Here's a quick post to remind you guys of our series - On a Night Like this.

If you're looking for some KU Easter reading, or you need to catch up on the series before the last two books release, then hop to it! 

(Yeah - okay - that was a little Easter pun.  Easter PUN... not bun.... mmm... Hot cross buns... what was I saying again?)

Anyway - this series has a little of everything in it.  It follows seven couples through their journey to be at a single night in Perth - the Pride parade.

Wow! - join drag queen Allotta as she reveals herself to Mark's new boyfriend, Joel
Confide in Me - what do you do when the guy you love just wants to be friends?
Come Into My World - firmly closeted Steve needs to choose between which life he wants to have
In Your Eyes - super hot Jordy Reynolds couldn't have been flirtying with Carrick all this time, could he?
Never Too Late - is it too late for love for Ari and Lee?
Wouldn't Change a Thing - Travis has a thing for bears... and his new employee is perfect for him!
​#7 - it's a secret!

Good luck and happy Easter!

So this is the fourth story in the series - remember you don't need to read them in order, so if you start with this one, that's okay.

In Your Eyes
By Renae Kaye
On a Night Like This, Book 4

On a night like this, magic can happen. Seven couples. Seven stories. One night. A night for love. 

Physiotherapist Carrick Cartwright has a big crush on rehabilitation nurse, Jordy Reynolds. Only Carrick isn’t out at work, and even if he was, Carrick tends to blend into the wallpaper.

But suddenly Jordy is working closely with Carrick and appears to be flirting. When Jordy admits he’s known for a while that Carrick is gay, Carrick gathers his courage, and with the help of the most impossible patient he has and a bit of bad Italian, Carrick scores a date.
​
But Jordy wants more than just a man who hides in the shadows. He wants a man who will stand up and dance proudly with him on Pride night.

Available for a short time at 99c on Amazon.  Available to read on Kindle Unlimited.

Come Into My World
By Sean Kennedy
On a Night Like This, Book 3
Released 13 February 2018

On a night like this, magic can happen. Seven couples. Seven stories. One night. A night for love.

Steve Colvin, ex-reality TV star, is trapped in a world of his own making. Refusing to let himself be outed on television, he has lived a lie ever since. It doesn't help that his brother is also gay, out and proud with a drag queen boyfriend to boot. Logically, this would make coming out easier, but it doesn't.
​
His self-defence mechanisms are wearing down, and Steve is in danger of losing everybody close to him as he shuts them out. But Dev, the kind-hearted nurse, keeps sticking around. And he’s the one Steve is most scared of losing, although he doesn't want to admit to himself why….

Safe in His Heart will be released on the 2nd of May, 2016.   In an attempt to get to know Paul and Andrew, I thought that they could take the 30-Day Writing Challenge.  Let’s see their answers.  I will be posting their responses on the blog daily, so scroll back if you missed some.

2.  Your earliest memory

Paul:  You’re taking me back a long way now.  Sometimes I feel ancient.  But I think my earliest memory is when I’m about three, maybe four.  Mum put the sprinkler on in the backyard and me and Michael were playing under it.  My sister was just a baby, and she got all muddy.  **smiles**  Yeah.  They were good days.  Family, sunshine and fun.  What about you, Andrew?
​
Andrew:  Church.  It was always a big deal in my family, and so I think it stuck in my mind.  On this particular day I remember there were lots of candles, and it was all very quiet and solemn.  I can remember those candles.  And the hard wooden bench.  And the fact that I had to pee.  I don’t know why.  But I can remember that day.  That’s my earliest memory.

Safe in His Heart will be released on the 2nd of May, 2016.   In an attempt to get to know Paul and Andrew, I thought that they could take the 30-Day Writing Challenge.  Let’s see their answers.  I will be posting their responses on the blog daily, so scroll back if you missed some.
 
