Tag Archives: gymnasts

What Ho! #amwriting #amediting #CoverReveal

It’s the world’s most inconsistent blogger here, feeling compelled to do the blog thing out of sheer guilt.

I figure a bit about my current projects is in order, yes?

First up, we have numero uno in my Hearts and Scars series (I say series, but they’ll all be standalones, rather tangentially related to the first book). It’s called Crossed Hearts and I am crunching the insightful comments from my beta readers and then plan to shit  ship it out to an editor. I’ll be losing my self-publishing virginity, and while I can’t say I’m not nervous, I am excited to see how things go on the other side of the fence. I still firmly intend to traditionally publish, but this has been my little solo pet project, and the autonomy of it is exhilarating. Old dogs, new tricks, yadda, yadda.

Oh, and working with my extremely amenable and talented cover artist, Dana Priebe, has been a ton of fun. She’s a close friend who happens to be like a sister to me. 🙂 I was picky, annoyingly specific, and got precisely what I wanted. Once I get on the horn with an editor and figure out the time frame for release, I’ll get a cover up for your viewing pleasure.

Here’s my cover teaser:

8d2c6139-688d-469f-9641-243ffda68a78_zpswbjoby1c (1)

Working Blurb:

Kory Vansant doesn’t deserve to live.

When time sucks him dry of energy, sapping the final ounces of strength from his congenitally enlarged heart, he’s forced to end his career as Kory Kent, porn star. Staring down death, he questions his life choices and prays for a miracle, vowing to change who he is at his core, if only for another chance.

Somehow, his prayers are answered. A perfect heart now beats in his chest. Unfortunately, its previous owner was an innocent young man cut down far too prematurely, and Kory’s blemished history is nowhere near an ideal match.

As his debts skyrocket, Kory can’t help but think his resolve to walk the high road is being tested. After he meets the adorable Will Squire at the gravesite they both visit, he’s doubly damned because there’s no way he can keep up his end of the bargain. What happens when a man breaks a deal with a higher power?

Will often prefers the company of the dead to that of the living. Following a bad breakup, he pours himself into his two jobs—funeral director at his uncle’s mortuary and part-time paramedic. He’s drawn ever closer to Kory, as if fate stuck her fickle hand in and pushed them together like two unlikely puzzle pieces. But sometimes history can’t be buried, and maybe divine intervention isn’t always right. Will discovers everyone is imperfect, no matter how pretty the outer package, and opening one’s heart is never easy, but can be oh so worth the pain.

————

While I was on this self-publishing bender (yeah, right), I got a bee in my bonnet about my Goodreads, Love Has No Boundaries story, Sticking It. Anyone remember that bit of college gymnast-falls-for-the-nerd fluff? Well, despite its warm reception on Goodreads, a number of people wanted it to be longer. At the time of its origin, I kinda felt like it is what it is. Deal with it. Well, seven thousand (or so) words later, it is what it wasn’t, and I’ll be getting that up on Amazon as per popular request (look at me, with my big girl panties yanked up high, all doin’ stuff).

For the readers who really wanted Dane to go to the Olympics, I say, “Your wish is my command!” I hope you were also wishing for more sex. ABRACADABRA!

Muscular athletic sportsman in training. Winner.

My Second Addition Cover! Woot!

 

 

I can’t tell you the hours of gymnastics video footage I’ve watched to make this happen. Appreciate it, dammit! 😉

This gorgeous new cover was also crafted for me by the phenomenal Dana Priebe. Her website is in the works. I’ll link when it’s up in case anyone is interested in checking out her stuff.

Anyhoo, the second edition of Sticking It should (hopefully) be ready to go within the month, I promise. I’ll keep you posted!

 

-Kimber

 

 

 

 


Cover Reveal: Love Has No Boundaries (NSFW)

"Sticking It" by K. Vale

“Sticking It” by K. Vale

On our Goodreads thread hop this week, we are answering the question, “If our main characters had a time machine, where would they go?”

I wrote a 500 word flash in response.  Yes it is in present, omniscient just for the halibut.

—-

Porta-Potty Time Machine

by K. Vale

“What the hell is this?” Dane knocks on the metal door and turns to give Adam an odd half-smile, half-scowl.

