Welcome LGBT Author Theo Fenraven to the blog with an exclusive short story just for us.

The Elevator

We were running late, and when we saw the elevator open across the lobby, we darted straight toward it and inside, smiling at each other as the doors shut.

Only a few more minutes, and it would be done.

My heart was beating in my throat and I was sweating with nerves. Judging by Chris’s paleness, he wasn’t feeling like the Rock of Gibraltar either.

The elevator bumped to a stop between the first and second floor. We stared at each other, aghast.

“You don’t think…?” Chris said in a hushed voice.

I glared at the closed door. “That we’re stuck? Yeah, I think.”

I pounded on the door while we both yelled “Help!” Like that would do any good, but it would have felt weird if we hadn’t done it. It was like not walking under a ladder or throwing spilled salt over your shoulder. Some things, you just had to do.

“Shit.” Chris’s eyes welled, and he blinked rapidly to prevent the tears from falling. “They’re all waiting.”

“They’ll keep waiting,” I assured him, pushing the emergency button.

If we’d stayed at home instead of visiting our favorite place this morning, we wouldn’t be stuck in an elevator. But the lake had been beautiful at sunrise, and we’d tarried to talk and enjoy it.

Five minutes crawled past, and then another five, and we accepted the situation and sat on the floor with our backs to the wall.

“Remember when companies hired people to take you up and down in an elevator?” Chris said.

“No, and neither do you. Before our time.”

“But we’ve seen it in movies.” He glared at the buttons, all of which were lit because he’d pushed one right after the other, hoping for a response. “I wonder how much they got paid?”

“Five cents an hour. Maybe six, ‘cause that was a long time ago.”

“I don’t think anyone has ever made only five cents an hour, Nelson.”

“The employees at Wal-Mart do if you account for inflation.”

“Is that true?”

“Dunno. I made it up.” I grinned. “Sounds about right though.”

We fell silent for a few minutes. I heard distant thumps and wondered if that signified someone was working on the problem. I wished I’d taken my cell phone after all, or Chris had, but we’d decided to leave them behind to better enjoy our time together.

“Do you think going up and down in an elevator all day would adversely affect your thought processes?”

I stared. “Huh?”

He looked at me. “Up, down, up, down. That would have to do something to you, right? And being in what amounts to nothing more than a tiny room all day, every day, never seeing the sun, not even a window to look out.”

Laughing, I drew my knees up and hugged them. “Windows. In an elevator.”

He chuckled, not the least bit embarrassed about having said something dumb. I loved that about him. There were so many things I loved about him. “Where did he go to the bathroom?”

“The elevator guy?” I shrugged. “Probably in the basement. He’d come in every morning, go down there to change into his elevator guy clothes, check his teeth in a fly-specked mirror, put on his cap—they wore caps, didn’t they?—and step into the elevator to start his day.” I paused. “You don’t have to go to the bathroom, do you?”

He smiled. “No. Just wondering.” He tilted his head and pursed his lips. “I’ve seen glass elevators in movies. They’re sort of like windows squared.”

“Ever ridden in one?”

“Nope. We should check into a fancy hotel and check it out.”

I leaned my head back so I could look at the ceiling. “Maybe going up and down in an elevator all day helps you think. I mean, what else are you gonna do? And when his shift was over, he went back downstairs, changed into his street clothes, went home to the little woman, and after dinner, after the kids were in bed, all the thinking he’d done all day riding up and down in his elevator poured out onto paper until he wrote a book, which he took to a publisher who said it was the next Great American Novel.”

Our eyes met, and we burst into laughter. “Naw….”

Silence fell again. Chris started tapping his knee with nervous fingers. “We’re gonna do this, right?”

“Having second thoughts?”

“No. I’m ready.” There was the slightest quaver in his voice.

I couldn’t blame him. I’d asked myself plenty of times over the past few weeks if we were doing something stupid, but all I had to do was look at him, and I knew this was right.

“Chris?” His fingers were almost dancing on his leg. I placed a hand over them until they stilled. “You can change your mind. If, you know….”

His lips tightened. “I’m apprehensive, a little nervous, but not crazy. We’re gonna do this.” He gave me a questioning look. “Unless you…?”

I shook my head vehemently. “Not backing out.” He still looked doubtful, and I added, “Promise.”

He nodded and looked at the buttons again. “Where do you think we’ll be in five years?”

“Hopefully not in this elevator.”

He laughed and nudged me with his shoulder. “I’m serious.”

“So am I.”