1.  Five problems with social media

Paul:  There’s a problem with social media?  Where?  I think social media is a wonderful tool for some people.  I’m a nurse, and I see a lot of people in hospital who are isolated from their loved ones and they just want to keep in touch.  Facebook, Twitter – all of that helps them.  They’re not in a hospital bed if they’re on social media.  But the one problem I do see with it is when people bring it to the gym.  There are so many guys I see who aren’t working out to their potential because they’re too busy on their bloody phones tweeting that they’re working out.  Then they have to share the pictures of their bodies to prove their prowess.  Yeah.  Whatever.

Andrew:  Define social media?  Look, I understand that it’s out there, but I never really use it.  My wife, Kristy is on it, and it seems to work for her.  My PA says that it’s a good tool as well.  I’ll just let them answer the question for you, shall I? 

Paul:  That’s a cop out.  You can’t ask Erica to do this interview for you.  There are somethings you need to just do yourself.  You seriously never used it at all?  What about Grindr?

Andrew:  Do you mean Grinder?
​
Paul:  I guess that answers that question.  Okay.



​(See below for questions coming...)

Name of book:  Hard Feelings, short story published as part of Queermance II Anthology
Date Published:   17 April 2015
Available in: ebook
Other forms coming:  expanded ebook
 
When did you start writing this book?  February 2015

What gave you the inspiration for the story?  A call for submission to an Australian anthology.

Many people will wonder about this book – What?  There is another Renae Kaye book? 

This is a short story that is published in the Queermance II Anthology.  The anthology aims to publish short stories about Australian LGBT life.  I decided to attend the Queermance conference in 2015, so I thought I would write a small story for the anthology too.

I will be expanding the story and republishing as a standalone, hopefully later this year.

What was the working title?  During the writing phase I simply called it “Queermance.”

Where did the title of the book come from?  The name came naturally once I finished the book.  The main character in the book is a guy they call Moe.  He’s bisexual and fancy-free.  He doesn’t like strings on his relationships.  And when he finds a brief liaison, he tells them that it has to casual, and if he goes off with someone else, no hard feelings, okay?

Until he meets Sam.  He gives Sam the same conditions, but something has happened to Moe.  He’s developed hard feelings for Sam.  The name grew from there.

Besides, naming a gay romantic story “Hard Feelings” was just deliciously naughty.

What challenges did you face with writing this?  The word count.  It had to be under 10,000 words.  Oh, come on.  That was so hard for me!
​
Tell us about MC1 – where did the inspiration come for him?  I wanted to set a book at this beautiful beach called Prevelly.  It’s a world class surfing spot where there are international competitions.  Moe grew from this.  A boy who was raised in the region, learning to surf early in his life, living and working his parents’ business.

Tell us about MC2 – where did the inspiration come for him?  One thing that I’m passionate about is portraying real people.  Not just perfect people.  And not just white people.

In Perth we have a lot of Asian immigration.  Little shops pop up that are owned and run by Asian families, and I love their dedication.  Their entire families seem to be employed to run the business.  Shopping and chatting with those who are from Asia, or are first born generation Australian is usual for me.

But I still get caught out.  I still make racial assumptions.  Last year I visited Broome which is in the north of Western Australia.  The town was founded on the pearling industry, and the Chinese and Japanese cultures were some of the original people to build the town.  Today it’s a lovely mix of Chinese, Japanese, Aboriginal and Caucasians.  One of the original stores in town is a store called “Wing’s” and is your typical Asian corner store where you can find anything from Chinese noodles, to fishing gear, to pots and pans.  I love Wing’s.  I made my selections, walked up to the counter, and I greeted the Asian looking guy like I always do.

“G’day.  How are you today?”

To my absolute shock, he replied, “Great, thanks.  You?” without a single trace of the Asian accent I was expecting.  He sounded typical Australian, and I now laugh at my assumption he would have an accent.  I wanted Moe to experience the same chagrin that I did.  For Sam is as Aussie as they come.

