Michael's Muse

Facebook asshattery

2015-11-18T00:03:01Z

I am entirely sick of the nutjob asshats on FB. Since the Paris attack people think it is okay to want every muslim dead, to wish people discussing the topic on my wall to die in a terrorist attack in the US and every manner of jackass lunatic crap.

I miss the nice book related discussions we used to be able to have on LJ, Dreamwidth and Yahoo groups that didn't get derailed by people complaining about posts and getting our friends banned or stuck in FB jail or being total douchewaffles and wishing people they don't even fucking know dead over a conversation that they were NOT involved in.

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NaNoWriMo 2015

2015-11-12T05:43:51Z

I'm at 26324 words on my ‪#‎NaNoWriMo‬ ‪#‎NaNoWriMo2015‬. Time for a bit of reading or TV and then bed. Night all.

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New Contracts and a Major Update

2015-09-25T17:57:16Z

I haven't used LJ in...two years? Wow, lots of things have happened since then.

First, mom came to live with me and I got an apartment. She died 9 months later--to the day and minute of her arrival--and the one year anniversary of her death will be on November 9th.

I've sold a bunch of books. Really, a lot of them. Some new. Some reprints.

The biggest batch has been to Fireborn Publishing as they've picked up a number of my out of contract titles including the Dragon Dance Cycle with Bells and Nikki and Cory and Desawn from Plague Dance. Apocalypse Dance is available here and Plague Dance is here. I've started using the pseudonym Jaymie Michaels for my m/f books so my m/m only readers who aren't interested in reading books with het relationships don't accidentally pick up something they don't like.

You can see all the m/m books I currently have at Fireborn Publishing here if you're interested. My 'Jaymie Michaels' books with them are here. There are only two of my m/f titles there right now, Apocalypse Dance and the previously unpublished The Strongest Magic.

I've also sold another series to them co-written with auburnimp called The Guns of Colorado. The first book is entitled 'The Rescue' and we're very excited about the series. It's an Old West Paranormal set in a slightly altered universe in a town called Aspen Grove in Colorado.

I also sold another reprint book to Fireborn called 'In the Heart of Love' an Old West paranormal that will be appearing under my Jaymie Michaels name.

In addition I've sold another story to Dreamspinner Press called Worth More than Words. It's a psipunk m/m and I'm really happy with the setting and the two characters.

And here's the cover reveal:

That's all for now. I'll be updating again soon.

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The Prince He Loved is a Bestseller

2013-08-06T21:49:37Z

It is at #16 on the All Romance eBooks over all bestseller list.

How cool is that?

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New Releases and a New Contract

2013-07-30T22:11:16Z

First off, my Dreamspinner Press scifi m/m, The Prince He Loved is on preorder. You can get the Print or ebook editions by clicking those links. The first 20 print editions are signed by me--these are the ONLY books I've ever signed--and also come with a book tether hand made by me.

It officially goes on sale on Thursday, 31st July when you'll be able to download the ebook and when those first 20 signed limited editions will start shipping.

Also released earlier this month is the Big Damn Heroines anthology which came out through Storm Moon Press. You can find both ebook and print editions here. The anthology features my story, Distance of Memory the only f/f/m I've ever written.

I've also sold another story to Torquere Press, this one an Old Western called Star Sapphire. There will be a sequel to this one which releases in October.

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New Release! Pearls Like Rain

2013-06-28T20:43:51Z

Pearls Like Rain by Michael Barnette
Genre: gay fantasy erotic romance (m/m)
Heat Level: Chili Pepper
Content Warnings: gay sexual practices
Length: 17,000 words / 60 pages
Price: $3.99
Released 26th June 2013 by Torquere Press
http://www.torquerepress.com/

Tag Line
Two men vying for one prize and a chance at love.

Blurb:
Raien and Kaelys have reached the final match that decides the championship and conveys a rich purse for the winner. With their dreams for the future at stake, neither of them is going to make it easy for the other to win. But when a bright flash of light momentarily blinds Kaelys causing him to make a mistake more than money is on the line. With Raien’s life and the outcome of the match undecided they have nothing to do but talk to one another. They discover some truths that have the potential to change everything. Unfortunately the future each of them desires hinges on one thing: Who won the championship?

Excerpt:
Warm sunlight bathed the marble pavement of the courtyard and struck glimmers of prismatic light from the jets of water streaming from a nearby fountain. A light breeze carried the lingering warmth of late summer and wafted the scent from end-of-season roses and early fall flowers through the gathering crowd. It teased the silken draperies of the small pavilions at the four corners of the plaza, made the ivory and red cloth flutter in the breeze.

Noble ladies, well-dressed in finery suited to the day and the occasion mingled with their equally well-dressed male counterparts while other people, men and women both, in less ornate garments moved through the crowd selling drinks and snacks, or taking bets on the coming matches.