Once we’d stopped snickering, he inched over until he could lean against me. I felt his heat through the lightweight jacket I wore; it was spring, and I’d known it would be chilly at the lake. “Does it matter where we’ll be in five years? As long as we’re together?”

His eyes welled again. Chris’s emotions lived close to the surface. He could never hide what he was feeling. Yet another thing I loved about him.

“I’m so glad you almost ran me over with your car,” he said, smiling.

Chris had been on his bike and taken a turn without looking. When he’d abruptly appeared in front of me, I’d blanched and stood on the brake. I didn’t hit him―maybe nudged his front wheel a little―but he’d gone down anyway in an attempt to avoid the car. I’d parked and leaped out, already apologizing.

We’d been together ever since.

As soon as we got out of the elevator, we were going to my parents’ apartment, where a judge, who happened to be a buddy of ours, was waiting to marry us. We’d jump into our dress clothes, kiss each other for luck, greet our family and friends, and make it official. It was legal now. Our marriage would be recognized anywhere in the country.

Suddenly, I was anxious to get it done. “What’s taking so long?”

Chris pulled the rings out of his pocket and turned them so they shone in the light. We’d spent a surprising amount of time at the lake looking at them, handling them, trying them on, discussing what it meant to give them to each other. Chris wasn’t the only emotional one in the family.

He took my hand in his and intoned in an intense whisper, “I, Chris Walker, take you, Nelson Anderson, as my lover and husband, ’til death do us part.” He slipped a ring on my finger, and then handed me the other. “Now you.”

My voice shook as I repeated the vow. “I, Nelson Anderson, take you, Chris Walker, as my lover and husband, ’til death do us part.” It went over his knuckle without a hitch, settling into place as if it had always been there.

We kissed with soft lips and gentle tongues, and my anxiety melted away. We put our arms around each other, holding… cradling.

The elevator hiccupped and whirred to life, and we looked at each other and laughed. “Time to do this thing for real,” I said as we stood and faced the door, waiting for it to open.

He squeezed my hand. “Already done.”

He was right. We had just married each other on the floor of a stuck elevator. If we ever adopted a kid, he’d love the story. “Tell me again how you got married in the elevator,” he or she would demand.

Upstairs, in my parents’ apartment… that was about making it legal, and we’d waited too long for the opportunity. His assets and mine would become ours. If one of us got sick and had to be in the hospital, the other would have every legal right to visit and make decisions about treatment. We would get the same tax breaks heterosexual couples got. We would be able to get a mortgage, health, and auto insurance together. And so much more.

It was about time.

_______________

 Note from Theo: In my story, marriage equality has been established at the federal level. It’s only a matter of time before even a country as backwards as America takes this step. Married couples enjoy 1138 federal benefits, so the right of same-sex couples to make it legal is a Big Thing.

_______________

Bio: Theo Fenraven lives in St Paul, MN, where it is really cold at least half the year. Find my books at Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and ARe . Connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and on my blog.

Last day of the Cold  Book Tour and we have a very special post for you over at Attention is Arbitrary. My regular readers know I like teasers, and this post is definitely a teaser.

You’ll have to click over and see why (and it may just give you a hint about what’s to come in Book 2 of the Cold series).

Don’t forget to leave a comment for the giveaway.

Day 4 of the Cold  Book Tour and we’re over at the Purple Rose Tea House getting a little serious with a talk about incarcerated LGBT youth. Did you know LGBT youth have a pipeline right into the prison system built especially for them? Cold is a fictional story about two men in prison, but the reality, which you’ll see in this post is much, much different for lgbt youth. (Trigger Warning)

Day 3 of the Blog Hop and over at LeAnn’s Book Reviews they dug deep into Cold and started asking questions about who, what, why, where and when. If you like back-story that never made it into the finished book, this is the post for you.

Don’t forget to leave a comment for the giveaway!

Day two of the tour and we’re over at Smoocher’s Voice. Carrie-Ann was kind enough to bring in a few ringers to help interview (interrogate) me about the new gay romance, Cold.

Don’t forget to leave a comment for the giveaway!

]]> http://brandonshire.com/cold-virtual-book-tour-day-2/feed/ 0 http://brandonshire.com/cold-blog-hop-starts-today/ http://brandonshire.com/cold-blog-hop-starts-today/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 11:22:09 +0000 Brandon http://brandonshire.com/?p=2909

To celebrate the release of Cold we have a blog hop going on this week that’s a little different from your average online book tour.  I have carefully selected our tours stops and worked with each blog owner to give you more character information, more back story, and a chance to win a FREE copy of Cold on every blog. Some of the posts may raise more questions. Some of the posts will give you hints about what’s coming next. And, for those of you who have already fallen for Lem… Well, you definitely won’t want to miss this event.

