Author Name:
Claire Davis and Al Stewart
Victoria Milne
Dawn Sister
J P Walker
Caraway Carter
Ofelia Gränd
Debbie McGowan
Book Name: Love Unlocked
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28506378-love-unlocked
Publisher: Beaten Track Publishing
Cover Artist: Various
Release
Date: February 14, 2016
Blurb:
Love Unlocked is a collection of seven short stories
and novellas - unique LGBTQ romances inspired by the Love Lock Bridge.
THE STORIES:
The Trap by Claire Davis and Al Stewart
Writer's Lock by Victoria Milne
Locked in the Moment by Dawn Sister
The Weekend by J P Walker
The Scarlet Lock by Caraway Carter
He Melted Us by Ofelia Gränd
Chain of Secrets by Debbie McGowan
* * *
THE TRAP by CLAIRE DAVIS AND AL STEWART
When Sal attends an open exam for an apprentice artist to work alongside the infamous Matthew Picard, the last thing he expects is to be the winner. But then his role is revealed and nothing is ever the same again. As he toils day and night on the unique sculpture, strange sensations begin to affect both him and the watching master artist.
Matthew Picard thought he was through with men and love. What he wanted was for Sal to help him create one final monstrous masterpiece - The Trap.
But as he observes his young apprentice, his focus shifts, and so do the very walls of the gallery.
Is it the beauty of art, or something more magical at work?
As the sculpture is created, a power is unlocked.
Can love save them, or will they be trapped forever?
Can love save them, or will they be trapped forever?
* * *
WRITER'S LOCK by VICTORIA MILNE
Spending a month in Paris to write his romance novel
had seemed like the perfect plan, but one week in, Phil Pearson is suffering
from a severe case of writer's block. With barely a word written, he's fed up
and ready to cut his trip short.
When Laurent Marceau sees Phil in his café, it sends
him hurtling into the past, opening old wounds and reminding him of the love he
lost. But, after watching the aspiring writer struggle for inspiration, he
surprises himself by offering to show him Paris through the eyes of a true
Parisian.
Finally bursting with ideas, Phil is delighted to
put pen to paper, albeit badly at first. As the writer finds himself falling in
love for the first time, Laurent knows he needs to decide quickly if he's
strong enough to return his affections, or whether it would be better for them
both if he walked away. He knows he may not have a choice, once Phil finds out
the truth.
* * *
LOCKED IN THE MOMENT by DAWN SISTER
Due to a misunderstanding, the troll that lives
underneath one of the most romantic bridges in Paris inadvertently unlocks
every single padlock lovers have left there over the years. L'Authoritié de Fée
Folklorique are up in arms. He has no idea what all the fuss is about. The
noise was driving him mad. He just wanted a bit of peace and quiet.
A spell is cast, leaving the troll in a bit of a
predicament. He is charged with the seemingly impossible task of fixing the
locks before the spell can be reversed and he is allowed to return to his home.
There are other complications, the least of which is the insistence and
persistence of a fairy who is determined to help him against the wishes of his
own people.
Now the troll has a dilemma. What is more important
to him? The only home he has known for two thousand years, or a fairy he has
just met?
* * *
THE WEEKEND by J P WALKER
Nat's been through a rough breakup and trust does
not come easily. When she accompanies a group of friends to Paris for a hen
weekend, she finds a connection she wasn't looking for, in the form of
beautiful, passionate Morgan. They quickly fall into a wonderful weekend fling
and even engrave their initials into a lock and attach it to the most romantic
bridge in the world, Love Lock Bridge.
But was that weekend fling all there was, or will
news of the bridge being taken down lead to something more?
* * *
THE SCARLET LOCK by CARAWAY CARTER
Brandon Marshall, in Paris for his twin sister's
wedding, has a fling before the big day. At the end of a whirlwind week of
discovering each other, Brandon and his lover place a scarlet lock on the Love
Lock Bridge.
Follow Brandon through six years of letters - to the
citizens of Paris, on everything from how to make love, to eating passionate
fruit - and to the lover, who is now his brother-in-law.
The locks are being removed, the bridge refitted...
What will be the fate to The Scarlet Lock?
* * *
HE MELTED US by OFELIA GRÄND
All Delron wants is to live his life with Phillipe,
but when their love lock is stolen from Pont des Art, their relationship is in
jeopardy. Without the lock holding them together, Delron is convinced they'll
crash and burn. The only way he can save their relationship is to find the
stolen lock, and that is just what he plans to do, no matter what.
Phillipe loves Delron, he really does, but it's
driving him insane that Delron can't see that a padlock is simply a piece of
metal. The lock has nothing to do with them, not really. Up until the night the
lock was stolen, their life was great, but Del's crazy behaviour has Phillipe
wondering if he has ever really known his boyfriend.
