grl tour badgeToday I am so pleased to welcome Jamie Lynn Miller to Joyfully Jay. Jamie Lynn is here as part of the GRL Blog Tour and has come to talk to us about her latest release, Memory’s Prisoner. She has also brought along a great giveaway! Please join me in giving her a big welcome!

Five questions for Jamie Lynn Miller and one for YOU

Many thanks to Joyfully Jay for having me here today – the fourth stop of my GRL 2014 blog tour! Keep reading to find out how you can win an Amazon gift card.

I’m Jamie Lynn Miller and I’d like to talk a little bit about myself and my novella Memory’s Prisoner. I had a friend ask me five random questions so people could get to know me a little better and also about my writing. So here we go!

Question #1 – Is there, or has there been, a person in your life you dreaded telling about writing M/M romance?

Answer: My husband. It was four years after we got married that I started writing gay fiction (I’d previously been writing m/f). Telling my husband that I wrote male/male stories was one of the most awkward and difficult conversations I’ve ever had in my life! At least on my part! Turns out I’d worked myself up for nothing. Bless his heart, he took the news without even blinking and has been my biggest supporter ever since my first book was published in 2008. Like he said, it’s perfectly acceptable for a man to get turned on by watching two women together, why should it be any different for a woman and two men? Smart man, my husband.

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Question #2 – Do you prefer to write one story at a time, or do you have several WIPs at any time? Have you ever gone back to a really old WIP you’ve abandoned and finished it?

Answer: I prefer to write and concentrate on just one story at a time. Doesn’t mean that I’m not making notes and scribbling down ideas for others, though. I did have one WIP that ended up sitting for nearly two years before inspiration finally struck and I finished it. It turned out to be my first book with Dreamspinner Press (Memory’s Prisoner).

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Question #3 – Have you studied anything that you consider backs you up as a writer? Research doesn’t count.

Yes, actually, I have. I’ve been interested in law enforcement since I was a kid and over the last several years I’ve taken more than 72 weeks of citizen police and fire academy classes. I used my knowledge to write Memory’s Prisoner, Burnin’ for You and Out of the Shadows.

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Question #4 – Almost everyone has a quote that has stuck with them for a long time. Do you have one?

Answer: “To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life” – W. Somerset Maugham

This was on a bookmark I found inside a hardcover book I bought at a used bookstore. I couldn’t believe how appropriate it was. I’ve always escaped into a book when things got tough, from when I was a kid. I think it’s why I ended up becoming a writer.

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Question #5 – What’s the best fortune you’ve ever gotten in a fortune cookie?

Answer: Honest to God, about five years ago I got one that read “You will become an accomplished writer”. I nearly fell out of my chair! I immediately taped it to my computer monitor where it still is today, inspiring me everyday.

Now that you know a little about me, why don’t you get to know Mitch and Joey, my Chicago cops who overcame the odds to find their way back to one another. I hope you enjoy reading Memory’s Prisoner as much as I enjoyed writing it.Writer fortune cookie


Excerpt

“No, Tim. I won’t do it. And that’s the end of it.”

“Mitch, please….”

It was the day after Angela’s revelation of Joey’s living will and its conditions. She had conferred with Joey’s doctors after leaving Mitch’s room the night before, and now, within an hour or so, the respirator would be turned off. Possibly taking a life with it with the push of a button.

Angela had contacted Joey’s closest friends last evening as well, and now they were gathered in ICU to say their words of goodbye to someone they cared deeply about, in case the worst case scenario played itself out. Only Mitch was refusing.

“Mitch, listen to me,” Tim tried again, hoping to get his distraught, grieving friend to see reason. “If you don’t go in there and talk to him for what may be the last time, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life. I guarantee it.”

Mitch looked up at the tall black man from his position in his wheelchair, the determined expression on his face not quite hiding the pain in his blue eyes. “I won’t go in there, Tim. I refuse to accept the possibility of his death. I will not tell him goodbye. Because that would mean I’ve given up on him. And I haven’t. He’ll beat this, Tim. Joey’s a fighter.”

Tim sighed deeply, and Mitch could tell from the look on his face he’d lost the argument and would be at Mitch’s side to pick up the pieces in the aftermath. He clasped Mitch’s shoulder briefly and nodded his head, then turned and moved off toward Joey’s room. Mitch saw Angela meet him at the doorway with a question in her eyes. Tim shook his head and Angela made a move toward Mitch before Tim stopped her with a hand on her arm and another shake of his head. Angela sagged, pinning Mitch with a pleading look before finally turning and walking inside her son’s room. Mitch ran a hand over his face, pinching the bridge of his nose. Dammit, he knew what he was doing. He wouldn’t give up on Joey.