Is there anything special that happens in the story that you think readers would like to know about?  You are welcome to experience this book in its short 10,000 word form, and buy it in the Queermance anthology.

Or you can wait a little longer for me to expand it.  I will release it on my own.

What is the best thing that has happened about this story, post-publication?  I had the wonderful Meg Bawden do me a cover!  I met Meg in person at Queermance.  Meg is a writer and cover artist.  After getting to know her, I knew I had to ask her to do me a cover.  And I love it!
​
Do you plan a follow up story?  No.  This is just a short story.  I love Moe (and Stuart, who you will meet in the story), but I think their story is just this.

Something is happening in Perth.

Something very special is happening in Perth this weekend.  Sunday to be exact.  From around 2pm.

             The Western Derby.

For those who don’t know what this is, you’re probably pronouncing it wrong too.  It’s DERR-BEE – the way it looks, not the olde English pronunciation of DAHR-BEE.

Davo from my latest release, You Are the Reason, explains it well.  Excerpt from Chapter Two:

The Tav was busy but not as crowded as it usually was. I strode to the bar and waved the owner, Charlie, over.

“Hey, Davo. What can I get you?”

“Corona, thanks. Where is everyone tonight?” I looked around at the slim pickings I had for the night’s entertainment.

“Derby,” Charlie grunted as he plonked the bottle on the bar for me.

I grimaced. I’d forgotten that the two local football teams were going head-to-head that night. It was a big deal in Perth. Bragging rights were on the line. We’re talking about sell-out crowds, marital discord, and at least one on-field fight per derby played.

After eschewing anything girly, I’d thrown myself into the football scene. Like every man in my family before me, I’d had to pick a football team to go for. I’d looked at my local team choices—West Coast Eagles or Fremantle Dockers—and decided they weren’t macho enough. So then I looked interstate: the Magpies, the Kangaroos, the Hawks, the Swans, the Lions….

Finally I’d set my eyes on the Demons. Yes. That described my internal struggle. So I became a Melbourne Football Club fan, and thus I hadn’t seen a premiership flag. Yet. I was hopeful. At the core of every Australian is the inability to give up on your footy team. So what if I’d followed them for fifteen years and never seen a flag? They’d once won three premierships back-to-back.

In the ’50s.

Yes.  This weekend in my household there will be marital discord, because I go for the Dockers and my husband is an Eagle.

But wait, there’s more.

You see, my Dockers are currently on top of the AFL ladder, and the Eagles are second.  So it’s sure to be a huge game.  Any time that it is one-versus-two it’s big.  But to have the two Western Australian teams...

To understand a little more about how much of a big deal this is, I’ll tell you a little history of the game.  We’re talking about AFL here – the Australian Football League, otherwise known as Aussie Rules to differentiate it from soccer or rugby.  The sport developed from a game that has its earliest documented history in about the 1820’s.  It is said to have been created in Melbourne, which is the capital city of Victoria.  But soon the whole of Australia was playing it.  By the time I was born, each capital city had their own leagues.  The Western Australian league is called the WAFL (pronounced ‘waffle’) where our top clubs compete.

But by far, the most popular league was the VFL – the Victorian league.  It was run on a national level, where the best players from all over Australia were drafted into the various Victorian clubs, and the serious money and fame were involved.  But they only had Victorian teams, and I still remember my father going for Carlton.

Then, as my fellow Australian author, Sean Kennedy likes to say, the other states of Australian whinged about how they wanted to join the VFL, and so the competition expanded and became the AFL.  It was now a league that was Australian wide, with the first non-Victorian team entering the competition in 1982.

In 1987, Western Australia got their first state team – the West Coast Eagles.  We were extremely proud of our team, and since WA has one of the strongest amateur football leagues, WCE soon became a powerhouse team.  Converting from a fan of whichever VFL club you went for, to go for your new state team was a pretty easy choice for most.  However, in 1995, Western Australia became the first state outside Victoria to be represented by more than one team.  The strong support in WA meant there was now room for another team – and The Fremantle Dockers were formed.

