Bi

Three lives—but how many loves? #LGBTQ #Polyamory #Bi #Pride #HappyPrideMonth

June 12, 2023 by Adriana Kraft

Each day for the month of June, I’ve been featuring an LGBTQ book on my social media – Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, and MeWe. Some are my own, some are from other authors I’ve enjoyed; you can catch them all (to date) on my Instagram profile. Today’s is one of my polyamory stories.

Can love last forever? That’s what Jamie believes in the polyamory novella Three: A Love Story. Jamie is deeply in love with Susan. She trusts Susan’s love for her, and she doesn’t expect it ever to fade.

But if you spend any time poking around in polyamory blogs and websites (and we do; research, you know!), you’ll discover that many people who end up in some type of polyamory arrangement didn’t start out as polyamory advocates and go looking for someone. They experienced polyamory as something that just happened. They were in love with one person, and they began to experience feelings for an additional person. Rather than deny those feelings or simply bail on the person they already loved, they opened up about those feelings in what had been their primary relationship, and together they moved on to explore what might be both right and possible for them.

I’m sure lots of relationships fall apart at this point in the process. Probably another significant number re-examine their relationship as a duo and re-commit to it. Most likely few of either of these groups are sharing their stories in the polyamory social media, and I’ve never seen any research on what the actual numbers might be.

But this precise point is where we chose to set our story. Jamie and Susan, both bisexual but committed to love each other, have continued to date men from time to time. Their relationships with men have been casual and have often led to casual sex, sometimes even casual three-way sex. We’re not sure they considered themselves to be swingers, but they probably wouldn’t have flinched at the label. In this regard, they are already more open to the potential of expanding their relationship than many couples might be. As our story opens, Jamie is starting to have more than casual feelings for the current man in her life.

Three-way committed relationships don’t simply emerge full-blown and move smoothly towards that happily-ever-after forever. We wanted to explore the tugs and pulls of each protagonist as the balance shifts and the pitfalls emerge. Who has the most to lose? What does each of them fear, and who is the most afraid? How do they go about the process of opening up these feelings and sorting them out? What do they still hide from each other? And of course, ultimately, can it work?

We’ve written a romance. You already know it has a happy ending. We still believe that’s possible, and we do know a few friends who are, at least for the moment, making something similar work for them. We hope you’ll join our characters for what proves to be a bumpy ride on the way to a unique Happily Ever After.

BLURB

Three lives—but how many loves?

Committed lovers for three years, Jamie and Susan are good together. Jamie knows she wants Susan in her life forever. But what if that’s not enough?

Both bi, the two have continued dating men occasionally, and now Jamie’s falling in love with Mason. Can she love two persons? Will her love for either one wrench the other one out of her life?

Jamie’s convinced a long-term three-way relationship is the answer, but none of the players is prepared for what’s coming. Two-way relationships are hard enough—is a three-way even possible? And if so, what must each of them give up to create it?

EXCERPT

Jamie tilted her head to the side as Susan curled back in next to her. “So what do you think of Mason?”

“Ah, Mason. He’s the source of your stewing. Is he starting to wear on you? How long has it been—three months? Four months?”

“He’s not wearing on me. And it’s nearly five months.” Jamie paused to wet her lips. “You didn’t answer my question. What do you think of him? What do you really think of him?”

Susan flinched. “Well, I haven’t thought a lot about him, though I must say he has stayed around longer than any guy in recent memory.” Susan sighed. “Okay, to be honest. I think he seems like a very nice guy. When he’s over here, it’s because he’s come to see you, so I don’t really spend a lot of time with him. I’ve cooked a few dinners for you guys, but most of time he comes, you go out, you come back, and you shut your door and make love. I’m surprised the neighbors haven’t complained. And he’s usually gone before I’m up in the morning. And lately you’ve been spending much more time at his house than at our apartment…for your love nest activities, that is. I must say that’s easier on me. I get more sleep, and I don’t have to imagine what you and he are doing to each other.”

“That’s it?”

“What else do you want me to say? I’m an English professor, not a social worker. He doesn’t seem abusive. He’s easy to look at. He doesn’t…” Susan paused. “Uh oh. If he’s not wearing on you and yet you’re stewing about him…” She arched an eyebrow. “Jams, maybe you’d better tell me what’s really on your mind.”

Jamie didn’t miss the sudden flash of anxiety that crossed Susan’s face.

BUY LINK

Universal Buy Link

https://books2read.com/u/4AAdGd

Chantz, by Tim Rayborn: New queer urban fantasy! #Giveaway

April 20, 2023 by Adriana Kraft

Tim Rayborn has a new queer urban fantasy out (bi, lesbian)
Qwyrk Tales book 3: Chantz.

