A Truly Decadent Dessert

I travel a lot for my day job. Mostly it’s just around the country but sometimes it’s overseas. The main problem is that all I see is airports and conference rooms, except if I can sneak a day of personal time here and there to sightsee.
A few years ago I wrote the “Gay Travel Inc.” series, and the owner of Gay Travel Inc., Tyler Robbins, sent Quentin Wood to Australia. In “Gay Lovers Down Under” Quentin’s guide, Juz, introduces Quentin to all sorts of Australian food, but the sexiest of them all is the Chocolate Ripple Cake.

The Gay Travel Inc. books are available here: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Gay+Travel+Inc+series+Berengaria

Ingredients:
1 packet of chocolate ripple biscuits, or any other plain chocolate cookies (not chocolate coated, chocolate flavored)
170 oz of thick cream
1 chocolate bar, shaved or diced for decoration
Small amount of liqueur (optional)

Directions:
Pour cream into a bowl and beat until thick and stiff
Line a long narrow serving dish with a small amount of beaten cream
Brush liqueur onto each cookie (optional)
Sandwich two cookies together with cream and stand them upright on their side in the cream on the serving dish
Continue with all the cookies ensuring each one has cream on both sides
Cover the log cake with cream
Decorate lavishly with chopped or shaved chocolate

Berengaria Brown
Blog: http://berengariasblog.blogspot.com/
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Berengaria-Brown/e/B00541R3YQ/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/berengaria.brown?fref=ts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BerengariaBrown

Tell Me A Story

A group of male/male romance authors was given this picture and asked to tell a story about it.
Here's what I wrote.

“I don’t even understand why you invited me to come to the conference with you this weekend. You haven’t spent ten seconds in the same room as me all day.” Jayden crossed his bare arms over his naked chest and glowered at Vincent, not even excited to be wearing the brand new teeny-tiny Speedo swimwear he’d raced out to buy when he heard the conference center had a swimming pool and hot tub.
“You knew I was here for work. The company is paying me to attend so they expect me to participate in the various workshops and forums.”
Jay ground his teeth together to stop him from screaming at Vince. It took every ounce of control he had to keep his voice sufficiently low that the people in the next room wouldn’t hear every word he said. “There’s no workshop or forum on now. Your program states ‘Free Time. Please avail yourselves of our facilities.’ The swimming pool is a facility and you know I said I was looking forward to using it.”
Jay bit his lip. He’d had such high hopes about this weekend away. Vince held a senior management position with TekiSolutionz, and he often worked late nights and all through the weekend. They had so little time together that when Vince had asked him to come to this conference he hadn’t begrudged a cent of the money it’d cost him to buy several new shirts, neckties, and even new shoes so he’d look appropriately attired to be a senior manager’s partner.
But this free time was precious. He’d had such high hopes of the moments they’d spend in each other’s others arms in the few brief breaks in the program. It would be the pay off for him sitting silent and bored beside Vince for hours and hours during the formal presentations and speeches tomorrow night.
Vince shook his head. “Jay, I never promised to spend the free time with you. I’ve gotten permission to use Breakout Room Three with one of the sound system engineers and a video tech to practice my presentation for tomorrow night. They’re going to record me so I can watch the tape and see what I need to improve. You know how important it is to me to impress our major clients and stakeholders tomorrow.”
“Of course I know. You’ve been talking about it nonstop for weeks. But what about me? When will you be able to squeeze me into your life?”
“You’re already in my life. You know I love you. I invited you here in public as my partner.”
“Yes, but we’ve hardly seen each other. When are we actually going to exchange a sentence with each other?”
“We could do that now if you’d stop pouting and acting like I’m standing you up.”
Just then Vince’s cell phone beeped.
“Gotta run. That’s the sound tech ready for me. I’ll see you for dinner tonight. It’s formal remember. At seven, in the ballroom.”
Jay nodded, but Vince wasn’t even looking. He was already halfway out the door on his way to his next appointment. Jay dropped back onto the bed. That’s the way it was far too often. Vince rushing from an important meeting to an even more important meeting. Him coming home from his very ordinary job to cook dinner for them both even though he knew that half the time Vince wouldn’t come home to eat it and the rest of the time it wouldn’t taste nice anyway because it’d gone cold and been reheated hours later.
Was that going to be all his life held from now on? Snatches of Vince’s time when his work didn’t come first? Himself just a space filler for when Vince’s career was up-to-date? Vince said he loved him, but was that enough to live on?

