Title: Foolish Encounters (A Rainbow Gold Anthology)
Author Name: Amy Lane, Angel Martinez, Elin Gregory, Freddy MacKay, J.C. Wallace, Tali Spencer, Tinnean
Publication Date: April 2, 2015
An accident, a chance encounter, a thought blurted out, a boat blown off course, a change in direction that suddenly runs into the line of fire – the smallest misstep can change everything. These foolish encounters are the moments around which lives pivot and sometimes spin out of control. Join us for tales of imprudent choices and bad decisions that can lead just as easily to hilarity as they can to tragedy.
4 Stars – A Message from the Home Office by Angel Martinez
He’d told Cory he would not leave the cabin, true, but the porch was part of the cabin. Right?
He immediately shivered. He’d come ashore without his coat and figured he must have shrugged out of it underwater. That the weather had taken a cold turn, he felt bitterly. Though the gale had subsided, a brisk November wind whipped trees mostly stripped of autumn foliage. The sun dropped beneath the clouds and threw shadows across the porch and past a few low trees as it painted a bright exclamation point upon a choppy, watery horizon.
Lake Michigan. And he was facing west, because that was a sunset.
Unless he’d been magically transported across the thumb of Door County and into Green Bay, he had to be on an island.
He squinted through the trees to each side but couldn’t make out which direction would take him to town. At the edge of a wildflower-filled clearing to the north, he spied movement on a weathered split log fence. Something big and rust-colored scuttled onto one of the posts and stopped there, positioning its hairy body atop a multitude of bristling legs.
Another creature appeared to pursue it, alike with many legs but displaying some kind of bizarre colored shield upon its back. It was dancing on the fence rail, waving two or more legs at the first creature.
Spiders?
Hell no. No way were spiders as big as raccoons.
- Can you describe in detail what your writing environment is like?
I actually have two of them. The first is the computer room, which houses our desktop computer. The room is filled with bookshelves stacked with books (obviously) DVDs, CDs, and VHS tapes. There’s also a television, usually tuned to the Sonic music channel (we have DirecTV), because if I turn on Castle or The Walking Dead or Backstrom, I get too involved in watching to write. To say the room is cluttered is an understatement, but I know (pretty much) where everything is, so it’s all good. I work here in the mornings and evenings.
The second is out on the lanai. (Anyone remember the lanai from Golden Girls?) Well, ours is enclosed by a pool cage, (take that, mosquitoes!) and has a spa and a pretty nice view of the lake that’s our backyard. My husband rigged up the television so I can listen to the music channel, and there are a couple of ceiling fans for those days when it gets really hot. I work here on my laptop in the afternoons.
- Is there one of your characters that you relate to (from any of your works)? Why?
As the nursery rhyme says, my characters are all healthy, wealthy, and wise—well, for the most part. Each one has qualities I wish I had, whether it’s a facility with languages, such as Hart possesses in Blue and Green Persuasion, or the ability to ride a horse, shoot a gun, or throw a knife as Quinton Mann does in my Spy vs. Spook and Mann of My Dreams series. Just as with my flesh and blood kids, I’m more proud of them than I can say, but I can’t be them.
- If you couldn’t be an author, what would you do instead?
I reached the point where I was able to retire, so if I couldn’t be an author, I’d still write—letters, a journal, fanfiction, things of that nature. But if I couldn’t write at all, I’d still read, and I’d also take the opportunity to volunteer, either at a local hospital or an animal shelter.
- Is there anything that you learned during the writing process that you wish you had known before hand?
I go back a pretty long way, and when I first started writing (my bio says that was in the 3rd grade) I either used a pen and legal pad or a typewriter. Having to make corrections/additions was unbelievably time-consuming. Finally, in 1997, we got our first HP. Learning there was such a thing as copy and paste opened an immense vista for me and made writing so much easier.
- Is there anything that you wish you could change about your book now that it is out?
No. That sounds abrupt, but the fact of the matter is I’m the world’s most chronic fiddler, and each time I read over whatever I’m currently working on, I’ll make changers or add something. However, once the book is through the final editing phase, I won’t go back to it, and often won’t reread it for years. That’s not to say once the rights revert back to me down the line that I won’t expand it or make changes at that point.
- How do you come up with new ideas for your story?
Music, movies, newspaper articles, stories my husband and brother-in-law tell of the jobs they worked on, (thanks to them, one of my characters was named Chair Face because he saw a woman and said she was so beautiful he wished he was a chair so she could sit on his face.) and actual occurrences. We received a Christmas card one year and had no clue who had sent it. That led to my novella, Greeting Cards, about a young man who received a card in error and what happened when he responded to it. The T-shirt that reads “Be careful or you’ll wind up in my next novel”? Yep, that’s me.
- What’s next for you as a writer?
Right now I’m working on a novel set in Great Britain between 1948-1976. Once that’s finished, I have a paranormal series that covers MPreg (I know: OMG! *cough*) between a human and an alien, a wolf man/human novel, wolf shifter/snakeboy, and human/dragon. The first three need to be whipped into shape, but the last one still has to be writer, so that’s going to take a while. And of course there’s the Civil War-era western. Busy, busy. 😉
- Where do you live? Do you think this influences how or what you write?
I’d have to say no. I’ve lived in SW Florida for the past fifteen years, but I wrote long before that, when I lived up in NY. As I mentioned, once we got the HP in ’97, things really took off. And then in 1999, a friend introduced me to slash—pretty boys loving other pretty boys—and oh wow! did things take off! So as long as I’ve got my trusty computer, location is irrelevant.
