Gay fantasy: The Taming of the Hawk cover art reveal

Here is the lovely cover for upcoming gay fantasy novel, The Taming of the Hawk, which will be published by Amber Quill Press on 23 November.

When escaped prisoner Redallek Castonar goes on the run in the war-torn city of Tetranal, he finds himself in the pleasure-house of Councillor Jarrod Tetran. Unaware that Redallek has made a blood-promise with the rebel factions to kill him, Jarrod is instantly attracted to the man. Although Redallek is determined to complete his mission as soon as possible in order to gain his freedom, he quickly finds his new master is not quite the man he expected.

Meanwhile, Jarrod is planning to take the ruling Council captive, and to begin a negotiated peace with the rebel army. Both Redallek and Jarrod are determined to fight for freedom and peace, but in two very different ways. Will their differences drive them apart or can they find a way to work together for the good of their country? Even if they do, will the passion springing up between them lead to victory or defeat?


And there's less than a month to go before publication date, hurrah!

Anne Brooke Books
Gay Reads UK
The Gathandrian Fantasy Trilogy

Delaneys and daffodils

Book News:

Gay erotic short story The Delaneys, My Parents and Me is now available at Amazon UK (where it was even briefly in the Top 100 Gay Erotic Fiction charts, well gosh) and Amazon US. You can also find it at All Romance Ebooks.

It's also been getting some positive reviews, including a 4-star review, a 5-star review and another 5-star review, all at Goodreads, and one from On Top Down Under Reviews, which included the following comments:

"This is the last in the six book series/serial of The Delaneys and I'm so very sad to see my lads leave me. Every ebook was a joy to read. Nover long but each one was beautifully written, perfectly edited, and used the English language the way it was meant to be used. Never once did they fail to make me laugh out loud, and there was some incredibly erotic times … It was this series that introduced me to Anne Brooke and it is with great sadness that I say farewell to Liam, Mark and Johnny."

Many thanks for that, Karen! The lads are sorry to leave you too ...

Other exciting news is that gay thriller Maloney's Law, which will be republished on 7 April by Amber Allure Press, has a brand-new cover, and pretty dang wonderful it is too. I love it.

And, much to my delight and astonishment, Leeds Library has bought an ecopy of fantasy novel, The Gifting, so many thanks for that, Leeds, and I hope it gets many borrowers for you.


Life News:

The delights of the dentist this week, so I have survived a rather deep filling, phew. Apparently, if it doesn't work, then I might have to have root canal treatment (oh joy!...) so I'm praying very hard that it works, ho hum.

Mind you, I was pleasantly distracted by the surprise visit from the first butterfly of the season - a red admiral - here on our winter heather. So wonderful. I only hope it survives the snow that's forecast for tomorrow, groan ... I also bought myself some spring daffodils and they've been cheering up our kitchen windowsill no end.

And, keeping to the nature theme, we've done a great job in keeping the weeds down this weekend, and we've even eaten the first of our home-grown potatoes, goodness me. Mind you, if I'm honest, they were actually the potatoes we were trying to grow for Christmas so they're just a tad late, but very tasty nonetheless.

Yesterday, K and I spent a pleasant morning at Nymans, and thoroughly enjoyed their spring walk, in spite of the bleak weather. Whilst there, I treated myself to a new tiarella and have planted it out this morning.

Meanwhile, cake baking has not been neglected and this weekend's offering is Farmhouse Orange Victoria Sponge, which is pretty tasty - though I say it myself and shouldn't. Still, when has that ever stopped me, eh?

And, over at The Angry Anglican, I'm talking about cardinal sins and celibacy, possibly both at the same time, hey ho. Don't say you haven't been warned.

Though, as a final warning, I really can't do better than this cartoon which somehow says it all, at least for me. Really, it's astonishing I'm still allowed to roam free across Surrey, for now ...

Anne Brooke
Gay Reads UK
The Gathandrian Fantasy Trilogy
Biblical Fiction UK
Lori Olding Children's Author

The Prayer Seeker and Angry Church

I'm happy to say that my spiritual novella, The Prayer Seeker, is now published and available at Autharium. It should be distributed out to other e-retailers over the next few weeks. Here's the blurb:

Michael Woodthorpe hasn’t attended church for many years, not since his time as an evangelical in his early twenties. One winter he decides to take early retirement in order to search for the God he used to know. 

