Wednesday, September 18, 2019

GRL Spotlight: CJane Elliott


GayRomLit or as some refer to it as GRL truly is the must-attend event for people who create and celebrate LGBT romance. For those who are unfamiliar with what GRL is I can try and summarize it. Every year in October (this year it’s the 17th to the 20th with pre-events on the 16th) the LGBT community consisting of authors, narrators, readers, and professionals gather to share in their love of LGBT romance. There are signings, author lounges, many events, spotlights, it really is hours of fun.
The location changes every year and on the opening night of each year the spot for the next year  is announced. During this time at GRL there are two signings. One for Registered Authors and one for Featured Authors.
At these signings you can go to the authors’ tables, talk, have them sign swag they have, books you’ve brought, pick up pre-orders, and they will even sign something you brought from home.
Lounges are set up as well these are outside the signing times. Registered authors have one and featured have two lounges.
There will also be spotlights with readings, Q&A’s and so much more.
Now until October 14th Diverse Reader is spotlighting authors that will be at this years GRL. And if you want to know more about it simply head over to the site by clicking here:

Now for our Spotlight Author of the day!





 Where to Find CJane at the Event 



You’re pretty sure to find me every evening on the dance floor! But if you want to meet me, chat, join my newsletter, or get paperbacks signed, see my schedule below. The best places to purchase and get books signed are the Book Rooms on Thursday and Friday and the Featured Author Book Signing on Saturday.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17

1 p.m.  AUTHOR LOUNGE
5 p.m. BOOK ROOM

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18

10:30 a.m.  FEATURED AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT – READING
1 p.m.  AUTHOR LOUNGE
5 p.m. BOOK ROOM

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19

10 a.m. FEATURED AUTHOR BOOK SIGNING










Hi everyone! After missing last year’s GRL due to a family medical emergency, I am delighted to be seeing all of you at GRL in Albuquerque. My husband and I are making an adventure of it by taking a road trip from Oregon. In exchange for Michael coming with me, I’m letting him choose all the sights he wants to see along the way. His interests lie in geology so I’m thinking we’ll be looking at a lot of rock formations. Woo hoo!

A major change for me as an author is that I have asked for the rights to my books back from Dreamspinner Press. This decision was difficult to make, but it is the right one for me. The reversion process is underway and I’m expecting that by the time we reach GRL, none of my titles will be available online.

What will I have available for you at GRL? All of my paperbacks, including three new ones never before seen at GRL! I’ve ordered a quantity of them to bring with me and GRL will be the only place I’ll be selling them. So come find me and get a paperback or two signed by me. Also, you’ll be able to sign up for my newsletter which will keep you informed of re-releases and new books starting in 2020.

Here are the books I’ll have at my table:






THE SERPENTINE SERIES - New Age stories set at the University of Virginia








SERPENTINE WALLS
Reeling from the news that his parents are divorcing, Pete Morgan starts his junior year at college cynical about love and commitment. He pines after Aidan, a glamorous but unavailable senior, and starts an unsatisfying “friends-with-benefits” relationship with Jed, a shy sophomore. Who Pete really wants is Matthew, an easygoing graduate student, but both men are scared of intimacy. With a few life lessons under his belt, Pete’s ready to take a chance on love. As he finds the courage to bare his heart to Matthew, he can only hope that Matthew will take a chance with him.














AIDAN’S JOURNEY
The star of the University of Virginia theater department, Aidan Emery is lusted after and admired for living out and proud. But his glamorous patina has been carefully honed to hide the pain he carries inside. He starts college naively romantic, hungry for the attention he can’t get from his workaholic father and mentally ill mother, ripe pickings for predatory professor Rodney Montgomery. Rodney seduces Aidan into a dysfunctional relationship that destroys his innocence. Life looks up for Aidan when he finally breaks free of Rodney’s pull and moves to New York City to make it as an actor. Meeting sweet fellow actor Patrick Jaymes seems like the start of a fairy tale. But before Aidan can rebuild his life into happily ever after, family secrets rip him wide open, leaving him easy prey when Rodney decides he’s not willing to let Aidan go.  















SEX, LOVE, AND VIDEOGAMES
Shy guy Jed Carter has always felt invisible next to his charismatic older brother, Kent. Kent’s master plan for Jed is simple: University of Virginia, business, sports, and ladies’ man. None of it is Jed, and in college he becomes his own person. After an unsatisfying relationship with Pete, an attractive junior who uses him for sex and videogames, Jed sets his sights on Charlie, the handsome clerk at the local videogame arcade. Charlie Ambrose has always felt like an oddball, and not just for his tendency to stutter. Being gay sets him apart from his African-American community, and as a “townie,” he doesn’t fit in with the college crowd. Charlie’s inspiration is his cousin, Morocco, who’s transgender and doesn’t give a fig about fitting in. Art is Charlie’s passion, and when a local videogame designer discovers him, Charlie’s living a dream. The only thing he’s missing is love. But the last person Charlie expects to find it with is a cute, white U.Va. rugby player named Jed.








THE SHORES SERIES








ALL THE WAY TO SHORE
What happens when a cruise ship romance crashes on the rocky shores of reality?

