Devon Rhodes Dreams

Its a wonderful thing to see a project go from idea to concept to reality. Here is Devon Rhodes to give us a behind the scenes look on how one of the most anticipated anthologies of the summer came to be.

Unconventional At Best:
An all M/M GayRomLit special collection from Total-E-Bound

What happens at Cons doesn’t always stay at Cons. And while these men are away from real life, they find that the best love can grow from the most unconventional beginnings…

Blurbs:

A New Normal by Carol Lynne:
You never forget your first love, but what if your first love never forgot you…and orchestrated an unconventional reunion?

Less than a year after the death of his wife, musician Charlie Foster agreed to perform at a convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He thought getting away from New York for a few days would be good for him, but he didn’t expect to see the first person he’d ever fallen in love with.

Jake Pierson gave his heart to Charlie when he was barely fifteen years old. As best friends, Jake believed he and Charlie would be together forever, but when Charlie took the easier path in life, Jake was left to deal with a future without the man he loved.

Jake knew tricking Charlie into performing at a conference he’d helped organize was low-handed, but he had a promise to keep and a future to build.

Convention Confusion by Amber Kell:
Dressing up as a girl can sometimes win you the man of your dreams.

Billy Ferris has adored Jennvian Fellows comics since he read the first edition. When the chance to meet the illustrator comes up he accepts his friends help to dress as his favourite character—space pirate female Kixie. Little does he know that Jenn not only prefers men but is looking for the mate of his dreams to take back to his home world. Will Billy be able to show his true self and capture the man of his not-so-pure dreams.

Ninja Cupcakes by TA Chase:
Ethan’s special talents and cupcakes bring him the love of his life.

Ethan Gallagher loves to bake, and his cupcakes are known throughout his area as being the best. When he agrees to do the desserts for a sci-fi convention his brother is putting on, Ethan gets a chance to realise his biggest fantasy.

One of the panelists is Callum MacLaughlin, a man Ethan’s been lusting after since they’d met four years ago. Ethan discovers Callum will be there, and he decides it’s time to make his move on the astrophysicist.

With the help of some special cupcakes, Ethan makes not only his dream come true, but the hopes of his brother and his best friend as well.

Operation: Get Spencer by Jambrea Jo Jones:
Even if superpowers were real, Benjamin still might not get his man.

Benjamin and Spencer are spending the day at Comi-Con. Spencer is a comic geek and Benjamin would follow him anywhere. The only problem? Spencer thinks Benjamin is straight and Benjamin just realized he is in love with his best friend. Is a day enough for Benjamin to convince Spencer that his love is more powerful than a locomotive and that it hit him faster than a speeding bullet? Tune in to find out if Benjamin saves the day.

Fan-Tastical by Stephani Hecht:
Everybody knows the best lovers are geeks.

It’s time again for the annual Comic Book and Horror Convention. Normally, Deke liked to avoid these things. While he may be a well-known actor, he wasn’t hunky or a beefcake and he was always overlooked. In fact, most people like to call him ‘the geek of geeks’. But, the producers of his popular TV series don’t care and they order Deke to go. So, while he knows he won’t have any fun, he has no choice but to attend.

Blake harboured a crush on Deke even before the other man became famous. When he finds out that Deke will be at the convention, Blake knows he has to attend as well. Since he is trying to promote his own comic, Blake decides that he can mix a little business with his fun.

To Blake’s dismay, not only does Deke not remember him, but the actor refuses to believe that Blake could have any romantic feelings for a geek. Blake decides that he can’t let this opportunity slip through his fingers, though. He may have given up on Deke all those years ago, but not this time. Will Blake be able to convince Deke to give him a chance? Or will the final credits roll before they find love?

Rough Awakening by Devon Rhodes:
When Mario sets out to find a roommate for the convention, little does he know he’ll end up finding much more.

Is there anything worse than learning you have to share a hotel room with your ex-boyfriend and his new love? Mario has to scramble to find someone else to share with and ends up reconnecting with a sexy acquaintance…in more ways than one.

Jordan remembers Mario from two conventions ago and goes along with his need to find a roommate. Sparks fly between them from their first phone call and everything looks more than promising for a very memorable convention.

But when two tops tango, which one is guaranteed the lead? It ends up being a rough awakening for one of these alpha athletes…

I just had to share the story of how this antho came to be. Not long after we’d all come home from GRL NOLA last year, I had a dream–literally, like while asleep!–that I’d been in an antho with a lot of the great authors I’d gotten to know in person at GRL. So the next morning, I posted on FB to a few of the authors I’d dreamed of about how I’d had this dream and wouldn’t it be fun to make it a reality?

Well, that got things going, and since we’re all published at Total-E-Bound, I approached them with the concept, and they were excited about it and let us have a great deal of control over the concept–almost every aspect, from the theme and genres, to the title to the cover art–and made sure we had a release date before this year’s GRL (which we are all again attending).

All of the authors I asked said yes right away, even though I know most of them had a ton of other projects going on, and many don’t write short stories very often. And I just love how they all let their own unique style and creativity come out to play. Other than the fact that we all write MM and wanted a general, central theme of conventions, we all sort of went to our strengths as far as subgenres and heat levels.

I really love the result and I’m just so honored to be up there with these fabulous women. I hope you enjoy reading this anthology as much as we enjoyed putting it together! 🙂

To that end, I’d love to give a copy of the anthology away to someone this week! Just leave a comment with your contact information below, and if you’d like to share a fun or memorable time you had at a convention, I’d love to hear it!

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When I’m not lost in my imagination, you can find me in beautiful Oregon and at:

My Website: http://www.devonrhodes.com/
My Blog: http://devonrhodes.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/devon.rhodes
Twitter: https://twitter.com/devonrhodes

To enter, leave your comments below per Devon’s request. Open until Thursday, August 23rd at 11:59 pm (PST). Winner will be randomly chosen and notified on Friday.