* * * *

Vince had trouble putting Jay’s sad face out of his mind so he could concentrate on his work. It was even harder trying to forget the bright pink and black swimwear he’d been wearing. It didn’t leave much to the imagination and Vince would enjoy freeing Jay’s mighty fine cock from the tiny piece of fabric and tasting him.
But not now. Tomorrow night was vital for his career. Only four of the senior managers would be giving a presentation at the formal dinner and he was one of them. He absolutely had to give such an honor every ounce of his effort and attention. No way could he risk stumbling over his words or not producing a smooth, engrossing speech. This rehearsal was very important to him. Only by watching a video of himself would he genuinely know if he’d gotten his timing or actions wrong or if his words didn’t come out how he wanted them to.
But he hated that Jay was sad. Vince knew he’d been ignoring Jay lately. Well, not ignoring him precisely. No one could ever ignore such a delicious hunk of premium manhood. But maybe taking him for granted somewhat. He did need to change up his game and come home on time more often. Or at least text Jay with the time he actually would be home. It was rude to expect dinner to be cooked for him and then not turn up. He did need to act better toward Jay.
He mentally ran through his speech, and then stood on the stage and gave the presentation as if he were in the ballroom. The sound crew clapped him at the end, but he wasn’t sure if they were being polite, or if they’d liked his speech. However when they replayed the video, he had come across well. Now he just had to worry that he wouldn’t fuck-up on the night. Wasn’t there some saying or other that the worse the dress rehearsal went, the better the performance usually was? Oh shit, maybe this hadn’t been such a brilliant idea after all.
“Thank you all for helping me out,” Vince said to the sound crew.
“No problem. We still have over an hour before we need to start setting up for the dinner tonight.”
“Really? I thought it’d take longer.”
“You were as smooth as silk. You’ve got time to get a coffee or whatever before preparing for tonight’s program.”
“Thanks. I might do that.”
But instead of going downstairs to the coffee shop, he went up to the rooftop swimming pool. He half expected to find Jay lying on a sun bed sipping some exotic drink, or maybe surrounded by men lusting after him in that tiny sexy pink piece of fabric.
Instead, Jay had evidently been swimming. He was in the middle of the pool stretching. Damn, he looked delicious. The yummiest hunk of man on planet Earth. Without stopping to think Vince raced down the steps and into the swimming pool, and marched across to Jay, pulling him into his arms and kissing him.
“I love you, Jay. I promise to spend more time with you.”
Jay jumped up, wrapping his legs around Vince’s waist. “I love you, too, Vince, but that suit isn’t going to like being in chlorinated water. Why didn’t you change into your board shorts first?”
“I didn’t want to waste a single minute when I could be with you. I promise to be better about letting you know when I’m free, and spending every spare second of my life with you.”
“Every spare second, hmm? How can a man resist such a wonderful offer?”
Vince tightened his grip on Jay as Jay kissed him back with so much promise if he hadn’t been waist deep in water they’d have been arrested for what might happen next.

Berengaria Brown

Blog: http://berengariasblog.blogspot.com/
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Berengaria-Brown/e/B00541R3YQ/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/berengaria.brown?fref=ts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BerengariaBrown

Excerpt from Disputed Boundaries by Regina Kammer

Part of the NAUGHTY FLAMES boxed-set, available for pre-order now, downloads on December 1st

Click here to pre-order from Amazon


Blurb:
Garrison life along the disputed Canadian-U.S. border is so uneventful Royal Marine Braxton Thorne mostly just fools around with his fiancée Tilda. But when American adventurer Gideon Roberts provokes unexpected desires, Braxton finds himself in a war over the boundaries of his heart.

Genre/theme: Historical, M/M, British Royal Marine, American adventurer, Pig War, border dispute, gay romance, bisexual romance, polyamory

Copyright © Regina Kammer, 2016

Excerpt:

Royal Marine garrison, San Juan Island, 1 December 1869

There is an aching in my heart which I barely understand. An emptiness, a void made more bleak by winter’s burgeoning desolation.

