Winter Blogfest: Susan Mac Nicol

December 20, 2021 By 6 Comments

This post is part of Long and Short Reviews’ Winter Blogfest. Leave a comment for a chance to win a $5 gift card and an e book of reader choice of any of my back list books..

What does Christmas– the Season of Goodwill – Mean to Me?

Two homeless older men rewarding manager man for gift of food

In the words of Natalie Imbruglia, I’m a little torn. There’s good and bad aspects. I’m going to tackle them both. I love the vibe and hype of the season, shopping for presents for people andt seeing all those sparkly lights. I’m not religious so Christmas for me has never been about Jesus or anything remotely biblical.

Christmas for me is the shiny season. It’s the vibrancy of coloured lights and tinsel. It’s the silky sheen of wrapping paper and the twinkle of baubles on the tree, the smell of spruce, and orange chocolate, and mulled wine. It’s a sensual time when everything meshes together into a festive package of scents and sights that stirs the senses and brings families and friends together. It’s a time for kindness, when soup kitchens are manned by volunteers willing to give up their time to contribute to making someone’s else life a little bit happier for a while. It’s also the time you can get your own back on grumpy Aunt Mabel, who insists on giving you socks each year. The dildo you bought for her will go down a treat. She may even find a unique use for it, ‘stirring’ the Yorkshire pudding mix perhaps. *sniggers*

It’s also the time of a high suicide rate, a plethora of homeless people on the streets, watching with jaundiced eyes as those more fortunate than them strolled past in laughter and merry cheer, while carting presents that would probably have bought a week’s shelter and food for one of these street people. This season is a time of extremes-—one parent buying their kid a Ferrari or a football team, another just managing to scrape together enough money to buy their child a football or a toy truck; of one-upping the Joneses, of making sure things are bigger and better than the other person’s offerings.

So, like a piece of tinfoil, there’s a dull and shiny side to the season. It’s a pity we can’t find it within ourselves to bring the season of goodwill to all men to people the whole year around instead of just a few short-lived days. That as a species we can’t simply adopt an attitude of love and acceptance to all mankind as we work together to keep this world of ours from spiralling into decay.

In the true spirit of giving, why not buy a homeless person a cup of coffee. Drag out those old blankets you have in the cupboard, give them a wash and let the people suffering the cold have them. Donate to a deserving charity, like one that teaches people about respecting diversity. Show a starving pet some kindness. You don’t have to give much – just a little.

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Being in love is tough enough at eighteen, but being in love and outed to your dad is a disaster that will take more than a little holiday magic to fix.

Bringing lovers together, one book at a time

Susan writes steamy, sexy and fun contemporary romance stories, some suspenseful, some gritty and dark and hopefully always entertaining.

She loves going to the theatre, live music concerts (especially if it’s her man crush Adam Lambert ) the divine Cumberbatch, walks in the countryside, a good G and T, lazing away afternoons reading a good book, and watching horror films.

She’s also Editor in Chief at Divine Magazine, an online LGBTQ e-zine, and a member of The Society of Authors, the Writers Guild of Great Britain, and the Authors Guild in the US. Susan is also an award-winning script writer, with scripts based on two of her own published works. Sight Unseen has garnered no less than ten awards to date.

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Buy the book at Amazon.

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For Fox Sake by Susan Mac Nicol – Spotlight and Giveaway

February 27, 2019 By 2 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Susan Mac Nicol will be awarding a copy of Feat of Clay + Damaged Goods to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Tate and Clay’s newest case has all the earmarks of typical investigative work: lies, deception, collusion, and a dead body – except the body was found in Fetish Alley, and nothing that happens there is typical.

Read an Excerpt

Clay had experienced many things in his life as a soldier and later as an investigator. Nothing, however, had prepared him for standing in a restaurant kitchen, among the hustle and bustle of a busy afternoon’s late lunch rush, surrounded by a number of wriggling, joggling, moving, and quite frankly unappetising cuisines.

He’d drawn the straw to interview Penny Whitfield, the owner of the restaurant in Fetish Alley, an establishment aptly called Moving Feast. He could see why.

He swallowed his discomfort as Penny, dressed in chef’s whites and shouting out instructions to the kitchen staff, deftly sliced the head off a wriggling eel and slapped it onto a plate. She was a tall, large-boned woman, with strands of blond hair escaping from her plastic head covering. Clay imagined her a Valkyrie, statuesque and capable.

She continued to slice eel into thick pieces. “Despite the name, we still get people who don’t fancy their food still moving when they get it. Bloody traditionalists.” She snorted. “Still, they pay the same price if I serve it to them dead so what the hell, I say. Money is money.”

Clay was trying hard to keep the rising swell of bile from rushing up and choking him. He’d never been one to think too hard where his food came from, and seeing it up close and personal wasn’t in his best interests, or his stomach’s.