I’ll be blogging every day during this book tour so you don’t miss a single post, or a chance to win.

Online Book Tour Schedule:

(Links will become active as the posts go live.)

May 21^st – Smoocher’s Voice – Author Interview (Giveaway)

May 22^nd – LeAnn’s Reviews – In-depth Back-story Questions (Giveaway)

May 23^rd – Purple Rose Tea House – LGBT Youth in Prison (tie-in post)

May 24^th – Attention Is Arbitrary – Character Interview w/ Lem (Giveaway)

As a special bonus, you can find an interview with me today  over at

The Novel Approach. 

]]> http://brandonshire.com/cold-blog-hop-starts-today/feed/ 0 http://brandonshire.com/hop-against-homophobia/ http://brandonshire.com/hop-against-homophobia/#comments Fri, 17 May 2013 12:04:56 +0000 Brandon http://brandonshire.com/?p=2867

International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia

Welcome, today is the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, and to celebrate hundreds of authors, publishers, and individuals have an extraordinary blog hop going on. There are prizes, information, and many personal stories about what homophobia is and what it does. All of this is a concerted effort to bring awareness to the plague of homophobia and hopefully, to one day bring it to an end. You will find links at the bottom of this post to direct you to other posts from blogs around the world. Enjoy, and help us spread the word. Don’t forget to leave a comment for a chance to win an e-book copy of my JUST released new gay romance novel, Cold.

The Hidden Aspect of Homophobia – A Personal Experience

I remember a young man I was dating from a conservative Christian family who lived in a small town in Alabama. Both his mother and sister knew he was gay. They loved him dearly but…

His father was supposedly unknowing, at least in my boyfriend’s mind. But as you can guess, there came a point when his dad unexpectedly informed everyone that he was not as ignorant as the family assumed. Let’s say he was less than cordial about his son, or the young man whom he claimed ‘made his son gay.’ (Not me.)

What my boyfriend carried from his family wounded people. The almost-love he got from his sister and mother and the half-buried hostility which sat between him and his father tainted every relationship he had. Every communication with his friends, with his co-workers, and those moments he spent with me had an underlying subtext of unworthiness, of loss.

I recall we were sitting on the grass in the park at some LGBT event and I sat behind him and put my arms around him. He tensed immediately, his eyes flashing around gauging reactions and voicing more of his concerns about public affection than he could have spoken aloud. He didn’t say anything at that moment, and I can’t say I wasn’t a little hurt, but when I asked him about it later it was his parent’s voice I heard — his father’s anger and his mother who loved him but…

The specific words are unimportant, the internal rationalizing and self-condemnation he carried are. This is what homophobia does; this is how it seeps under the skin and makes a person feel less than, even by those who claim to care. But has no place in a parent-child relationship.  And while we often talk about homophobia as something external and from the fringe level of lunacy, there is a part of it which is carried along inside of each of us, even when we are not the original person subjected to it.

For him, his feelings were a shame that fragmented each life experience (no matter how small) into something that was worthy of questioning, worthy of embarrassment and derision. He was loved but… He was gay but… He had a boyfriend but… He loved to cuddle but…

To this day, from that one incident, I still hesitate in showing affection in public. It’s certainly not out of the fear of what will happen if an idiot happens to be loitering around me. It’s the fear of loving someone but…

Leave a comment to *win a copy of COLD (must be 18 to enter)

*Contest ends Monday May 27, 8 AM EST. Winner will be chosen at random and contacted directly (if you leave your email). A separate post will announce the winner.

Blog Hop Links

Main Blog Hop Page: Hop Against Homophobia

Links to other blog posts (below):

Cold is finally here.

Yes, we’re a little early. But allow me to introduce you to Lem and Anderson, two completely different men who have been thrust together in an environment from which they cannot escape.

To celebrate we will be having a blog hop starting next week with character insights, behind the scenes information, and hints about what’s coming up in book 2. (YES, there’s another book coming.) And throughout the month of May I’ll be posting around the internet with a few more tidbits for you to consider.

You can now download Cold from Amazon, AllRomanceEbooks, Smashwords and Kobo. iTunes and B&N will be available soon.

AND don’t forget, we have a GIVEAWAY going on right now over at Joyfully Jay.

BLOG HOP May 20th-24th

(Links will become active as the posts go live.)

