Turn the Other Cheek will be out in September — either the 8th or the 22. No date yet on Safe Words, but I have the comments from the editor and have to hand it back by the middle of July, so I would think mid-fallish, maybe?

Things are moving along!

Torquere: Memorial Day Sale!

Receive 20% off your next purchase at Torquere Books
(http://www.torqurerebooks.com).

Just put “mem2010″ into the coupon code when you check out and receive 20%
off your purchase.

Coupon good for one use only any time between now and 11:59pm (EST) Monday
May 31, 2010.

Go shop.

Anyway, just two quick things to share today. I’ve been getting a lot of e-mail lately asking about Turn the Other Cheek and where people can find it. That’s easy! Right now the story is running on Torquere’s Turn of the Screw serial service. It should be out as a complete novel by the end of summer.

Related to that, I really should have had that information in my FAQ. I’ll tuck it in there right now, but I’d also like you to shoot me other things you’d like me to include in the FAQ. As long as I’m going to update it, I might as well keep a running list of things that people feel should be there. So, fire away. You can either comment here or you can find me on Twitter (chris_owen), or you can always drop me an e-mail (chrisowen.net at gmail.com).

I’m still enjoying my sabbatical (note to self: a good way to ease back in would be to take an hour to fix tags and categories here before adding a lot more posts when back in the writing game), but wanted to point you to my twitter, which I do tend to use. You can find me at http://twitter.com/chris_owen

Mostly I’m posting about my tapestry weaving class, running, biking and other life things; but soon enough I’ll be throwing up my hands in despair as I try to plot out a novel.

Oh, and if you (like me) follow blogs via RSS feeds, I have one of those, too. The link is up there at the top of the blog page.

Addison Albright, who gave the novel its name, and
Carrigan Chantz and Stephanie, who lent me their names and fragments of their personalities.

This book is a personal favourite of mine. The premise was fun, the contests were fantastic, but the actual story took on a life of its own, as these things often do.  Thank you to the many hands who helped shape it, from Addison and Carrigan and Stephanie to Tory Temple and Jordan Castillo Price for the hand holding and cheerleading, and Michelle, Jean and Lorna at Torquere who all piled in and helped me find and fix the seventeen million errors and loose ends, and thank you to Sara Bell for her lovely review at TP.

Keep reading for an excerpt!  Acquired Tastes is available here in e-book and print from Torquere Press. 

With everything back where it was supposed to be, Lee put the flashlight and wrench in his tool box and stood up once more. He’d deal with the lump of disgusting hair and soap residue to make sure nothing else was lost in there, then see if he could sneak out before Joey Reed came back to make an unnecessary apology. There was still a paper waiting for Lee’s attention, and if he finished up by midnight or so he might even have time for a beer before he fell asleep. Weekend fun had taken on a whole new meaning as a PhD candidate than it had had when he was doing his undergraduate work. Long gone were the days of all night parties and putting off the homework until Sunday afternoon.

Lee left the glob in the bucket and ran a few inches of water in with it, then shook things around a little to loosen the mess. When it started to come apart he put more water in and started poking it, trying not to be too grossed out. Sure enough, there was a solid bit there. “Damn it.” Muttering to himself Lee put even more water in the bucket and poked at the mess until the object came free. “Gotcha.”

He’d have to take the bucket with him to get rid of the mess properly, but he was sure that Dr. Reed wouldn’t mind, given the circumstances. He’d just leave the cleaned out bucket on the back step in the morning. Setting the bucket aside, Lee took what turned out to be a pin of some kind and rinsed it off in the sink, just as he’d done with Bernie’s earring. It wasn’t until he was wiping it dry on the hand towel that he actually looked at it.

Lee wasn’t sure how long he stood there, staring, before Dr. Reed came back.

“Lee? Lee, are you okay? What’s wrong?” Dr. Reed stood close to him, one hand on Lee’s arm, like he thought perhaps Lee was going to fall over.