He tried to make himself heard above the clatter of dishes and noise, and to ignore the fact the eel head was staring at him in reproach.

“So what time did you say you last saw Dixon Barnaby at the club?”

Penny paused what she was doing, and her face scrunched up. Her brown eyes darted upward. “Around eleven pm, I think. The lot of us left right after he did, about half an hour later I believe.”

“And you didn’t notice anything wrong with Mr Barnaby? Did he give any sign he was feeling unwell?”

He watched in fascination as her gloved hands reached into a bucket of wriggling ants and scattered them across another bowl of still wriggling eel.

About the Author:

Susan writes steamy, sexy and fun contemporary romance, some suspenseful, some gritty and dark, almost all M/M, and some stories that she hopes makes you think. She’s also Editor in Chief at Divine Magazine, an online LGBTQ e-zine, and a Charity Board trustee at The Being Me Campaign in London.

Susan attained PAN status with the Romance Writers of America with her first M/M book, Stripped Bare. She’s currently a member of The Society of Authors in the UK, and the Authors Guild in the US. She enjoys being a member of Queer Romance Ink, All Author, Book + Main Bites and the Paranormal Romance Guild.

The ‘Unofficial’ stuff

She loves going to the theatre, live music concerts (especially if it’s her man crush Adam Lambert) walks in the countryside, a good G &T, lazing away afternoons reading a good book, and watching re-runs of Silent Witness.

Her chequered past includes being mistaken for a prostitute in the city of Johannesburg, being chased by a rhino on a dusty Kenyan road, getting kicked out of a youth club for being a ‘bad influence’ (she encourages free thinking), and having an aunt who was engaged to Cliff Richard.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn

Buy the book at Boroughs Publishing Group, Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble,
or Kobo.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Soul of Discretion by Susan Mac Nicol and M. Tasia – Spotlight and Giveaway

May 2, 2018 By 2 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. One randomly drawn commenter will win eBook copies of Survival Game by Susan Mac Nicol and Grady by M. Tasia. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET

Simon Bridgeworth believes in loyalty, and keeping things in-house. When he discovers his best friend, who has been running the Canadian division of Simon’s tech empire, has been skimming millions from the company, Simon flies to Toronto to get to the bottom of the theft and learns his friend has been murdered. Devastated and at a loose end, Simon knows there’s no way the company’s problems can be kept under wraps now. Imagine his surprise when he learns the Mountie investigating the murder is the first repeat Simon has allowed himself in years.

Sergeant Nick Cooper is a proud member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He’s served his country in the military, and now he’s protecting the citizenry of Toronto. But devotion to duty is no longer enough. On a whim, Nick hooks up with Aristocrat69 on crUIzer, and what started as one night of incredible sex turns into an attraction neither man can ignore. When a grisly mob murder sends Nick to the Breakforce corporation, he is shocked to discover his lover is none other than its CEO. When Simon’s life is threatened, ethical lines blur as Nick does anything to keep him safe – no cost is too high for the man who has become Nick’s everything.

Read an Excerpt:

Despite his experience at hook-ups and having sampled a wide range of the male population across the world, Simon’s jaw dropped on seeing the man in front of him.

Sweet Jesus. His profile picture didn’t do this man justice at all. He was, quite simply, stunning. And big. And muscled.

Crystal blue eyes stared at him from beneath short-cropped dark hair and from the expression of appreciation on the hook-up’s face; he was finding Simon equally as tasty. Dressed in old comfortable jeans, a jacket that looked as if it had been rescued from a thrift shop, and large boots that were scuffed and worn, the hook-up was exactly what Simon needed.

Simon gestured the man in. “Come in, Northernsalute,” he murmured with a smile. “I have a feeling we’re going to get on fine.”

Northernsalute grinned as he came in, his blue eyes crinkling with laugh lines and the trimmed stubble around his jaw looking deliciously lickable.

“Yeah?” He reached out a calloused hand and stroked Simon’s jawline. “I think I might agree with you on that one, Aristocrat sixty-nine. I’m a sucker for a man with an English accent.”

Simon rolled his eyes as he closed the door, and watched his guest—well, his guest’s extremely tight arse—stride across the room to stand by the cocktail cabinet Simon had already opened.

“Not the first time I’ve heard that,” he said. “I don’t know what it is about the accent that triggers horniness on this side of the pond, but I thank God for it. Perhaps someone should do a study on it.” He gestured to the bar. “Would you like a drink first? I know we’re here to fuck but there’s no point in not being civilised about it.” He noticed his “date’s” flinch at Simon’s choice of words. Oh God, he groaned inwardly. Please don’t let this guy be another needy bastard like the last one.

