New M/M Authors Who Rock – As nominated By the Readers: Part 2

As you know, I love M/M romance and its authors so I wanted to give a few of the newer writers an opportunity to shine. Earlier this month I asked you to nominate new M/M authors who you thought had the stuff to make it in this very competitive business. Most newbies don’t even get out of the starting gate before their writing careers are over and they fold up their tents never to be heard from again. To shift this paradigm and give other readers a second look at some authors who might have been overlooked because they didn’t hit the right notes the first time, I thought I would ask for your help and did you ever respond.

The criteria for nomination was simple: The author must write M/M, must be published in the sub genre for not more than a year (give or take a month or two), and must be someone that the reader believed had the writing talent to succeed.

On July 9 the first five nominations by readers were posted here. The response to the post was so overwhelming and there were so many other outstanding nominations that I decided to do it again. 🙂 There will be one final post in this short series, on August 6.

Here’s your new honour roll  of M/M authors who rock:

**************

Louise Blaydon (nominated by Lia:)

“I just finished Summer Song by Louise Blaydon, which I would never have picked up, not from the blurb alone, if I hadn’t been assigned it as it had been nominated for the Rainbow Awards, and I was just bowled over by the writing. Several different characters, POV alternating, and all with a distinctly different voice. And maybe 1955 is technical historical, but I felt completely drawn into the time/community/heads. Also slightly unusual because the story didn’t exclusively concentrate on “the couple” but to a large extent on how the best friend of one of the protags deals with it. Highly recommended.”

Here’s Louise’s bio

An avid reader of everything from New Scientist to the back of the cereal box, Louise Blaydon has been writing, encouraged by her father, ever since she could hold a pen. Her writing, like her reading, has wandered erratically from genre to genre, but has settled firmly on gay romance, to the mild bemusement of Dad. Louise also writes sporadically for various journalistic publications and has been known to print the occasional poem.

She owes much of her inspiration and support these days to an amazing network of friends, whose willingness to listen to her rail against life, the universe, and everything she could not live without. Louise’s pursuits beyond writing are worryingly few, chief among them being Worrying About Not Having Pursuits Beyond Writing. However, this has long been the case, and after many abortive attempts to pad her leisure-time resume with everything from hiking to yoga, she has pretty much given up. She does enjoy singing, country walking, making deep-voiced sardonic remarks, and tasting the rain, but has a horror of organized activities.

Louise has altogether too many academic qualifications and can only dream that her list of published works will one day be equally long.

Louise doesn’t currently have a website but she has a Wiki page here.

Louise’s email: louiseblaydon@gmail.com

*********

Mary Calmes (nominated by Beth NY)

“I would like to recommend Mary Calmes.  She really caught my attention with her Matter of Time series.  I fell in love with Jory and Sam, and since then I’ve gone on to read their story many, many times. I’m so happy that Dreamspinner will be publishing the books in print. I love Mary’s sense of humor as well as her intensity and I love when a story takes my breath away.  I know that people might say that in her books her characters are unbelievably beautiful, but so what?  If you see the model on her site that inspired her for Jory’s character you would understand.  On my way home from work my bus takes me down 5Th Avenue and it’s eye candy all the way.   One of the characters in her Matter of Time books mentions how Jory looks like an Abercrombie & Fitch model and that makes me smile because that is one of the stores I pass in front of going home.  For me the A Matter Of Time books are  a tour de force, especially for a first time author.

I would highly recommend, as I did at your site in response to one of the reviews of her books, her book Change of Heart published by DSP.

Mary Calmes’ bio –

Mary Calmes lives in sunny Hawaii with her two lovely children and her long-suffering husband who supports her absolute need to write or die. And while the Yaoi Manga books confuse him, he just goes with it. Working as an assistant manager at a copy shop pays the bills and her co-workers are always fun and interesting. Someday, maybe, she can stay home and do that which she has always loved since she wrote her first short-story in the seventh grade. Oddly enough, it too was about two men. Some things never change.

Books

A Matter of Time books 1-4
Change of Heart
Timing
The Guardian
Sariel from A Brush of Wings anthology
Romanus

Mary Calmes’ email:  mmcalmes@hotmail.com.
Mary Calmes’ blog: http://marycalmesbooks.blogspot.com

*************

Heidi Champa (nominated by Deb Jenkins)

“I’m writing to recommend Heidi Champa to you as a new M/M author. She is an erotica writer whose been published in quite a few publications, writing m/f and f/f fiction before getting into more m/m work.