Lee shook his head minutely, his gaze so fixed on the unexpected pin that he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to look away. He had never thought, not even once, that he’d see a pin like that again; not in a new city, at a new school, a new home. The chills from the shock were turning liquid smooth under Dr. Reed’s hand. “I’m fine,” Lee heard himself say. “Just fine.”

Dr. Reed clearly didn’t believe him and was saying exactly that, but Lee was looking at the pin, turning it around in his fingers. The gold had been warmed by the water he’d washed it in, pleasant to hold. It was a triangular lapel pin, elegant and small, its matte face etched on the three sides with a spear, an arrow and a javelin. That was all. It was the mark of TCF, a secret society.

It was the one way that Lee could know a brother.

Lee could picture his own pin, across the yard in his cottage, in the small jewelry box in the top drawer of his dresser. His was between his father’s wedding band and his grandfather’s pocket watch.

Holding the pin out to Dr. Reed on the flat of his palm and still looking only at it, Lee whispered, “Achilles and Patrocles, Alexander and Hephaestion. Heroes in life, legends in death.”

A heavy near-silence took over the ringing in his ears, but Lee could feel every thump and whoosh of his heartbeat.

Dr. Reed didn’t move away from him but he managed, somehow, to close the bathroom door. The already muted sounds of the house party vanished and they were insulated from the world, encapsulated in a bathroom, of all places. Never before had a meeting of TCF had less glamorous surroundings. “What did you say?”

With great effort Lee made himself look up and meet Dr. Reed’s equally stunned expression. He’d had a moment of doubt when Dr. Reed didn’t immediately reply — what if the pin had been lost by the last owner of the condo? — but the look in Dr. Reed’s eyes was truth. “You heard me.” They were both whispering, but in Lee’s case it was a matter of physical necessity; his throat felt raw, like he’d been yelling or crying for hours.

Dr. Reed’s fingers shook as he took the pin from Lee’s palm. His mouth opened and closed, then opened again as he looked at the face of it, his eyes distant. “Bones mixed,” he said softly. “One soul in two bodies. The Brotherhood of Leuce.”

Lee nodded and they finished together, “Beloved, inspired, cherished and protected. The Chosen Family.“

So, to quickly bring everyone up to speed, I had a couple of stories come out from Torquere in September — Apotrope and Speed Dating the Slow Way. Next month my novel, Acquired Tastes, will be released.

I got caught up on my e-mail, so if you didn’t get a reply from me I’m afraid you might have fallen into the spam and junk mail filters. I have also discontinued the use of the chris at prettymuses.com e-mail address, as it was a HUGE collector of spam, numbering in the hundreds of messages a week. I just don’t need that much V*iagra, thanks. Please use the contact form on my website to reach me, or chrisowen.net at gmail.com Thanks!

Speaking of e-mail, I’ve been meaning to post a note right on my website for ages and ages and haven’t yet. I better do that today. (hahahaha!)

I DO answer all my e-mail. I promise, I do. (Well, unless you’re trying to sell me V*iagra or are very, very rude to me.) I am, however, not quick about it. It’s not unheard of for me to take up to two (okay, three) months to get all the way caught up. This is not something I’m proud of, but after years of it being this way, I just have to admit I’m not going to get better about it. I promise to answer. I can’t promise to be quick about it. If you don’t get a reply — especially if you’ve asked questions about a story! — please don’t hesitate to try again and light a fire under me.

I’m thinking I should probably do a FAQ, too. There actually are frequently asked questions (Yes, I’m a woman. No, there won’t be any more Jake and Tor novels, but there will likely be short stories. No, there won’t be any more Gemini stories at all, sorry. No, no more 911, either. Yes, there is a fifth Deviations book, Jodi and I are working hard and getting it ready to submit. Yes, Travis was a rat bastard and no, he won’t be getting his own novel, either. Yes, I do like mint tea, and yes, Scott’s book addiction, Phan’s hair, and any references to The Princess Bride are me putting myself in a story. Bad author!) Oh, wait. No need to do a FAQ.

