Tag: fiction

The Meaning of Life… or at least names

The Meaning of Life… or at least names

by fnmanning ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Okay, this post doesn’t discuss the meaning of life, unless you mean the Monty Python movie, which I will discuss now to say that I thought it was alright. I saw it in like fourth grade after I watched and loved Holy Grail and I didn’t think MOL was as good but I would likely appreciate it more now.

Actually, I do have a guess about the meaning of life: dogs. That’s it. Just dogs. Dogs are totally the meaning of life.

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Anyway, I wanted to discuss name meanings. My book What Love Means came out in April, and April is also the name of a character, the little sister of one of the protagonists. Apparently I like month names because the last name of another character is March.

I wondered what April meant; did it have a cool name meaning? If you’re named April, does your name just mean the fourth month of the year? No, it’s a little better than that. April is latin (isn’t everything?) and means open.

Then I wondered what my other characters names meant? Brendan is the other little sibling in the book and his name means brave.

Calvin goes by Cal. He got the short end of the stick. His name means bald, but I promise he has hair.

Max means greatest. I think Max would be very pleased with his name meaning and Cal’s while Cal would not be amused.

What Love Means is available on Amazon. Here’s an excerpt from the first chapter:

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Max                                                                                                           

Bodies filled the decrepit, rusting building while the chilly night air had many openings to invade the space inside the run-down walls of the old warehouse. Maybe that was why several empty barrels held fires or maybe that was for ambiance. It didn’t seem like this forgotten place would have any electricity, yet someone somehow got music playing.

People cheered and danced while the booze flowed liberally. Then glow sticks appeared. This was going to turn into a rave. I fucking hated raves. I missed the days when it was just me and the guys breaking into some ramshackle place that no one even used or cared about but went through the trouble of locking anyway.

And now snobs infiltrated the party, their stares boring into me – the scowling guy who filled out his leather jacket – with disdain and grudging interest. Rich kids were all the same, with critical eyes and upturned noses, both envious and judging of those below them. Good to fool around with sometimes but that was all they were good for.

Read more ›

What Love Means release!

What Love Means release!

by fnmanning ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

After much excitement and anticipation, What Love Means is officially available! Yes, a lot of the anticipation and excitement was from me. It still counts. Thank you to everyone who downloaded the sample. I hope you enjoy the book! It’s more than 300 pages and is on Kindle Unlimited too.

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Max is a walking bad boy cliché; Cal shouldn’t want anything to do with him. Cal is everything Max hates about rich people, but he comes in the prettiest package.

Can you spell sexual tension? They can. Can you spell love? Okay, that’s a pretty easy word to spell. Cal and Max can spell it, but they don’t what it means. They’re about to find out.

Available here

 

 

 

 

This is also the last day to enter my contest for 10 queer YA books, so enter while you still can!

Here’s a snippet from the book:

The purr of the motorcycle sent vibrations up my thighs. The wind whistled in my ears as I shot around a corner. I leaned into the motion and tightened my grip on the handlebars. A jolt of adrenaline zinged down my spine as I relied on skill and luck to carry me through. I felt invincible as I raced down back alleys and reveled in the soaring sensation that came from rushing down the road.

I parked my motorcycle at the latest worn-down, abandoned warehouse that had turned into a party spot for vagrants like me. While I hadn’t had anything to drink yet, the ride made me feel buzzed and on top of the world. I guess that’s what people meant by a natural high. Huh. I normally go for the unnatural highs when offered, but being on a bike almost beat anything drugs or alcohol could do.

Almost. It depended on whether a guy was pressed up behind me on the bike or not.

The lot held bikes and beat up cars along with some kids I recognized from school, but the Lexus’s, Audis, and BMWs made me sigh. Even in the dim light they sparkled. Some rich kids from a prep school must have wrangled an invite to see what the kids from the ‘other side of the tracks’ got up to. My friends loved scoring with the yuppies who did things with them no self-respecting girls could do with their boyfriends while the girls loved hooking up with someone their parents would disapprove of.

Too much hassle for me. Besides, I gave up girls years ago.  I didn’t know the preppy kids at this party and didn’t care about them. Until I saw him.


 

 

What Love Means- April 15 Release!

What Love Means- April 15 Release!

by fnmanning ♥ 1 Comment

It’s almost here! My new book What Love Means will be released on April 15. You can order it here. As a celebration, I’m giving away ten gay YA romances and you can enter here.

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What Love Means

Can two opposites turn their attraction into something more?

On the surface Max Keller and Calvin Winthrop-Scott should repel each other. Between their shared past that ended badly and their polar opposite personalities, there should be no love in their love/hate relationship. They have nothing in common. Except for their attraction to each other.