A couple of dully dressed people of the servant caste strode out into the square carrying brooms. They quickly swept dust and fallen leaves from the courtyard, taking extra care with the areas designated with rare red marble from the Mainland. Done with their duty for the time being, they stepped out of the courtyard and began preparing for other cleanups should they be needed.

The scheduled matches were not set to take place for almost a full hour, yet the crowds were gathering, everyone eager to get good seats because today's bouts were the final ones of the season. The winner of this day's event would receive an outrageous amount of money, probably enough to live off of for the rest of his -- or her -- life. Enough to buy a tract of land or even a minor title of nobility if that was the winner's ambition. Though many of the top competitors were already members of the nobility, they were typically younger sons or daughters not in line to inherit a family title. The chance to gain a title and a small parcel land for themselves was what had drawn so many of the competitors to the games in the first place.

One by one, the players had been eliminated until it came down to the final pair:

Raien Ahirnisdeh, a young man of the peasant nobility, titled but poor as any commoner, and the Masked One, whose face and real name were unknown.

"He's done well, for someone who recently came from the Mainland," a woman remarked as the cleaning crew carefully swept the central square which would be used for the final match.

"I never expected him to come this far," a man's voice replied.

Neither did I, Raien thought to himself as he peered through a gap in the curtains separating him from the spectators. I'd hoped for this, but never dared believe I'd get to the very last match, the one that would convey the biggest purse of the season. The one which gains the winner the title of champion for a year. He pushed the curtain closed and returned to his seat inside the pavilion. He picked up his glass from the dressing table and sipped the cool mix of fruit juices, doing his best not to worry about the coming match. The final one of the entire season.

Click the link to buy from Torquere Press.

Or get your copy from All Romance eBooks

or get your copy for Kindle in the US

or in the UK

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Lots of News-Sorry about the silence

2013-05-28T21:27:53Z

I've been really busy lately, dealing with a lot of RL issues and other things so I haven't been doing a lot of posting anywhere.

The big news is I had a release at Torquere Press again this month. Beneath an Emerald Sky, a cyberpunk m/m came out earlier this month and I have another release, Pearls Like Rain, a fantasy m/m coming out on the 26th of June. I just finished the edits on Pearls Like Rain today.

In other news, I have the edits from Dreamspinner Press for The Prince He Loved a scifi m/m novel which will be coming out sometime later this year. I don't have a release date on it yet.

I also did the edits for Distance of Memory, my one and only f/f/m fantasy story which will be appearing in the 'Big Damn Heroines' anthology from Storm Moon Press. I think it's supposed to be coming out later this summer too. Again I don't have a solid release date.

In other news, Auburnimp had to shelve the sword and sandal book we were writing on, mostly because we just can't get a tight handle on the characters. Good news though, we're working on a paranormal Old Western m/m and it's flying along smoothly. These characters are speaking to us clearly and we're making a lot of progress. Even better, this has series potential rather than being a one off.

That's it for now.

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Long silence

2013-04-19T19:32:49Z

Sorry about the very long silence, but things have been more hectic than usual around here. My cousin, who I live with, fell down the stairs and badly injured himself. He's only now getting back to working full time--it took several weeks for him to recover--which meant I was doing a lot of running around with him to doctor's appointments and driving him to and from work.

He's gotten over that, and then I caught what I thought was a cold which turned out to be a mild but persistent form of the flu. I'm finally getting over that--no thanks to all this late spring snow--and hope to be back to writing full-time again soon.

In writing news you can drop by my domain and see the great cover art for the Storm Moon Press anthology Big Damn Heroines which will feature my story 'Distance Of Memory'. I really need to sit down and write another one in that world setting soon as the folks at Storm Moon really liked it.

I'm working on a spy/assassin/cyberpunk/paranormal m/m that's kicking my butt right now since the characters decided they wanted a far more complex plot than I'd planned. The story is already 5000 words longer than I'd originally planned with what appears to be at least another 10000 words to go.

I have some deadlines looming on the horizon too, so I may have to set this story aside to work on a couple of those.

Speaking of stories, 'Beneath an Emerald Sky' comes out on May 8th from Torquere. The cover art for it is also up over at my domain and I think it's one of the best covers I've ever gotten. Go by and check it out.

I'm working on a weird historical/fantasy m/m with Auburnimp too. It has more in common with those old sword and sandal movies than it does actual history, but we're having a blast writing it.

Now if it would only stop snowing... We had actual blizzards on Monday AND Wednesday. Talk about annoying. There wasn't any food in the stores on Tuesday--when we were able to get out of the house to shop--because trucks couldn't get through. Gah! But we did manage to get some stuff last night so we won't starve.

In more writing news...I have a couple more stories in the works for Torquere, so keep an eye out for future remarks about new work. Plus 'Pearls Like Rain' is slated to come out shortly also.