Qwyrk can’t get a break. Spring is springing, but she’s stuck breaking up drunken faery fights as Beltane approaches. She really wants to take things to the next level with her possibly-probably-girlfriend Holly, but she keeps coming down with a chronic case of chickening out.

And now, her best human friend, Jilly Pleeth, has had a rather odd encounter. While attending a concert by her favorite band, the Mystic Wedding Weasels, Jilly was amazed by their enigmatic singer, Chantz. There’s something downright magical about her voice, something so magical that an evil force from outside this world wants her for nefarious reasons. But will Chantz succumb to its lure?

Chantz is the third in a series of four novels about the comic misadventures of a group of misfits at the edge of normal reality in modern northern England, a world of shadows, Nighttime Nasties, eldritch screaming horrors, appalling neo-Shakespearean sonnets, undead corvids, an abundance of verbal sparring, and… Qwyrk is not an elf, all right? They’re just silly!

Universal Buy Link

Giveaway

Tim is giving away a $20 Amazon gift card with this tour:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b60e8d47279/?

Excerpt

After a few minutes of meandering on campus, she found a rather expansive and tree-filled enclosure marked by a sign reading “Welcome to St. George’s Field.” Seeing as she could lose herself in its trees, this place would suffice. Wandering in, she found herself strolling through a historic cemetery, which appealed to her gothy aesthetic sensibilities. She sat herself down on a stone bench not far from some centuries-old headstones and tried to focus, to think, to something.

She closed her eyes, trying to recall the feeling of the power flowing through her.

“What are you?” she whispered.

For a time, she felt nothing. Sighing in frustration, she opened her eyes. The field was mercifully unpopulated today, so she decided to risk singing a little tune, an old Irish folk song. She couldn’t remember where she’d learned it. She couldn’t remember much of anything before the last couple of years, to be honest. But there it was, stuck in her head, so she called on it.

It was a simple melody with a short verse and a chorus. She didn’t even know all the words, but that didn’t matter. She just sang the bit she knew over and over. It was soothing, comforting, and connected her to something, as if stirring a memory. She closed her eyes again, allowing it to wash over her. For the first time in a while, she formed a genuine smile. Not a big smile, mind you, she did have her reputation to think of, after all.

As she neared the third repeat, something happened. She heard a voice in her head, one that contrasted with her own. It was more like a momentary flash of sound, in a language she didn’t recognize. It didn’t make her stop singing; in fact, she wanted to continue. After she sang another verse or two, and she heard it again, like a call across some great gap. But was it far away in the distance? Or maybe in time?

How does that even make any sense?

Intrigued, she kept singing, but lowered her voice so as not to attract any onlookers. It would be just like someone to come up in the middle of it and ruin the whole experience, with their chattiness and insipid curiosity.

As it turned out, she was indeed interrupted, but not by any passersby who should have been minding their own business. In her mind’s eye, she saw a face. The face of an old woman. She had long, disheveled grey-streaked hair, and her complexion was wan and weathered, with dark shadows under her eyes. There was almost something cool about her. The face was obscured, as if peering through a fog, and Moirin couldn’t gauge its intent. She wasn’t imagining it; her imagination was good, but not this good. The woman opened her mouth as if to say something, but no words emerged, and if she were the one speaking those foreign words, Moirin wouldn’t have understood her, anyway.

The old woman smiled, but it was an odd smile, and not really a happy one, more like sinister grin. She seemed to want something from Moirin. The smile grew bigger and stretched to unnatural proportions. Her eyes began to lighten, not just the pupils, but the whole of her eyes, greying at first and then fading into a milky white.

Moirin’s heart raced. She stopped singing and gasped. Whatever this thing was, she wanted nothing to do with it. She tried to open her eyes, but they were heavy, almost as if she’d been drugged. Her ears seemed to close up, and the world around her disappeared. She shook her head and tried to stand up, but just like her eyes, her legs no longer worked. She started to panic and opened her mouth again, not to sing but to scream, shout for help, something. But no sound escaped.

The face sneered at her, perhaps enjoying her helplessness. It became ever more twisted and grotesque and opened its mouth again, almost in mockery of Moirin’s inability to do so. A low-pitched wailing sounded from the old woman, a mournful call that seemed to portend something awful. It rose in pitch and volume to a full-on cry, a tuneless and wordless plaint that sounded like something out of an older time. It shook Moirin to the core, but the more she heard it, the more it seemed to invite her, to draw her in, even to tempt her. Whatever the ill intent of this creature invading her mind, and however frightening its call, Moirin felt oddly at home. She began to surrender to its lure, to its awful and seductive pull.

Author Bio

Tim Rayborn has written an astonishing number of books over the past several years. He lived in England for quite some time and has a PhD from the University of Leeds, which he likes to pretend means that he knows what he’s talking about. His generous output of written material covers topics such as music, the arts, history, the strange and bizarre, fantasy and sci-fi, and general knowledge.

