Hello! Lou Sylvre here, back for (if I counted correctly) my 41st monthly post on Love Bytes. I missed a month here and there, so that represents more than three-and-a-half years of Dani and friends here at LB making me welcome, and wonderful readers commenting on my posts, encouraging me, sharing opinions, asking questions, and occasionally having a laugh. I’m staging a celebration giveaway, and I’ll talk about that a bit later. First I want to talk about something that is often on my authorly mind.
Facebook groups!
I had one called Sylvre Linings. Started out pretty busy but faded, at least in part because I faded, and then I had to close the “Lou Sylvre” profile I had on FB, and the group closed then. I’d like to reopen the group, and I have an idea that perhaps it should be, seriously, about silver linings. (I posted about this elsewhere, but the post got no traction, so I’m starting over. Love Bytes readers have consistently helped me answer questions.)
So, the group would be to find bright spots in all sorts of things, especially those that make us happy in the middle of a dark moment. I’d hope some of them are about books—a success, an acceptance, discovering a new author, falling head-over-heels with a character, finding a line in story at just the right moment to brighten the day. But they could be about other things too. A child with a special achievement, a beautiful result in the garden, new furniture, fabulous recipe discovery, a trip to the beach, four-legged and winged friends and family, chocolate, sunshine, the smell of the forest.
Would you be interested in such a group? If you would, let me know below and I’ll send you an invite when I start it. (Yes, I think I’ve just talked myself into it, LOL.) What else do you enjoy in groups you belong to? What do you wish groups wouldn’t do? Help me out with do’s, don’ts, and anything else you’d like to say on the subject.
Now about that celebration contest:
Thank you everyone. As you know, my personal theme for 2018 is community, and I’ve been hosting some special people in features on my blog in that light. But Love Bytes is central to the community of LGBTQ book folks, and has been for a long time. It’s like a gathering place that everyone trusts to always be there. My contribution to Love Bytes is minimal, but Love Bytes place in my life is a sizeable chunk. I want to celebrate them, and celebrate the 40+ months that have already gone by in which I’ve had a monthly share of pixels at this website.
To celebrate, I cannot afford to give away a $40 gift certificate, so I’m giving away the following eight 40-word snippets from my eight currently published Lou Sylvre books (Okay, I fudged quite a lot on the word count.) Say anything at all in the post comments—about groups, about Sylvre Linings, about these snippets, anything—and you’re in the running to win a $10 GC. Pick your favorite snip, tell me which it is in the comments, and your name is in the hat twice. Correctly identify the source of four of the snips, and you get an extra entry—that’s three total. Identify six or more and on top of the three entries plus my sincere admiration and gratitude. 😊 Winners will be randomly chosen and announced when I come back next month.
Here’s the eight snippets:
LATE October turned golden and cold. Sonny loved this time of year, here on the northern edge of the Olympic Peninsula where the Juan de Fuca Straits spun past to meet the Pacific. He loved it even when it rained, pouring in sheets and turning everything around Sonny’s house to mud.
__________
“Try to be specific. Can you give me odds?”
“Fuck, Luki, I don’t know. Eighty percent? Ninety?”
“Okay. Not exactly a sure thing.”
“Hey, there’s 172 islands out there, Luki. I’m doing the best I can.”
__________
The jewel-colored glass in the windows of trinity Episcopal shone brightly into the wintry night, warm images of saints and well-loved children. Looking at them, Beck could almost believe that their promises, the oaths rendered in lead and colored glass were real, Reliable, True.
__________
That night, Luki stood out on the stoop watching stars, trying to see their imperceptible dance across the sky. The surface of the strait looked like no more than a thin line or a sparking fuse from where he stood, and the snow on the ground, the ice in the trees, answered with little bursts of light where starlight touched down.
__________
The water, hot and ever so slightly silky from the bubble bath, made touching—running his hands along Sonny’s back, over his ass, down his legs—a little bit different than touching had ever been before, for Luki. And by different he meant, damn, that’s nice!
__________
__________
Rusty felt on fire, flame burning away every emotion but want. He vaguely realized he didn’t usually want quite this hard, that the extremity of desire might have something to do with the nature and identity of the man he grappled with, but that was nothing more than a rumor behind the yearning that loomed huge, front and center.
