Sorry for the blackout this weekend. I woke up Saturday morning, turned on the computer and…nothing. The fan started, lights came on, but the screen was dead. Of course, the technicians don’t work on weekends, so it was yesterday before I got confirmation that the motherboard was fried, and today before I could get my data transferred over. To say I panicked is an understatement. I was able to do some work this weekend, but no writing, because the desktop computer is so dilapidated it can barely handle having a browser with two tabs open. But I’ve got a nice new little Toshiba now and things should start rolling along. Windows 8 is weird, though.

The update is that the promo forms and the cover art forms for Bite Me Tender have gone back to LI, so that ball is rolling now. I have a tentative release date (much sooner than I expected!) but I don’t know yet if I’m allowed to reveal it. Trust me, all the world will hear when I get the nod to go live with that. Oh, and still no word when Sign of Spring if coming out. I’m suffering from pre-release author paranoia and worrying that they lost it and don’t realize.

And, for the Tickle, I thought I’d throw out a the very beginning of the rockstar romance, since I’m picking away at that one, too. There’s a call in the autumn that this story might suit very well, so I hauled it out, brushed the boys off (Phane enjoyed that much more than John, but that’s not my problem, 🙂 ) and tidied up the first couple of chapters.

So, here we are, our first sight of John, my lovingly uptight little med student and all around good boy who’d like to be just a little bad.

Izzy pulled another pair of jeans off the rack as John was talking to the clerk working the fitting rooms.

“Try these, too,” she told him, piling them on top of the pairs draped over his arm.

John fished the tag out of the pocket and whistled at the price. “I don’t think so, Izzy. Starving student, remember?”

She tched at him, pulled one long brown curl out to its full length, then let it snap back into its usual corkscrew. “Two more years, you’ll either be a really successful pediatric resident, or you’ll be opening your own practice. I think you can afford a pair of jeans.”

John tried to give the pants to her to put back, but she pushed them into his arms again.

“Izzy, they cost an entire evening’s tips! No way I’m spending that much on a pair of jeans.”

She raised her eyebrows at him. “I didn’t realize rockstars and movie tycoons were such bad tippers. And the jeans aren’t that expensive—maybe an hour’s worth of tips.”

He laughed. “Izzy, the jeans are too darn expensive.”

“How are you going to snag your Hottie-without-a-Name if you don’t put yourself out there? For a gay guy, you really are obtuse.”

“He has a name, I’m just not telling you what it is.”

Izzy pushed him toward the fitting rooms. “Go try them on. Trust me. Auntie Izzy will make sure you get laid.”

John laughed, half amusement and half embarrassed shock. “I’m not looking to get laid, Izzy. I just think he’s—nice.”

“Yeah, and vascular disease gives everyone a boner during study group. John, it’s time you did something about this or you’re going to end up drifting off during an exam and passing in some eyebrow raising answers.”

Don’t worry, Izzy comes back through the story. She’s kinda fun, isn’t she?