Kimberly Gardner

Just a quick post to let everyone know that I am still alive and still working on revisions for Bound To Please, my next novel due out later this summer from MLR Press.

 

The revisions are going slower than I’d like, but I am making progress. Thanks to everyone who has given me such lovely feedback on the teaser excerpts I’d posted both here and in various chats.

 

As I said, the book should be out later this summer. It’s a long one, longer than I had originally planned which is probably why it’s taken longer than I had hoped. But the story is nearing completion. Yay! And I hope to be moving on to other projects very soon.

I’m a little late with this announcement, but I’ve been super busy over these past couple of days.

I’m thrilled to announce that the Rainbow Romance Writers is the newest special interest chapter of Romance Writers of America. WooHoo!

And I am chapter secretary which explains why I’ve been so busy. It’s a heck of a lot of work getting a new chapter off the ground, even with the help and support of a group of fabulous writers like J.L. Langley, Jade Buchanan, Sarabell, Laura Baumbach, Jet Mykles and a ton of others too numerous to list.

We’ve all been working our fingers, and brains, to the bone to make this happen, and this week (on April 29th to be exact) we got the good word. We’re official!

In fact, here’s the announcement right from the mother ship itself.

 

“RWA Announces New Chapter
Romance Writers of America announces the formation of a new special-interest chapter, Rainbow Romance Writers, whose purpose is to advance the professional
interests of career-focused GLBT romance writers through networking and advocacy, dissemination of information, professional education, publications, and
other appropriate activities, and to provide continuing support for writers within the romance publishing industry. For more information on RWA’s newest
chapter, contact Sharon Bolger at
sabolger@hotmail.com
. Or visit their Web site at
http://www.rainbowromancewriters.com/

The wonderful authors from the FWF blog have put together a fabulous gift basket for the fifth annual Brenda Novak auction. All proceeds from the auction go toward diabetes research, to help find a cure for those like Brenda’s son who suffer from this disease. Over the past five years Brenda’s online auction has raised over $500,000, so please help out if you can. And in the process you can bid on some really cool stuff.

 

The basket that we have donated includes:

-an original Michael Bonfiglio lapel pin (http://www.wilddot.com/)

-a USB fob with a handmade chainmaille keyring made by Maura Anderson that is filled to overflowing with electronic books, including “Giving Thanks” by Maura Anderson, “Details of the Hunt” by Laura Baumbach, “Naked Richmond” by Ally Blue, “Black Wolf” and “Horsfall: Tail of Two Brothers” by Jade Buchanan, “Hard Fall” by James Buchanan, “The Shape of a Heart” by Kimberly Gardner, “The Tin Star” by JL Langley and more!

-an autographed copy of “A Bit of Rough” by Laura Baumbach

-an autographed copy of “Untamed Heart” by Ally Blue

-an autographed copy of “Fireflies” by Ally Blue

-an autographed copy of “Temperature’s Rising” by Jade Buchanan

-an autographed copy of “Lord Carabas” by James Buchanan

-an autographed copy of “Phoenix Rising” by Kimberly Gardner

-an autographed copy of “With Caution” by JL Langley

-an autographed copy of “My Fair Captain” by JL Langley

-an autographed copy of “Heaven Sent 1″ by Jet Mykles

-an autographed copy of “The Name of the Game” by Willa Okati

 

Also included are:

 

-a laptop bag

-a rainbow cloth bookmark

-a “Lovers, Dreamers and Me” mousepad from Willa Okati

-a “Phoenix Rising” mug and t-shirt

-a size Large “Heaven” t-shirt

-an MLR Press mousepad

-a “Heaven Sent” keychain and bookmarks

-a book light

-other goodies like pens, chapstick, bookmarks and a few naughty items!

 

Remember, bidding will begin on May 1st and will run until May 31st! If you’re interested in bidding on this basket, you can access it directly here:

http://brendanovak.auctionanything.com/Bidding.taf?_function=detail&Auction_uid1=1379086

Funny how yesterday’s “policy on adult content” can suddenly turn into today’s “software glitch” when enough people notice.

