First
off, thank you Elyzabeth for giving me my own day. ;) **laughs** I appreciate being able to stop by my most recent release
with you and everyone else.
Dirty Little Secret is
one of six stories in the anthology, Cabin
for Two: An anthology, by Toni Griffin, Vicktor Alexander, ME, Mathilde
Watson, Silvia Violet and Angel Martinez. (Make sure to see contest details
below)
Now,
you all may be wondering how the six of us ended up writing an anthology
together—it's a cute little story, one I am happy to share…
You
see… on the way to the theater…
Cabin
for Two – How An Anthology Came To Be
Last September there was a retreat involving many authors, editors
and their plus ones. It was during this retreat that the Cabin for Two: An Anthology was hatched. You see, in one particular
cabin, ten strangers came together and found kindred spirits with each other.
We all had gone to the retreat to meet people we knew online, emailed
with or talked to, and learn a few things, too. Really. There were classes. I
swear. What we didn't expect was to find, meet and make some of the best
friends of our lives.
After a night drive from Chicago to Tennessee, I walked into a cabin
with nine other strangers. Tentative hellos and introductions were made, but
the 'who are you?' atmosphere didn't last long. We talked, laughed, and quickly
became engrossed with each other. I could talk to Angel, Silvia, Mathilde,
Lori, Vicktor, Andi, Chris, Jonathan and Toni for hours about anything, and
did. We spent all of our time together, carpooling from the cabin we were
staying to where classes and meals were, and we stayed up all hours into the
night sharing our lives with one another.
During one break between the classes and eating, someone suggested we write an anthology together—mainly because we were enjoying ourselves so much, how could we not want to write together. At that moment the idea of Cabin for Two was hatched. Stories centered around a cabin—much like the one we were all staying in—and the things that happen when you put two people together in a cabin. :D
When Saturday rolled around, the idea of
leaving everyone was truly saddening. We decided we wanted time to ourselves, away
from the retreat, and decided to barbequed together instead of going off to the
restaurant that provided the meals for us. We spent a night commiserating and
relishing our time together before we had to leave the next morning, promising
to 'stay' together and write together. Technology is wonderful thing, no?
I miss them, my cabin buddies. I loved
their laughter, their hearts and how much we could came to care about each
other in such a short period of time.
It is with much love and affection these stories
were written and put out there for everyone to read. Each story is centered
around a cabin and what transpires there, but each has its own individual flare
from its author, allowing readers to enjoy a little bit of everything.
Angel's 'A Matter of Faces' story for the
Sci Fi junkies.
My 'Dirty Little Secret' story for the
contemporary fans.
Mathilde's 'Three Little Words' story for
fans who appreciate period pieces set in the 1950s.
Silvia's 'Their Natural Habitat' story for
the men in uniformed lovers.
Toni's 'A Bear in the Woods' story for all
the paranormal readers.
And Vicktor's 'The Other Cabin' for lovers
of the interracial genre.
Blurb
Snow, storm,
transportation woes, gravity well mishaps - the list of disasters that might
strand someone in the wilderness is endless. But what happens when two men are
marooned together? Close quarters and intimate situations strike sparks,
whether the men are strangers or lovers on the emotional rocks.
A Bear
in the Woods by
Toni Griffin
A bear shifter tries
to convince his mate that he's not crazy while fighting threats against his own
life.
The
Other Cabin by
Vicktor Alexander
When a young graduate
finds himself at the wrong cabin facing the muzzle of a shotgun, he had no idea
how much his life has just changed.
Dirty
Little Secret by
Freddy MacKay
A geocaching trip
goes horribly wrong, but the hiker's rescuer is the one person who may be able
to save him in more ways than he can imagine.
Three
Little Words by
Mathilde Watson
Lifelong friends have
returned from the Korean conflict and now need to fight their way through the
feelings they've harbored for each other for so long.
Their
Natural Habitat by Silvia Violet
A forest ranger and
his lover just want a nice weekend away. The bear baiters have other ideas.
A
Matter of Faces by Angel Martinez
A data privateer crash lands on
a barely habitable moon where he's found by a research scientist who refuses to
show his face.
Buy Links
Available at:
- ARe
- Amazon
- Smashwords or
- Barnes and Noble for $5.99
Excerpt from 'Dirty Little
Secret'
Looking down at his phone,
Erik Broden's brows drew together in confusion. The coordinates had to be
wrong. The geocache should be located here. Well, not this exact spot, but
where the green marker indicated it should be. He looked back up. Nope, not so
much. He had spent the better part of the morning tracking down a multicache,
moving from one location to another, interpreting clues, figuring out
coordinates and spending a lot—a lot!—of
time walking around this particular location in the Appalachian hills.
Except I must have screwed up the clue at the last cache.
Erik scratched the
whiskers on his neck, annoyed and frustrated he would have to hike back down
the mountainside to go over the last hint again. It irked him to no end to know
he had gotten the clue wrong somehow. The clues were ridiculously difficult,
and if he hadn't known some really random facts and had some interesting life
experiences in different parts of the world with his friends, Erik wasn't so
sure he'd have been able to solve the cache.
No wonder no one else had. He could see
the average geocachers throwing their hands up in defeat after the first two
hours of the find. Erik chuckled. He wasn't the average cacher though. He lived
for cracking the challenging ones. He glanced back up.
