Kia Ora... Updates, Announcement, and Switch Hitters Chapter Seventeen
Jul 01, 2023 1:00 pm
Kia Ora...
I've know been in the new place three weeks and are so pleased that we got it!! Being close to town, or more importantly, the bus stop my daughter gets off at, is making life so much easier. Being able to sleep in a bed and not on a couch is also damn good bonus too.
And speaking of my daughter... she managed to get home from uni to spend a week with me. She would've come for longer, but when she booked her tickets, I still didn't have a roof over my head that would also accommodate her! She's not back at her hall wishing like crazy that the forecasted snow eventuates.
This newsletter in addition to the regular updates and bookfunnel promos, I get to make an announcement about one of the anthology projects that I'm a part of!!
Updates
Naomi Aoki
- Busy starting the process of loading my Yakuza Romances onto Itch.io.
- Creating graphics for Deadly Gifts (Tokyo Nights 3) as I've discovered I never made any for it... whoops.
Mandy Greenwood
- The plan is to start writing Bishop (Crime Lords 4), and the second book in Mao and Jun's story. But before I do I have a few loose end stories to finish up first.
MJ Green
- Love Unpicked (House of Bolton 6) is now in the hands of my proofreader. I also need to get the paperback cover sorted and write the blurb.
- Want to get Defrocked (House of Bolton Novella) finished. It's currently sitting at 10k words and I should be able to finish it off while I'm still in the 'need to get these opening chapters right' stage of Bishop.
- Anthology short is sitting at just over 5k...so about half or third of the way there depending on whether it finishes at 10k or 15k.
Announcement
O Deadly Night Volume 2: A Dark MM Charity Anthology
Release Date: November 14, 2023
Special Preorder Price: $4.99 https://mybook.to/ODN2
Add to TBR: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/181185145-o-deadly-night
O Deadly Night is back, and this time the happiest season of all is hiding even more secrets.
So you better watch out. I’ll tell you why. The lights don’t twinkle as bright where the villains hide. And there’s no comfort and joy to be found in the darkness, even if it is the holiday season.
Join several dark MM authors as they once again explore the darker half of the holidays while also spreading cheer and support to LGBTQ youth.
*O Deadly Night Volume 2 is a Dark MM anthology with all proceeds to be donated to The Trevor Project and featuring stories by:
Alex J. Adams, Sean Azinsalt, Bey Deckard, Abrianna Denae, Elouise R East,
MJ Green, K.L. Hiers, Alexis Jane, Abigail Kade, Briar Kearney, Leigh Kenzie
Davidson King, Reese Knightley, Duckie Mack, R. Phoenix & Adara Wolf
Jack L. Pyke, Faith Ryan, Remi Varlow
But that's not all you want to now, right?
So, here's a sneak peek at who will be appearing in my story... or maybe that should be reappearing.
- A glimpse at our favourite Ghosts' life before they were... yeah.
- An usual use for broken violin strings
- CBT that is far from pleasurable... for the recipient at least
- A musical accompaniment that is so them.
A cover reveal for the anthology will be happening later this month.
**********
All of my books are included in this sale and are 25% off.
Bookfunnel Promo
Every click helps an author's reputation on the site and makes it easier to join future promos.
Chapter Seventeen
Mike blew out a long breath, stretched his legs out under the conference table and drummed his fingers on its familiar surface. The last time he’d stepped into this room, Mike had been greeted by not only by the team’s coach, manager, and the then owners, but also by the team’s physio, sports doctor, and Mike’s own orthopedic specialists. It hadn’t been a pleasant meeting, not that he could think being told that your career was over and that they were buying you out of the rest of your contract could ever be described as pleasant. And it was hard being back here even if his reasons for doing so held far promise for his future with the team and the sport Mike still loved with a passion.
Maybe it was a good thing then this meeting had been hastily arranged less than hour after Mike had rung Coach and inquired about the pitching coach position. Hard to work yourself up into a ball of nerves when you weren’t given enough time to think, to second guess the decisions you’d made. And despite Jordan’s assurances, and the supportive words of his former coach, Mike wasn’t sure the position was his for the taking. Wouldn’t blame the senior leadership or the new owners for not wanting to risk the team reputation by employing a man who’d self-destructed spectacularly when his career ended. It didn’t that much of his breakdown had occurred in the privacy of his own home, those within the team couldn’t have missed how it had affected Jordan at the time.
He reckoned it be nothing short of a miracle for the team’s new owners to agree to Mike being hired. But then again, with the rumours he’d heard about the new owners, Mike wondered if they truly cared about the team’s performances so long as ticket sales remained high…and there was money to be made on game day bets, legal or not. But rumours were just that. Mike thought it hard to believe the team was now owned by two men who were connected to organised crime.
Whether they were true or not, the rumours, Mike didn’t care right now. He just wished the men and the rest of those attending this meeting would hurry up, The longer he sat in the conference room alone, the more his anxiety at being at the stadium continued to ramp up. Mike wanted to give this a chance, wanted to see if he could be the man Jordan believed him to be… but more importantly he wanted to be that man for himself. No longer did he want to be consumed by the dark destructive forces of the past two years.
