Samantha Sommersby Joins The Race!

...and no sooner did I finish the post below then Samantha threw her pink-ribboned hat in the ring!

So, go visit Samantha Sommersby at her MySpace blog and leave her a comment as well. This is really developing into a kick-ass grass roots program.

Yay, Samantha!

"Comments For The Cure!" Hitting High Gear

Three more authors have joined Alison Kent in her great promotion to buy copies of Coming Together: For The Cure based on the number of blog comments they receive. Jessica D. Russell, Tilly Greene and now author and Phaze publisher Kathryn Lively (Way to go, Boss!!!!)

And now AllRomance eBooks is waving their commission on the title for the remainder of 2007! Totally unasked for and out of the goodness of their own hearts. Wow... corporations giving back to the community and willing to wave profits? Imagine if the oil companies were willing to give back a similar amount of their relative income... the possibilities are mind-boggling.

Please support these efforts!

A Review For Mixed Blessings!

Anne from CK2S Kwips & Kritiques reviewed Phaze Fantasies II a little while back, but I don't think I ever posted about it....so better late than never. It is the only review I have seen for this work so far.

Anne says:

Mixed Blessings has a solid voice with Jim as the first person narrator. Will Belegon does an excellent job at making all of the characters really spring to life despite the brevity of the tale. The sex scenes were sizzling hot! The numerous plot twists were impressive as I have to admit I felt compelled to keep reading if only to see how things would turn out. What a well done story!

Thank you, Anne! Believe it or not, I often feel like I must really suck because my sales are basically about the same as the most recent "Zamfir Plays The Blues" album from K-Tel. So it is always nice to know someone is out there enjoying my work.

In other words...

HELLO! Feedback Slut here! If you read it and liked it (or read it and think I need psychiatric care or at least a good editing), please find a way to tell me, through email or comments here or any other way you know of that comes to mind. Anyone that sends me feedback and references this post gets a free autographed denim bookmark! (Of course, if you want the bookmark you will have to include the address to send it to...)

Comments For The Cure!

It's energizing to be making a contribution to the betterment of humanity. Even to be associated with one in which I am less directly involved is a very positive feeling. To have the efforts of my Coming Together compatriots recognized in unsolicited areas that further the original effort simply increases those feelings.

Author Alison Kent is making such an effort. She stumbled across the book trailer for Coming Together:For The Cure and is doing something about it. She has placed a post on her blog about the release and the cause and has pledged to buy one copy for every ten comments she gets, then give them away as prizes. In this way she will further Coming Together's efforts directly by contributing to it's profits and sales and indirectly by increasing it's visibility. The effort is located at her blog here.

Coming Together:For The Cure was released electronically two weeks ago, with print in it's near future. Like the prior volumes, all profits are being donated to charity, in this case the Susan G. Komen Foundation for fighting breast cancer.

Please visit Alison's blog and leave her a note about how you appreciate what she is doing and also contribute to her efforts. Thank you.

There's Always Another Scam Out There...

I hope that everybody out there knows by now that they haven't won a lottery they never entered and that no Nigerian millionaire left any money in cashiers checks that are magically made out to you.

Certainly, I'm well aware of these. But I must admit that using another venue got my hopes up before creating a big sigh of disappointment.

Spammers are using careerbuilder.com, monster.com and other such sites as a resource to get people to fill out personal information on "job applications." Since the first one I received was actually well tailored to the job search I am following, I got suckered in pretty quickly. That one was from a company calling itself National Human Resources and was for an "Event Planner" position. The "job" advertised fit with my salary level requirements and seemed to be a proper fit for my skill set. I went ahead and filled in a "profile", including my education level and last few jobs. Luckily, I didn't get asked for my social security number. I'd like to think I would have been smart enough to not provide it had they asked...but I wasn't smart enough to catch the other red flags, was I?

But now I'm getting ads for things like "Talent Scout" from Too Spoiled, and ads to be a tutor for $50.00 an hour. $50.00 an hour to tutor at Good Grades Now!. Um, hello? How many TEACHERS out there are making fifty bucks an hour? And you expect me to believe that this is a going rate for tutors? Without the six to eight years of school? Without the need to even leave the house? I sooooooo wish. Not credible.

I guess I got caught because the first one that happened to hit was actually showing a spread within what looked like reasonable salary levels for the education and experience they were posting as job requirements. If I would have got the later ones first, I would have been more skeptical.

Live and learn, I guess. Anybody out there want to buy my first novel for a small advance of only $75,000.00 so I can get out of this vicious cycle? I mean, it's no more absurd than a college freshman getting $50.00 an hour to tutor rather than $8.50 an hour flipping burgers.

Actually...hey, I know an award-winning published erotica author who is willing to help you with your English Lit classes at less than half that rate... (The fifty dollar one, not the burger flipping...)

A New Review For Switch!