It began when Gideon left.

A man…there have been times when a man has incited a spark of passion within. Always have I buried that desire, restraining the urge to act upon it. To do so is essential. Society finds love between two men aberrant.

But Gideon has affected me in a new and exciting way. I could not restrain myself.

And I do not regret it.

Our attachment is an unlikely one: I a soldier for the crown, he a free-spirited American adventurer. He was here merely visiting. I would not be here if it were not for this “war”—although the epithet is unwarranted. Since the occupation of this island began, there has been little antagonism. It is a border dispute, not a philosophical battle between our two nations. We British are cordial to the Americans and vice versa. At times, this good rapport develops into genuine friendship.

Yet, to form such a deep connection as Gideon and I have is extraordinary.

And for this yearning for his company to burn inside me is exceptional. Never before has the absence of a man caused such a hunger.

But what if Tilda were to find out? Would she doubt I love her as well?

Braxton Thorne rested his pen next to the inkwell and stared at the words drying on the open page of his journal.

Good God. What if Tilda found out? She had bemoaned his spending time with Gideon to the detriment of spending time with her. Might she suspect something unnatural fed upon him driving his need to be with the American?

Would she report him to his commanding officer for immorality?

No. Surely Tilda understood the flush of excitement with a new friendship. And she had been there the day they met…

 

Excerpt From SWING FOLLIES by Regina Kammer

Part of the NAUGHTY LOVERS boxed-set, available now.

Click here to purchase e-book from Amazon

Blurb:
Blimey. Delia’s besotted. With Edward. But when an old flame from Edward’s revolutionary past swings by and steams up the laboratory, has Delia missed her chance at love?

Genre/Theme:
Steampunk, M/F/M, M/M, bisexual romance, gay romance, interracial romance, polyamory

Copyright ©Regina Kammer, 2016

Excerpt:

Newcastle, England

April 1879

Professor Edward Ockham gripped the ratchet handle more tightly as a frisson of lust roiled within. Before him his lovely assistant Delia Bennett awkwardly adjusted herself in a swing suspended four feet above the linoleum, her skirt and petticoats in riotous disarray. She was charming in her helplessness. Her arms, secured by leather wrist cuffs, stretched above her head. Her stocking-clad legs, extended and splayed, were held in the air by silken slings supporting each ankle and knee. Her rosy cheeks and bemused expression were slightly at odds with the bizarre eroticism of her predicament.

“Delia?”

The sound of her name tripping off his tongue echoed like a melody in the cavernous laboratory, the gentle hiss and thrum of the boiler adding a syncopated undertone.

Delia. No longer the more formal Miss Bennett during working hours. She was, by agreement, Delia.

He could say her name over and over and over again. Delia, Delia, Delia.

Her chocolatey eyes widened. “Yes, Profess—Edward?”

Edward. She was Delia and he was Edward.

“Are you comfortable?”

She wriggled her buttocks, each pillowy cheek cradled in its own sling leaving her quim exposed to the air. “Perhaps something across my bum, you know, a bolster above the crack—” She suddenly blushed crimson to the roots of her raven curls.

The door to the laboratory swung open with a dramatic flair.

“Well, well, well. What have we here?” Sebastian Broadchurch sauntered in from the hall, a little rumpled from whom and whatever he had done the night before. He stopped before Delia, his predatory stare traversing her as he combed his fingers through his flaxen hair. “Our Miss Bennett finds herself in yet another delicious quandary.”

“Good morning, Sebastian.” Edward arched a brow. Morning had but a minute left to it.

Sebastian brandished a scowl before turning his attention to the rigging holding Delia. He pursed his lips as he studied the mechanism. His gaze followed the silken slings upward to where they attached to a swivel bolt mounted to a cable. He perused the cable to where it connected to a system of belts and pulleys housed on a sturdy wooden frame. He glanced at the diminutive steam engine then grunted in comprehension as he took in the exposed gear shaft and long ball-end lever of the control box.

“It spins, does it?” he said.

“It does,” replied Edward.

