Well, I finally did it. After some boots in the ass from Amanda Young and JM Snyder, I’ve taken the plunge into reader-direct fiction sales. I’ve put together a novella-length chapbook of my horse stories, and it leads off with the brand-new “Holding the Reins.”

“Holding the Reins” traces some of the history that Marcus and Philip shared. Philip was a professional show jumper, Marcus is the owner of a thoroughbred racing farm in Ocala, and the story details their first meeting at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa. It’s got some sexy parts, some poignant (I hope) parts, and some sad parts. It’s the sad parts that made me put off writing this story for a long time. It just touched a little too close to my own grieving about my father’s death last year.

But, it’s ready now, and so am I.

Holding the Reins is tucked in with six other stories: Bruised, Back in the Saddle, Horsing Around, Tropical Daze, Horse Sense, and Irish Cream, all of them horse-y stories where equines are a vital focus in the plotline. Some are also available in Rough Cut, and it’s my hope that folks will be willing to experiment with my writing for $3.95 instead of risking $18 for a print book. It’s available here:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/4466

And there’s a coupon exclusively for my LJ readers: use DQ97A for your coupon code and buy it for $2.99 ’til Halloween.