One by one they came and went from Joey’s room—Neal, Rick, Drew, Tim, Danny—as Mitch watched from his wheelchair across the hall in the open area of the ICU wing, perfectly still. No one approached him as they arrived or departed, warned off by Tim probably, but each looked at him with tears and sympathy in their eyes and an unspoken offer of support for their friend.

Eventually, only Angela remained. The time had come. Mitch watched her approach him, noting her pale complexion and too bright eyes. She crouched next to Mitch’s wheelchair, eye level with him now, and placed a hand on his forearm.

“Mitch,” she spoke softly, gently. “The doctors are ready. Please… come inside. I know how you feel about this, but I’d like it if you were there with me, and I believe Joey would too.”

Mitch remained staring straight ahead, the muscle in his jaw jumping. “I won’t tell him goodbye,” he replied, voice rough with restrained emotion.

Angela gave him a sad smile and stood as Mitch’s chair began to roll forward. “I won’t ask you to.”

Once inside Joey’s room, Mitch stayed at the foot of his lover’s bed, off to the right side, his back ramrod straight, looking completely controlled on the outside, while on the inside he was coming apart at the seams. But he refused to let it show as Angela leaned over the pale, still form of her only child and kissed Joey tenderly on his cheek, whispering tremulously, “I love you,” before stepping back and nodding once at the doctor.

With a grim, returned nod, the man turned the respirator switch to Off as the nurse carefully but swiftly removed the tube from Joey’s throat, affording the young man every chance at spontaneous respiration. The end of the tube slipped past Joey’s lips just as the respirator gave its final hiss and fell silent.

No one moved.

Joey’s chest did not rise.

Angela’s eyes slid closed, her hand covering her mouth.

“NO! NO!” Mitch lurched from his wheelchair, his sudden movement and desperate cry startling everyone in the room. His left leg crumpled beneath him with his first step, hurling him toward the floor. He caught the edge of Joey’s bed as he went down, halting his fall as Angela rushed to his side. Mitch put all his weight on his good leg and pushed himself up, grappling for Joey’s hand at the same time.

“Don’t you do this!” he commanded his friend. “Come on, fight! Don’t leave me! Do you hear me? Don’t you go! Breathe, damn you!”

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BUY LINKS:

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/ng25ocw
Kobo: http://tinyurl.com/nvj3toh
Barnes and Noble: http://tinyurl.com/ow92qj2
Dreamspinner: http://tinyurl.com/kvuj9on
LuLu (Paperback and epub): http://tinyurl.com/qe5oeal
Also available at the iBookstore

CONTACT INFO:
Jamie Lynn Miller

jamielynnmiller@live.com
http://www.jamielynnm.wordpress.com
http://www.facebook.com/jamielynn.miller.3


Blurb

Memory's PrisonerDetectives Mitchell Reid and Joseph Valentino of the Chicago Police Department have finally moved from friends to lovers, partners on the job and off. Then an escaped bank robber with a thirst for vengeance shatters their world. The police tactical raid to recapture the convict goes horribly wrong, leaving Mitch severely wounded and Joey with a devastating head injury. They both survive, but Joey’s long-term coma and memory loss will change their lives – and love – forever.


Bio

Jamie Lynn MillerJamie Lynn Miller has been writing fiction since childhood and decided to take the plunge and go pro in 2008, finding to her amazement that people truly enjoyed her love stories. She’s a romantic at heart, and her tales reflect the desire we all have to find “the one,” persevering through trials and heartache for that happy ending.

Jamie has a degree in fine arts and has spent the last twenty years working as a graphic designer, though she’d much rather be writing. She was born in Chicago and still lives there today with her husband and their two furry, four-footed children, er… cats.

If she’s not brainstorming story ideas, you can find Jamie at a sci-fi convention, in front of a furnace doing glass blowing, or on a mat twisted into a yoga pose.


Giveaway

Jamie Lynn has brought a $10 Amazon gift card to give away to one lucky reader. Just leave a comment at the end of the post to enter. The contest ends on Tuesday, July 29th at 11:59 pm EST.

  • By entering the giveaway, you’re confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
  • Winners will be selected by random number. No purchase necessary to win.  The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning.
  • If you win, you must respond to my email within 48 hours or another winner may be chosen. Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from Joyfully Jay.
  • Winners may be announced on the blog following the contest. By entering the contest you are agreeing to allow your name to be posted and promoted as the contest winner by Joyfully Jay.
  • Prizes will be distributed following the giveaway either by Joyfully Jay or the person/organization donating the prize.
  • By entering you are agreeing to hold Joyfully Jay harmless if the prize or giveaway in some way negatively impacts the winner.
  • Readers may only enter once for each contest.  Duplicate entries for the same giveaway will be ignored. In the event of technical problems with the blog during the contest, every effort will be made to extend the contest deadline to allow for additional entries.
  • Void where prohibited by law.