Jonathan Vallen has never felt good enough. A gentle musician who loves to garden, he’s woefully unsuited to running Vallen Industries, the family business. When his father hires a hotshot executive, Marco Pellegrini, to save the company, Jonathan moves away and leaves his humiliation behind. Marco Pellegrini has always been driven. He rose from poverty to the pinnacle of business success, and he’ll do anything to protect his reputation—including hiding his bisexuality. But he’s weary of the rat race and ready for a more meaningful life. A year later Jonathan and Marco meet on an LGBT cruise. Marco doesn’t recognize him, the sparks fly, and Jonathan pretends to be someone else for the week—Jonah Rutledge—someone good enough to be loved. Back on land, the romance crashes when Marco discovers his perfect man is not only a lie but the son of his boss, Frederick Vallen. Jonathan resolves to win Marco back, but Frederick takes vengeful action. Jonathan and Marco must battle their own fears as well as Frederick’s challenge to get to the future that awaits them on the horizon.






IN OVER OUR HEADS
A second chance for romance plunges them into deep waters—will love’s lifeline keep them afloat?

Anthony Vallen is the life of any party and loves to play matchmaker for his friends, but he’s given up on his own happy ending. A bad breakup years ago made him a secret cynic about love. Then he runs into Walter Elkins—the guy who broke his teenaged heart—on a scuba diving vacation in Key West. Suddenly, Anthony’s reasons for shunning romance no longer hold much water. Brilliant and self-contained, scientist Walter Elkins prefers deep thoughts to other people. Now the owner of a Key West dive shop and bar, Walter doesn’t let anyone get close. Things are fine until Anthony Vallen—the only person who’s ever penetrated Walter’s defenses—shows up, and Walter’s calm, controlled life capsizes. He and Anthony have a second chance at love, but Walter must confront the old fears that threaten to torpedo their happiness.





WILD AND PRECIOUS COLLECTION – Three Novellas with interrelated storylines



WILD AND PRECIOUS
Aspiring writer Brent Granger has good friends and a great job at an arts magazine in DC, but he’s batting zero in the arena of love. Brent begins to get a clue why things aren’t working with women from his strong attraction to his gorgeous, gay, and already attached boss, Graham Stoneford.  When he sees a personal ad from a man that quotes his favorite poet, Brent decides to do something wild and answer. Enter Cody Bellstrom, easygoing bisexual musician, who is happy to initiate Brent in the ways of gay sex. Brent now has a new problem: he realizes he’s gay and no one in his life knows it. Cody tires of hiding their relationship, but Brent finds it challenging to come out to family, friends, and especially to Graham. In the end, Brent must confront the truth of where – and with whom – his heart lies.

THERE YOU ARE
Bisexual musician Cody Bellstrom is a free spirit, easygoing and unattached. On a cross-country trip, Cody befriends young Sandy Nixon and gets him safely to Portland and his uncle, Phineas MacDonald. Beautiful Phineas turns Cody’s life upside down, and Cody learns he's not as unattached as he aspires to be. With the hard-won knowledge of what lies underneath his need to be free, Cody wins a chance at real freedom and true love. Ever since his longtime lover Allen died, Phineas MacDonald has lived a circumscribed life. He stopped performing as fierce drag queen Phanny Hill and works part-time in a bookstore. Phineas never expected to find love again. But when sexy and caring Cody Bellstrom turns up, Phineas feels his orderly life slipping out of his control. Cody brings him alive again, but now Phineas must find the courage to let go of his grief over Allen and give love a second chance.

SAND-MAN’S FAMILY
When Sandy Nixon's conservative Catholic parents discover he's had sex before marriage, they are furious. But when he blurts out he's bisexual, they go ballistic. After they threaten him with conversion therapy, Sandy does what many queer kids long to do—leaves his homophobic parents in the dust. He moves in with his Uncle Phineas and Phineas’s partner Cody in Portland, Oregon, and is finally safe to be himself. Sandy misses his siblings, though, and decides to visit his former home in Rockford for Thanksgiving. On the train, he runs into Jade Byrne. As the only out gay kid in their Catholic high school, Jade had stared down homophobes while being fabulous in the school musicals. He’s crushed on Sandy for years. But he’s made sure never to show it, even after they had a one-time hookup. Traveling back to Rockford together sees the start of a month of adventures, a blossoming attraction, and a chance for Sandy to learn what it means to have a family that hurts and to choose a family that heals.













After years of hearing characters chatting away in her head, CJane Elliott finally decided to put them on paper and hasn’t looked back since. A psychotherapist by training, CJane enjoys writing sexy, passionate stories that also explore the human psyche. CJane has traveled all over North America for work and her characters are travelers, too, traveling down into their own depths to find what they need to get to the happy ending.
CJane is bisexual and an ardent supporter of LGBTQ equality. In her spare time, CJane can be found dancing, listening to music, or watching old movies. Her family supports her writing habit by staying out of the way when they see her hunched over, staring intensely at her laptop.
CJane is the author of the award-winning Serpentine Series, New Adult contemporary novels set at the University of Virginia. Serpentine Walls was a 2014 Rainbow Awards finalist, Aidan’s Journey was a 2015 EPIC Awards finalist, and Sex, Love, and Videogames won first place in the New Adult category in the 2016 Swirl Awards and first place in Contemporary Fiction in the 2017 EPIC eBook Awards. Her contemporary novel All The Way To Shore was runner up for best bisexual fiction in the 2017 Rainbow Awards.
Email: cjaneelliott@gmail.com
Twitter: @CJaneElliott



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