What else. OH! You may (or may not) have heard that I’m taking a wee break. This is true. I am not stopping writing! Promise. In fact, I’m working weekly with Vic, doing Drew Zachary things. But I’m taking a good long step back from writing solo stuff in order to concentrate on a few things that really need my attention, including a major house reno. I’ll be back! In the meantime, I’m puttering with a couple of story ideas and making notes, learning to ride my new pink scooter, sewing, spinning, weaving, painting, taking photos, running (I did the couch to 5K! I’m going to do a half-marathon in a year!) and hanging out with my family. Recharging the batteries, if you will.

I’ll get links up to the new stories (um, soon?) and be back with a celebration of Acquired Tastes in November. Enjoy October, everyone!

http://torquerebooks.com/contest/index.html

The prize is signed paperbacks, so go and enter.  Dooooo eeeeeet!

*crossposts, sorry*

http://community.livejournal.com/torquere_social/

Summer was lovely — I travelled a lot, I had company a lot, and I wrote not a single word after about the third of July.  Well, I got some edits back from editors, but I didn’t start or finish any new projects. Oh, wait — I totally just made an error. I worked with Vic Winters through July on a Drew Zachary novel that we just finished a few days ago. No solo work, though —  I worked very, very hard in May and June to ensure I could take the whole summer off, and I loved it.

In July I went to Washington DC for a vacation with Tory Temple (and met up with Shea Meier whilst there!), then went on to Ohio for a lovely weekend with a ton of friends. In August my mother-in-law came to stay for four weeks, and the day after she left my parents came for a few days.  Yesterday was my first day with an empty house.

Today I looked up and discovered that I really had taken the summer off of life. It was kind of groovy.

Anyway.  I have a few things I need to post about, inform you about, link you to, etc etc, but they require thought and my brain is still on vacation.  So here’s the highlights of what’s going on this month here at Chez Chris:

Next week, new title out on Wednesday. It’s for the Spice it Up! line at TP, and I selected garlic. The story is called Apotrope which might be the worst title I’ve ever come up with. I can’t seem to remember it!  But if you go to Wiki and look it up you’ll get it. I’ll be at the Torquere Press LJ that day (September 16), and it’s also my day in the Anniversary giveaway. Signed paperbacks, yo. Toss your name in the hat that day.

I have another release this month, a Single Shot for TP’s anniversary — I’ll figure out the date and let you know asap. It’s called ‘Speed Dating the Slow Way’ and is a hot little thinky piece.

Acquired Tastes is with the editor and is scheduled to come out November 11. I am insanely excited about this novel. This is the book that resulted from the Summer Contest of 2008, in which I asked for titles and for people to put themselves in the novel. I know three people are going to read it, woohoo!

I have a couple of other things still getting ready for submission — small things for Turn of the Scew that I’m doing with others (my Blue Sky Lodge stories, for those that are on TotS). Jodi and I are plugging at the last Deviations book, getting it ready to submit. Life is getting in the way, I hope you’ll continue to be patient.

The response to the new website has been very positive — thank you all for your lovely e-mails! We still have no idea why the Excerpts page is acting up, but we continue to poke at it.

At the end of the month there will be a low key announcement regarding my plans for the next few months; nothing huge, don’t panic. I’m going to take a little break, is all. Not from writing entirely (I mean, I wouldn’t give up breathing, either, and that would be easier in a lot of ways), and I’ll be working steadily with Vic, but I’m going to pull back while my house undergoes some pretty huge renovations. I’ll be back, I promise! Anyway, watch for more details and navel gazing about that in a couple of weeks.

… I think that’s it for now. See you next week when I babble about Apotrope and push you to the LJ.

Be good. Don’t burn the place down.

Woot, here I come, America!