He’s also an acclaimed musician. He plays dozens of unusual instruments that quite a few people of have never heard of and often can’t pronounce. He has appeared on over forty recordings, and his musical wanderings and tours have taken him across the US, all over Europe, to Canada and Australia, and to such romantic locations as Marrakech, Istanbul, Renaissance chateaux, medieval churches, and high school gymnasiums.

He currently lives in Washington state (where it rains a lot), surrounded by many books and instruments, as well as with a sometimes-demanding cat. He is rather enthusiastic about good wines, and cooking excellent food.

Author Website: https://timrayborn.com/

Author Facebook (Personal): https://www.facebook.com/timrayborn

Author Facebook (Author Page): https://www.facebook.com/TimRaybornMusicandWriting

Author Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@timrayborn

Author Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rayborn.esoterica/

Author Liminal Fiction: https://www.limfic.com/?s=tim+rayborn&search_type=book_search

Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Tim-Rayborn/author/B00DWY5J8E

Her breathing quickened…Seducing Cat #MFRWHooks #EroticRomance #LBGTQ+

February 8, 2023 by Adriana Kraft

What could college English Professor Caitlin Shanahan ever have in common with the brash carpenter Kurt Davis?
The sexy sprite Meghan Keenan, that’s what.

Welcome to MFRW Hooks, where the authors of Marketing for Romance Writers share snippets from their stories to entice you into wanting more. Be sure to click on the links at the end to travel!

Remember the Greek Goddess Aphrodite? As a child, I didn’t learn much about Greek Mythology, but I do remember in my late teens hearing an off-color limerick from my dad with the following middle lines:

“He carved Aphrodite
Without any Nightie…

Here’s the full limerick:

There once was a sculptor named Phidias
Whose manners in art were invidious:
He carved Aphrodite
Without any nightie,
Which startled the ultra-fastidious.

Hopefully if you’re reading this blog, you would never count yourself among the “ultra fastidious.” In case you do, this book probably isn’t for you!

My husband and I like to think we invented Meghan Keenan, a modern-day Aphrodite (who probably never wears a nightie), but sometimes we wonder. She’s the star of our six-book F/F/M Ménage series Meghan’s Platyhouse, and we’ll be featuring Book One, Seducing Cat, for the next several Book Hooks.

Meghan is only twenty when the series opens, but she loves both women and men, and loves even more bringing them together, up close and personal.

Here are the opening sentences:

Chapter One

Peering through the lace curtains of her upstairs home office window onto the sundeck and manicured lawn below, Caitlin Shanahan felt her breathing quicken. Her nipples pebbled.

Her renter’s petite nude body glistened under the rays of the late morning sun. Only recently had Caitlin realized how appealing the feminine form could be. She stood behind the curtains, careful not to be seen by the sunbather. Initially, she’d been shocked by Meg Keenan’s penchant for tanning in the nude. What if the neighbors saw her?

But they wouldn’t. The eight-foot privacy fence offered adequate protection from prying eyes—other than those looking out her upstairs window.

BLURB

Levelheaded English Professor Caitlin Shanahan has finally earned tenure and purchased the century-old two-story house of her dreams in the college town of Burntside, Wisconsin—at thirty-four, she’d better face facts: her future is teaching college and writing plays, not falling in love. So why is she so drawn to foxy little hometown actress Meghan Keenan, who’s rented her upstairs apartment, or worse, to the girl’s gorgeous hunk of a lover Kurt Davis, a carpenter who’s never even been to college?

Twenty-year-old Meg has a plan. First she’ll seduce the reluctant professor, then she’ll share her sexual delights with both Cat and her brawny carpenter, and when she’s successfully brought them together, she can make her escape and explore what’s beyond the only town she’s ever lived in.

Kurt can’t stand the up-tight professor who’s hired him to build a gazebo and refurbish her old house—the house he wanted for himself. Even if Meg’s scheme succeeds, he knows Caitlin would never look at him twice. No need to go there in his fantasies…

BUY LINKS

Universal Buy LInk

https://books2read.com/u/mgPjn6

Click on the links to travel to the rest of today’s hooks:

Three-Way – Which ways do you like it?

May 15, 2010 by Adriana Kraft

The first erotic romance my husband and I wrote together under our pen name Adriana Kraft was filled with hot three-way scenes between the immortal Love Goddess Aria and the mortal couple whose marriage she came to save, Ryan and Jamie Hazleton. We’ve never looked back – nearly all our stories have at least three-way encounters, sometimes more, and most of our heroines are bisexual. We wrote (and still write) what we love to read, scenes that turn us on, even when we read, re-read, edit and polish them. Scenes that fill our fantasy life—scenes we’d love to find ourselves in the middle of. We hope you do, too.

