Posts Tagged ‘MLR Publisher Feature’

Hola, I’m James Buchanan and I’m here playing today. If you read my official bio I’ve apparently written over a dozen novels and single author anthologies (I had to stop and count them on the shelf above my desk). I have a guy, we have kids and we often pick them up from school on the Harleys. My evil day job is as an attorney – I’ve been known to wear leather
frock coats and boots to court.

A lot of what I write are Mystery/Thriller type Romances and often they feature BDSM. Recently, I gave a writing BDSM workshop with Joey Hill for Romance Divas and I’ve participated on panels for the Popular Culture Association on both gay romance and BDSM power dynamics in gay romance. My novel, Hard Fall, took the honorable mention in the National Leather Association – International’s novel category this year.

I base my BDSM/Kink books on the theory that this is not just something the characters DO it is who they ARE. Submission, in my view, is about being comforted, swaddled up in this big warm blanket of safety – except the blanket is made of leather or rope or expectation. It is a secure place to be. It is a loving place to be. The submissive is unconditionally accepted for who they are. They are safe, loved and adored in that condition of submission. Submissives need it, they crave it. Domination, on the other hand, is not about getting your way or pushing people around. While they may get off on inflicting pain, discipline or punishment, Dominants are not abusive jerks. It is the thrill of making “it” happen: the turn on, the moment of connection, the second absolute trust is given over, that drives their Dominant leanings.

Because I write the characters that way, I think people connect with my BDSM books – I humanize it, not fetishize it.

~James

Website: www.James-Buchanan.com

Blog: www.James-Buchanan.com/blog

Twitter: http://twitter.com/James_Buchanan

Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/James-Buchanan/56144477499?ref=ts

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Hard Fall

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http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=HARDFALL

There ain’t much complicated about Joe Peterson….

He’s a Utah Sheriff’s Deputy.  He’s Mormon.  He heads up the local Search and Rescue…and he’s gay.   So far Joe’s managed to keep that one part hidden down deep.  Then Kabe, and ex-con and adrenaline junkie climber, lands in town on parole.  When a German tourist falls off the mountain, Joe finds he needs Kabe’s help with the case.  Accident or murder?  As Joe weaves the evidence together the strands of his life fray to breaking.  Will Kabe be the guy who tears Joe apart?  Or is it that Joe needs to fall hard before he can start living?

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Personal Demons

http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=PDEMONS1

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Hunting a notorious hit man, FBI Agent Chase Nozick and LAPD Det. Enrique Rios Ocha delve into the inner worlds of Santeria, Voodoo and Palo Mayumbe. A missing informant, her murdered brother and a ghost from Chase’s past send them on a hunt through mystics and psychic surgeons to find their witness before it’s too late. Can he rely on leads from a child possessed by Orishas? Do cards hold stronger clues than blood? Chase must conquer his own personal demons to bring the killer of his partner to justice and find the strength to take a chance on Enrique.

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The Good Thief

eBook: http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=GOODTH02

print: http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=GOODTH01

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What if the wrong guy, turns out to be the right guy for you? Caesar Serrano thought he screwed up when he landed in the bed of LAPD Officer Nathan Reilly. But when Caesar breaks into the wrong house and stumbles upon a heinous crime, implicating a high ranking LAPD officer, Nate is the only person he knows to turn to. The resulting investigation throws the Blue Brigade into panic. Now he’s running for his life and Nate is his only hope for survival. Can two men, on opposite sides of the law, come together to bring a monster to justice?

Hello Readers,

I am so excited to welcome the authors of ManLoveRomance to the Backseat and today we are spending time with Rick R. Reed – Take it away Triple R!

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Silly Questions and More with MLR Press Author Rick R. Reed

In their October 2006 issue, Unzipped magazine said: “You could call him the Stephen King of gay horror.” And Dark Scribe magazine said: “Reed is an established brand – perhaps the most reliable contemporary author for thrillers that cross over between the gay fiction market and speculative fiction.” To date, Reed has twelve published novels to his credit, and his short fiction has appeared in more than 20 anthologies. His novel, ORIENTATION, won the EPPIE Award for best LGBT novel of 2008. He lives in Seattle, WA. Visit him on the web at http://www.rickrreed.com

So, I was trying to think of what I could say to the readers of Naughty in the Backseat and decided to fall back on an oddly masturbatory interview I did of myself on my own blog, which can be found here: http://rickrreedreality.blogspot.com/.
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My answers to these 10 silly questions were the capper of a series I did when I asked other authors the questions posed below. I thought it was only fair I sit in the hot seat myself.

-So now, I think you guys might find the questions—and their answers—interesting. Stick around to the end of the interview where you’ll get a taste of two of my latest MLR Press releases.
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Here we go…

1. If you could invite any famous person, dead or alive, for dinner, what would
you eat?
Since I would be aghast if a dead person showed up at my door for dinner, probably nothing. Since I would be aghast if a live celebrity showed up for dinner, probably nothing. Perhaps for the latter, I would run up the street and get some Thai take-out.

