to you. Keep doing what you do. Because you never know what it will turn into. This is what it did for me.
Oh, and “Treat Me Kindly,” the book I’ve written on my own? Use to be a Naruto fic that I never finished. After dissecting the fic I kept the first sentence, one of the original characters I created, and two of the animals.
Reblogging because not all of you follow my writing blog, but I wanted to share :)
In the process of editing the book, hoping to have it done early next week EVEN WITH DETOUR BEING THIS WEEKEND! Yep. I’m crazy. I know.
But I’m in the second chapter already, that’s good right? Here’s my favorite quote so far from Alex, the main character, to his friend Nicholas in regards to them ever having a chance at dating:
“Nick-Nack I’ve told you that if you grow breasts and stop standing in line at midnight for hard to pronounce video games I’ll give you a shot.”
We’re in the first round of book edits! Follow the blog for more information :)
Hey everyone, check it out! This is for the short story I wrote in Dreamspinner Press’ upcoming sports anthology. It’ll go on pre-sale next week, so I’ve been given permission to share the cover image and the story blurb.
Lukis Singleton’s once-popular sports column is fading fast, thanks to the terrible track record of the local football team. In an attempt to save the column, Lukis’s editor, John, decides he needs to go in a different direction. Video games are all the rage these days, so John insists that sending Lukis to a huge video-game tournament in Los Angeles will shake up his current readers and bring in new ones. Lukis isn’t thrilled about reporting on games with impossible powers or gamers who still live in Mom’s basement, but then he meets a tempting flaw in the gaming stereotypes of unwashed man-children. Aaron Sanders is a gorgeous breath of fresh air at the tournament who takes Lukis’s less-than-stellar view of gamers and turns it on its head, leaving Lukis to wonder if it might be worth being Aaron’s player two.
It was a ton of fun writing this. There are quite a few geeky nods all throughout the story, from Marvel vs. Capcom, to Street Fighter, and even some Persona 4 Arena. Fighting games are one of my favorite video game genres, so as soon as I saw “sports theme” I thought “fighting game tournament.”Lukis is the naysayer, the “games are stupid” character. But Aaron is all “games are awesome” and breaks all of Lukis’ stereotypes since he’s attractive and social. The main point of this story is to show that us gamers aren’t just a bunch of anti-social children who can’t function, who still live with mom, and who waste their lives with a controller in their hand. There’s so much more to video games, especially in this day and age, and on top of the gay romance is the theme of, “Don’t make assumptions about people because of what they do. Don’t make assumptions about something until you try it yourself.”
I’ll post a link when the pre-sales start. Until then, enjoy this snippet :)
On top of my book “Treat Me Kindly,” there’s a short story coming soon! Remember to follow my writing blog for up-to-date information :) And yeah, Persona 4 fans you read that write, there’s a nod to the game in the story along with a bunch of other fighting games ^^ I just couldn’t hep myself!
After starting this over a year ago, it’s finally done… Done diddily doodily diddily done.
Done.
Aww yeah, that feels good.
over 600 references in this. you can stare for hours.
WOW this is really fun to look through! Fantastic job!
I love this, you could pretty well play ‘Where’s the Fandom!’
I found a pony but where’s the Homestuck
I see Aang chasing the otter-penguin kawaii bby
This is amazing!
Check it out, guys! I’m working on a new story before “Treat Me Kindly” gets published! Some may say I’m crazy, but… well I am crazy, but this was actually done some time ago and I’m just editing/snazzing it up before sending it to publishers.
This is a gay romance story that suddenly turned novel length (oops?) It’s kinda got a crime thriller vibe, with some supernatural elements mixed in and a touch bit of horror? There’s a brief description below followed by a snippet of the two main boys in the story and how they interact with one another :)
Warnings: Geekery, cute boys doing cute boy things, me trying to tempt you with my writing more
Brief synopsis: When something tragic happens in your life you want nothing more than to close your eyes, go to sleep, and make all of the pain go away. For Gable Peterson it’s a little more complicated than that. When detective Maurice Ashford shows up at his door with news that his boyfriend, Avery Blair, has been found dead, Gable is left devastated. Gable does the same thing he did when his grandfather died back when he was a little boy; he closes his eyes and imagines a world where his loved one is still alive.
Only, when Gable wakes up, he’s surprised to see that Avery is actually still alive!
Gable discovers something very peculiar about himself. There’s a place inside of his head where another Gable Peterson exists. This other Gable tells him that he has the power to go back and keep Avery from dying. Of course, Gable doesn’t believe anything that he’s hearing.
Until Avery dies for the second time.