Delron's search leads him through art-filled Paris,
but will a symbol of love ever be enough to soothe the mistrust his quest has
planted in Phillipe? Phillipe always thought he'd spend the rest of his life
with Del, but who can live with anyone willing to break the law just to find a
padlock when they can buy a new one in just about any shop?
* * *
CHAIN OF SECRETS by DEBBIE MCGOWAN
Josh and George have always shared the special bond
of friendship. From days in primary school, to holidays spent riding their
bikes along the canal, theirs is a promise to remain best friends forever.
But can that promise withstand the trials of
adolescence, and the changes in their feelings towards each other?
Pages or Words: 156,000 words, 550 pages
Categories: Bisexual (1 story),
Contemporary (7 stories), Fantasy (1 story), Gay Fiction (6 stories), Lesbian
Romance (1 story), M/M Romance (6 stories), Romance (7 stories)
Excerpt:
Excerpt from Writer’s Lock by Victoria Milne
Excerpt from Writer’s Lock by Victoria Milne
Phil
Pearson tilted his head, contemplating the blank pages of his notebook, and a
dark lock of hair skimmed his eyes. Still nothing. Yet again, his mind was
totally blank—an alarmingly familiar feeling. He squinted hard, blurring the
faint, ruled lines into thick, grey barriers.
So
much for coming to Paris for inspiration; he’d barely written a word in the six
days since his arrival. Leaning back in the rickety, wooden chair, he slammed
the notebook shut, sighed and gazed out of the café window at the tourists
bustling past in the warm, evening sun.
He
felt like such a fraud. How could he legitimately call himself a romance
writer, when he was in the city of love and still struggling to write anything
of significance? His fingers trembled as he smoothed condensation from his beer
glass. His inexperience of love was certainly shining through. He had to prove
he could do this, for his own sanity if nothing more. Surely, it shouldn’t be
this hard.
“Vous désirez…un café peut-etrê?”
Phil
peered blankly at the waiter, who smiled and repeated in English.
“Can
I get you anything else?”
Phil
shook his head, and the waiter took a step closer—a little too close, Phil
noticed—as he glanced at his notebook.
“Ideas
not flowing today?”
“Or
any day, it feels like.”
The
waiter indicated towards the empty chair opposite, and Phil shrugged his
acquiescence, catching the delicate scent of the man’s aftershave as he took
his seat. “You’re a writer?”
“Trying
to be,” Phil said with waning conviction.
Studying him, the waiter pursed his full lips. “You cannot
wait for inspiration to come to you like this. Sometimes you have to go out
there and create it for yourself.”
Phil snorted a laugh. “You really think I’m going to take
advice about inspiration from a waiter?”
His companion’s chair legs noisily scraped the tiled floor
as he stood and gave Phil a long, hard stare. “Perhaps you should not be so
quick to judge on appearances. Most things are not as they seem at first
glance. You could learn a lot about inspiration from me, if you were not so
arrogant.”
Phil stared at the man as he walked away, horrified with
himself. He’d been so caught up with his own woes and torments that he’d
unwittingly committed the one sin he despised most in others: not only to judge
someone negatively but to do so with no thought as to whether it were true, or
deserved, even.
The waiter was preparing coffee behind the bar, and Phil
looked at him more closely. His shoulder-length, auburn hair was tied neatly
into a ponytail, and he had the physique of a long-distance runner, or perhaps
a cyclist. The sleeves of his crisp, black shirt were rolled to his elbows, and
a wooden beaded necklace graced his throat. The more Phil watched the man’s
practised movements, the more intrigued he became, and also more embarrassed.
Draining his beer and packing up his things, he stood and
walked the short distance to the bar and placed the empty glass down with a
thud.
“I’m sorry about before,” he said and slid twenty euros
across the bar. The waiter glanced over his shoulder and made to open the cash
register, but Phil shook his head and began to walk towards the exit. “Have a drink
on me.”
“Wait!”
Phil spun to look at him and was studied with a guarded
smile.
“How would you like to know Paris through the eyes of a true
Parisian?”
Phil eyed him cautiously, and the waiter strolled over.
“This is not true Paris,” he scoffed and waved his hand at
the tables of tourists. “You will never feel inspiration here. Allow me to show
you Paris, the places we Parisians go. If you cannot write afterwards, I
guarantee it was never meant to be your passion.”
Phil considered his offer for a moment. “Okay, you’re on.”
He scraped a lock of hair from his eyes and held out his hand. “I’m Phil, by
the way.”
“Philippe, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Laurent.” He
leaned forward, ignoring Phil’s outstretched hand, and kissed him on both
cheeks. “But we should start right away, and I know exactly where we’ll go.
I’ll get my coat and tell Luc I’m leaving.”