Oh, what a dilemma this created in the hearts of footy fans in WA.  When there was only the Eagles, we knew who to go for – but now there were two teams.  How to decide?

Perth is very divided geographically – we have a river that runs from east to west, and most people orient themselves in Perth by being North of the River (NOR) or South of the River (SOR).  The city of Perth is located on the north banks, and is technically NOR.  Our shipping port is Fremantle, and is technically located on southern side of the mouth of the river.  It was decided that the SOR WAFL clubs would lead to Fremantle, and the NOR WAFL clubs to Eagles.

It should’ve been easy to pick your team then – SOR people go for Dockers, and NOR for Eagles.  But no.  Since 1995 there has been a rather large resentment amongst the ranks.  Die-hard Eagles fans who refused to “switch” teams, see those who did change as “traitors.”  Freo fans see the Eagles being high-and-mighty, looking down their noses at their poorer brother.  To add to the mix, Fremantle has based their club around the history of the Fremantle ports, taking their name from the working-class dockside workers.  It is seen as a blue-collar working man’s club.  In comparison, the Eagle’s home ground is Subiaco, which is an inner city suburb of Perth, and there is a joke about the car park at an Eagles game having only the most expensive cars in it.

However you decided your team, you were frowned at by the others.  And as Sean Kennedy likes to tell me, if you live in Perth and go for a team other than the WA teams, you are even more of a social leper.

My husband’s family made the switch to support the Dockers.  His mother, father and brother are all dyed-in-wool Dockers.  I’m a Docker.  I made the switch too.  However my husband refused to give up on “his” team and has firmly remained an Eagle.

People often laugh at our split household and ask me how we “cope.”  I tell them (with a rather large grain of truth) about the two rules I have.
                1.  You don’t put down the other person’s team.
                2.  On derby day, the house is mine.

You may laugh, but it keeps the peace.  We don’t get angry at each other, because we’re not insulting the other team.  And when our teams play each other, he can go to his friend’s house where they can yell at their team together, because I will be in front of the TV yelling at my team.

With 20 years of history between the two teams, there is a huge rivalry.  You would think that the two teams that share so much (ie they are both hated by the teams “over east” and both have the physical disadvantage of being the teams that need to travel the longest distance in the league) would be a great support to each other.  No.  We have the greatest rivalry.

This morning I washed my Dockers jacket, ready to wear proudly for the next 48 hours.  Should they win, I will be wearing it all next week too.  Should they lose, I’ll put it away for a couple of days while I cry in shame.

In the next 48 hours you will not be able to greet someone without asking who they are going for. 

This morning on the news, three of the six top stories had to do with the derby . The other three articles were about a murder, a mining company losing $1.4b, and an extinction threat to the numbat.  Yes, the derby rated ABOVE gruesome stabbing murders and $1.4b. 

The radio gave me the latest betting stats.  

Cars are flying flags of their team. 

The latest craze in Perth is the great “bake off” where shops are making Eagles/Dockers themed cakes, muffins and more.

All for a game where 36 muscled men chase a red ball around the ground.

Some more stats for you about AFL:
                1.  AFL is the highest spectator attended sport in Australia.
                2.  The AFL grand final has the biggest crowd in attendance – in the world.  Yes.  The 2014 Grand Final had over 99,000 people there.  In comparison, the 2015 FA cup in England had 89,000 and the 2015 Playoffs in the US had 85,000 people. 2015 Superbowl had 70,000.
                3.  Stats for the Western Derby are tight with the Eagles beating the Dockers 21 times, but losing 20 times.  Of the last 15 games (ie the last 8 seasons) Fremantle have dominated, with WCE only winning 3 of those games.


So there is only one thing I can say.  GO FREO!