Shortly after, Gable finds himself back at day one. Now he’s more determined than ever to save his boyfriend.
But is it worth the hardship he’s about to face?
This isn’t just some accident that happens to Avery. Gable’s boyfriend is murdered in cold blood by someone who the media has called “The Horrific Homophobe” or “The Double H Murderer.” This killer roams the streets of Minneapolis, kidnapping gay men who turn up dead in a week’s time. They’re not just brutally killed, there are derogatory words written all over their bodies in a terrifying display of the hell they had suffered through during the week. Oddly enough, along with words like FAGGOT and QUEER and HOMO are compliments of nice eyes or beautiful smile and other charming words that have no business being anywhere near such hatred. Gable suddenly finds himself tracking down a killer, but can he save Avery in time?
*gasp* A new story has emerged! Dun dun dunnnnn!
One thing I really like to do in stories is to have some geeky nods to stuff, but not by blatantly saying what that geeky thing is, but describing it. This way, if readers get it they (hopefully) get a good laugh, and if readers don’t it doesn’t pull away from the story too much. Also, I don’t like directly naming things, because I feel like it dates the story? Like if I say, “he sat down and played Super Mario Brothers for the first time” you think, “It must be the 80s,” depending on which Mario it is of course. Instead, I like to say, “he took control of a brave little plumber who could, with the touch of a flower, feel the fire between his fingertips,” or something like that.
I’m working on some things for an anthology that I hope gets chosen that has a lot of this. I like to call it, “How many fandoms can I name without directly naming them.”
***
Story 1. Troy thinks that, maybe — once upon a time — he thought that Aimee would grow out of this play at costuming.
Cosplay she always corrects him with an exasperated sigh.
It started too many years ago with Aimee making a thrown together costume of a girl who carried around a basket of flowers, only to be stabbed by some silver-haired jackass. He’s misunderstood, Troy she had said and you would look great as the blond who fights him in the end.
And being the good friend that he is, he had agreed. At least the sword had been cool even if the hair made absolutely no sense.
Back then she had cared deeply about the negative comments about her skill and size, so much so that Troy perfected glaring at the mean-spirited folks they would run across. And, like a good friend, he encouraged her to keep doing what she loved.
Had he known that he’d be dragged along for the ride… no, he thinks he would still encourage her… maybe.
Now she dresses up as so many characters that sometimes he forgets what she actually looks like. Of course, she’s come a long way since grabbing whatever she could at the local thrift store. From the video game princesses who get kidnapped too many times to the colorful fairies who collect children’s teeth — ugh, why is Aimee so girly? — she’s put so much work into the costumes she makes that she has made a bit of a name for herself, a big name actually, one that allows her to do this for a living.
It’s not her skills he protests to. It’s the crowd that comes along with it.
Troy doesn’t like to brag — and actually, he never does — but he is pleasant to look at. He likes to lift weights and likes his piercings, always keeping one in his nose and a couple of hoops in his ears. He also likes his tattoos, both arms decorated in wisps of black ink that look like physical representations of the wind. For some reason, his appearance never catches the eye of the right person. It’s never the cute guy who approaches him at these… conventions… but the swarm of girls — some underaged — who want to, quote, “Oh Em Gee” hug him. He’s also not a huge fan of the geeky world Aimee immerses herself in. Sure, he’ll watch a movie with a hot guy who carries around a hammer from time to time, but hell if he knows the name of the team he’s a part of.Story 2. There’s a look on Wally’s face, a mix of shock peppered with anger, as he looks over at Mitchel. Mitchel deflects the look, not seeming to realize — or care — about his damning words of not worrying about the wi-fi situation. Jayson sighs and lays back on the bed, cap falling off of his head and resting against the pillow. He had borrowed it from Wally, not having been awake enough this morning to attempt to apply the necessary amount of hair-gel to get his hair slicked back in the way he likes it. There’s a circular logo on it along with a company name. He knows that Wally has explained it before — something about science and combustible lemons — but the details escape him at the moment. He should probably try to remember, Wally likes it when he remembers gaming details and it’s much better than listening to the inevitable argument that’s about to start between the guy he use to play in the sandbox with twenty some years ago and the guy he likes to see naked.
“Wi-fi is important. I told ya, when ya booked the trip, to make sure the place has wi-fi.”
“And that’s not important right now. We’re on vacation.”
“Not import-… n-not important?!”
Something about portal guns, Jayson thinks, and a bitchy robot lady and cake.
I’m writing some things. Random nonsensical geeky things. That hopefully turn into things. Also check out my writing blog thing. Things!