“Why, it’s a time machine.” Adam steps forward, chuckling at Dane’s expression. “See?  T-I-M-E spells time.  And M-A-C—”

Dane steps on his foot and twists like he’s putting out a cigarette. The maneuver works to put out Adam’s snark.

“Yeah. I can read, Poindexter. What the hell is a metal porta-potty marked time machine doing in my bedroom?”

“April fools?”

“It’s May…” Checks his sports watch …“6th, dude.”

“Maybe Paul was screwing with you.”

“Yeah?  Look inside, then.  If Paul did it, it’s probably going to spray something vile.”

“So, why would I open it?”

Dane harrumphs, stands to the side, yells “Fire in the hole!” and karate kicks the door which springs open while Adam ducks and covers.

Nothing jumps or shoots out.  Cautiously, they peer inside.  A digital display graces the wall where the toilet should be.

“Fuck me.  It is a time machine,” Dane says, doing that weird face again so Adam cracks up as he tries to recover from his undignified retreat.

They squeeze into the porta-machine together.

“Where should we go?” Dane asks, purposely grinding against Adam.

“I wouldn’t mind going back to this morning and fixing the essay portion of my Psych exam. Pretty sure I spelled Wernicke’s wrong.  Stupid core classes.”

“Seriously?  You’d rather go back and retake a test than get busy in a time machine?  It’s like I don’t even know who you are.”

“What?  You didn’t say have sex.  You specifically said where should we go?”

“Right.  You wanna sit on the console or should I?”

“Hmmm….”

Dane yanks down his pants and underwear while Adam is deliberating. He folds his jeans in half and lays them over the buttons before hopping up on top.

Lights start flashing and the porta-machine begins to spin like Dorothy’s house.

“Fuck!” Dane jumps down and slams into Adam as the machine shifts around them worse than a tequila hangover.

“That’s what got us into this mess in the first place!” Adam yells over the sounds of howling wind and robotic beeps.

They slide to the floor, a tangle of naked and clothed limbs, vibrating against each other.

“Hey, not bad.” Dane mumbles, and finds Adam’s lips with his own.

“Really, Dane?  Really?”

“Hey, when in Rome…”

“Rome? Oh, Lord.  I have a calculus exam at three!”

“Come on.  A little bathhouse action and I’ll have ya back by two thirty.” Dane squeezes Adam’s stiffening piece through his khakis. 

Adam gives him an exhausted sigh, but Dane knows he’s got him by the balls.  Because, in fact, he does have him by the balls.

“Okay. But only because I have our togas in my backpack for that stupid party later.”

“That’s the spirit.” Dane starts unbuttoning Adam’s shirt and kissing his way down his neck. 

And the rest, as they say, is history. 

-Kimber


A Small Smackerel from My LHNB Tale

Here we are again–another Love Has No Boundaries post.  Because I am completely unoriginal, I am cutting and pasting my post from there.  That’s right.  It’s already been broughten.

Well, here I am on the kids’ computer because mine is asking to be thrown out a window. !@*&(@* is what I say to that.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1…

Anyway, Laylah’s day was yesterday. Her link is up there. See it? Good.

Today we answer the age old (or 1.5 decade old) question–paper or plastic?

Dane says, “Whatever the bagger guy puts it in.”

These are college boys. What do you expect? Someday I hope they choose the road less traveled and more green. Meanwhile, I’ll keep washing out plastic bags and tin foil to try to set a good example for lazy people everywhere.

I’m happy to report I’m done writing this (12,500 words and countless unpaid hours later, just as a reminder for people who favor unkind reviews–you don’t tell the party hostess her margaritas were weak at the end of the night, do you? You won’t get invited back that way. Or maybe your next margarita will have some added ingredients you weren’t expecting ;).

This puppy is in the beta stage! I also have a very cheesy cover to go with my very cheesy title. Can’t wait to share!

Enough cheesing, I mean teasing. How about a small smackerel?
——-

“Hey, Skinny Elvis! Twenty bucks says you won’t drop trou and do your pommel routine.”

Dane Christakos gave Justin Burns a dubious look. Behind him, their frat brothers Ben Erenfeld, Tyrone Martin, and the new guy, Adam Kennedy, laughed with varying degrees of control.