A friendship between their siblings and the kid’s shared interest in spelling bees brings the former best friends back together. Neither one of them wants to be friends anymore, but can they admit to themselves and everyone else that they want something more?

Max and Cal know how to spell love, but they’re about to find out what it means.

This high school romance features a bad boy with a soft spot for his little sister and a prep school brat whose perfect world is about to get more complicated. In this teen LGBTQ story, opposites attract, enemies become lovers and a second chance means two old friends could become more.

Excerpt:

 

Our jibes weren’t really antagonistic or biting, and the mood had turned almost playful. I only realized once it ended. Max scowled and his hands clenched. Oh well, I might as well take the advantage when it’s offered. “Touch a nerve?” I asked.

Just when I thought I might get the upper hand, Max smirked. “You touched more than that,” he leered. His face turned wolfish. I wanted to smack that look off his face or bite and kiss it away.

It was my turn to grimace. “About that.” I couldn’t let my stupid libido win. I had to be reasonable about this. Being reasonable and careful was as easy as breathing for me. Except when Max was around.

“We should keep it between us?” he whispered, sounding mocking as he stepped closer. We probably looked ridiculous: two teens outside a library acting like we were auditioning for West Side Story as we postured and glared. Or maybe Romeo and Juliet. “Well, what’s in it for me if I do?” he flirted.

“The feeling of being a good and decent person?” I suggested, struggling not to lean into the tempting heat of his body.

“Maybe I’d rather feel you instead.” His hands ghosted right above my chest. I prided myself on not moving into the touch. It was just a little chilly out suddenly, and his broad, hot body next to mine was alluring. Because of the temperature. It’s not like I had a leather jacket to keep the cold at bay.

“This doesn’t have to be a big thing,” I said and immediately realized my mistake.

Max grinned. “Oh, you didn’t just say big thing.”

I made a frustrated noise. “Can you take anything seriously?”

“Do you wanna see what I can take?” he shot back. I was the one to walk away this time even though Max followed merrily after me.

“Is this what we’re going to do? Just annoy each other to death?” I asked while he trailed behind me.

“Why, you can’t handle it?” Max caught up and stopped me before I entered the library. His hand was on my arm where I wore a navy long-sleeved shirt; the heat of his hand bled through easily. I didn’t say anything. “Hello?” he asked after a few moments.

I thought of and rejected several responses to his question. “I just don’t know how to answer in a way that won’t sound like an innuendo,” I admitted.

His lips pressed together in a mocking pout. “You’re no fun.”

“You’ll stop teasing me then?”

His eyes sparkled with mischief. “I didn’t say that.”

Yeah, I didn’t think it would be that easy.

 

 

One Little Word Excerpt

One Little Word Excerpt

by fnmanning ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

The hallway was quiet, just us truants, so Mrs. Sharp’s heels clicking on the tiles were loud, followed by a chastised boy, head down and grumbling under his breath. A small throng of jocks trailed behind them.

Alicia and I slowed to watch the scene.

“The rest of you get to class,” she ordered and they scurried off, leaving their leader alone. Luke Chambers. We were a relatively large community, for a farming town at least, so it was possible to not know everyone in your class, though you’d probably recognize their face if not their name. He definitely had the kind of face a boy like me remembered and a body that made me salivate. Everyone knew Luke Chambers though.

He was an all-star, a golden boy. The kind of guy kids like me dream of and don’t tell anyone about. Hot shots like him only dated cheerleaders and mean girls, and oh yeah, just girls in general. I didn’t spend much time thinking about Luke, even though he had dimples and an enticing, toned body. He was hot but an asshole. He thought he was better than everyone else, that was obvious when he had the audacity to hold the door when Mrs. Sharp tried to open it. Rumor was she was the inspiration for Medusa, her glare turned mere mortals to stone. She feasted on the souls of students who displeased her to remain young. No one tried to talk back to her. Unless you were Luke Chambers.

“Please, it wasn’t a big deal.” There were those dimples as he shot her a winning smile. I couldn’t see her react, but if was it like her reaction to everything else, she remained unmoved. I could almost feel the displeased aura radiating off her, and I soaked it in, enjoying the normally perfect, unshakeable athlete’s moment of unease.

“Mr. Chambers, you’ll be lucky if you aren’t expelled.”

There were kids in third world countries that had a harder life than me, I knew that. I may indulge in overdramatics about my suffering sometimes, we all have our ways to cope, but my life probably wasn’t that bad on a cosmic level. Still. Watching Luke Chamber’s face fall as he headed to the gallows, possibly to be expelled, felt like a reward for the torment I endured daily. God smiling on me, saying here’s something to help you get through the day.

“What do you make of that?” Alicia asked.

I smiled. “Karma’s a bitch.”

***

One Little Word is available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited. If you’d like a free copy to review, please let me know.