Today we welcome the authors of Mischief Corners Anthology “Chestnuts Roasting” here at Love Bytes. They stop over on their Pride Promotions blog tour to answers some questions for us , they share an excerpt on one of the stories from the release and there is a giveaway to participate in.
Welcome all !!
Book Name: Chestnuts Roasting Anthology
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23490989-chesnuts-roasting-anthology?ac=1
Author Name: Toni Griffin, Angel Martinez, Silvia Violet, Freddy Mackay
Mischief Corner Books is an organization of superheroes… no, it’s a platinum-album techno-fusion group…no, hold on a sec here… Ah, yes. Mischief Corner is a diverse group of authors who met on a mountain in Tennessee and decided since we probably were too easily distracted to rule the world that we’d settle for causing a bit of mayhem instead. In addition to making mayhem, we publish books with a diverse range of genres and topics… we live to break molds. MCB. Giving voice to LGBTQ fiction.
Author Contact:
Mischief Corner Books Website and Store: https://mischiefcornerbooks.weebly.com
MCB Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MischiefCornerBooks
Publisher: Mischief Corner Books, LLC
Cover Artist: Catherine Dair
Blurbs:
Christmas means different things to everyone, but most often it’s all about pulling loved ones close and brightening the gloom. The fire’s crackling. The snow is piling up outside, even if it’s only in your dreams. Time to snuggle up with some cocoa and some stories carefully crafted by the Mischief Corner Crew to warm hearts and cockles.
Wreath of Fire: Smokey Mountains Bears 2 – Toni Griffin Michael’s trying to start a new life away from his abusive father, but he’s drifting and not sure what he wants. When he accidentally starts a kitchen fire, the hot new fireman who comes to the rescue is not only another bear shifter. He’s Michael’s mate. Michael desperately needs to get his act together and figure out what he wants if he has any hope of claiming the bear fated to be his.
A Christmas Cactus for the General – Angel MartinezExiled to Earth for perhaps the worst failure in Irasolan history, General Teer must assimilate or die. Earth is too warm, too wet, too foreign, but he does the best he can even though human males are loud, childish louts whom he can’t imitate successfully. When a grieving seaplane pilot strikes up a strange and uneasy friendship with him, he finds he may have been too quick to judge human males. They are strange to look at, but perhaps not as unbearable as he thought.
Holly Jolly – Silvia Violet I’m not gay. I just notice men sometimes. Everybody does, right? I notice Dane a lot, like every time I’m near him, but just because I think he’s an attractive man that doesn’t mean I like him, does it? I’m also not a fan of Christmas. Too many years “celebrating” with my Bible-thumping family ruined the holiday for me. So what if I envy all these cheerful souls dashing about with smiles on their faces? I don’t have to like Christmas, do I? If anyone could get me in the Christmas spirit, it would be Dane with his easy, relaxed manner and his gorgeous smile. If that were going to happen, though, I’d have to find the courage to talk to him and to admit that maybe I don’t know myself all that well after all.
Snow on Spirit Bridge – Freddy MacKay Alone in Japan, Finni is struggling against the constant distrust, avoidance, and xenophobia he experiences every day. He misses home. He misses his family. Nightmares come all too frequently because of the stress, and well, Christmas is just not Christmas in Japan. Not how he understands it. Distressed by how miserable Finni is, his roommate, Mamoru, offers to be Finni’s family for Christmas. Little does he know how much one agreement would change everything between them, because both of them kept secrets neither ever dreamed were true.
Categories: Contemporary, Fantasy, Humor, M/M Romance, Paranormal, Romance, Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy (Please note: Not all tags refer to the collection of stories.)
Buy Links:
Toni Griffin
How do you celebrate Christmas in Australia?
Usually I celebrate with what little family I have in Darwin. Christmas in Australia is bloody H.O.T. especially in Darwin. Not only is it hot but it’s humid as well. Which means the cooking is kept to an absolute minimum. Prawns are a must for Christmas day lunch. I don’t think I’ve ever had/cooked a whole turkey in my life. We tend to buy the turkey rolls made of pure breast or thigh meat. They only take an hour and a half in the oven. The Chrissy ham is usually done in the day or two prior to Christmas and eaten cold. Salads are our best friends.
