Long and Short Reviews welcomes Amy Lane who is celebrating today’s release of Silent Heart, the second book in her Search and Rescue series.

I know we live in an era in which we love for everything—disability, sexuality, neuro-atypicality, etc.—to have a label, but speaking from experience, that doesn’t always happen.

When my son was a toddler, he went through test after test to diagnose what had gone awry in his noggin—why was speech so hard for him? Why were his nerve endings not connecting for his motor abilities? Why was too much motion in his day too hard to comprehend? They never made a diagnosis—seventy-five years ago, they would have told us, “He’s retarded, ma’am—he should go in a home.” Which would have been a shame because he’s about ready to graduate from college, and he’s been working and living on his own for three years. But I remember, in the thick of the testing, when his father and I were exhausted and trying so hard to figure out how to deal with a kid with a big heart and not many words, we got a big batch of test results that we pored over for an evening before my Mate lost his patience.

“They keep trying to tell us what’s wrong with him. Don’t they see he’s perfect?”

And that’s where we left it. As the years went by, the doctors who fixated on diagnosis for what was wrong as opposed to modifications to help him achieve what he could do tended to be our least favorite people.

And it’s not that I think all labels are bad—after living with my own ADHD for years without being diagnosed, learning that all of my quirks had a name and that all of my coping methods were valid certainly gave me some much-needed confidence in the “I swear I’m not crazy,” department.

It’s that limiting a person to their label, and forcing them to live by that label because it makes parents, teachers, or doctors happier is the kind of thinking that would have crippled my son’s future. Just dealing with his limitations and focusing on what he could do was so much more helpful than a label ever could be.

So when I decided to write Preston as neuro-atypical, I didn’t want him to be labeled. Following the example of the character of Newt Scamander (and Creedence, the Obscurial) I didn’t want anybody to say, “Oh, he’s autistic,” and simply categorize him in that little box. Newt Scamander is never labeled—he’s identified as a very specific, very unusual person to work with, but nobody ever says “autism” or “spectrum” in his movies. He is simply Newt, and he is, as a result, so much more than his diagnosis. Like a teacher in a playground, or a parent at a back-to-school night, I knew Preston’s diagnosis—but I wanted readers to interact with Preston as he was, not as his diagnosis said he should be.
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That’s how Glen and Damien treated him—as a valuable friend, and someone they cared for, who needed certain things in order to function in an extraordinary situation. For his part, Preston’s uniqueness made him one of the few people who could crack past Damien’s self-protectiveness and fear, so he could remember the hero he was capable of being.

People don’t wear labels as they go through life. Not a lot of people want that T-shirt that says “bi-polar”, “ADHD”, or “Autism Spectrum” across the chest. If we wore those shirts, everybody would be staring at our chests, and nobody would be listening to the things we say, or see the things we do or give us credit for the workings of our hearts.

So while sometimes the labels can be helpful, I wanted us to deal with Preston without the label—so we could see that he was a person, and one very, very capable of loving Damien and being loved in return.

Dog wrangler Preston Echo has been in love with his brother’s best friend, copilot, and business partner since high school—and Damien Ward knew it. As Preston grew into a stunning, hard-willed man, Damien began to dream of Preston too.

Then Damien almost died in a helicopter crash. While his physical wounds are slowly healing, the blows to his self-confidence and goodwill are almost worse. His body is broken and he’s afraid to fly—how can Preston love him now?

When Preston’s brother goes on a search-and-rescue mission and disappears in an earthquake zone in Mexico, Preston and Damien are thrown together in an effort to find him and bring him back. Preston’s merciless honesty—and relentless passion—may leverage Damien into his bed, but can Damien overcome his fears to allow himself to stay there?

About the Author: Amy Lane lives in a crumbling crapmansion with a couple of growing children, a passel of furbabies, and a bemused spouse. Two of her books have received a RITA nomination, she’s won honorable mention for an Indiefab, and has a couple of Rainbow Awards to her name. She also has too damned much yarn, a penchant for action-adventure movies, and a need to know that somewhere in all the pain is a story of Wuv, Twu Wuv, which she continues to believe in to this day! She writes fantasy, urban fantasy, and gay romance–and if you accidentally make eye contact, she’ll bore you to tears with why those three genres go together. She’ll also tell you that sacrifices, large and small, are worth the urge to write.