May 20^th  – It starts here on BrandonShire.com

May 21^st – Smoocher’s Voice – Author Interview (Giveaway)

May 22^nd – LeAnn’s Reviews – In-depth Back-story Questions (Giveaway)

May 23^rd – Purple Rose Tea House – LGBT Youth in Prison (tie-in post) (Giveaway)

May 24^th – Attention Is Arbitrary – Character Interview w/ Lem (Giveaway)

Enter to win a free copy

Today over at Joyfully Jay Reviews there is an exclusive excerpt of Cold.

Leave a comment to win a FREE e-book  

On Friday you’ll have another chance top win a FREE copy during the

International Hop Against Homophobia and Transphobia

Welcome friend and fellow author, Deanna DiLorenzo, to the blog with this special guest post about writing lesbian fiction. 

When I first wrote my novel, Tell Me, I knew it took some risks. There is a certain formula that’s followed in lesbian fiction and it goes something like this:

• Girl meets girl
• Girl struggles briefly with inner turmoil
• Girl two patiently waits
• Life-changing sex scene happens by page 40
• Happily ever after is achieved by page 50

My numbers may be off a little but anyone who has read enough lesbian fiction knows this is the basic formula we’ve come to expect, whether we actively seek it out or not.

But what happens when someone shakes up the formula a little? What happens when characters don’t fall into line and do what’s expected of them? Well, that’s when you end up with a book like Tell Me.

Tell Me is a love story with thorns. When I wrote this story I knew the characters were going to leap off the pages, flaws and all. I also knew I was taking a risk. I was messing with the formula. My main character would not change overnight simply because the sex was good. She would struggle. She would fall. She would make mistakes that leave the reader wanting to slap her – but she would also be likeable enough, real enough, to be forgiven.

But the risks. Would it really be worth the risks? As a first-time novelist, shouldn’t I just put out a product that sticks to the formula? I asked myself these questions during the editing process, and when I was first sending the manuscript out to publishers. I asked myself these same questions even after the book had been accepted for publication.

I wondered if maybe I should use a pseudonym, just in case. In the end I decided to go with my real name because I would not hide from this. I had written a book that broke the rules, but there was no shame in that. The real shame would be if I hid from it.

Tell Me was released at the end of February (2013) and I am happy to report it’s been getting some wonderful reviews.

For the most part, people get it, and they’re more than okay with reading about less-than-perfect characters. Some are a little surprised when they find the book has clearly strayed from the formula, but they write to say they are so happy it did because it’s unlike anything they’ve ever read in the genre.

The response has been amazing. Emails come in expressing how Tell Me has touched people in ways I never could have imagined. There have been one or two people who weren’t pleased with the broken formula, of course, but I assume there would also be people who wouldn’t be pleased even if I did stick to the formula.  As they say, you can’t please everyone.

But if you know that going in… if you know it’s actually impossible to please 100% of people 100% of the time, then isn’t it worth the risks to write the story as it really wants to be written? Why stick to the formula when your characters are clearly not formula types? If they don’t follow the rules in their (fictional) lives, why would they follow the (unwritten) rules of a particular genre?

I’m glad I took the risks. I’m glad I broke the rules. And I’m proud I wrote a story that is affecting people in ways I never could have expected. If that makes me the “bad girl” of lesbian fiction, I’ll take it.  I’ll gladly wear that title if it means I’ve done something to break through the barriers of what is and what “should be”.

Special thanks to Brandon Shire for allowing me a voice in his space!

Xoxo

Deanna DiLorenzo

Book Blurb:

When Meagan Summers ends her three-year relationship with her deadbeat rocker boyfriend, the last thing she expects is to fall in love with a woman. Yet when she meets the beautiful blond poet, Amber Reed, that’s exactly what happens.

 But Meagan finds her relationship with Amber is fraught with just as many anxieties and frustrations as her previous relationships. She struggles to come to terms with her newfound attraction to Amber as she juggles work, familial expectations, and her own guilt and insecurity. At times it seems the only solace she can find is in the cherished moonstone ring her beloved grandmother bestowed upon her before she died, along with some sage advice Meagan is just now beginning to understand.

Yet soon Meagan discovers she can’t be the person Amber needs her to be, and when their relationship comes to a dramatic end, Meagan finds herself fleeing to London in an attempt to put the pieces of her life back together. Just when she finally figures out how to make things right, a tragic accident occurs, threatening to undo everything and everyone around her.

Author Bio:

Deanna DiLorenzo was born in Ontario, Canada and currently lives in Buffalo NY with her partner Mercy and their two dogs, a Chihuahua named Dani & a Boxer named Devito.

Get in touch with Deanna on her website, Twitter, or on Facebook.