 

NaNoWriMo 2015 Winner! by Regina Kammer

Once again I am a NaNoWriMo Winner!

This was my 10th year participating in National Novel Writing Month. I wrote the foundations of The Viscount and the Veteran: An American Federalist Tale, the follow-up novel to The General’s Wife: An American Revolutionary Tale.

If you can't wait until The Viscount and the Veteran is completed, edited, submitted, and published and need your bisexual male/male romance fix now, I've got you covered with "Winter Interlude: An American Revolutionary Novelette" my story in The Naughty Literati's Naughty Chances: Take A Chance On Romance. "Winter Interlude" is a companion piece to The General’s Wife: An American Revolutionary Tale, delving into the relationship between Captain Samuel Taylor and Lieutenant Patrick Hamilton.

So what did I learn this year during NaNoWriMo 2015?

- It’s always best to end a day’s writing session with notes about what comes next.
Corollary comment: It is so great when the writing flows and a scene comes together, characters are changed, plot moved forward. But the previous night’s victory is dampened by the looming realization the next morning that, OMG, you have no idea what happens next.

- I really, really, really need to tamp down the inner editor. I try to by putting stuff I need to research or edit in [square brackets] and forgetting about it. It doesn’t always work.

- I am a combination of plotter and pantser: perhaps the word is “plotser” or “pantster”. But I do need that next-morning crutch of what comes next. So the pantser needs a plot plan, even if that plot plan is formulated a minute after the pantsing has finished.

- 50,000 words is basically a really detailed outline.

- I learn the same lessons year after year. I really need to pay attention to my inner writer!

If you want to see how my November progressed on Twitter, I've captured the tweets on my blog.

I encourage everyone who has ever wanted to write a novel to take the National Novel Writing Month challenge. If you can't wait until November 2016, the same organization runs Camp NaNoWriMo in April and July. Your voice needs to be heard and your characters need to come to life!

About the Author

Regina Kammer is a librarian, an art historian, and an award-nominated, best-selling, multi-published writer of erotica and historical erotic romance. Her short stories and novels make history sexier, whether the era is Roman, Byzantine, Viking, American Revolution, or Victorian. She’s even sexed up contemporary settings, Steampunk, and Greco-Roman mythology. She has been published by Cleis Press, Go Deeper Press, Ellora’s Cave, House of Erotica, Story Ink, The Naughty Literati, and her own imprint, Viridium Press. She began writing historical fiction with romantic elements during National Novel Writing Month 2006, switching to erotica when all her characters suddenly demanded to have sex.

Keep up with Regina on her website

Follow her on Twitter @Kammerotica

Or Google+

Like her on Facebook

Connect with her on Goodreads

See what’s new on her Amazon Author Page

Lesbian romance doesn’t sell so why write it?

People say that lesbian romance doesn’t sell, that it’s stupid to waste my time writing it when my male-male and ménage stories will earn me more money. But every now and then I write another lesbian romance. All my lesbian erotic romances are based on the idea of women overcoming difficulties to achieve their happy endings. Because all women deserve to find their happy endings.
I’ve always loved reading stories about strong women from history. In a time when women had almost no rights at all, every now and then a woman overcame every obstacle to guide her people. One of those was Queen Elizabeth I of England. Other women who come to mind are:
Marie Curie, Queen Victoria, Joan of Arc, Cleopatra, Mother Theresa, Eleanor of Aquitane, Aspasia of Miletus, Boadicea, Catherine the Great, Sappho, Florence Nightingale, and in our own day, Aung San Suu Kyi. Of course, you will all have your own lists.

My only female cousin was thirteen years older than me, so by the time I was old enough to know she was my cousin, she already seemed completely grown up to my little girl self. One by one my cousins got married but Bron didn’t. I longed for her to tell me she was engaged because I planned to ask to be her flower girl, but all that happened was that she took a job in a state a long way from where we lived. I was much older before I understood that she and her female best friend were closer than that. And it was even longer before I understood that where she and her lover had chosen to live was a state that accepted lesbians.
It was Bron who opened my eyes to the obstacles that two women face in finding their own happy ever after even today. I’m so glad she and Nancy found theirs in the end.

And, just to prove everyone wrong, two of my lesbian romances went on to become best sellers. So once again I have a new lesbian book out.