As he comes to terms with his new existence, he must face opposition from both his ex-girlfriend, and his ex-wife, whom he hasn’t seen for years. He must also find a way into discovering the riches of prayer and so he begins a series of religious encounters with a spiritual director. When his journey brings him face to face with the mistakes in the past which had made him walk away from God, he must find a way to resolve them if he is to fulfil his God-given potential at all.

Perfect for Christmas then, hey ho. Not that I actually have much energy for Christmas at all at the moment - the thought of it is giving me a headache and I suspect not many people are likely to get a card this year. I'm sure they'll cope though! It's probably all the angst and shouting about women bishops that's making things worse too. I'm considering starting an Angry Church website and seeing if anyone joins me, well there's a thought, eh. It'll be like Angry Birds, but more prayerful, amidst the existential rage.

What with all this, it was a great relief to skip church today as I thought I'd be better off away from it all. I think I was right too - K and I had a really lovely walk in Newlands Corner instead, which is stunning. Thank goodness God isn't always to be found in the pews.

Anyway, to continue to calm the nerves, I have gone back to cake baking and this week's effort is Smartie chocolate chip cake, which has proved a real success, hurrah. I did have some trouble trying to get the icing to set properly though - strangely, shouting at it and sobbing doesn't seem to help - but K suggested I put it in the fridge for 15 mins and it's fine now, thank goodness. What a superhero husband he is.

I've also had the week off from work this week - and though it's not proved to be the respite I'd hoped for, I have managed to get my National Novel Writing Month book finished in first draft form. So The Apple Picker's Daughter is now at nearly 64,000 words and I've started editing it.

Meanwhile, I've chosen a new cover for comic satire Not a Shred of Evidence, and very lovely it is too. A zillion times better than the old one anyway. Perhaps I'm learning, slowly ...

Finally, and bringing this blog back round to another spiritual note (must be the season ...), I'm pleased to say that biblical short story Dancing with Lions sold another 75 copies at Amazon US last month. Astonishing really for a book nobody talks about, only one person has reviewed, and which hasn't had any marketing at all for several years. The publishing world is indeed a totally mystery to me!



Anne Brooke
Gay Reads UK
Biblical Fiction UK
The Gathandrian Trilogy
Lori Olding Children's Author

Come to the cabaret, my friends ...

I'm just craftily sneaking in a preview of the glorious cover art for upcoming novel Number Two in the Gathandrian Trilogy, Hallsfoot's Battle. It's courtesy of the supremely talented Penelope Cline, and I love it. I'm on the proofing stage now so we're nearly at lift-off. Am beginning to get rather excited about it too.

Have had a great week - our 19th wedding anniversary was on September 11th, so we really feel grown-up now. Will we have to start being sensible? Heaven forbid! It's astonishing that K hasn't sent me back in despair to the Wife Shop really. Twenty years next year, and we don't feel a day over sixteen. Well, almost sixteen ... Anyway, we started the day with chocolate cake (the healthy breakfast, don't you know ...) and ended it with champagne, so a truly balanced diet all round. Hurrah for us!

It's also been a hugely exciting weekend for me, as I attended the UK GLBTQ Fiction Conference in Brighton as a small part of the presenting team for a couple of sessions ("First 150 words of a novel", and "Ideas - Where Can I Get Some?"), and also as a very enthusiastic participant. We had a wonderful night out on Saturday at a Burlesque cabaret at the Brighton Proud Ballroom, which was marvellous and gloriously cheesy, and I swear I will never see The Ugly Duckling in quite the same way again. Really, it's astonishing what women can do with a power drill and nipple tassels. Perhaps not one to try at home, people ... It was also wonderful to meet people I've only met online before, and catch up with those I've met in "real" life too, and the chance to chat with fellow-writers, readers, publishers and reviewers without having to explain why I write and love gay erotic/non-erotic fiction was really great also. I loved it. Can't wait for next year's meeting in July in Manchester. Bring it on ...

Other book-type news is that Untreed Reads have accepted my comic surreal short story about a dictionary, Candy and Catharsis, for publication next March, so I'm thrilled with that. And the book tour (plus prizes!) for The Origami Nun starts tomorrow, so that should be fun. Hope as many of you out there as possible will come and join me with my Lori Olding hat on - she's a great gal. Honest!...