Over the weekend several authors noticed that Amazon had begun stripping LGBT titles of their sales ranking. When they emailed to ask why, they received the following response:

“In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude “adult” material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature.”

The excluded titles included not only LGBT erotica and erotic romance (including my own books), but titles of historical and academic nature.

This morning, Amazon says that there is no new “policy” in place and that it was only a “software glitch” that stripped the sales rankings from the LGBT books.

Hmmm.

Sounds like a wardrobe malfunction to me.

Now available from Aspen Mountain Press

 

The Shape Of A Heart

 

This story has been a long time coming and I’m very excited about the release. I also got a gorgeous cover from Tuesday Dube at AMP, so a huge thanks to her for that.

 

You can read an excerpt and buy the book at the following link.

 

http://www.kimberlygardner.com/home/published-work/the-shape-of-a-heart/

All Romance Ebooks named their best books of 2008 at an awards ceremony held earlier tonight. And Phoenix Rising placed in the winners list. WooHoo!

*happy dances*

How awesome is that? *ggg*

 

 

 

You can view the list at the following url.

 

http://allromanceebooks.com/BO2008Awards.html

Today I have a free story posted over on FWF. It features Adam and Jimmy from Phoenix Rising and starts off our week of free reads to celebrate Valentines Day, a special day for all lovers regardless of sexual orientation.

http://www.fictionwithfriction.com/2009/02/08/cross-his-heart/

So please drop by and help us celebrate love’s diversity.

And have a happy Valentines Day!

Have you heard that Ken Starr — and the Prop 8 Legal Defense Fund — filed legal briefs defending the constitutionality of Prop 8 and attempting to forcibly
divorce 18,000 same-sex couples that were married in California last year? The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in this case on March 5, 2009, with
a decision expected within the next 90 days.
 
The Courage Campaign has created a video called “Fidelity,” with the permission of musician Regina Spektor, that puts a face to those 18,000 couples and
all loving, committed couples seeking full equality under the law.
 
Please watch this heartbreaking video:
 
http://www.couragecampaign.org/Divorce
 
After you watch the video, please consider joining me in signing the letter to the state Supreme Court and passing this video on to your friends. The more
people who see this video, the more people will understand the pain caused by Prop 8 and Ken Starr’s shameful legal proceeding.
 
Thanks.

I truly believe to achieve recognition for our genre within RWA we have to be a part of the official process and take part in the organization at a professional
level. A few of us within the genre have created a google group to gage the interest in our community for support in establishing a GLBT RWA Chapter. Goals
for this chapter include establishing a place to for authors of GLBT to network, learn more about what is happening in the romance industry concerning
our genre, provide support and education for the authors, create a place for publishers and agents to reach the authors of this genre more easily, create
workshops geared toward our writing needs, and possibly even organize writing contests at some point down the line.  These are only a few of things we
can accomplish together.

If you write GLBT romance and are interested in creating and supporting a chapter that focuses on the GLBT romance genre please consider joining the group
so that the degree of interest can be assessed.

 You do have to be a member of RWA to belong to a special interest RWA chapter but for now, we just want to see if there is sufficient interest to warrant
the large effort of creating, maintaining and promoting the chapter. Whether you belong to RWA, are thinking of joining the RWA or just want to know more
about the possibilities, please consider clicking on the link below and joining us for discussion.

http://groups.google.com/group/rwa_rainbow_romance_chapter?hl=en

sincerely,
Laura Baumbach

I’m delighted to share the news that the incomparable Anne Cain will be doing the cover for Bound To Please. That is definitely something to squeee about!

And here’s the blurb for the story.

 

Jason doesn’t do monogamy and as a popular Dom he doesn’t have to. He has his choice of playmates any night of the week. So when he gets a chance to play
with Benny, a sweet young thing who wants only to please him, it’s game on.

Benny tells himself that a chance to serve the sexy Dom is all he needs. But when the rules change and they’re playing for keeps, it’s love not leather
that’s bound to please.