Phil hovered by the doorway, wondering what exactly he’d
agreed to. He’d just put what felt like his entire future in the hands of a
complete stranger. To his surprise, instead of feeling apprehensive, he was
excited to see where this journey would take him.
Buy the book:
Love Unlocked Anthology – http://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/loveunlocked
The Trap by Claire Davis and Al Stewart – http://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/thetrap
Writer's Lock by Victoria Milne – http://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/writerslock
Locked in the Moment by Dawn Sister – http://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/lockedinthemoment
The Weekend by J P Walker – http://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/theweekend
The Scarlet Lock by Caraway Carter – http://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/thescarletlock
He Melted Us by Ofelia Gränd – http://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/hemeltedus
Chain of Secrets by Debbie McGowan – http://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/chainofsecrets
Beaten Track (ebook): http://beatentrackpublishing.com/shop/proddetail.php?prod=loveunlocked_format
Beaten Track (paperback): http://beatentrackpublishing.com/shop/proddetail.php?prod=loveunlocked
All Romance eBooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-loveunlocked-1978041-166.html
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/612682?ref=b10track
Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing
Debbie McGowan author of Chain of Secrets (Love Unlocked).
Hi Debbie, thank you for agreeing to this
interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current
book.
Hi, I’m Debbie McGowan, an author, publisher
and social scientist. I also happen to be the publisher of Love Unlocked – the
anthology in which my story Chain of
Secrets appears. :)
I am passionate about books and believe in
the power of fiction to transform lives, even if it’s just for those few
moments of happiness that follow the words ‘and they all lived happily ever
after’. That’s why I write, and also why I went into publishing. I’m a
socialist, so I’m not after being rich or famous.
I’m also a mother of two grown-up daughters,
grandmother to a little chap called Christopher, who was born 12 weeks early,
and his hairy brother, Patch. Oh, and I have a Nige. LOL. He’s t’other half.
Open up
your recipe box! Give us something that would thrill us.
OK, so I have this great little book for
writing recipes in, which my gran bought me a loooooong time ago. It contains a
fair few ‘heirloom’ recipes—cakes, scones, more cakes, and lots of festive
fayre—plus a few recipes I’ve come up with myself over the years. The one thing
all of the recipes have in common is the final step in the instructions.
The most recent addition, made for my youngest
daughter’s 21st birthday (though it’s only a tiny cake), is a
supremely easy lemon drizzle cake. It involves lemon curd, which you can buy in
UK supermarkets, or online for stupid amounts of money if you can’t buy it
where you live (8 USD was the cheapest I could find it online). Or…you could
make it.
Lemon curd is a thick custard made with sugar,
lemon juice, eggs and butter. There is an excellent recipe here: http://www.tasteofhome.com/cooking-tips/ask-the-test-kitchen/lemon-curd
Lemon
Drizzle Cake
1. Preheat oven to gas mark 4 (350F / 180C).
2. Grease a deep, six-inch-diameter pan/tin and
line base with greaseproof/parchment paper.
3. Measure these ingredients into a mixing
bowl…
4oz (110g / ½ cup) self-raising flour (or
all-purpose flour + 1 tsp baking powder)*
4oz (110g / ½ cup) butter
2oz (55g / ¼ cup) sugar
2oz (55g / ¼ cup) lemon curd
2 eggs
½ tsp baking powder
*according
to the delectable Nigella Lawson, US self-rising flour has added salt, which
you don’t want in a cake. Nor do you want baking soda.
…and mix them together with an electric whisk
until smooth, light and creamy (about three minutes).
4. Spoon the mixture into the pan/tin and make
sure it is evenly spread.
5. Bake for 45 minutes, or until it springs
back to the touch.
6. Turn cake out onto a sheet of greaseproof/parchment
paper, on top of a cooling rack.
7. Mix 2 tbsp lemon curd with 1 tbsp sugar and
1 tbsp hot water.
8. Drizzle the mix over the cake.
9. Leave to cool for as long as you can wait.
10. Eat and enjoy.
The authors and
where to find them:
Claire Davis and Al Stewart
Al
Stewart and Claire Davis write about people who are not perfect. Claire
embraces the dark side, and Al the good side of the force. Their work is there
for a fusion of both, mixed often with kink and humour.
Contact and Media
Goodreads:
goodreads.com/author/show/8328423.Claire_Davis
goodreads.com/author/show/8510218.Al_Stewart
goodreads.com/author/show/8328423.Claire_Davis
goodreads.com/author/show/8510218.Al_Stewart
Beaten Track:
beatentrackpublishing.com/clairedavisandalstewart
* * *
Victoria Milne
Many years ago, Victoria
chose the words ‘watch this space’ to accompany her picture in the school
yearbook and had no dreams of being a writer. Sixteen years later, after
someone joked that she should be an author, she began the first page of her
very first novel and realised how perfect those words had been.
