K. Evan Coles

“Working Stiffs” is live!

Earlier this year, I joined a group of authors to create Working Stiffs, an M/M Vampire Romance Charity Anthology.

We’re truly excited to share these thirteen stories and donate all proceeds to World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.

Pick up your copy now for Kindle and Kindle Unlimited!

And, enter to win a $25 Amazon gift card here in our Rafflecopter: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/d153e5f22/?

Blurb:

Sometimes, work sucks in a good way.

Not all vampires are idly rich. Some of them have day jobs. Er, night jobs.

In a world struggling to come to grips with the existence of vampires, where reactions range from excitement to fear to determined disbelief, these vampires are just trying to make ends meet. Some of them do mundane work—like waiting tables or driving a cab. Others have more prestigious careers in medicine and crime prevention. But what all their jobs have in common is people. Unpredictable, interesting, frustrating, hostile, helpless, tasty people.

Whether they’re pouring drinks, answering phones, hacking into a computer system, or serving up the perfect food/wine pairing, these working stiffs are too busy to fall in love. Or are they?

This International Workers Day, celebrate by sinking your teeth into thirteen awesome stories about vampires at work. Because even the undead have to earn a living.

Proceeds benefit the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.

Story List

Bad Blood by Lyra Evans
Bad Decision by H.L Day
Call My Number by Megs Pritchard
Dial a Vamp by Roberta Blablanski
Fangs for the Memories by Sadie Jay
Fire and Ice Cold Skin by Mel Gough
How To Keep an Author (Alive) by AJ Sherwood
Graveyard Cops by Crystel Greene
Life Hacks by Eliott Griffen
Long Haul by Tanya Chris
Off the Menu by R.J. Sorrento
Overexposed by K. Evan Coles
Quality Assured by Edie Montreux

Buy your copy or read through Kindle Unlimited at Amazon

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Cover Reveal: “Working Stiffs”

Earlier this year, I joined in with a group of authors to create Working Stiffs, an M/M Vampire Romance Charity Anthology. It’d been a while since I’d written any kind of vampire story and I had a blast working on this project and meeting new writers.

We’re excited to share these thirteen stories on May 1st and donate all proceeds to World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.

Pre-order your copy now!

Blurb:

Sometimes, work sucks in a good way.

Not all vampires are idly rich. Some of them have day jobs. Er, night jobs.

Whether they’re pouring drinks, answering phones, hacking into a computer system, or serving up the perfect food/wine pairing, these working stiffs are too busy to fall in love. Or are they?

This International Workers Day, celebrate by sinking your teeth into thirteen awesome stories about vampires at work. Because even the undead have to earn a living.

Proceeds benefit the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.

Story List

Pre-order at Amazon

Add on Goodreads

Add on BookBub

Autism Awareness Month : Blog Hop, Food Talk, and a Giveaway

Autism fact: There is no known scientific link
currently between vaccines and autism.

I’m honored participate in RJ Scott’s autism blog hop again this year along with 30 authors, each of whom will share an autism fact each day. There are giveaways too, including one from me at the bottom of this post.

Food is the theme this year, and it’s a subject near and dear to so many people including me. I find baking very comforting and love to cook and bake for my family, as well as make and give food as gifts.

Because of my own habits, food frequently creeps into my books. In doing a mental count just now, I’ve realized that three of my most recent projects have included a chef or baker as a main character. Healing Hearts, my holiday novella, and Straight Up, book four in The Speakeasy series I wrote with Brigham Vaughn, each include a chef, and a story I wrote for an upcoming anthology titled Working Stiffs features a baker.

Like so many in the world right now, my family is living in a locked down community. I’m still working my day job and helping my twelve-year-old son through his school-from-home routine, and I look for ways to unwind at the end of each weird day. Baking is just one of those ways and I thought I’d share a really delicious recipe for banana bread that has been a big hit in my house.