No matter what we eat though, there’s always plenty and by the time dinner comes around you’re so full from lunch that no one wants to eat anything.
Why bear shifters?
When I was visiting Gatlinburg and the Smokey Mountains, we were told all about the fact that there were bears in the area. There are statues in the main street of black bears and all the little gift shops have plush bears and pictures of them on magnets and all sorts. So when I decided to set a series in the US and base it in Gatlinburg and the surrounding area, there was no other shifter that I really wanted to choose.
What are you working on next?
Next up for me are the edits on Corey, Frankie’s Vamp and Bryce’s Cop. Then I’m back to my contemporary story about facing your fears and climbing the Sydney harbor bridge, Steps to You. Then I’m going to head back to some shifters, which ones, I’m not sure yet.
Angel Martinez
Do you like a big celebration at Christmas or a smaller one?
I love holiday parties and will tolerate those before Christmas, but I really would rather a smaller celebration on Christmas. We’ve had the years when all the kids were little and everyone came home for the holiday. Those celebrations are a bit much for me. Too much noise, too many people. I like a quiet morning at home and then visiting the grandparents later but without all the screaming and trampling herds. 😉
Is this a sci-fi holiday story? How did that happen?
This is indeed a sci-fi holiday story. Um. Because they asked me to write a Christmas story? I tried, a little, to think of a contemporary Christmas story where the hero is far from home and doesn’t fit in for cultural reasons… Didn’t take long for the cultural issue to turn into a bigger issue, since the hero is an alien exiled from his home planet. I wanted to write a protagonist for whom all of our gender cues are wrong; who simply can’t act in a “manly” fashion since for him that would be un-masculine.
What’s up next for you?
I have a couple of things coming up – my next scheduled release right now is a fantasy titled Quinn’s Gambit about a hole in reality and the creatures that fall through it (co-written with Bellora Quinn, coming from Totally Bound in Feb/March.) My current WIP is the next Brandywine Investigations story, (directly follows No Enemy But Time) titled Dragons, Diamonds and Discord. It has a dragon. Bet you couldn’t tell.
Silvia Violet
What fabulous things do you bake for the holidays?
Each year we try out a number of new cookie recipes, but we always make gingerbread men and women, cut out sugar cookies and a recipe called Spiller cookies named after the family who gave the recipe to me. Spiller cookies are oatmeal chocolate chip with pecans and a miniature Hershey’s bar on top. They are amazing. I also make the desserts for both Christmas dinner with my family and the dinner at my in-laws the day after Christmas. For my family, I make lemon meringue pie, a tradition started by my grandmother. For my in-laws I make a homemade layered chocolate pudding that my husband’s grandmother used to make and a Charlotte Russe.
Do you have any humbugs in your family?
My husband used to be quite the humbug but after having kids and lots of encouragement, he now enjoys Christmas a lot more. We’ve yet to convince him to go all Crazy Christmas House with the yard decorations like the kids want, but he does have fun decorating the tree with us and going out to see lights.
What is your next project?
Wild R Christmas will release a few weeks after Chestnuts Roasting. Readers will get to visit with all the men from the Wild R Farm series in that one. My current WIP is Burning Up (Fitting In Book 3) which focuses on Bryce, the firefighter/bartender readers meet in Book 2. It will also be an m/m/m story. After that, I’ll either be working on a sequel to If Wishes Were Horses, the next book in my Unexpected series, or a historical.
Freddy MacKay
What is your favorite holiday beverage? How about a favorite snack?
Hot Cocoa. I am not a coffee or tea drinker so I don’t enjoy any holiday concoctions of those that people come up with. But hot cocoa is one of those comfort drinks. Childhood memories are intertwined with it. Memories drinking it as I got older built upon those. That mmm feeling just never went away for me, and besides, it’s chocolate. I need some kind of vice.
Have you ever celebrated Christmas outside of the US? Would you like to if you haven’t?
Yes. I have celebrated Christmas in Thailand. It was a surreal experience actually but a lot of fun. Seeing little Thai kids dressed up as elves singing Christmas carols in their version of a mall when it’s 90 out definitively changes one’s perspective on certain things. I will actually be spending this Christmas and New Years there, and I am looking forward to it.