2. Who do you think you are?
Little Miss Mary Sunshine, spreading it around wherever I go.

3. What’s your problem?
Gas

- Thanks for sharing and thankfully not sharing it in the same room as me – TK

4. If you could have one wish, would you give it to me?
No. I’m selfish that way. Besides, do you really need a foot long, um, er, ruler?

5. Where you at?
In my sweet spot

6. If you had to choose only one vice, what would it be?
Thumb sucking

7. What’s your favorite brand of cereal?
Cap’n Crunch…morning, noon, or night

8. When you wake up in the morning, what celebrity do you most resemble?
Tori Spelling
- I posted this so we can all see the Rick/Tori resemblance.
9. Do you know your ass from a hole in the ground? And if so, how do you tell the difference?
I do. One is much, much cleaner, but I ain’t sayin’ which one.

10. Do you have anything you’d like to plug?
Gerard Butler? Never mind. Of course, Rick, two of my latest releases from MLR
Press. They are A Demon Inside and Tales from the Sexual Underground. Here are the blurbs for each:

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A Demon Inside

Hunter Beaumont doesn’t understand his grandmother’s deathbed wish: “Destroy
Beaumont House.” He’d never even heard of the place. But after his grandmother
passes and his first love betrays him, the family house in the Wisconsin woods looks
like a tempting refuge. Going against his grandmother’s wishes, Hunter flees to
Beaumont House.

But will the house be the sanctuary he had hoped for? Soon after moving in, Hunter
realizes he may not be alone. And who—or what—he shares the house may plunge
him into a nightmare from which he may never escape. Sparks fly when he meets
his handsome neighbor, a caretaker for the estate next door, but is the man his
salvation…or is he the source of Hunter’s terror?

You can read excerpts and reviews HERE

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Tales from the Sexual Underground

I wanted to write about people who were not just out, but out there, people who lived
their sexual lives in ways most of us could only imagine…and for whom the flavor
vanilla had absolutely no appeal. I interviewed porn stars, prostitutes, self-proclaimed
sex pigs, and delved into bizarre sexual practices. It was eye-opening, arousing, and
a lot of fun (but never, never good clean fun). I also include here my favorite dirty
stories. They all explore a side of life that exists not in the twilight zone, but in my
favorite destination…the sexual underground.

You can read excerpts and reviews HERE:

Lucky me, I had a fabulous publisher, Laura Baumbach step forward to give us a peek into ManLoveRomance (MLR) and its stable of authors. It is a fun term, stable – sounds kinda Naughty…

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Terry Kate: Welcome to Laura Baumbach, Owner/Publisher of MLR Press. You specialize in gay erotic romance and fiction, can you please share a little bit more about your Press and what readers can expect to find?

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Laura Baumbach: ManLoveRomance Press was created to bring m/m erotic romances to print for our readership. I write M/M erotic romance almost exclusively. I started out being published by a small print house in the LA area, and then began submitting and being accepted by multiple ebook publishers. My print house wasn’t paying royalties like they should have been and did nothing to promote the work. This made me frustrated and discontent. I began looking for other print publishers for my work. While one of my ebook publishers did take one of my stories to print in an anthology, they wouldn’t commit to doing more of my novels. Their focus was e-publishing and they had limited interest in doing print. I understood that but because I knew from my readership and fan letters that there was a growing interest in having these books in print, I continued to submit to houses like Alyson and Kensington. Unfortunately for me, they weren’t interested in gay erotic romance at that time. After a number of attempts and rejections of stories I knew where print worthy, I decided to gather together my closest and most talented friends within the industry and fill what I saw as a void in the publishing industry—a press for gay erotic romance and fiction by creating ManLoveRomance Press, LLC aka MLR Press. We publish the ‘feel good, falling in love again’ stories that readers were asking for.

I’ve kept the focus of MLR Press on gay erotic romance and fiction because that is the genre I know inside and out and can market and promote effectively. The readership for this genre is almost entirely straight women and gay men and I target different media and events for each, keeping in mind that there are a lot more cross over venues each year.

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TK: What makes a story stand out to you as something MLR Press should publish?

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LB: Writing in this genre is, to me, a calling. You have to understand the genre and its components. You can’t take a het romance and change one character’s name to make it two men. The way your characters act, talk and react are different and if you don’t have the understanding of that down pat it shows in the writing. It’s easy to spot someone who is writing M/M to cash in on the popularity of it and one who writes it because they have to because their characters won’t have it any other way.Characters have to be strong and plots intriguing and well-thought out. Sex should flesh out the characters or progress the story not just hang there in the air as filler. We like unique, edgy work.

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TK: What sub-genre is the most popular with readers?

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LB: Mystery. But any of the titles with good action and plot, breath-taking heroes and sizzling intimacy work.

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TK: And why not? We as readers want an experience other then our own, a little mystery or action would certainly spice my life up! On a more personal note, this is your company and being a publisher is a tough job. What is the hardest part of being a publisher?

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Laura Baumbach: Having to say no to an author. Whether is to a submission, a cover request, whatever. I like my people happy. But it isn’t always possible to do it 100% of the time.

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Terry Kate: Laura, thank you so much for your time and I am so excited to be hosting your authors all this week on Naughty Boys in the Backseat! To find out more about MLR join us this week and visit their website -

http://www.mlrpress.com