Heidi was a part of this year’s Dreamspinner Advent Calendar (Dec. 09) with her story, Holiday History, which received great reviews. She has also appeared in the Ravenous Romance collections I Kissed a Boy and Tight Ends, and recently, the Dreamspinner collection Necking. According to her website, her first m/m novella is going to be published by Amber Allure in August and it is called White Out.

I find Heidi’s work extremely well written, sexy and easy to read. Her straight-forward style really speaks to me, and I have enjoyed following her transition into M/M fiction writing. Because of her, I’ve begun following m/m fiction a lot more and look to your site for information and reviews. I am writing because Heidi is a unique talent and I want as many people as possible to know about her and love her writing as much as I do.”

Heidi’s bio

Heidi Champa is a typical last-born child. Snarky, attention-seeking, and rebellious, she started to create dirty stories to keep herself out of real trouble. Having tried her hand at a million terrible jobs, she bought herself a laptop and finally started typing up those handwritten tales. After much deliberation, she started to let other people read her work. The rest, as they say, is history.

In addition to her flair with the written word, she knows every sentence of the movie Clue by heart and bakes a mean Funny Cake. When she is not writing, she can be found reading, hiking, or filling her iPod with more music. Her life has taken her all over the world, but a piece of her heart will always be in Australia. She currently lives in Pennsylvania with her husband. Her greatest wish is that her sarcasm would translate better in the written form.

Visit Heidi’s web site at http://heidichampa.blogspot.com
Heidi’s email: hlchampa@comcast.net

****************

Kate McMurray (nominated by Anna Nikkita)

My current favorite new author is Kate McMurray. She wrote In Hot Pursuit, which I really enjoyed because it had a lot of action and tension and it was well written without being schmoopy. I don’t usually read romances more than once, but this had the right mix of angst and sex that made me want to go back and reread my favorite bits. I looked for more books by her and that’s when I realized that this was her first book, so when I saw your post, I thought it might be nice to recommend her since she’s just starting out.

Kate’s bio

Kate writes things. She writes primarily contemporary romance and romantic suspense. Sometimes she gets adventurous and tackles historical fiction. She’s kind of afraid of werewolves. Kate is a big nerd with an English lit degree who reads a lot and sometimes gets long-winded about writing, genre, and fiction tropes. Or she’s just long-winded generally.

By day, Kate is a nonfiction editor. Also, she is crafty (mostly knitting and sewing, but she also wields power tools), she plays the violin, and she dabbles in various other pursuits. She’s maybe a tiny bit obsessed with baseball. She lives in Brooklyn, NY, with a presumptuous cat.

Kate’s website: http://www.katemcmurray.com/
Kate’s email: kate@katemcmurray.com

**************

P.D. Singer (nominated by Eden Winters)

“I’d like to recommend someone who may not be so widely known: P.D. Singer. She turns out quality, consistent work, but doesn’t get the recognition of some other authors. I’m not sure why. She’s also very prolific, and has volunteered her proofreading skills and assistance to anyone who asked. She’s also a staunch supporter of other writers. If someone posts an “I got a great review” message on the Torquere Social page, it’s a pretty sure bet that they’ll get congratulated by Singer, and if they post an “I’ve had a bad day” thread, she’ll offer words of support. Her characters Jake and Kurt, from The Mountain series, are among my favorite of the genre.

She’s also the driving force that took me from reader to writer, and was the one who introduced me to your fabulous site.”

P.D. Singer’s bio

P.D. Singer’s consolation for a blown identity as an international spy is to proofread top-secret documents, conduct clandestine experiments in ethanol chemistry, and write m/m stories. Based now in Colorado, she camps, hikes, and skis at every opportunity, giving her a new way to come in from the cold. She has been known to wrestle skunks for the last marshmallow and win. She regrets taking up raising Poison Dart Frogs because the tanks are so dangerous to clean, but regrets nothing about her propensity to tell tall tales.

Books

Fire on the Mountain
Snow on the Mountain
Fall Down the Mountain

Shorts:

Mistletoe on the Mountain
8 Seconds on the Mountain
On Call: Dancing
On Call: Afternoon
O’Carolan’s Seduction
and, as part of the Walking the Plank anthology: Canons and Honor

P.D. Singer’s website: http://pdsinger.wordpress.com/
email :  pd.singer@live.com