“Becoming Us is the perfect story about friends who become lovers. It’s laced with tons of emotion and incredibly hot sex. Bryce’s uncertainty and anguish over coming to terms with his sexuality and coming out to his friends and family is tangible, and his journey of sexual discovery is breathtaking in its intensity.”
-Nannette, Joyfully Reviewed (read the review here.)

“You will either love or hate this book – there is no middle ground, but I’m betting that more of you will love it. Definitely recommended.”
-Wave, Reviews by Jessewave (read the review here.)

“Ms. Crow and Ms. Fox have created a wonderful story about the difficulties one man had to overcome to realize his dream, a love for all time.”
-Teresa, Fallen Angel Reviews (read the review here.)

“Bryce and Zac come alive on the pages of the book, and while this is an emotional story, it also has some very entertaining and fun scenes. Overall this is a very well written story that touched my heart and has won a spot on my keeper shelf. I highly recommend it.”
-Lily, Rainbow Reviews (read the review here.)

“Becoming Us is a deeply emotional story about a guy who was in a no win situation, and had to think long and hard about the choice he was about to make. There is no easy way out, and the consequences of picking either road were essentially untenable. I found myself deeply immersed in Bryce’s struggle and, although I wasn’t crying along with him, I certainly understood his frustration and need to vent.”
-EmmyJag (read the review here.)

Becoming Us was also included on the Dear Author Recommended Reads for October 2009. (read the list here.)

“Bryce…” Zac wasn’t sure what to say to that. That wasn’t what he’d expected, not at all. He’d known things with Bryce would change, but he hadn’t thought about how coming out together in that interview would make it obvious Perry had known all along. “Because it wasn’t really… relevant.”

“Not relevant?”

“Well, it’s not like you welcomed Perry with open arms when he came out to you,” Zac pointed out before he could censor himself. Bryce wasn’t even looking at Zac anymore. It was just like before, when Perry had come out to the swim team and Bryce had started flinching away from his touches, avoiding spending time alone with him. Bryce had never said anything, but Zac knew that Perry being out had changed things for Bryce.

Bryce stopped draining the cup to sputter, “It was just… I was surprised.” He flailed his arms until he was standing. “I mean, all that time, and he never said anything. And then I’m supposed to act like I knew all along?” The cup and whatever was left in it went into the too-long grass with his next flail. that interview would make it obvious

Zac stood up and caught Bryce’s arm, intending to pull him back to the swing, but Bryce leaned back against his grasp. “Dude.” Perry had been totally patient with everyone on the team, letting them get their bearings around him again, but it had seemed everything Perry tried had just made things worse between him and Bryce.

“It’s just. Not right. It’s not. Nothing’s right.” Bryce wasn’t just being an ass about it; he was actually upset about something.

“What’s wrong, man?”

“Nothing.” Bryce pulled away and stumbled as he went to get one of the bottles of beer he’d stashed at the base of the swing. Of course. Zac had to wonder how many had been there to start with. “Just. Nothing. It’s just all wrong, that’s all. I need another drink. Maybe I should get laid.”

Find it here!

Becoming Us: Bonus Material

This print collection includes Renovations: In a Family Way, Renovations 4: Full House, Renovations 5: Mending Fences, and Renovations 6: Coming Home, as well as a bonus novelette — “A Renovations Addition: Wedding Day” — that picks up where Coming Home left off.

Find it here!

Renovations: Bonus Material

It’s been a good week for me. For all of the busy (and there’s been a lot of busy), I’ve gotten some work done on Percussion, including a detailed outline that will take me through the rest of the story. Hooray!

Also, Anah found a new review of Renovations 6: Coming Home at Joyfully Reviewed: “If Coming Home is the last of the Renovations chasers, it’s the perfect ending. If not, I look forward to more!” (read the review here)

Yesterday, Anah and I were interviewed at Jessewave’s blog. You can find the interview here. The discussion is still going on in comments, and we’re having a great time with it.