“Seriously? Where’s the challenge, dude? This is only my second beer.” Dane handed his headache-in-a-can over to Justin with a sympathetic shake of his head. “No taking it back, sucker.”

“I’ll even pay up front.” Justin crumpled his own beer can in his fist, tossed it over his shoulder, and took a sip of Dane’s Bud while fishing in his pocket. He produced a wrinkled up bill, which Dane snatched out of his fingers and shoved in a front pocket of his jeans. He’d already shucked his Vans and lifted his shirt over his head, careful not to fuck up the perfectly coiffed pompadour that had earned him his nickname. Dane’d learned long ago that sticking out like a sore thumb on purpose was better than trying to fly under the radar and failing miserably.

Walk in a room like you own it, and you will.

Being a gymnast could’ve gotten him beat up, and had once or twice in high school—only because he was outnumbered—so first semester freshman year, he began rocking his crazy hair, and that spring he rushed the most prestigious frats at Cornell. It’d definitely been the way to go, because giving up gymnastics to fit in was never an option.

He was popular in his fraternity, and if everything went as planned, he’d qualify this year for the next Summer Olympics.

When Dane unbuttoned his jeans and slid them off his hips, he was glad he’d only had tighty whities in his clean laundry pile this morning. Boxers would have set him up for unintentional flashing and restricted his movement. As it was, he saw a few sets of averted eyes as he grabbed his beer back from Justin to finish the dregs.

“Easiest twenty bucks ever,” he said with a cocky twist of his mouth as he handed back the empty can. Dane mounted the horse in a liquid motion born of countless hours of training.

His routine was second-nature at this point, even with his faint buzz. He’d done it a thousand times: front support, to leg cuts, to rear support. Hold, and then into scissors. Circles to a handstand, down to flairs and back up again. From his upside-down position he saw the guys ribbing each other.

What’s the big deal? All of them had roamed the house naked, or close to it, at one point in time or another. Hell, a few of the guys had even engaged in three-ways with the occasional sorority slut. There was no modesty in their house.

Well, except maybe for the new transfer, Adam. He hadn’t been around long enough for Dane to catch him half-naked and stumbling to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

But he sure as hell was looking forward to it.

—–

Jenna Wade http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1… and Eli Easton http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1… will be posting tomorrow, so check ’em out!

-Kimber

 


The Goodreads LHNB Thread Hop Hops On!

This week, the players are divulging details about their main characters.  We reveal three facts that are not included in our stories.  I gotta be honest, I struggled with this because I’m tempted to drop those little character-building nuggets into my story once I figure them out.

But, no.  I shall refrain.

Oh, here is a little teaser.  I plan to play with this picture to make a cover for my story, which shall remain nameless for the moment due to Goodreads rules and regulations (don’t screw with them over there!). Anyway, this is only a portion of a very tasty photo.

The bottom half of my cover. 😉

Hop on over to my thread to read my interview with Dane and Adam, and see what happens when story characters think they can boss me around.  No sir, I don’t think so.    >:-[

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1253595-dear-author—audrey—-claimed-by-k-vale

-Kimber


Love Has No Boundaries

And neither do close-talkers.

Focus, Kimber!

Okay! So, I’m taking part in a thread hop over on Goodreads for their LHNB event. The good folks at the Goodreads M/M Romance Group have a yearly event in which readers post a photo prompt and their idea of what story the picture is telling. Authors sign up to write said story to the specifications of the poster.

Am I making sense?

Anyway, I signed up for a gorgeous pic of a gymnast in his skivvies on the pommel horse. Oh, and he has a pompadour—can’t forget the pompadour. His friends don’t call him Skinny Elvis for nothing.

Elvis Presley 1956

Elvis Presley 1956 (Photo credit: amphalon)

For our thread hop, a group of eight of us are posting snippets from our stories (each on a designated day this week). Next week, we reveal some lesser-known facts about our MCs, so keep checking back.

Pop over to Goodreads to see my picture and read my excerpt here: CLICK THIS RIGHT NOW.

It’s a lead-in to my McDonald’s parking lot jerk-off scene. 🙂

-Kimber


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