Meanwhile, over at Vulpes Libris on Thursday, I reviewed the crazy but utterly charming novel, Jane Austen Ruined My Life by Beth Pattillo. Definitely worth a read, and a class ending to die for. Great stuff.

Finally, I broke my Star Trek mug last week - oh the trauma. There was weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, I can tell you. Luckily SuperHusband came to the rescue and ordered me a new one, so has gained at least a thousand Husband Points in one easy move. What class that man has ... I am treating my bright, shiny Star Trek mug with great care, and I'm sure the coffee in it tastes much better. Cosmic almost ...

Anne Brooke
The Gathandrian Fantasy Trilogy
Gay Reads UK
Lori Olding Children's Author

Rentboys, boardrooms and hope

Book News:

I was very happy to see that the upcoming Rentboys Anthology from Riptide Publishing,  which includes my own story Where You Hurt The Most, was mentioned on Top 2 Bottom Reviews this week - very exciting indeed.

I've also just caught sight of the book cover for gay short story The Delaneys At Home (Delaneys *5), which will be available on 3 June and very happy I am with it too. Just the right amount of humour and cheekiness that I hope people get from the series, ho ho.

In the midst of all this, I've started a gay short story/novella set in a boardroom battle scenario which I'm hoping to submit to Riptide Publishing over the summer. Very early days at the moment and definitely no title as yet, but hopefully that will turn up at some point ...

Meanwhile, you can find an interview about me and gay short story The Heart's Greater Silence over at Blak Rayne's Blog, where you can discover my favourite colour, my favourite film and who I'd really like to be. Could be in for a surprise then ...

And at Vulpes Libris Reviews, I find myself a little disappointed with Ken N Kamoche's short story collection, A Fragile Hope. Rather more fragility than hope there, in my opinion, ah well.


This week's meditation poems are:


Meditation 640
Following the party
the riot –
it’s the way
after far too much wine.

So stick to the safety
of bread
and beware
the fruit of the vine.




Meditation 641
In the face of disaster
and a vast sea
of enemies and fear

it’s a powerful act
to step back and trust
that somehow God is near.




Meditation 642
Every word we say
and decision we take
are ripples on the pond
of the whole world

for we cannot measure
by tongue or hand
the secret influence
of our life unfurled.


Life News:

Fabulous news from work this week! We've been shortlisted for the second year running for the Times Higher Education Student Services Awards, which is really thrilling. I'm hoping we'll win this year as the awards ceremony takes place on my birthday, and of course because the University of Surrey Student Support team is obviously the best there is, by a long chalk. Wish us luck!

At home, we've now spotted goldfinches in the garden (hurrah!) and now K and I have both heard the first cuckoo of the year, well gosh. I did actually hear it a few days ago on 12 April, along with several other people in Elstead, so it's arrived earlier than last year when (in case you're interested ...) you might like to know that the first cuckoo in 2011 arrived in our parts on 17 April. So a week early this year - must be the call of the countryside.

Had a great time last night catching up with some friends from the company I used to work for during dinner and chat in Guildford (many thanks, J, M & A!) - though much amusement arose from the fact that somehow A and I managed to miss J & M in the restaurant/bar, and we were only united by the fact that J could hear my voice from a whole room and a dividing wall away and eventually realised it wasn't some kind of auditory nightmare, but was in fact me ... Well, who ever said I needed a phone? I just open the window and shout.

Tonight, K and I are out at the theatre to see Wife Begins At Forty. Which is rather curious as we originally booked tickets for Two Into One, also by the same playwright. So we've been bamboozled for a while as to which alternative universe we are currently in, but the theatre have rescued us from our displacement anomaly by explaining they couldn't get the actors for the original one so had to replace it. Apparently the letter telling us all manner of thing would be well in spite of us having the incorrect tickets never arrived, alas. Good job I looked it up then (I usually don't) though whether we would actually have noticed is anyone's guess. Well, one farce is much like another, isn't it? Hush my mouth.

Finally, I've been impressed by the NHS's First Steps for Emotional Wellbeing site, which has been set up to help us all with our wellbeing. Some interesting stuff there, and as I'm facing scaling down my antidepressants over the next month or two, then I'm sure it will come in very useful indeed.

Anne Brooke
Gay Reads UK
Gathandria Fantasy Trilogy
Biblical Fiction UK