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Tag Archives Ace-High Flush

book gourmet
First Course — The Amuse Bouche

Whispered Pain (by Ashley Fontainne): “Who am I? Where am I? How do I escape this black void? Help. Please, help me.”

The Scarlett Mark (by Shelley Kassian): “A Lord cursed. A Princess cast aside. A Mark that could change everything!”

Second Course — The Appetizer

Changing it up a little this week, I’m sharing one of my favorite novels of all time, The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler. You might be familiar with the movie starring Bogie and Bacall, but, take my word for it, the book is even better. I saw the movie first, many years ago, and later found the book and was wowed by it. Since Chandler is long dead, this book is posthumously printed by Black Lizard Publishing, a Penguin Imprint for classic books. They set the price. Here’s the blurb for it.

“When a dying millionaire hires Philip Marlowe to handle the blackmailer of one of his two troublesome daughters, Marlowe finds himself involved with more than extortion. Kidnapping, pornography, seduction, and murder are just a few of the complications he gets caught up in.”

If you love murder mysteries of the noir, hard-boiled detective kind, get this first of the Philip Marlowe, Private Investigator, books and enjoy. It’s set in Los Angeles, my old stompin’ ground, and it’s quite authentic. The language is also perfect. I try to emulate his brilliance with each of my mystery-based books.

Journey Series in Print-smThird Course — The Entrée

Are you familiar with my Journey Family series? There are seven books, all about the five Journey siblings, their father, their trusted and loved housekeeper, and their spouses. Meet Ace, Deuce, Queenie, Trey, and Jackie (their mother was a poker player and named the five), Leo and Consuelo. These books are about Texans, and the main action takes place in that state on the large cattle ranch, Journey’s End. Each sibling has his or her own story, and often other siblings are mentioned in the various books, though it is not strictly necessary to read all the books in order.

The series has been available on Kindle for a while, but now the books are available as a three volume paperback set as well. The first paperback volume (Journey’s Luck) includes, Liv’s Journey and Ace-High Flush; the second volume (Journey’s Turn) includes, Spanking Her Highness and Deuce’s Dancer; and the third paperback (Journey’s Chances) includes, Jackie Draws a Straight, Journey’s End, and a bonus novella, Journey’s Valentine. If you’re into paperbacks, the set is worth having. If you’d like the Kindle books, they’re available as individuals. Following any of the links in this Entrée segment will lead you to the descriptions and excerpts from each book.

Fourth Course — The Dessert

I would like to give a public thank you to Joey Buchan, the terrific person who put me in touch with so many drag queens for the book I’m writing right now. Without him, I couldn’t have begun the work. You can find Joey at Blushing Books and Mystic Books, where he is an awesome publishing professional.

Ripe FruitF: Food

I once read an historical romance wherein there was a medieval banquet. It was a helluva feast, too, and each and every dish on the tables was minutely detailed in the book. I felt like I was reading someone’s grocery list, which was pretty dull. A little color would be great, but how much detail is necessary, and what is just plain filler?

I like food in books. I like to write some into my books. Ace-High Flush includes a scene where Ace gets to eat his first real NY kosher bagel. I didn’t lovingly describe the thickness of the cream cheese, or the color of the lox. I think we all can imagine cream cheese and smoked salmon without a reminder of what they are like. But the food was there. Unless you’re writing a cookbook or, like Jeffrey Steingarten (The Man Who Ate Everything), are writing a food adventure or criticism, there’s no need to describe every dish on the table right down to the salt and pepper. I might say that they’re “eating Chinese food,” or “munched on sugary cereal,” but I’m unlikely to say they ate chateaubriand, medium rare, with béarnaise sauce and asparagus tips wrapped in a colorful red bell pepper ribbon, unless I’m trying to make a point that it was surprising to the character and that every detail was a new revelation. There has to be a point, otherwise, “fancy steak dinner” ought to be enough and the plot should be moving along without getting into the victuals.

That’s my take on food in fiction. How do you experience fictional food? Is it filler for you, or is it your awesome-sauce?

For your hopping convenience:

This material is Not Safe For Work. If you’re not over 18, please explore elsewhere.

Horny Hump Day graphic

It’s Horny Hump Day – do you know where your hot stuff is? Here! It’s here and at the other Horny Hump Day authors’ blogs.

Life is a Journey…especially for the Journey family. Today, I’d like to visit with book 5 of the series, Jackie Draws a Straight. This is the story of youngest Journey sibling, Jackie Journey, who finds her match with her doctor-employer, Pete Kaminsky. Ace and Gabby play a prominent role in this book, and they tend to be a little oversexed (that’s saying the least), but in a loving way. This scene is from one of their parts of the book. Gabby likes a little taste of Ace now and then. Here’s the end of such an encounter involving cleavage sex. It’s 4 sentences…I don’t think you’ll mind.

Cover: Jackie Draws a Straight

He groaned as the last of his ejaculate left his body. “Yeah, honey, yours.” Relaxation crept through him and he smiled with satisfaction. There was a small bead of semen near her eye and he thumbed it away, trailing his fingers along her cheek as she gathered his come up with her fingertips and sucked on her fingers.

Cover: Ace-High FlushAce and Gabby…(sigh). I’m glad to share some of them in so many of the Journey books. They have a wonderful relationship. It’s told in the second Journey book, Ace-High Flush.

Thank you for joining me here today! Don’t forget to hop around.

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