I pulled up my Yahoo mail and got a surprise today. Unlike most of my surprises in the last week or so, this one was rather pleasant. A new review (or at least new location for a review I had forgotten) of Switch, the story that won the Best Mainstream Short Story award from Preditors & Editors for 2006.

Lindsey Ann Denson had this to say about the ground-breaking story from the writing team of Brio & Belegon;

Switch is probably one of the most unusual erotic books I’ve ever read! The relationship between the characters is realistic and yet so darling that I couldn’t help but like them. Even without reading the previous book in the Erotique series, this story stands alone very well by establishing the relationship between Bruce and Mandy as well as the store without any trouble. What happens the night of the thunderstorm contain the funniest and yet hottest love scenes I’ve ever read. If you want a quick read that tickles your funny bone while being incredibly scorching, Will Belegon and Alessia Brio’s tale Switch is the book for you!

Quite a nice surprise indeed!

Also, excellent timing. As some of you may know, all of the Bruce & Mandy stories (including Switch) were compiled into a single volume this spring. That volume also included the fourth story, Closing Arguments, which is as long as the other three combined. It is titled Artifactual: Tales of the Erotique Mystique and not only is it currently available in e-book form, but it will be available in print very soon. Also, the third of the four tales is on sale at Phaze for the very low and incredibly tempting price of a single dollar! Amichu is the story that immediately follows Switch, but it is also a strong stand alone adventure and would be an excellent introduction to this world that is only slightly different from ours... that difference being of a still undefined (*wink*)but definitely magical nature. Let's just say that strong experiences leave strong impressions...

So, looking at the evidence of so many influences converging on you, who are reading this, I would say that you really ought to consider either slipping a twenty aside for Artifactual when it shows up on Amazon at the end of the month or protesting the overpricing of certain coffee companies who hail from Seattle by spending a dollar for a story that will warm your insides much longer than that small coffee will.

C'mon... believe me, you do not want to mess with the universe when the message it s sending you is this strong. Besides... I really, really need the royalty check. Please?

Only Change Is Constant

Sometimes the world comes at you fast and all you can do is hang on and hope not to get thrown too far when you lose your grip (because we all will eventually.)

That seems to be where I am right now... just hanging on. I hope to find a place where I can let go, where I can at least control the general direction of my flight if not the pain of the impact when I land.

It would be so easy to just curl up and fly, land where I will and try to recover from there. But the distance and direction are not something I'm willing to leave entirely to chance. If I can control some of it, I will.

On The Plane From Newark...

A trip five years in the making is now behind me. It was wonderful, exciting and even inspiring in many ways, although I certainly learned much and will change many things when I undertake the journey again.

I took my family to a place that is almost holy in my eyes…Cooperstown, New York and the Baseball Hall of Fame. I am, perhaps, deliberately overstating the reverence I hold it in, but not by much. Baseball is as close to religion as anything in my life. I could take Crash Davis’ “I believe” speech and change only a few words and have it match with many things I hold to be true. I am a worshipper of the Church of Baseball, although my method of worship is quite different from Annie Savoy’s.

It was not a random trip. We went for the occasion of the induction into the Hall of Tony Gwynn. Gwynn is an icon of my youth. I have followed the San Diego Padres since the moment I became aware of the game, and I certainly have been part of the Friar Faithful since their inception as a major league team. Tony Gwynn personifies the team. He is Mr. Padre. He is a link to some of my most treasured memories and to some of my most exhilarating moments that do not involve sex.

To actually be present for the moment, when a part of my childhood and a man I have always admired become an acknowledged part of the lore and magic of this game I played and love, was thrilling. To be there for the concurrent induction of another man whom I admire, Cal Ripken Jr., was a most fortunate bonus.

We will not see this happen again. Tony and Cal were both men who were as bright and brilliant off the field as they were upon it. They both played their entire careers, two decades each, in a single uniform. Although both gifted with ability, they both had to work hard to maintain and magnify the advantage it gave them so that they could keep their place in the game, let alone excel at it. They both accepted and enthusiastically pursued their place as role models.

I will return in a few years, to see Trevor Hoffman inducted. He accepted the torch that Tony passed and has a similar attitude, having passed up chances to make more money elsewhere and having worked hard to excel at his craft. When I do, I’ll book a room earlier so I can be closer. I’ll be more aware of the other things to do in town. I’ll have a smoother and less stressful trip.

But it won’t have the same thrill. To see the history in front of me for the first time. To see a ticket from the 1919 World Series. To see the bat Babe Ruth used to hit his called shot. The glove Willie Mays wore when he made “the catch.” These moments can not be repeated.

It was the most expensive and intensive trip I have ever undertaken. And it was worth every cent and moment spent planning. I’m emotionally exhausted, and smiling through it all. I will be happy to see home, to sleep in my own bed, to pet my cat. I make my way home knowing I will return.