Recipe adapted from Garden & Table

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

Ingredients

For the bread:

3 over-ripe bananas, smashed up
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 Tsp vanilla
1 Tsp baking soda
Dash of salt
1 1/2 cups flour

For the swirl:

1 and 1/2 Tbs sugar
1 and 1/2 Tbs brown sugar
1 Tbs cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Butter and four a loaf pan. Mine was 9 x 5, but you could use any sort. Just keep a close eye on it in the oven, and adjust the time as needed.
Mix bananas, butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla together. Sprinkle baking soda and salt around on top of the banana mixture. Gently stir in flour. Be careful not to over-mix!
In a small dish, mix together the sugar and brown sugar with the cinnamon.
Add 1/2 of the batter to the loaf pan and then sprinkle a little more than half of the cinnamon-sugar mixture over the batter in the pan. Add the rest of the batter to the pan, spreading gently to cover the cinnamon-sugar layer, then sprinkle the last of the cinnamon-sugar mixture over the top of the batter.
Bake for 50-60 minutes, but remember, if you’re using a different-sized loaf pan, be careful and keep a close eyeball on it!

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For my giveaway, I’d love to gift someone a $10 Amazon gift card. Just comment below and tell me about your favorite books that feature food or feel free to leave me a recipe! I’ll choose a name at the end of the blog hop.

Be well, everyone, and make sure you visit all of the blogs on the Hop!

RJ Scott’s Autism Awareness Blog Hop

Also, if you’re looking for some new reads, I and a lot of authors at Pride Publishing/Totally Entwined Group are offering books for free or reduced prices (make sure you click on the book you’re interested in because sometimes the reduced price doesn’t show in the preview). Check out my blog post about four free titles from Brigham Vaughn and myself!

Free Titles Through Pride Publishing/Totally Entwined Group

Things have changed radically for so many of us in a matter of weeks and it’s no wonder scores of people have resorted to reading to find a little peace. Brigham Vaughn, my co-writer, and I are very happy to work with our friends at Pride Publishing/Totally Entwined Group to make some of our books available for free.

In less than six hours, the TEG Team pulled together an amazing giveaway at First For Romance with hundreds of books available, including two that Brigham and I wrote together and two solo books. All four of our books are free. They should also be free on Amazon and other platforms sometime in the next few days.

Please make sure you look after yourself and your loved ones and stay healthy and safe. We’ll get through this together.

“Third Times the Charm” – Boston Seasons Book 1

“Wake” – Tidal Series Book 1

“The Soldier Next Door”

“With a Twist: – The Speakeasy Series Book 1

2019: Looking Back While Looking Forward

Book Cover Instagram Post 2019

2019 proved to be intense in more ways than one and surprisingly productive. My schedule at the day job hit new highs and the drama in my family new lows, but I made time to write and, honestly, I think that act saved me from going under emotionally and mentally.

I loved the stories I wrote. I started two new series, Boston Seasons and Stealing Hearts, and added two books to the The Speakeasy series that I co-write with Brigham Vaughn. I also attended my first GRL Retreat which proved to be fun and rewarding in ways I never could have predicted.

As I look forward to the next year, I have two books already more than half-way written (Boston Seasons #2 and The Speakeasy #4 for those of you who are interested) and plans for so many more. So thank you to everyone who made this year productive and full, including my co-writer, Brigham Vaughn, and the beta readers and editors who polish my words until they shine: Shelli, Kaye, Jayme, Shelly, Allison, Becca, Sally, Tracy, Rebecca, and Helena—your encouragement and patience make so many things possible.

And my immense thanks to those of you who read my words. I am more thankful and honored than I can express.

Healing Hearts – Stealing Hearts #2, a holiday novella

Earlier this year, I released Thief of Hearts, a novella for Valentine’s Day. I enjoyed the world I’d built so much, I decided to revisit it for the winter holiday season and wrote Healing Hearts, book two in the Stealing Hearts series, a sexy, hurt-comfort novella featuring a May-December romance.

Summary:

Some hearts are made to be mended.

Zac Alvarez never expected to start his life over at forty-five, but his recent divorce means doing just that. Luckily, his career as a nurse in Boston keeps him busy and he has friends who understand Zac’s need to be as careful with his heart as he is with his diet.