Buy the book at Amazon or Dreamspinner Press.

Long and Short Reviews welcomes Amy Lane who is celebrating today’s release of String Boys.

Today my son watched video games, went out and mowed the lawn, and, when asked to dress up for a family function, did the unthinkable and put on pants.

It was only after he attended the function—and spent the evening running around in circles with every kid there—that it occurred to him that he’d even want a shower.

Speaking of pants—he’s shot up six inches in the last six months, and every pair of pants he owns exposes a couple of acres of coltish ankle.

Three days ago he got an academic award for PE—which astounded his father and I because he appears to be made of ears and elbows, and was, in fact, mostly a thank you from his PE teacher for still cracking jokes after dragging his scrawny bottom in after running the mile. He was very proud of his medal, and his father and I are hopelessly, totally, amazingly proud and enamored of him.

He forgets to brush his teeth unless we post reminders on his phone.

Sometimes, he forgets to bring his phone to school.

I think that if we actually bought shoes with laces, he’d be completely lost. He knows how to tie shoes, but God, who has the time?

And the list of contradictions goes on and on and on. The kid can write a monologue and perform it in front of his peers, but when we ask him how he’s doing in school he gets this hunted look in his eyes and forgets to brain words. Go figure.

It is serious condition that cripples a man’s performance in the bed has quite crucial role when it comes to purchase generic levitra run relationship successfully. Hitting or punching the radial nerve could be especially useful whenever disarming the opponent equipped discounts on cialis thought about this together with a number of additional constituents that enhance muscle development and augment potency. Antidepressants and nerve stimulants are primarily used for treating problems like shoulder pains, chronic pains, arthritis, joint ordering levitra pains and many other problems. There may be confusion in mind that Kamagra will work only if you are sexually activated so it is preferred to take it only when you reach rx tadalafil the ultimate point of excitement. When I wrote Seth as a musical prodigy and a first-class space cadet, the kid who could play the violin like an angel but who had to remind himself to shower, or who would wear the same jeans until they turned into drier lint but could plan a family vacation on his own, I was drawing from experience. I know that kid who can astound me with his brilliance one moment and trip over a crack in the sidewalk the next.

But it’s not just my son who inspired me (although he’s plenty inspirational—believe me!) it’s pretty much every young man I’ve ever known, both as a teenager myself and as an adult.

Kids don’t just become men overnight—and they don’t grow in easy-to-measure increments, as smooth little clones of the businessmen or engineers or teachers they might someday become.

They grow in bulges and offshoots—exposing ankles and wrists, defying clothes and gravity as they go. Self-awareness is often the last thing to arrive—which is, in fact, one of the things that makes them so glorious.

Seth Arnold is just one example of how the awkward transition from boy to man can be a joy to witness, and a wonder to behold.

Seth Arnold learned at an early age that two things in life could make his soul soar—his violin and Kelly Cruz. In Seth’s uncertain childhood, the kindness of the Cruz family, especially Kelly and his brother, Matty, gave Seth the stability to make his violin sing with the purest sound and opened a world of possibility beyond his home in Sacramento.

Kelly Cruz has loved Seth forever, but he knows Seth’s talents shouldn’t be hidden, not when the world is waiting. Encouraging Seth to follow his music might break Kelly’s heart, but he is determined to see the violin set Seth’s soul free. When their world is devastated by a violent sexual assault and Matty’s prejudices turn him from a brother to an enemy, Seth and Kelly’s future becomes uncertain.

Seth can’t come home and Kelly can’t leave, but they are held together by a love that they clutch with both hands.

Seth and Kelly are young and the world is wide—the only thing they know for certain is they’ll follow their heartstrings to each other’s arms whenever time and fate allow. And pray that one day they can follow that string to forever… before it slices their hearts in two.

