It's common practice for me to have multiple projects going at the same time. Sometimes it's installments in two different series, juggling writing schedules and release dates. But sometimes I start little independent exercises that merely serve to keep my brain fresh. Most of the time, those exercises get slotted away into a Desktop folder somewhere and might or might not ever see the light of day. I move onto a bigger project, or further reflection reveals I was never that invested in it. They're the mental equivalent of lifting weights or going for a jog.
But sometimes those projects grow legs, and take off, and I've been in this game long enough not to question that kind of magic: when your brain coughs up an unexpected novel by accident. That's what happened with the Hell Theory trilogy, with Long Way Down, and with the Drake Chronicles. Most recently, it happened when the exercise I was toying with before Christmas got up and set off at a dead run. Suddenly, I was 95k words deep into a book that's turned out to be a fun and refreshing change of pace.
So my next release is:
“It was shitty, what I did.
Leaving without saying anything.”
Lawson pauses with his drink
halfway to his mouth. He wants, perhaps needs, to down it all in one go, like a
shot. “Wow,” he deadpans. “You’re just diving right in, huh? Right for the
throat.”
Tommy sighs, and rakes a hand
through his hair, mussing it further. It’s a terribly attractive gesture, one
that Lawson steels himself against (poorly). “You said you’d give me fifteen
minutes. I’m trying not to waste your time.”
That stings. More than it
should.
“Fine.” Lawson takes a sip of
his drink, finally, and gestures at him. “Go on, then. You’ve had twenty years
to concoct an excuse. This oughta be good.”
It's a totally standalone, contemporary M/M second-chance romance, spiked with coffeeshop vibes and a mafia chaser. Be on the lookout for College Town coming your way very soon!
Welcome to Eastman, home of the
Eastman University Eagles. They’ve got twelve bars, twice as many coffeeshops,
and Lawson Granger’s probably going to die behind the counter of Coffee Town,
watching all the bright young people in town get their degrees and get on with
their lives. He’s not miserable, exactly, but between working retail, writing
books that’ll never get published, and helping take care of his infirm father,
his life’s running a little short on joy. He has his family, though, and his
best friend, Dana, and dreaming about being published is somehow better than
accepting that he never will be.
Then the boy who broke his heart
twenty years ago walks into the shop one day and throws Lawson’s entire small
world into chaos. Tommy Cattaneo grew up handsome. And rich, clearly, judging
by his suit, and his watch, and his chauffeured Lincoln. If Lawson’s shocked to
see him, Tommy is dumbfounded. Lawson’s happy to pretend they’re strangers,
despite the traitorous racing of his heart, but Tommy is adamant that they
talk. He wants to explain why he left town suddenly…and returned twenty years
later, with a beautiful fiancée, and a mansion, and a wardrobe that costs more
than Lawson’s car.
When it becomes clear that Tommy
means to stay in town for a while, and that he won’t take no for an answer,
Lawson agrees to hear him out. Just once, and then he can lay his old heartache
to rest. It’s probably a stupid excuse, anyway. I mean, t’s not like Tommy’s in
the mafia…right?
And don't worry, Lord Have Mercy Part Three is coming right along, too. 😉