A small cabin stood where
his prize should have been. The geocache hadn't been found yet and the
caretaker promised a 'rewarding prize' for the first find. But he couldn't
claim the prize because he was in the wrong fucking spot, a spot that took him
a better part of an hour to hike to.
He huffed, crossed his
arms, and glared at the obtrusive house. For some reason it felt familiar but Erik
shook off the déjà vu and resigned himself to the climb back down the mountain.
Erik especially loved the problem-solving caches like this one. They were a
challenge tailored made for him and he was particularly good at them. To have
been stumped riled him.
I'm not going to be beaten. He narrowed
his gaze at the house.
The structure wasn't
huge, just a small log cabin with a front porch, a door in its center, and two
windows on either side. But the green indicator clearly lay within the walls of
the building, and not the area surrounding.
Some people had travel
bug hotels in their front yards. They were a place for geocacher's travel
bugs—a trackable tag a person could attach to any item with a particular wish
or goal other geocachers collected, logged and then moved to a new cache—to
rest and get repaired. Most
geocachers didn't hide caches on private property other than the hotels though.
Too many problems were involved… and trampled flowerbeds. Most people stuck to
trails, parks, lampposts, and trees; basically they hid the caches in public
places. In one case, a geocacher made a to-scale group of caches of the solar
system starting at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. You could find the Sun,
Mercury, Venus, and the other planets exploring Chicago as you went. In another
instance, a geocacher hid his caches in unique ways, like having the log sheet
hidden in a hollowed out screw.
Yeah, try and find a
cache on a highway sign and not look
nuts.
All in all, geocachers
were an inventive and fun group of people. The thrill was in the find and in going
to places you may not have thought of going to before, at least for Erik. That
and solving other people's riddles and puzzles. He also liked how he could go by
himself or geocache with a group of people.
When he tackled the
larger puzzle caches like the one he had gone after today, Erik preferred to go
it alone. He was in the mood to just enjoy the weather and spend some quality
time with himself, decompressing from his life and the people in it.
Erik snorted, shaking his
head.
There were too many
people involved in his life lately. He seriously needed to consider deleting
some of them. Literally. Maybe he should just delete his Facebook profile
altogether? It might be less painful at this point.
A gust of wind caused
Erik's wavy, wheat-colored hair to blow in front of his face. He reached up
automatically, trying to pull it back, scowling. He was too lazy to cut his
hair but hated when it got in the way, one of his oddities.
The temperature had
dropped. Even with the sun out the breeze made him shiver. Erik hunkered down,
glad he thought of grabbing his hoodie before leaving. Since the summer had
been so warm, the sun being out was now deceptive. Actually… Erik glanced up,
it wasn't so sunny anymore. A gray sea of clouds covered the once-clear sky.
That was quick.
Erik trembled again and
stuck his phone back in his pocket. He stiffened his arms against his sides,
pressing in. As if hugging himself would help him feel any warmer.
Another gust of wind
whipped around Erik. The branches and leaves around him rustled from the force
of air passing through them. Some of the trees still had their fall colors—reds,
oranges, yellows, and browns—but many of the branches were bare. It had gotten
cold so fast; fall had happened in the blink of an eye.
Or maybe the surrounding
chaos in Erik's life just made it seem that way.
Thanksgiving would be
coming up soon, less than a month anyway. November snuck up on Erik like a bad
crap. One minute everything was fine and dandy, the next, everything exploded. The
damn holiday would only aggravate his problems, too. His family would want an
explanation for his cancelation. Erik did not look forward to lying to his mom.
He adored her and she had been so excited when he told her he was coming home.
She would be heartbroken over him ducking out of the family holiday yet again.
He had promised her that this time he
would be there. Not only would he be celebrating at the house, he said he had a
surprise for her.
He knew she hoped he
would be bringing somebody home with him. Someone significant. He had thought so, too.
Then his sky came falling
down.
Erik chuckled ruefully.
What a day that had been. He had no desire to repeat it. Ever.
It had hurt. That day was
pain personified… and so was Erik. One hand moved to his chest, rubbing at the
ache in residence there. He wondered how long it would hurt. Did he have the
right to feel betrayed? Erik wasn't sure anymore.
Pain blossomed in his
toe, making Erik yelp. He managed to look down before he flew forward. His foot
hit a high root. Stumbling, his hands went out in front of him immediately. But
they weren't what hit the ground first. His knees struck the ground with such
ferocity the sharp jarring sensation following the impact sucked the air from
his lungs, leaving him gasping.
Excerpt End
Finding Freddy
Thank you stopping
by, and I hope you enjoyed yourself. I am giving away one free copy of Cabin for Two. If you'd like a chance to
win one, follow the directions below.
Contest
What was your favorite experience involving
a cabin (or traveling)? Leave your answer and
email address in the comments.
Never been in a cabin, but I did study art history abroad in Italy! The art, culture, and food were wonderful! It was a once in a lifetime experience I will always remember.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post on the creation of the anthology!
OceanAkers @ aol.com
*Tackle Hugs Freddy!* I don't need a copy but I had to stop by and say Hey. (Hey!) Love you, darlin' - such a fun post :D
ReplyDeleteMy only cabin experiences have been going to summer camp as a kid and going to stay in cabins with my Camp Fire group as a kid. We had fun. Thanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDeletethompsonem3 at aol dot com