Acting on a whim one fall afternoon, Zac buys lunch from a food truck and meets Aiden Marinelli, a bold young chef who is taking the city’s food scene in new directions. Aiden is only thirty, a fact that doesn’t sit well with Zac, but both the chef and his food prove impossible to resist.

An attachment forms between the two men and, as the winter holidays draw near, Zac begins to emerge from the protective shell he’s built around himself. A chance encounter with his ex-husband shakes Zac’s newfound confidence, however, and he pushes Aiden away, unaware how deeply the act will hurt them both until it is too late.

Healing Hearts, Stealing Hearts #2, is available for 99c on Amazon
or to read for free through Kindle Unlimited.

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Prolific Works Giveaway from GRL 2019 Authors

I’m attending Gay Lit Rom this year for the first time ever! As everyone gears up, some of the registered authors are participating in a giveaway at Prolific Works so grab your free stories from now through the end of October. Discover new authors, new books, and new series, and find new favorites!

For a full list of GRL 2019 authors, check www.gayromlit.com.

Reading Challenge Month 2019

Today, Joyfully Jay kicks off the 5th Annual Reading Challenge Month and there are three BIG prize packages that will be awarded at the end of the month (with what look like a metric ton of books each).

Are you already participating? If not, full details about how to participate at Joyfully Jay.

Good luck and happy reading!

New Release/Freebie – A Tidal Series Short: Southampton Sea Breeze

If you’ve read the Tidal and Speakeasy books, you already know our characters Carter Hamilton and Riley Porter-Wright.

Their books, Wake and Calm, were published in the summer of 2017 and Brigham Vaughn and I put together Southampton Sea Breeze, a FREE short story to mark that anniversary.

This short story can be read on its own, but it certainly has ties to the Tidal books, “Behind the Stick,” and the other Speakeasy books, so we suggest you enjoy them all 😉

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤

Download Southampton Sea Breeze FREE from:

Pride Publishing

Prolific Works

Tidal

Tidal books

Southampton Sea Breeze Graphic (1)

“Behind The Stick,” Speakeasy 3, is live!

Brigham Vaughn and I are truly excited that Behind the Stick, the third book in the Speakeasy, is live.

I’ve always liked Kyle McKee –he’s a stand up kind of guy who, while unassuming, is absolutely confident in his abilities. I fell in love with Kyle and his firefighter, Luka, while writing Behind the Stick and I think you will, too.

Blog Tour:

Be sure to follow the blog tour from August 19- 28. There will be exclusive excerpts, interviews, blog posts, and you’ll have a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card.

Love, served behind the stick.

Summary

Kyle McKee lives a charmed life. He co-owns Under, an uptown speakeasy, where he is chief mixologist. Friends poke fun at Kyle’s tiny one-bed apartment in Chelsea, but they’re the best support system a man could ask for. Unfortunately, Kyle’s lackluster love life has led him to take a break from dating.

Harlem resident Luka Clarke is a lieutenant with Engine 47, the Pride of Morningside, where he carries on his father’s legacy with the FDNY. Luka, who is mixed race and bisexual, has his eye on Kyle, whom he met at a local burger joint and he just needs to make time to visit Kyle’s bar.

Before work one evening, Kyle is trapped inside the luncheonette when a fire breaks out. Luka’s firehouse answers the call and he connects with Kyle again under the most unexpected of circumstances. When Kyle gratefully invites Luka and the firehouse squad to Under, the flirting between the two men leads to a date.

Kyle and Luka quickly grow close, but Luka’s mother and sister distrust Kyle for being both white and gay. Luka believes his family will come around and accept Kyle in the end, but Kyle is not optimistic and hides his disquiet as attraction blossoms into love.

Kyle and Luka’s near-idyllic bubble is shattered one evening after a hate crime leaves them scarred, inside and out. Shaken, they put on a strong front but struggle inwardly against fear and personal demons. As the emotions seething beneath the surface finally come to a head, both men must decide if they have the strength to find love enough to conquer hate.

General Release Date: 20th August 2019

Buy Behind The Stick from your favorite retailer:

Or from Pride Publishing:

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Autism fact: There is no known scientific link currently between vaccines and autism.

Autism fact: There is no known scientific link
currently between vaccines and autism.