As a latecomer to the world
of creative writing, Victoria is now making up for lost time and enjoying every
second of the experience.
In the rare moments these
days when she’s not writing or dreaming up new plots, she can usually be found
at either the ice rink or the dojo and all of these activities are done
listening to loud music.
Victoria would love to hear
from anyone who shares her passion for writing; and in particular from anyone
who has tips on how to tame the editing fetish she has unwittingly acquired
along the way.
Contact and Media
Goodreads: goodreads.com/VMilne
Facebook:
facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004591036789
Beaten Track: beatentrackpublishing.com/victoriamilne
* * *
Dawn Sister
Dawn is from the North East
of England. Her life is spent juggling.
The juggling balls are: children, husband, work (occasionally),
voluntary work, professional knitting (notice she doesn't class this as work),
and writing. When she has time she actually sleeps.
The whole point of writing
for Dawn is just to get it all off her chest and out of her head. If she
doesn't write it down then she ends up having long conversations with the
characters out loud and her husband thinks she's crazy.
Contact and Media
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dawnsister1
Tumblr: http://dawnsister.tumblr.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/DawnSister
Facebook: www.facebook.com/DawnSister
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/DawnSister
FictionPress: http://www.fictionpress.com/~dawnsister
Fanfiction.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/~dawnsister
Fanfiction.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/~dawnsister
* * *
J P Walker
Jem Roche-Walker was born in
Norwich and moved to the Northwest in order to attend Edge Hill University,
studying Social Work Studies. After studying, she began working in
rehabilitation for patients with acquired brain injuries and spent seven years
writing her first novel, Knights of the Sun, (2013, Beaten Track).
She lives in Burscough with
her wife and baby girl and loves spending family time with them.
Contact and Media
Goodreads: goodreads.com/JPWalker
Facebook:
facebook.com/jpwalkerknightsofthesun
Beaten Track:
beatentrackpublishing.com/jpwalker
* * *
Caraway Carter
Caraway Carter has worn
numerous hats. He’s been a furniture salesman, a dresser, a costumer, an
actor/waiter, a rabble rouser, a poet and most recently a writer. He married
his husband on Halloween and they are the loving parents of two rambunctious
cats. He loves words and stringing them together, he loves sex and sexy men. He
loves seeing how far his muse will take him and he’s looking forward to
entertaining you.
Contact and Media
Website: carawaycarter.com
Goodreads: goodreads.com/author/show/13539002.Caraway_Carter
Beaten Track: beatentrackpublishing.com/carawaycarter
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CarawayCarter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarawayCarter
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/carawaycarter/
* * *
Ofelia Gränd
Ofelia Gränd is Swedish,
which often shines through in her stories. She likes to write about everyday
people ending up in not-so-everyday situations, and hopefully also getting out
of them. She writes contemporary and paranormal, and dreams about one day
writing a post-apocalyptic story—if that ever happens we’ll see.
Her books are written for
readers who want to take a break from their everyday life for an hour or two.
When Ofelia manages to tear
herself from the screen and sneak away from husband and children, she likes to
take walks in the woods. She’s recently discovered the miracle of podcasts and
spends her strolls listening to wise people talk.
If you want to know more,
subscribe to Ofelia's Mailing List:
Facebook 1:
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ofeliagrand/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ofeliagrand
Website: http://ofeliagrand.com/
* * *
Debbie McGowan
Debbie McGowan is an author
and publisher based in a semi-rural corner of Lancashire, England. She writes
character-driven, realist fiction, celebrating life, love and relationships. A
working class girl, she ‘ran away’ to London at seventeen, was homeless,
unemployed and then homeless again, interspersed with animal rights activism
(all legal, honest ;)) and volunteer work as a mental health advocate. At
twenty-five, she went back to college to study social science—tough with two
toddlers, but they had a ‘stay at home’ dad, so it worked itself out. These
days, the toddlers are young women (much to their chagrin), and Debbie teaches
undergraduate students, writes novels and runs an independent publishing
company, occasionally grabbing an hour of sleep where she can.
Contact and Media
Twitter: @writerdebmcg
Facebook 1: facebook.com/DebbieMcGowanAuthor
Facebook 2: facebook.com/beatentrackpublishing
YouTube: youtube.com/deb248211
Tumblr: writerdebmcg.tumblr.com
LinkedIn: uk.linkedin.com/in/writerdebmcg
Google+: plus.google.com/+DebbieMcGowan
Goodreads: goodreads.com/DebbieMcGowan
Pinterest: pinterest.com/b10track
Website: debbiemcgowan.co.uk
Tour Dates & Stops:
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19-Feb
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Prize: E-copy of the anthology
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