And the Winner is...

Yes, my lovelies, the Slippery When Wet Blog Hop is over and we have a winner!

Big congrats go to Michelle W - Michelle, I will send you a copy of A Living Nightmare on its release day (November 8th). 

Big thanks to everyone who took the time to visit, read and enter - I'm sorry you couldn't all be winners, but I promise there will be more giveaways here and I have forwarded your names and email addies to Hennessee who will draw the winner of the grand prize.

Have a fantastic weekend, everyone. 

Sage

xxx

Equal Rights Blog Hop - Learning Equality

Welcome to my stop of the Equal Rights Blog Hop, hosted by Queer Town Abbey. The central theme is “What does being a member of the GLBT community mean to you?” and many authors have set out to answer that question. 

I’ll be frank with you. Growing up in a tiny, rural village had left me with a fairly narrow-minded, traditional attitude despite the fact that my family was neither one of the old, local ones nor a traditional family.

I’ve always been different, so maybe I just tried too hard to blend in. Maybe I learnt too much from my long-term girlfriend’s family which just happened to be one of the old, local ones. They also happened to be pretty intolerant when it came to accepting alternate lifestyles or even different views, although they would never have admitted to that. Far from it. They considered themselves open and outgoing. After all, they loved to travel and explore countries way off the paths of mass tourism—which didn’t keep them from dropping snide comments whenever conversation turned to the one, rather effeminate and obviously gay teenager in the community or frown upon everyone whose opinions didn’t quite match theirs.

Whatever the reason behind my beliefs was, until just a few years ago, I thought that the ideal way to live was being married with children, although I wasn’t sure whether that was the right option for me. I’ve been attracted to gay men since my first celebrity crush (George Michael, long before he came out, by the way), so at least I’m not guilty of homophobia.

When I finally pulled my head out of the sand and took a look around, which was incidentally triggered by my writing career, the GLBT community was one of the first places to go, and guess what? Suddenly I was surrounded by people whose beliefs fit mine—not the opinions I was taught by a bunch of bigots who never even realised just how stuck-up they were, but the convictions I’ve always known to be my truth, deep inside. 

 

At this point in my life, I believe that everyone, regardless of sex, gender, sexual orientation, race, age—whatever, really—deserves to be treated with respect and acceptance. We’re all human beings. We’re all equal, no matter how different we may be. We shouldn’t even be discussing equal rights—we should have implemented them the moment we realised we didn’t have them. 

I also believe that people shouldn't be condemned for their so-called moral failures. There's a story behind every single one of us and events that have made us who we are. Nate, one of the heroes in my new book Fantasy for Sale, is open-minded enough to see beyond the fact that Cam, the man he's interested in, is a hooker. He just accepts Cam and tries to understand why he does what he does and when Cam needs a friend, Nate is there for him, offering love and support. In a way, that is what being a member of the GLBT community means to me. Even though people don't necessarily understand why others are who and what they are, they still offer support and acceptance--and sometimes even love. 

Here's Nate and Cam's story

What's the price of reality when a fantasy is for sale?

Cam is young, sinfully sexy and willing to play without limits, a combination which makes him a fantasy turned to flesh for men and women alike - and he's for sale.

Nate is curious when it comes to carnal delights but hasn't found the right man to explore his desires with.

When a friend buys Nate a few hours of pleasure with Cam, it's not much of a surprise that Nate ends up intrigued. He keeps coming back for more and the attraction between them appears to be mutual but while Nate finds himself falling for the sexy hooker, Cam makes no secret of the fact that for him, sex is just a job. 

Determined to win him over, Nathan tries to show him that sex is about more than physical satisfaction but Cam's walls seem impenetrable until a dramatic event forces him to reveal some of his secrets and Nate begins to understand that Cam pays more than just the price for the reality behind the fantasy.

Buy links:

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DP13JPY

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00DP13JPY

Total-E-Bound: http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=2177

All Romance e-books: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-fantasyforsale-1225636-149.html

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fantasy-for-sale-sage-marlowe/1115773654?ean=9781781843567

 

Please remember to go back to the main Equality Blog Hop page and keep hopping—there are loads of interesting posts by great authors waiting for you, promise!

#PrideBlogfest: Fantasy for Sale

Hi all,

Thanks for stepping by. Today is my turn in the Naughty Edition Reviews PrideBlogfest. Don't forget to visit their site when you're done here - there are lots of great prizes to be won, including an e-reader!

One of those prizes is a pdf-copy of my latest release, Fantasy for Sale*. This emotional story about Cam, a hooker with a dark past, and Nate, the wonderful, loving and patient man who falls for him has been a challenge for me to write. While it started out as one of my earliest attempts at writing, it took me over two years to finish it, with long periods of inspirational flat lines in between. I loved the story, and had a fairly good idea of where it was going, which is more than can be said about most of my books, but it just wouldn't flow. Then, one cold day at the end of last year, I decided to give it one more try and suddenly I realised what was wrong with it. The narrator's perspective.
You see, up until then, I used to write all my books in third-person POV and it worked well for me, but with Fantasy for Sale, it just didn't. Nate's voice was a lot more personal, more intimate, and I needed to let him tell the story. I think he did a great job, so please let me introduce you to it:

Fantasy for Sale

What's the price of reality when a fantasy is for sale?

Cam is young, sinfully sexy and willing to play without limits, a combination which makes him a fantasy turned to flesh for men and women alike - and he's for sale.

Nate is curious when it comes to carnal delights but hasn't found the right man to explore his desires with.

When a friend buys Nate a few hours of pleasure with Cam, it's not much of a surprise that Nate ends up intrigued. He keeps coming back for more and the attraction between them appears to be mutual but while Nate finds himself falling for the sexy hooker, Cam makes no secret of the fact that for him, sex is just a job. 

Determined to win him over, Nathan tries to show him that sex is about more than physical satisfaction but Cam's walls seem impenetrable until a dramatic event forces him to reveal some of his secrets and Nate begins to understand that Cam pays more than just the price for the reality behind the fantasy.

Buy links:

Total-E-Bound: http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=2177

Fantasy for Sale becomes available from all big distributors on June 28th

  * * * *

To enter for your chance to win a free pdf-copy, you can do any of the following (one is enough, although I'm happy for you to do it all):
1. Friend me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/sage.marlowe0
2. Like my Amazon author page: www.amazon.com/author/sagemarlowe

3. Become a fan / friend on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/SageMarlowe

4. Join my mailing list (enter your e-mail addy in the box to the right and hit "submit")

When you've done that, send an e-mail to: marlowe.sage (at) yahoo.co.uk, tell me which option you've chosen and that you'd like to be entered for the giveaway - it's as simple as that!

The contest closes on Sunday, June 23rd at midnight British Summer Time and the winner will be picked at random on Monday (Ts and Cs apply, please check the Contest Rules tab at the top of this site).

Good luck and thank you for visiting!
~Sage

* * * *

*Alternate prize for those who have already bought Fantasy for Sale: Send me the purchase confirmation for Fantasy for Sale and you will receive a free copy of Stockholm Syndrome instead (releases on July 19th, 2013)

Giveaway: TRR 2nd Anniversary

Hi all,

You might have heard it already, The Romance Room is celebrating its 2nd Anniversary with a huge, month-long event - now guess what? I'm part of it and giving away a copy of Sub-Culture.

To join the party and go to The Romance Room's website, please click the image below.