Mike wanted to return to baseball in whatever capacity that was available to him.
His fingers paused their drumming as the door handle creaked and Mike turned to face the door as it opened. He sat up straighter and smiled at his former coach. It wasn’t one those broad I’m-happy-to-be-here grins that he’d usually flung the man’s way, but something far smaller and expressed the nervousness Mike felt at being here.
“It’s about time you pulled your head out your arse, Mike, and returned to the team,” Coach said with a booming voice that could carry his instructions all the way to the outfield during practices.
“Even if I had, Coach, there hadn’t been a place for me on the team until now.” Mike tried to reply confidently even though he was feeling far from it.
Coach snorted as rounded the table and took a seat on the side opposite Mike. “There was always a place for you on the team, no matter what form it took.”
“I wasn’t going to get stuck working with the PR department,” he hissed.
“Not likely… not at all…because they’d have begging for us to put you somewhere else with days,” Coach said with a wry laugh.
“And your talent would’ve been wasted behind a desk,” a new voice said.
Mike swung around to stare at the man striding into the conference room. Two men actually, with the team manager hurrying behind them. He watched as the two men sat at the head of the conference table, and he quickly deduced that these were the teams new owners. Mike didn’t know what to make of them, but he could understand the reasons for the rumours that swirled around them. They definitely weren’t men Mike wanted to find himself on the wrong side of, especially the shorter of the two men whose piercing gaze screamed danger.
“And you know something about talent, Mr.—”
“Vaseliv… but you may call me Su-Jin, and this”—gesturing at the man sitting next to him—“is Aiden Martel. And to your question… I know a lot about talent, especially when it applied to the sporting arena.”
“Then you’re going to have to forgive me for being ignorant of your skills in that area,” Mike replied, refusing to bow to the man’s stare no matter how dangerous that act might be. “I haven’t been in Greertown for a couple of years… nor paid any attention to the news.”
Su-Jin huffed. “My business partner and I run a very lucrative MMA competition…plus I coach…and Aidan has competed. So, when it comes to discerning talent on a physical scale… we are both very adept at it.”
Mike nodded and spread his hands out in front of him, palms up. “Fair enough. But if my talent is wasted behind a desk, then where do you think it will best utilised.”
Aidan chuckled. “On the field… where else.”
“On the field?” Mike arched an eyebrow. “I thought this was a job interview, not a rehashing of my ability to resume a pro career?”
“You’re right. It is a job interview. But really that is a mere formality… because your coach wants you back in the bullpen as do the catchers, our star pitcher—”
“My husband doesn’t exactly have an unbiased opinion on the matter.”
“True,” Coach sighed. “But you are the only one can make the damn do more at practice than simply pitch.”
“But it isn’t just them. The rest of the team—players and organizational staff—plus the fans all want to see you back.” Su-Jin flipped open a folder that Mike hadn’t realised he’d carried into the room and slid it down the table toward him. “And you’re right, you won’t ever play a professional game again…but that doesn’t mean your skills should be left to drown under copious amounts of alcohol when they could be far better utilised as our new pitching coach.”
“But there still wouldn’t have been a role for me.”
Su-Jin smiled at him. “That wouldn’t have been an issue, Mike… you’re complaints about the previous pitching coach while you were still a player are well documented. And even if he hadn’t of fucked up with our prized starting pitcher, his days working for the Switch Hitters was already numbered. It wouldn’t have taken much to get rid of him in order to make space for you.”
Mike swallowed hard and picked up the pen to scrawl his name on the contract while Su-Jin’s words lingered in his ears. And those rumours he’d heard about the teams new owners didn’t feel quite so farfetched, almost certain that Su-Jin’s idea of getting ‘rid of’ the previous pitching coach had little do with large sums of money.
“There. I’ve signed it,” he said, placing the pen on top of the contract and pushing it back toward Su-Jin.
“Good…good,” Su-Jin muttered while he and Aidan added their signatures to the bottom of it. “Then on behalf of the Switch Hitters… Welcome back to the team,” he said before rising and striding toward the door, Aidan close on his heels. Su-Jin paused at the door and glanced back over his shoulder. “I will leave you gentlemen to confer over the details regarding the coaching of the team going forward… all I ask is that you win.”
“Thank you for the opportunity… I won’t let you down.”
“No, you won’t,” Su-Jin said. “Because you won’t like the consequences if you do.”
Aidan waited for Su-Jin to leave the room before speaking himself. “Look…you’re going to do fine. This team is a good one, stacked full of potential, and has been screaming out for a pitching coach who understands that… but Su-Jin is right, there will be consequences for failure… and it won’t be pretty.” And then he too disappeared into the hallway, the door closing behind him.
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Not read the Albie and Gio's (a.k.a The Ghosts) story yet?
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