Speaking of Jessewave’s blog, Pandora Project: Runaway Star was chosen as one of their Favorite Gay Novels, as was Anah’s Uneven!

I’m also honored that Other Magical Creatures, including my novella “God of Wine”, has made it through the first round of Elisa’s Rainbow Awards.

Oh! And Becoming Us, which will be out next week, is on Dear Author’s list of October Recommended Reads. Hooray! It’s always an honor to find that my/our work actually works for someone, especially enough that they’d be comfortable recommending it to other people.

I have other big news, but I’m waiting until the ink is dry before I say anything. Call me superstitious, I don’t care.

Tatterdemalion is getting ready to go into its second-to-last round of edits. (We have it split into three documents, and this is going to be the last round of real changes, then we’re going to put it into one document and do a final proofreading pass.)

Once that’s finished, we’ll take a break from editing to write the bonus story for Renovations II: Framework. Then it’s back to editing with Parallax, the second Pandora Project story, which needs a couple more scenes added, and Equilibrium.

And then we can finally move on to some new projects. Anah has a couple stories in the works that I know she’s excited to get back to, and I have at least two projects that need my attention. And together, we have several projects that we can choose from.

Generally, we each have one story of our own going, and one story together, at any one time. Unfortunately, things kind of piled up here. We had Equilibrium and Parallax to be edited, and then Tatterdemalion came back and our priorities shifted to that. And then the Becoming Us edits came in, and we needed to do that before we could do anything else.

Things will settle down in the next few days, though. Anah’s been working very hard on Tatterdemalion, and I expect we’ll be finished with it in the next few days, and then Parallax and Equilibrium shouldn’t take long to move either.

…so I should get moving.

To Do
Revise “Equilibrium” (with Anah Crow)
Revise “Parallax” (with Anah Crow)
Revise “Tatterdemalion” (with Anah Crow)
Write the second Renovations bonus story (with Anah Crow)

“Equilibrium” is finished. I’ve done my round of revisions, and it’s on the revision pile for Anah now. I really like this one. We took an idea and stripped it down to its bones, and I think we made it work really well.

We wrote a new Jamie&Riaz short story for the Turn of the Screw “Blue Monday” — it’s sort of a story in two parts, and the first part got posted there. The complete story will be posted the next time we host the Torquere LiveJournal: July 9 and 10.

We’re in the middle of revisions for “Tatterdemalion” (if you’ve been watching either of our Twitter feeds, you’ve probably seen us talking about it), and for “Parallax”. The revisions for “Tatterdemalion” are going really well; we’ve figured out how to really strengthen the story with several choice cuts and a bit of rewriting. I’m loving the whole process.

“Parallax” revisions are going along at a more casual pace, but they’re going well, too. I think at least a couple more scenes are going to be added to that one, but I don’t think we’re cutting anything the way we are with “Tatterdemalion.”

Once we get all of that done, we’ll be writing the bonus story for Renovations II: Foundation, the second print collection. And doing the edits for “Becoming Us”, which should be in by then.

It’s going to be a very busy summer!

To Do
Write “At the Corner of Fourth and Honesty” (for Kit Zheng’s project)
Finish “Percussion”
Outline “Dimes for Dying Dreams”
Revise “Equilibrium” (with Anah Crow)
Revise “Parallax” (with Anah Crow)
Revise “Tatterdemalion” (with Anah Crow)
Write the second Renovations bonus story (with Anah Crow)

We’re working on the Pit Road story that comes after “Southern Comfort” — “Training Wheels” — now. I expect it’ll be done by the end of the week, the way we’re going.

I’m still working on my Melting Pot story, “At the Corner of 4th & Honesty”, and it’s coming along nicely. I’m nearly halfway to the minimum wordcount, and probably about a third of the way through the story as a whole.

To Do
Write “At the Corner of Fourth and Honesty” (for Kit Zheng’s project)
Finish “Percussion”
Outline “Dimes for Dying Dreams”
Write “Training Wheels” (with Anah Crow)