And speaking of work... I'm off to try and get some writing done.

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New Contracts

2013-02-22T00:32:15Z

I am pleased to say that I've signed two contracts this week, one with Torquere Press for 'Pearls Like Rain' and one with Dreamspinner Press for 'The Prince He Loved'.

Needless to say, this has been a really great week.

Now off to make dinner then work on my newest story, a scifi m/m I've titled 'Catching a Break'.

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Happy Valentine's Day

2013-02-14T20:58:34Z

To all my friends.

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Still waiting

2013-02-01T02:23:11Z

To hear back from the publisher I sent 'The Prince He Loved' off to this month. I have heard back on 'The Strongeest Magic' and it passed the first reader. I'm now waiting to hear from an editor.

I'm hard at work on another story--more m/m for a special call at one of the publishers I have work with already--and Auburnimp showed up so we're working on Sakura Blades. We already have book 1 cleaned up. We wound up adding a much needed 5k which expands several key scenes. We'll be starting on book two's clean up next week.

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The Prince He Loved and The Strongest Magic

2013-01-06T00:17:25Z

Will not be published by Total-e-Bound. They finally sent me contracts on The Strongest Magic and I chose to take a pass on it. There were some unfriendly clauses that I didn't care for.

The Prince He Loved is off on submission elsewhere already.

The Strongest Magic will go out again after I add a few hundred words to it to make most publisher's minimum count of 20k. I'm leaning toward sending it to one publisher I've been considering for about 5 years but haven't sent anything to yet.

Not much else going on around here other than the fact I took down the Yule tree today. Still boxing stuff up but I'm not in any hurry. If it gets done tomorrow, that's soon enough.

Off to do some relaxing and mull over what, exactly, I want to do with The Strongest Magic and a few other books I'd thought I'd be sending to TeB.

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2012 Year End Round Up

2013-01-02T20:20:50Z

2012 wasn't a great year for me. I had some post-Auburnimp issues I was still trying to work out. That was taken care of and I ended the year with 5 submissions between October and the middle of December. Four of those submissions--Beneath an Emerald Sky; The Strongest Magic; Sharing Tomorrow and The Prince He Loved--have been accepted for publication. The final story, Distance of Memory, is awaiting a decision since the anthology I sent it to just closed on the 31st of December.

I had two books come out in 2012--a very low number for me--Shifting Hearts 1: In the Heart of Love, and the reworked Let it Snow which is now titled Rocky Mountain Christmas which is out through Silver Publishing.

My resolution is to have at least 8 stories/books come out in 2013. I already have 4 accepted so 4 more to go to meet my goal.

Happy New Year everyone.

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An Open Letter to the Fans of Auburnimp

2012-11-23T23:21:51Z

An Open Letter to the Fans of Hajiri's Pet/Midnight Rain and other cowritten works by Auburnimp and Michael Barnette:

I thought I'd post a letter regarding Auburnimp and why she is no longer writing since I still get email about the situation with our unfinished series, especially Midnight Rain/Hajiri's Pet.

Auburnimp was hospitalized back in October of 2010 with a life threatening infection of ...
her lower leg. She nearly lost her leg--and her life--at that time.

On her return we discussed all the series books we had in the works, most of which were mid-story arc. While she wanted to finish the stories, she was simply too ill to do so. She explained that, in view of her deteriorating health, she wished to spend more time with her family rather than writing.

I was uncomfortable leaving our readers hanging, so I undertook to finish one of those series on my own, Dragon & Fenyx. Dragon & Fenyx was completed last year and the final two books have already been released through Shadowfire Press.

As far as the others--Midnight Rain (Hajiri's Pet) and Sakura Blades--those are being retooled as solo works and will make their reappearances as soon as I'm able to complete the work on them and find the two series a new home. (The contract on Hajiri's Pet ends in Feburary 2013.)

For those of you who were following Auburnimp's solo series of books--Fallen Angels, Angels and Demons, her Vampire books and Sweepers--when she retired she requested all her solo books be removed from sale. I do not know why she made this request, but I honored her decision and these books are no longer available. For those of you left hanging, I don't know what to say other than I'm sorry she chose to do this and unfortunately I can't give the books to you due to copyright issues.

For all our fans, thank you for being so loyal and patient and please forgive me for not making most of this information known before now--except in limited venues. I'd hoped Auburnimp would change her mind given adequate time to recover from her illness, but this has not been the case.

Thanks to everyone who bought our books and supported us. Keep an eye out at my domain for information on the completion of the Midnight Rain and Sakura Blades series.
http://www.michaelbarnette.com/

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NaNoWriMo Day 16

2012-11-16T22:26:46Z

Yes I'm posting again already for day 16 of NaNoWriMo since I won't be updating word counts for this book anymore.

Why not? Because... Drumroll please!