Colors of the Night ~ Excerpt

What’s been fascinating for us is how our tastes have expanded, once those doors opened. We now find ourselves writing a much wider range. We’ve played with the unique pleasures two men can bring to one woman – April Day’s fantasies of a D.P. come to mind, now available in print in our 2in1 release at Whiskey Creek Press Torrid, Meghan’s Playhouse Vol. 2.

But it’s been our swinging characters, Jen and Brett Andrews, who pushed us over the brink into three-ways that include m/m. Turns out it’s not only Jen who discovers she’s bi at mid life – Brett has been bi-curious for longer than he’s let anyone know. He sampled a small taste in Swinging Games: A Tempting Taste, and now he’s ready for more in Swinging Games: Complexities. Here’s a small sample for your reading pleasure:

What if the neighbors find out –
and what if they want to join in?
Delectable complexities unfold
as Jen and Brett continue their swinging adventures!

EXCERPT

“Christ, this guy is torturing me.” Dan’s fingers dug into Brett’s shoulder.

Brett raised his head to read his partner better.

“No, don’t stop. This is incredible torture.”

“Make sure you let us know when you’ve had enough or are close,” Jen cautioned.

“I will. Keep going, Brett. Please.”

Brett smiled around the cock he’d slipped back into his mouth, more than a little pleased their new bi friend was in such a dither due to him. He sank deeper down the cock, taking as much as he could easily manage, amazed at how its width stretched his mouth.

“Damn, I like watching a man go down on my man.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Brenda palming her pussy. He peeked at Jen to see her doing the same. He shuttered his eyes, waiting for something—for what, he wasn’t quite sure. At least the women were enjoying the show, and from the sounds of Dan’s labored breathing, he wasn’t complaining either.

Brett stretched as taut as he could. His balls ached. And then he heard the beat. Was it coming from his head, his balls or Dan’s cock? It didn’t matter. Keeping fingers wrapped tightly around the base of Dan’s penis, Brett began to bob up and down like so many women had done for him in the past.

Even with his eyes closed, his vision blurred. He had to remember to breathe. Fingers encircled his cock. He wasn’t sure whose and he didn’t care. All he wanted was to share some the sensations coursing through his body with Dan—at the point of their connection.

He slowed, not wanting this electrifying exchange to end too soon. He backed off a little and nibbled briefly before resuming his dance with Dan’s cock.

“How in the hell did you learn how to suck cock like this?” Dan wailed. “Jesus.”

What are Your Hottest Fantasies?

March 1, 2010 by Adriana Kraft

What are some of your hottest erotic fantasies?

That’s the question that guides the erotic scenes we create in our novels. Two persons write erotic romance together under the pen name Adriana Kraft – myself and my husband. When we develop the story arc for a new book, we reach for characters and plots that will allow us to explore those fantasies and flesh them out, for ourselves and for our readers.

We write primarily LGBT erotic romance. I ran into an interesting phenomenon at an online chat recently where I was promoting our Extasy Books series, Swinging Games. Someone asked who the hero of the series was based on, and I answered he was a happily married man whose wife is bi. Another reader chimed in “lucky man.” As fast as I could type, I responded “Lucky woman. She gets it both ways.”

We have a lot in common with the hero and heroine of that series. Jennifer and Brad are in their mid fifties, with their children grown and out of the home. They, like we, have renewed energy to explore sexual fantasies and take action. They turn to swinging – we turn to writing about them!

Jennifer’s fantasies? She’s finally figured out she’s attracted to women as well as men, and she’s never had a chance to try that out before. She wants to enjoy pleasuring and being pleasured by another woman – or maybe two of them. She’d also love to try having two men at the same time, focused entirely on giving her pleasure. And because she loves Brad, she’d love to be part of delivering the classic threesome for him – two women, focused entirely (well, almost!) on giving him pleasure.

Brad’s fantasies? An f/m/f three-way, for sure. Just imagining making love with two women at once is an incredible turn on for him. He’d also love to watch two women with each other – especially if one of them is Jen and she’s having the time of her life. And secretly, deep down inside, he’s beginning to fantasize what it might be like to be with another man.

The swing lifestyle delivers all this for them and even more. Who knew how totally decadent it would feel to have three or even four pairs of hands giving pleasure at the same time? Or what a turn on it would be just to watch someone they love giving and receiving pleasure with someone else? What they were unprepared for was the exquisite effect of these experiences on their relationship and their own sexual practice. New energy, new encounters and new fantasies continue to fuel and enliven everything they do together, even when they are by themselves.

And writing about it delivers the same for us – and, we hope, for all of you who read our books.

Here are links to some excerpts from our Swinging Games series:

The Adventure Continues