__________
A moan started somewhere deep, and Sonny—who always stayed nearly silent during sex—couldn’t stop it. As it rose and stretched out, his pleasure possessed him. Then, just when he would have fought to regain control, Luki pushed a little harder.
__________
These tunnels are strange—several levels—the wettest are the deepest. Many miles of tunnels, and no one person knows them all, I’m sure. They have the entrances and exits everywhere, not just the ones the tour guides use. With those, if a person knows his way, and isn’t afraid of a ghost or two, he might take a shortcut half across Paris.”
__________
And here are the books they come from. Click the title for a link to the catalog listing.
- Loving Luki Vasquez
- Delsyn’s Blues
- Finding Jackie
- Saving Sonny James
- Yes
- Because of Jade
- Falling Snow on Snow
- Sunset at Pencarrow
I’ve got another giveaway (Rafflecopter) going right now too, win an ebook of one of my novellas. Go here to learn more.
Don’t enter me into the prize draw, but yes please to the group. It sounds like a ray of sunshine just when it’s needed.
Thanks, Anne! I will send you an invite when I set up the group. I hope to see a lot of you there. 🙂
I’m not good at guessing which is which, but my favorite of the above is the fourth snippet. As for FB group, I can’t believe I just find out yours (I just nipped over there to join 🙂 as posts/discussions in groups usually are more troll-free from general feed).
Hey, Didi! I confess that may be my favorite too! Your name is in the hat twice. Thank you so much. I will reopen the group and send you an invite. Look forward to having you there. 🙂
I like all the snippets. I have Falling Snow on Snow and Loving Luki Vasquez, now I just have to read them! A group that focuses on positive things would be good. We can all use a little more of that in our lives!
Great Jennifer! I’ll count that as “in the hat twice.” I’ll send you an invite to the group and hope you’ll join! I’ll start it up soon. 🙂
This is a series I’ve yet to start! Thanks for posting the discussion so it reminds me of what’s out there, waiting to be enjoyed!
Thanks much! I hope you get a chance to read the series, or at least one of the standalone novellas (Pencarrow and Snow). If so, let me know if you found the book a good read! 🙂
Hi, Lou! A silver lining FB group sounds wonderful, and I’d be interested in joining. What seems to kill groups in a heartbeat are trolls and haters. Even when the moderators vet the applicant and lay the ground rules.
All the snippets are fascinating, but I haven’t read the Luke and Sonny books–YET!
Quote: the jewel-colored glass. From Falling Snow on Snow
Quote: Rusty felt on fire. From Sunset at Pencarrow
Quote: These tunnels are strange. From Saving Sonny James
Congratulations on your 41st monthly Love Bytes post.
Thank you, thank you, Judy, and it’s so wonderful to see you here. Good work on the snippets! I’ll send you an invite when I start the group up—very soon.
Hi Lou. Thank you for the interesting post. I’m not much of a social media user but think the platform would be something fun for readers who are.
Thanks, HB!
I’d definitely be interested in your FB group. Vasquez & James series is one of my very favourites. The first one is from Yes. The fifth is from Finding Jackie. Seventh is from Loving Luki Vasquez, the Eighth one is from Saving Sonny James
I loved the tunnels book, Saving Sonny James. And I really did cry over Delsyn. And I hope I say Luki right, but somehow I bet I’m not. I say it like Lookie (like zoo). I love all the cultures in these stories.
Hi Heather! You are in the hat three times, and yes, you’re saying Luki right. 🙂 I will send you a group invite—glad you’re interested in joining! Thank you much! <3
Thank you! I would be interested in the facebook group, of course. As for the snippets, I like them all 😉
Hi Susana! Great! I’ll send you an invite when I get the group going. I’ll be so happy to have you there. And okay, that will count for the extra entry. You’re in the hat twice. Thank you! 🙂
Yes, I would love to be part of your group. I’ve found out in the last few years that most authors keep readers updated over FB rather on their own blogs and sites. Even more so if they have a groups.
Hi Serena! It’s true, what you said, and maybe the reason is FB is an easier place to gather. I do try to update my blogs when I have news, but I also use it for events, hops, features, and other authors’ blog tours, so finding the ‘news’ about me there might be kind of a challenge, I admit. I am happy you’re interested in the group! I have set it up, just yesterday, and will send you an invite! Thank you much! 🙂