I had a fun morning looking at You Tube clips:
I’d like to see that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2TO35rZjO4
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwOrUwiv4zI

Top marks, 2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCoUKnswVWw

Top goals, 2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7hD0-xTv2w

Hard hits:  Obviously an Eagles fan made this.  Had a bit of a buzz from the old footage, but wow it’s a hard game.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh5hNY83UA4

I sit here writing this blog with a great big goddamn lump in my throat.  I am so overwhelmed with pride and disbelief, I'm not sure whether I'm Arthur or Martha.  One thing I know I'm not, is Renae.  No, this couldn't be happening to little ole Renae.

No one can deny that 2014 has been a big year for me.  Not only did I release my first (ever!) novel, but I released my second and third, and my fourth is but days away.  And let us not forget my short story inclusion in the A Taste Of Honey Anthology.  It was always going to be a big year for me - but I never, ever, ever in my wildest dreams even hoped for the love for my books that has showered down on them.

And for that, I am truly humbled.  I can't even say it is a dream come true, because I never dared to dream that big.

So this year, when I saw the Goodread's M/M Romance Group's awards open, I hoped, just a little bit, that one of my books would be nominated.  I thought to myself, wouldn't it be nice if I could get nominated for just one of these categories?

So, it is with pride and tears of joy in my eyes, that I announce my nominations for the 2014 M/M Romance Member's Choice Awards.

This last one chokes me up.

I wish to thank every single person who nominated me, or who wanted to nominate me, or even thought about nominating me. I'm honoured beyond belief.  And if you want to vote for me, I thank you as well.

Voting will open on Friday, and only members of the M/M Romance Group are eligible to vote.  Once the links are up, I'll let you know. 

When I started writing, I had an aim.  That aim was to entertain.  To make people laugh and fall in love with the characters.  I'm grateful I've succeeded.  I hope you've enjoyed the ride.

Don't forget, Safe In His Arms is release on FRIDAY 28th November.  For those in the US, this is Black Friday.  So instead of fighting the crowds, how about having a nice leisurely shower with Lon and Casey?

The book is available for pre-order from:
Dreamspinner
Amazon
All Romance eBooks

Always laugh,
Renae Kaye
Humbled Author
 

Safe in His Arms

Now available 
for pre-order from Dreamspinner:  Click here.


Release date:  28th November 2014  
(Perfect for Black Friday reading.  Don't be bored!)

Blurb:  In the late-night quiet of the caravan park shower room, Lon Taylor washes away the filth of the Western Australian mines. He’s not looking for anyone, but when Casey offers, Lon doesn’t turn him down. 

Welcoming the young man in his big, hairy arms, Lon provides a safety to Casey that he has never known, and Casey wants to stay forever. Still reeling from the breakup of his family years ago, Lon’s not sure he’s ready for the responsibility of the comfort and security Casey craves. 

But perhaps Lon can risk opening his heart again and hoping for a brighter future. Casey has some pretty big skeletons in his past to deal with. And Lon wonders what Casey will do when he finds out how badly Lon failed at protecting the ones he loved eight years ago.

Blurb:  In the late-night quiet of the caravan park shower room, Lon Taylor washes away the filth of the Western Australian mines. He’s not looking for anyone, but when Casey offers, Lon doesn’t turn him down.

Welcoming the young man in his big, hairy arms, Lon provides a safety to Casey that he has never known, and Casey wants to stay forever. Still reeling from the breakup of his family years ago, Lon’s not sure he’s ready for the responsibility of the comfort and security Casey craves.

But perhaps Lon can risk opening his heart again and hoping for a brighter future. Casey has some pretty big skeletons in his past to deal with.  And Lon wonders what Casey will do when he finds out how badly Lon failed at protecting the ones he loved eight years ago.

Scheduled release date:  28th of November 2014
From Dreamspinner Press.  (Links to come)

Whaddya think??  I'm so in love with it!  My cover artist was Anna Sikorska and I think she has done a FABULOUS job.  Thank you Anna!

Gah!  I'm going to print this one off and plaster my writing space with it!