“Lesbian Lovers”: Three Short Stories in one book!
Three lesbian couples. Three very different situations. Three fulfilling journeys to happiness.
“Fist Me”: Maeve nearly fell off her barstool when Taryn, the sexiest woman she’d ever known, asked her to fist her. But is it the right thing to do? Taryn’s not lesbian, and has just broken up from Mr. Perfect. Is she taking advantage of her? Or is this the ideal opportunity for them to begin a relationship?
“Lady Caroline’s Reward”: Lady Caroline Eversley needs a chaperone so hires Miss Dinah Watkin, a distant relative. Dinah and Caroline fall in love and Dinah teaches Caroline all about sex, but the problem of Caroline’s suitable chaperonage refuses to go away. Can they find a solution and have their own happy ending?
“Stubborn Attraction”: Laid off for ramming her knee into a co-worker’s balls after he tries to feel her up, lesbian Jaelle heads to her father’s cabin in the mountains. There, she takes the form of a mountain goat and climbs, free and uninhibited. So, what happens when she finds a very attractive interloper on her favorite rock ledge?
Previously published as individual stories by Torquere Press.

PG13 Excerpt:

Later that evening, the women sat by the fire in the book room, their fingers moving diligently as they sewed. Hugh, Thomas and John were all upstairs with Caroline’s father. His suite of rooms was always heated warmly and he was never left unattended even for a moment.
Dinah gazed at Caroline. She really did look lovely in the firelight, her pale cheeks slightly flushed by the warmth of the fire, the long hair coiled neatly on her neck and gleaming with reddish highlights, her slender fingers busily employed mending one of her father’s shirts.
Dinah’s heart lurched. She could fall in love with this woman. Not only was Caroline beautiful, but she was also highly intelligent and courageous in the way she was facing the adversity of her father’s, and therefore her own, situation.
“Have you ever been kissed?” Dinah asked suddenly.
“Well, just a few quick pecks by boys who shouldn’t have when I was younger. At family gatherings and such. And one or two of the suitors have tried. That’s why I made sure Hugh Howel was always with me. They totally ignored the fact my maid Betty was in the room!”
“Would you like to be kissed? Properly kissed?”
“But who— What? You—”
“Yes, me. May I kiss you?” Dinah put her needlework down on the side table and slid along the sofa to the end where Caroline sat.
Caroline’s hands dropped to the sofa. With no objection forthcoming, very gently, Dinah turned Caroline’s head toward her and kissed those ripe pink lips. Softly, gently, sweetly, but with enough heat and passion to warm their lips. Very soon, Caroline responded, one hand reaching up to rest on Dinah’s arm.
Caroline’s lips softened under Dinah’s caress, and Dinah licked along the seam, urging her to open her mouth. Caroline did, and Dinah’s tongue slipped inside, very gently running along Caroline’s teeth and all around the warm wet cavern.
Dinah’s hands firmed on Caroline’s head, tilting it slightly as her tongue thrust into the younger woman’s mouth.
Caroline groaned and responded more passionately, kissing back with enthusiasm.
Dinah increased the heat by sucking a little on Caroline’s tongue pulsing in and out before retreating again.
Caroline melted into Dinah, leaning against the older woman and holding both her shoulders as she returned the kisses very passionately now.
Deliberately, Dinah took one hand off Caroline’s head and placed her palm against Caroline’s breast, smoothing it up and over the nipple. A nipple that was standing up, a hard, excited little peak.
Caroline’s tongue delved into Dinah’s mouth, exploring the roof, the sides, the teeth. Dinah responded by sucking on it as her hand slid down inside the bodice of Caroline’s gown, hot on her flesh, to rub the globe of her breast and tweak the nipple between her fingers.
“I... Oh... More,” gasped Caroline, then returned to kissing Dinah, her arms now grasping the older woman firmly.

Buy Links: http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=200&products_id=4370
https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-lesbianlovers-1767658-149.html


If I still haven't convinced you, and MM romance is more your style, go here (manlovefantasies.blogspot.com) to find a competition run by twenty-five of the best MM authors around, with a new chapter of an MM romance story to read every day.

Berengaria Brown