What will we see from you next?
I have a short story for an anthology with Wilde City Press next spring. *looks at WIP* yup. Short. I will be releasing the third book in my Finding Peace series (finally) as well as working on sequels from several ongoing series for next year.
From “Holly Jolly” by Silvia Violet
Dane caught my eye and raised a brow, clearly asking me if he should serve Shelley another drink. I shook my head and wrapped my arm around her shoulders. “You’ve had enough. Let me take you home.”
She pulled away and grinned at Dane. “You’re not going to listen to him, are you? He’s way too much of a killjoy. It’s sad really.”
My face heated. “Shelley, please. Let’s just go.”
“Are you really going to refuse me?” she asked Dane.
“I think you’d do best to listen to your friend.”
She got a wicked look on her face and I braced myself. Even sober she was good at embarrassing me. “Shelley.” I used my best I’m-warning-you tone.
She leaned over the bar. “If you won’t give me tequila, how about giving me your number?” She dug around in her massive purse and finally produced her phone. “What time is it anyway? Surely you need a break, honey. You wanna take a break with me?”
Dane smiled kindly, but I could see he was going to let her down. “That is a lovely offer, but actually—” He looked at me and winked. “—he’s more my type.”
I sucked in my breath and stared, mouth hanging open. I must have looked like an idiot, but his eyes sparkled with heat. My cock started to harden. What the fuck was going on with me?
Shelley punched my arm. “Why don’t you go for it, then? Might loosen you up.”
I stared at her like she’d grown another head.
She laughed loudly, attracting more attention. “I’d be happy to watch.”
What the fuck? “Shelley, you really need to let me take you home.”
She shook her head. “No way. If the shits in management are going to screw me, at least I can take them for all the free tequila I can get.”
“Don’t ruin your career over a couple of asinine comments.”
Dane nodded. “He’s right. Let him take you home or at least somewhere else. You don’t want to do this at work.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “It’s so fucking unfair.”
Dane patted her arm. “I’m sure it is, but screwing yourself won’t make it any better.”
“You’re positive you don’t want to screw me instead?” she asked.
I couldn’t help being embarrassed for her, but the truth was, she was that blunt sober.
“Sorry, darling, and no, I won’t do him in front of you either.”
I choked on the swallow of soda I’d just taken. “Look, I—”
Dane shook his head. “Get her out of here. We can talk later.”
I helped Shelley get to her feet and kept my arm around her so she wouldn’t fall.
“Tom.” It was Dane calling me. I hadn’t realized he knew my name. I turned around, and he handed me a folded napkin. “Later,” he mouthed.
When I had Shelley tucked into the passenger seat of my car, I pulled the napkin out of my pocket and looked at it as I walked toward the driver’s side. His number was scrawled on it with the message “call me.” Oh my God, he actually did want to go out with me. Okay, more realistically, he probably wanted to sleep with me. But I’m not…
Oh really? So why did your cock get hard when he looked at you?
Check This Out! for a nice surprise!
Tour Dates/Stops:
20-Nov
Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words
21-Nov
24-Nov
Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews
25-Nov
26-Nov
27-Nov
28-Nov
1-Dec
Elisa – My Reviews and Ramblings
2-Dec
Book Reviews, Rants, and Raves
3-Dec
4-Dec
Rafflecopter Prize:
First prize: $25.00 GC (choice of Amazon or ARe) and a choice of Tote or Mug from the MCB Redbubble store (choice of graphic)
Second prize: $5.00 GC (choice of Amazon or ARe) and choice of sticker from the MCB Redbubble store
thanks for the giveaway!
The year my husband and I got engaged was a favorite christmas of mine, as was my daughter’s first one.
Looking forward to this anthology! My favorite memory is my husband and mine’s first Christmas as a serious couple. It snowed and rained ice so much, we were stuck at college and couldn’t make it home. It ended up being pretty fun.
Dont know if its a favourite but it sticks in my mind – one year my husband asked what I wanted for Christmas – a slow cooker was mentioned (it was early days, not much money) – that was all I got, not even a box of chocs – he has never lived it down
My daughter was born on Christmas eve, so that has to be my favourite . 🙂