Love Bytes gives a warm welcome to author TJ Masters joining us today to talk about his new release: “Ursa Major”.
Check out the exclusive excerpt below!
Welcome TJ 🙂
My latest novel is now available in paperback from Amazon and in Digital format from KU. This tale is a little different from your average M/M romance story. Yes it has a scientific setting but it’s not science fiction. The Rosetta spacecraft in the story is completely real as is the comet itself and the events on it’s journey all happened in 2014 and 2015 exactly as described. All the factual data in the story is real but the people, the University, the Observatory and the TV appearances are all fictional. This is a modern twist on a May to December romance which is full of true love mutual respect.
Blurb:
Professor Ken Arnold—known to his devoted observatory team as Ursa Major, the Big Bear—is happiest with his eyes fixed on the stars. As director of the Cheshire Ridge Observatory, he leads the mission tracking the Rosetta Satellite on its historic journey to rendezvous with a comet racing through the solar system.
Joey Spencer, the observatory’s brilliant young geology PhD. student, is known to everyone as Rock Boy. Charming, confident, and full of stories about his adventures on Manchester’s gay scene, Joey appears to have the world at his feet. Yet behind his easy smile lies a secret: the man he truly wants is the one who always keeps him at arm’s length.
Ken has spent months convincing himself that Joey could never return his feelings. As mentor and student, there are lines he refuses to cross, no matter how fiercely his heart aches whenever Joey is near. But as long nights under the stars and extraordinary events unfolding millions of miles from Earth bring them ever closer, the bond between them becomes impossible to ignore.
With a little help from two remarkable women—one reaching out from the vastness of space, the other determined to shake up life at the university—Ken and Joey are forced to confront the truth of what lies between them.
Sometimes the greatest leap of faith isn’t into the unknown depths of space, but into the arms of the person who has been waiting for you all along.
A heartwarming romance about love, courage, and discovering that even among the stars, the brightest place to belong is with each other.
BUY LINKS:
Amazon https://tinyurl.com/75cntxbt
Amazon KU https://tinyurl.com/mkw5869m
‘Rock Boy’ (Joey) confronts ‘Ursa Major’ (Ken) about his feelings:
“Joey. For now I want you to look after Ken for me. I want you to be his minder, babysitter, personal assistant and best friend. He is not only a valuable member of my staff but he is a dear friend. Oh, and one other thing,” We both looked at her. “I cannot pretend to know how this stuff works but for heaven’s sake do something about your feelings for him.” I think we both looked shocked. Joey stared at her, his eyes wide. “He’s a proud stubborn old fool who needs a good kick up the arse at times,”
“Julia!” I was both shocked and embarrassed. “Don’t mind her Joey.”
Joey licked his lips. “How did you know?”
“Silly boy.” She replied. “I’m a woman and it’s one of our super-powers. Of course I know.”
Aaron appeared in the office doorway.
“Vice-Chancellor you’re needed outside.”
Julia swept out of the room to organise some new unsuspecting victims. I looked at Joey who was sitting on my desk staring at me.
“What’s up?” As if I didn’t know.
“Is she right about you and I?”
“Oh don’t worry about that.” I dismissed it with a wave of my hand.
“What if I agree with her? You must know that I have feelings for you? Joey looked uncharacteristically serious. “Am I wasting my time?”
“Everyone knows what a fun-loving lad you are, Joey. You don’t need an old, dry as dust academic attached to you.”
Joey stood up and came over to sit next to me.
“But maybe that’s exactly what I want, Ken. In fact, I really can’t think of anything better and if I hadn’t known before, I definitely do now.”
“What do you mean?”
“Earlier when you were addressing the nation on TV….” He ignored my snort at this. “You spoke about the value of space exploration. I felt so much pride and love for you sweep over me that I almost cried with the joy of it.”
“Oh wow! Really?”
“Yes really.” Joey grabbed my hand. “So what are you going to do about it?”
“I’m not sure that now is a good time but we will come back to it I promise.” In truth I had no idea where this could go, but Joey’s face at that moment was lit by the most amazing smile. He leaned in the kiss my forehead just as Julia returned again. We both pulled back sharply and sat looking at her like a pair of chastened schoolboys. She burst out laughing.
“You should see your faces!” She was loving the moment. “I’m glad to see that you are taking your role here seriously, Joey.
“There are no promises, Julia,” I tried to mollify her. “So stop bullying me, will you. You know I don’t like being pressured into anything.”
“I’ll make sure you get plenty of notice to buy a new hat.” Joey was back to being his playful self.
“Just make sure that you do, young man.”
Now in his 70th year, author T.J. Masters lives in Hertfordshire, just to the north of London, England, with his husband of 44 years.
TJ enjoys the love of his ever growing Irish family. Most of them live nearby, although some of the youngsters have now begun to spread across the globe.
In 2009, TJ took early retirement from a long teaching career in order to forge a new path. After qualifying as a life coach and NLP Practitioner, he found himself coaching a couple of would be authors and this rekindled his own desire to tell stories and get published.
With a lifelong passion for books, storytelling, and the sharing of knowledge, TJ woke up to the fact that he had stories to tell and books to write, but less than half a lifetime left to do it in. As for the kind of books he writes, lets just say that with some 55 years, experience living as a gay man, and much of that in the BDSM lifestyle, he has a ready stock of material and characters waiting to be written about.
From warm, cozy romances, to spicy encounters, the T.J. Masters universe has something for everyone.