- What is your favorite genre outside of the one you write in? Why?
To paraphrase Will Rogers, I never met a genre I haven’t liked, but right now I’m leaning toward the paranormal, shifters in particular. There’s something about a person with the ability to live in two worlds that I find very appealing, especially if they still retain human qualities. And if the bad guys have no clue… that makes it even better.
- Do you have any vices? Shoes, coffee, shopping…etc?
Vices? Moi? I’m a good girl, I am! *g* Seriously, Amazon’s one click shopping is my downfall. They make it just so easy to buy a book. Or two. Or many.
Amy Lane
Amy Lane has two kids in college and two kids in soccer, and four fur-babies up in her business as she writes. She, her Mate, and her brood live in a crumbling crap mansion and squander their funds on movies, travel, and joy.
Angel Martinez
While Angel Martinez is the erotic fiction pen name of a writer of several genres, she writes both kinds of gay romance – Science Fiction and Fantasy. Currently living part time in the hectic sprawl of northern Delaware, (and full time inside the author’s head) Angel has one husband, one son, two cats, a changing variety of other furred and scaled companions, a love of all things beautiful and a terrible addiction to the consumption of both knowledge and chocolate.
Elin Gregory
Elin Gregory lives in South Wales and has been making stuff up since 1958. Writing has always had to take second place to work and family but now the kids are grown up it’s possible she might finish one of the many novels on her hard drive and actually DO something useful with it.
Historical subjects predominate. She has written about ancient Greek sculptors, 18th century seafarers but also about modern men who change shape at will and how echoes of the past can be heard in the present. Heroes tend to be hard as nails but capable of tenderness when circumstances allow.
There are always new works on the go and she is currently editing a novel about spies in the 1920s, finishing one set in 6th century AD England and contemplating one about the Second World War. Any excuse to buy more books!
Freddy MacKay
Freddy grew up in the Midwest, playing sports and running around outside. And honestly, that much has not changed since Freddy was small and throwing worms at other kids, expect worm throwing has been replaced with a healthy geocaching addiction. Freddy enjoys traveling and holds the view a person should continually to learn about new things and people whenever possible.
Freddy’s contemporary LGBTQ book, Incubation: Finding Peace 2, won 3rd Place – Best Gay Erotic Fiction in the 2012 Rainbow Awards. In 2013, Freddy’s story, Internment, tied for 3rd Place – Best Gay Fantasy in the Rainbow Awards. Freddy’s steampunk/SF story, Feel Me, was a Finalist and honorable mention in the 2014 Rainbow Awards for SF.
JC Wallace
JC “Jake” Wallace started writing from a young age, but took a break for marriage, kids, and college (in that order). A few years ago, he rediscovered his passion and ventured out into the brave new world of publishing. He now has several novels and short stories published. At night and on the weekends, Jake writes about all things men, believing there is nothing hotter than two men finding and loving one another, whether for a night or forever. An avid reader of M/M romance, Jake loves a good twist of a plot, HEA, HFN, or tragic ending. He also writes what his bestie calls HUNK (Happy Until the Next Kidnapping). In his daytime hours, Jake works with individuals with autism and behavior problems. He is owned by a beautiful partner, three kids, two grandchildren, two dogs and one cat. He lives in the Adirondack Mountains in Northern NY.
Tali Spencer
Tali Spencer fell in love with writing at an early age and never stopped. Thanks to a restless father, she grew up as a bit of a nomad and still loves to travel whenever she can. Her longest stint in one place was Milwaukee where she went to college, enjoyed a series of interesting careers, and raised three surprisingly well-adjusted sons. She later married her true love and put down new roots in Philadelphia, where she lives in an ongoing Italian American family sitcom. At least she’s learned how make good pasta. When not writing, Tali reads everything from sweet goofy romances to medical research, manages her fantasy football team—go Gekkos!—and takes long walks with her loving, if slightly neurotic, poodle.
Tinnean
Tinnean has been writing since the 3rd grade, where she was inspired to try her hand at epic poetry.
Fortunately, that epic poem didn’t survive the passage of time; however, her love of writing not only survived but thrived, and in high school she became a member of the magazine staff, where she contributed a number of stories.
It was with the advent of the family’s second computer – the first intimidated everyone – that her writing took off, enhanced in part by fanfiction, but mostly by the wonder that is copy and paste.
While involved in fandom, she was nominated for both Rerun and Light My Fire Awards. Now she concentrates on her original characters, and recent novels have received honorable mention in the 2013 and 2014 Rainbow Awards.
A New Yorker at heart, she resides in SW Florida with her husband and two computers.
Ernest Hemingway’s words reflect Tinnean’s devotion to her craft: Once writing has become your major vice and greatest pleasure, only death can stop it.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/freddy.m.mackay, https://www.facebook.com/amartinez2,
https://www.facebook.com/amy.lane.167, https://www.facebook.com/Tinnean,
https://www.facebook.com/jcwallacebooks, https://www.facebook.com/elin.gregory,
https://www.facebook.com/tali.spencer
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FreddyMacKay, https://twitter.com/AngelMartinezrr, https://twitter.com/amymaclane,
https://twitter.com/jcwallacebooks,
https://twitter.com/ElinGregory,
https://twitter.com/tali_spencer,
https://twitter.com/tinneantoo
Other: http://www.wildecity.com/
Other: https://www.facebook.com/groups/wildecity/
Other: https://www.facebook.com/rainbowgoldreviews, https://twitter.com/LGBT_Reviews