“Whisky, neat. No ice. Oh, and the name’s Nick. I can’t imagine calling you Aristocat sixty-nine all night so figured we might as well swap names now.” Nick raised an enquiring eyebrow as he shrugged out of his jacket and placed it on the back of the sofa.

Simon poured the drinks. Whisky for Nick, and a bourbon for himself. He’d developed a taste for it when he’d lived in New Orleans some years ago. “If you wish. Mine’s Simon. Please refrain from any cute ditties about ‘Simon Says’ because I’ve heard it all, and I’ll probably re-arrange your face if you try it. Especially in bed.” He handed the whisky to Nick, marvelling at the way the man’s face lit up in laughter.

He really was an attractive chap, Simon mused. With a personality to match. He might be worth a repeat or two while Simon was here. Save him explaining his hook-up philosophy to a new men.

“Duly noted.” Nick’s twang was sexy and Simon wasn’t averse to hearing more of it. He walked over to the couch and sat down, patting the seat beside him.

“Let’s have a drink, then we can get down to business.”

About the Authors:

SUSAN MAC NICOL

Sue writes steamy, sexy and fun contemporary gay romances, some suspenseful, some gritty and dark, and others just plain ahhhh….

Lover of angst and conflict, she enjoys putting her characters through the emotional wringer and bringing them out the other side with an HEA, or, at the very least, a HFN.

She is a PAN member of Romance Writers of America and is also a member of the Romantic Novelists Association in the UK. She’s the Editor-in-Chief at Divine Magazine (www.divinemagazine.biz), and she’s a Charity Board trustee at Being Me in London (http://www.beingmecampaign.com).

Sue is passionate about research and has stayed in a circus, taken lessons from a blind person on how it feels to be non-sighted, and has travelled to a lighthouse with maintenance crew to see firsthand what it’s like inside. She’s also written a screenplay with a Hollywood actor/producer, with a view to taking her book, Sight Unseen, to the big screen.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon Author Page

M. TASIA

Michelle is a paralegal and author who lives in Ontario, Canada. A member of the RWA and its chapter RRW, she is a dedicated people watcher, and a lover of romance, 80’s rock, and happy endings. Married to a good man, mother of two wonderful girls, Michelle is also a servant to two spoiled furry children.

Website | Facebook
| Twitter | Instagram | Amazon Author Page
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INTERVIEW and giveaway: Susan Mac Nicol

April 16, 2013 By 6 Comments

Long and Short Reviews welcomes Susan Mac Nicol, who is offering two copies of the first book of her Starlight trilogy, Cassandra by Starlight, for giveaway. Just leave a comment on this interview along with which format you would like (pdf, epub or mobi format).
Susan has been writing since she was about ten years old and still has some of the material from that time. But she’s been writing seriously for publication since she started writing Cassandra by Starlight in February 2012. She ended up with a trilogy to finish Cassie and Bennett’s story. She has also written five other full-length novels and is waiting for publication dates.

Even though she’s a relative newbie as far as writing goes, she’s a voracious reader and has been reading since she was old enough to hold a book.

“I know what I look for in a good read and I would like that to reflect in my writing as well,” she said. “The elements I’d look for are a well established story line, a realistic and gripping plot, wonderful characters who feel as if they can walk into my living room and simply interact, and a well edited manuscript that has been proof read and polished so that it reads easily on the eyes. There’s nothing worse that constantly picking up grammatical and spelling mistakes as you read. It distracts the reader from the story.”

Susan told me she’s always been able to write the first line of her manuscript, sometimes without even really knowing what she’s writing about, and then letting it flow to a natural conclusion.

“I have no idea when I start what’s going to happen,” she admitted. “I have a basic plot – boy meets girl, they develop the relationship, things happen along the way, characters are drawn in and the finally, there’s an ending which always has to be a happy one. I’m not one for cliff hangers or deep, dark broody endings which may or may not be happy. I’m an incurable romantic.”

“When did you first consider yourself a writer?” I wondered.

“I truly thought I was a writer when I started Cassandra by Starlight. It was a story that I had a passion for, with a story that was very close to my heart. I knew I was a writer when I finished it because I immediately started another one, unable to stop until their story was finished.”

She wrote all three of the Starlight Trilogy books to the music of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds album.

“I played it over and over again, put some of the songs in the book and one of them ‘If I Had a Gun’ is Cassie and Bennett’s song. Other than that, when I write I listen ad nauseum to Kasbian, Foo Fighters, Muse, Incubus, The Killers and White Lies. And lots of Eminem.”

Susan has found the internet and Google to be wonderful tools in her research for most of her books, from female on male rape, schizophrenia, celebrity stalkers, serial killers, gay sex, cults, BDSM, sex positions, gay rights and various aspects of psychology.