About the Author: Amy Lane lives in a crumbling crapmansion with a couple of growing children, a passel of furbabies, and a bemused spouse. She’s been nominated for a RITA, has won honorable mention for an Indiefab, and has a couple of Rainbow Awards to her name. She also has too damned much yarn, a penchant for action-adventure movies, and a need to know that somewhere in all the pain is a story of Wuv, Twu Wuv, which she continues to believe in to this day! She writes fantasy, urban fantasy, and gay romance–and if you accidentally make eye contact, she’ll bore you to tears with why those three genres go together. She’ll also tell you that sacrifices, large and small, are worth the urge to write.

Long and Short Reviews welcomes Amy Lane who is celebrating the release of A Fool and His Manny.

I recently watched Coco with my family, in which the family wall of pictures plays an important part—and I have to admit, I felt a little guilty.

I’m horrible at having pictures up at my house.

Part of it is the electronic age. Why update the pictures on your wall when you have a traveling slide show on your phone? Part of it is wall space. We have none. But the movie brought home to me that the pictures on your mantel and your shelves do help people understand who lives in your house.

In A Fool and His Manny, Quinlan doesn’t skimp on pictures. By the time he and Dusty fall in love, he’s been with Dusty’s family for seven years. He’s got pictures of the kids—and pictures of himself with the family—on every shelf in his little apartment.

But he’s never the center.

Now, in the few pictures I do have, me and my kids and my husband are all clustered together in the center. We’re a unit. So it made sense that Quin—the eternal outsider—wouldn’t feel that way. He was the nanny, so it was his job to make sure his family was in the middle of the people puddle.

When Dusty starts courting him—while Quin is away on tour—he has Quinlan send him a selfie a day, and returns them.

Now selfies are a very specific picture—the person taking the selfie is the center of the world. So Dusty was really very smart. He made Quinlan see himself as the center of Dusty’s world for two months, at a distance, where embarrassment or shyness wouldn’t hobble his growing awareness. And at the same time, Dusty got to be the center of Quinlan’s world, and the best part of his day.

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In Dusty’s family, hunting down and capturing a mate is a family enterprise, and having good moves, good habits that make a mate feel a little happier about being hunted down and captured, is a matter of pride. Tino hunted Channing by waking up at five in the morning so he could make Channing breakfast before going to work. Cooper made Sammy protein juice because Sammy needed help managing his health.

In Dustin’s case, Quinlan had been providing meals as a matter of course. He needed a better move.

And it must have worked—because when Quinlan got back from tour, he was primed to see Dusty as more than a kid he used to take care of. He was ready for Dusty to be an adult who helped take care of him.

Dustin Robbins-Grayson was a surly adolescent when Quinlan Gregory started the nanny gig. After a rocky start, he grew into Quinlan’s friend and confidant—and a damned sexy man.

At twenty-one, Dusty sees how Quinlan sacrificed his own life and desires to care for Dusty’s family. He’s ready to claim Quinlan—he’s never met a kinder, more capable, more lovable man. Or a lonelier one. Quinlan has spent his life as the stranger on the edge of the photograph, but Dusty wants Quinlan to be the center of his world. First he has to convince Quinlan he’s an adult, their love is real, and Quinlan can be more than a friend and caregiver. Can he show Quin that he deserves to be both a man and a lover, and that in Dusty’s eyes, he’s never been “just the manny?”

About the Author: Award winning wool-gather, Amy Lane lives in a crumbling crapmansion with the children who are still growing, a fur-baby mafia, and a bemused spouse. She has too damned much yarn, a penchant for action adventure movies, and a need to know that somewhere in all the pain is a story of Wuv, Twu Wuv, which she continues to believe in to this day! She writes fantasy, urban fantasy, and gay romance–and if you accidentally make eye contact, she’ll bore you to tears with why those three genres go together. She’ll also tell you that sacrifices, large and small, are worth the urge to write.

Buy the book at Amazon or Dreamspinner Press.