I AM DONE! That's right, I've finished the book as of 2:35pm my time today.

Here are the final meter bars for this book.

Versus 50K:

98655 / 50000 words. 197% done!

Versus 80K:

98655 / 80000 words. 123% done!

Against 100k:

98655 / 100000 words. 99% done!

Didn't quite make it to 100k, but the book is finished at this count and 100k was my high/best estimate when I realized I was going to blow past 80k before the book was completed.

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NaNoWriMo Day 15--Forgot to Post this

2012-11-16T22:04:18Z

I spaced and forgot to post this last night, so here we go with the daily NaNoWriMo update.

I did a lot of writing, retooling and changing the flow of the plot for the final two chapters to consolidate the mission a bit better an get rid of bits that I felt didn't serve a purpose.

Versus that 50k goal:

96242 / 50000 words. 192% done!

And now against the original 80k:

96242 / 80000 words. 120% done!

And versus the 100k final estimate:

96242 / 100000 words. 96% done!

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NaNoWriMo Day 14

2012-11-15T06:24:05Z

Hello again from NaNoLand, here is my daily word count update and news byte.

Not much news wise beyond the fact I'm nearing the end of this novel and looking forward to getting it done so I can work on some other stories. Yes, that's right, once Mercykill 4 is done I'm going to work on a story for another submissions call at Total-e-Bound then it will be off to do edits on that scifi m/m I worked on most of this past spring. No more messing about for me, I'm back to writing for real.

Here's today's word count vs that poor little 50k mark:

90189 / 50000 words. 180% done!

And vs the initial estimated 80k:

90189 / 80000 words. 113% done!

Versus the actual 100k goal:

90189 / 100000 words. 90% done!

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NaNoWriMo Day 13

2012-11-14T06:22:57Z

Hello again from NaNoland. I've been working hard on this book, but got sidetracked today by plot issues and well, the whole plot for the 5th book in the series, which didn't help me get much written today.

I did a restructure of the plot for this book too, which eliminated what I felt, in retrospect, were unneeded scenes which got rid of two entire chapters when all was said and done.

Still did a reasonable amount though, a bit over 5k.

Here are the numbers for today.

85569 / 50000 words. 171% done!

Versus the 80k original goal:

85569 / 80000 words. 107% done!

Versus the 100k probable word count:

85569 / 100000 words. 86% done!

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NaNoWriMo Day 12

2012-11-13T06:59:14Z

Posting over here with a cross post to LJ because everyone seems to be leaving LJ for Dreamwidth these days.

I had an okay day writing, but could have done more if the room mates hadn't decided to chat with me constantly. I may shut my door tomorrow to stop this from happening tomorrow.

Anyway, here are tonight's work count meters.

Word count vs that silly little 50k:

79051 / 50000 words. 158% done!

And vs 80k:

79051 / 80000 words. 99% done!

Vs the 100k that the book is going to hit:

79051 / 100000 words. 79% done!

Night all. I'm tired. I plan to watch some anime and go to bed.

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NaNoWriMo Day 4

2012-11-05T16:43:32Z

Posting this today since I had some issues with the internet cutting out last night. This is happening on an all too frequent basis. Thank you so frigging much CenturyStink. Have I mentioned how much you suck lately? Maybe one of these days their internet will actually work. Yeah right, and pigs will fly and rainbows will shoot out their butts.

/rant

Anyway last night's final word count total vs the NaNo goal of 50k is:

21402 / 50000 words. 43% done!

And vs the 80k I've set for myself:

21402 / 80000 words. 27% done!

Not bad for day 4 IMO. And now to finish eating breakfast and get rolling. I'm on chapter 3 and hope to get to chapter 4 today.

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The Strongest Magic-Accepted by Total-e-Bound

2012-10-28T04:08:53Z

Sold the first story I wrote and sent out this month to Tina Burns at Total-e-Bound. I'm excited.

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Working on a new story

2012-10-16T20:45:50Z

This is the third so far this month. Like the other two it's for a specific call a publisher put out and has to be turned in before January. This time it's an m/m cyberpunk story. There's not a lot of time to work on it, so off I go to write.

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Anyone Doing NaNoWriMo This Year?-2012

2012-10-13T02:04:17Z

Just wondering. I'm already signed up, but I'm not sure I'll actually be doing the book I posted up over there. See I have this new idea for a totally different publisher I'd like to do, and the one I was thinking about working on isn't good for 50,000 words. If it comes out to 40,000 I'd be surprised.

Either way, I have a project, I just have to decide which one to actually write.

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Wow....

2012-09-23T19:06:28Z

It's been well over a year since I posted over here. I really need to remember I have this thing instead of simply posting at LJ.

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Been really busy

2011-05-13T20:31:29Z

Too busy to post lately.

I'll be trying to make more frequent posts, but no promises.

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