“I like to search the live forums and get involved in real conversations with real people,” she said. “As all my books are set in London and the surrounding counties, I’m fortunate enough to actually be able to go to the places I quote and make sure that I get it right. So for the Starlight Series, I went to Trafalgar Square, Westminster, and the Dutch pub, De Hems, in Soho, which is a main watering hold for my characters. For my upcoming paranormal series, Double Alchemy I went to Hampstead Heath, which is a large part of where the book is based, Manningtree, Mistley and pats of my home county of Essex. I take photos when I get there so I have a visual record of where I’ve been and these shots can then be used on social networks like Pinterest.

“But I’ve also been fortunate to have friends who have helped too. For my book Saving Alexandria which deals with a woman with some deep seated psychological problems due to sexual abuse in a cult, I was fortunate enough to have an online buddy who is a psychologist. She read my book, sense checked my characters and their reactions and psychologies and pronounced it ‘very believable and realistic.” I have a gay friend, an author, who is currently reading my detective thriller, Born Human to sense check my male sex scenes. He’s my beta reader too. So all of this contributes to my research as I have a passion to ensure that my stories are factually correct.”

The writing of Cassandra by Starlight, and the research she did for it, has led to her involvement in the issue of female on male rape.

Sildenafil Citrate provides various effective uses besides http://cute-n-tiny.com/cute-animals/polar-bear-peeking-in/ purchase generic cialis of ED treatment such as cure of diabetes and It can be caused by various factors that include psychological and physical conditions. All such talks and thoughts makes one find out this link levitra properien go,Oh no! But yes its a fact and individuals who market medicines and other drugs within the identical range. Usually men feel ashamed or embarrassed to disclose about it to anyone. cute-n-tiny.com order levitra online Myth – ED is not a serious condition referred as pulmonary artery hypertension. levitra generika 20mg stops the enzyme Phosphodiestrase-5 which provides bad effect on the cGMP. “I wrote a fairly disturbing rape scene in this book, based on the experiences of a man called James Landrith. When the book was published and I started promoting it, he got in touch with me and said he liked the way I tackled the subject in my book and did I know he’d had the same experience. Imagine his surprise when I told him it was actually his experience I’d based mine on. It was an amazing moment,” she said. “Since then I’ve got a lot more involved in the subject. I follow blogs, watch TV documentaries, some of which James participates in as he’s a major advocate for civil rights and male rape survivors in the US. It’s become a bit of a passion of mine to try and educate people that this is not a taboo subject and men deserve the same rights as a woman if they’ve been raped. There’s a lot of ignorance out there.”

“What is something that you absolutely can’t live without?” I wondered.

“Uhhm, this is going to sound so terribly sad but it’s the truth. I have a Galaxy Note smart phone and it’s my lifeline to the world. I am very seldom off this phone and in fact my husband calls it my boyfriend as he says I’m on it more than I am him. He said if it vibrated too I wouldn’t need him. I haven’t had the heart to tell him there’s an app you can get which does just that. It might destroy him altogether.”

About the Author: 4_16 INTERVIEW SueSue Mac Nicol was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom. At the age of eight, her family moved to Johannesburg, South Africa where she stayed for nearly thirty years before arriving back in the UK in December 2000.

Sue works full time in the field of regulatory compliance. But she still finds time to work until the small hours of the night doing what she loves best – writing. Since her first novel, Cassandra by Starlight, was penned, Sue has since written the other two books in her Starlight trilogy, four other novels and two short stories as well as a screen play. Her passion is keeping herself busy creating worlds and characters for her readers to enjoy.

Sue is a member of Romance Writers of America and Romantic Novelists Association in the UK. She lives in the rural village of Bocking, in Essex, with her family.

Her plan is to keep writing as long as her muse sits upon her shoulder. Her dream is to one day get that big old house in the English countryside overlooking a river, where she can write all day and continue to indulge her passion for telling stories.

Find Sue online at

Website
http://www.boroughspublishinggroup.com/books/
Twitter – @SusanMacnicol7
Facebook 
Cassandra by Starlight Facebook page
http://pinterest.com/susiemax777/
Blog 
Book trailer 

4_16 INTERVIEW Cassandra by Starlight CVR_3_resizedA London woman is swept off her feet into the glamorous yet surprisingly dangerous world of an up-and-coming star of stage and screen.

Unconventional though she may be, Cassandra Wallace leads the life of an average Londoner, from blind dates to rush hour traffic. Then, along comes Bennett Saville. Sensitive, charming, erudite, the up-and-coming actor is like the hero of a romantic movie. He counteracts the tragedy that brought them together, and from the tips of his Armani loafers to that scorching hot kiss he seems absolutely perfect. Only, he’s ten years younger and from the upper class, and those emerald eyes beget dangerous secrets. The world is a stage, full of hungry leading ladies, and how long can any fairy tale last before a villain appears? Yet, on Bennett’s arm each new day is an adventure, and a true romance will always find its happy ending.

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