07/18/2023

Hey Ryders, and welcome again to all the new faces. I’m late, again, but I’m sure most of you are totally used to that by now. I basically wrote this mailing list email at 8:30 AM and I had been awake since 10pm the previous. Which is to say, that’s when I woke up on Wednesday – 10pm, and then I sent the email out on Thursday, and promptly forgot to update my blog.

TL;DR – my sleep schedule is totally fucked and I basically had to circle the clock to fix it, which meant I totally forgot that this was a mailing list week. Whoops! What’s important is that I remembered eventually, right?

This week’s updates include the state of Depths of Desire (AKA Gay Merfolk #1), a super early sequel announcement, a few links to some super hot gay books, and a bit more news about my personal life, so be sure to read all the way to the end. And please don’t hesitate to hit reply and let me know if you have any questions, suggestions, or just wanna talk about my cat-children. They love you already, I promise!

PS, my mailing list subscribers got this email, which contained a super early new short story release, on Thursday, 7/13/2023. If you’d like the latest and most up to date information on my writing, as well as special additional information on future projects, beta reading opportunities, and more, be sure to subscribe to my mailing list! It’s totally free and you can unsubscribe at any time.

I’m writing again! (sort of…?)

In my last mailing list, I mentioned that I had basically been too stressed to write at all. Well, I’ve decided that’s silly. I like writing. So after I’m done writing this email, I’m going to start writing some more of Depths of Desire. I’ve also decided that the subtitle “AKA Gay Mermen” has become inspiration for a series name! I have plenty more ideas for sexy gay merfolk that I’d love to turn into stories, so why not make them all in the same universe, right?

Of course, this means that I need to go back through and add those characters, or at least mentions of them, to Depths of Desire in its current format, but that should be pretty simple. The important parts are that I’m writing again and that Gay Mermfolk will be a series name instead of just a silly subtitle. I am a little behind schedule, though, so I think I will push the release date back to May of 2024, making it my official Mer May release. Let me know what you think!

Hot LGBTQ+ Romances – Many Free!

I’ve joined a couple promos this month, and they’re both full of some great sexy LGBTQ+ stories! Check them out and add stuff to your TBR list because you’re not going to miss these spicy gay novels!

This first promo has some of the awesome books I’ve already recommended here, like A Devilish Saturnalia and The Red Collar, so I’m totally stoked to be included too! It seems to have something for everyone, from hockey romance to supernatural & paranormal, so be sure to let me know which ones you read and if you liked them. I love getting book recs from you!

Your Next Favorite MM Romance sale

The second promo I’m in are all totally free, so you’re definitely going to want to browse these bad (and good) boys! It looks like, despite what the title says, not all of the books involve MM romances, but the majority of them do at least, and there are definitely some I’ve added to my TBR already. Let me know if you decide to read some and what you think of them!

Free LGBT Romances

Click here to read The Alien Emissary by Eryn Ivers!

Bryant Harrison doesn’t do burglaries. His strength, his size, and his obviously once broken nose all mean he’s the muscle – not the thief. But he desperately needs the money to save his young daughter before she’s sent to a penal colony far beyond his reach. Alarm bells ring in his head as he breaks into the personal ship of an influential alien diplomat, but this time he can’t afford to listen to them…

Captured by the ship’s top of the line security system, Bryant expects to be turned in if not turned inside out and torn limb from limb. He doesn’t expect an encounter that leaves him limp, trembling, and questioning everything.

Emissary Serihk has always been the most powerful man in a room. Backed by the richest species-state in the galaxy, Serihk decides the fates of nations and of planets. But suddenly, all he wants to decide is the fate of one human man and his young daughter.

The human is tough as nails, clever and shrewd, achingly handsome, and a survivor of things Serihk has only ever read reports on. Yet when Serihk touches him, the human yields to him, trusts him, and lights a protective fire in him that Serihk has never felt before.

Bryant wishes he could fall into the arms of this commanding, elegant, awe-inspiring alien whose very presence wipes away all his crushing fear and doubt. But he can’t afford to lose his edge. He knows from experience that good things don’t last and people always leave you.

But does that mean he has to leave the one place – and more importantly the one man – who ever made him feel safe?

The Alien Emissary is a steamy (very steamy) story featuring power dynamics, dom/sub undertones, tentacles, and trust issues.

It is the prologue novella to Interspecies Alliances – a series best read in order about a galaxy torn apart by conflict and the men fighting to keep it together. Each novel follows its own couple with their own HEA on this epic space adventure.

CW: criminal justice system/arrests/police, gangs, and mentions of war, imperialism, and refugees.

Click here to read The Alien Emissary by Eryn Ivers!

How Can You Support Indie Authors?

I added an entire new page to my site with plenty of ways you can support me and independent authors like me without having to spend a dime! The graphic above shows the basics, but this page has a more in-depth description of how to do each one and why each one helps – https://ryderocox.com/best-free-ways-to-support-indie-authors/

Inside My Mind

I got a fun question in my NGL this week that I’m excited to answer! If you want to send me a question to answer in a future mailing list update, feel free to hit reply to this email. Or if you want to send anonymously you can use my NGL link – https://ngl.link/authorryderocox

Now for the question: “Who was your first kiss?”

This is such a fun question! I haven’t thought about it in years, but my first kiss was in 9th grade. I know, I was kind of a late bloomer, but I didn’t really analyze my own sexuality until I was in college, and I only just started identifying as non-binary in the past few years. Anyway, the guy’s name was Clayton and he was…interesting.

I won’t say he was a bad guy, because I don’t think he was. But he was definitely far outside what I was used to when it came to how people usually acted in public. I think he probably had undiagnosed ADHD, the hyperactive kind whereas mine is the inattentive kind. I distinctly recall him literally climbing on top of the seats and up the walls in an empty theater once LOL.

The kiss, though? It was….wet. I don’t know what else to say. He kinda licked my lips but while we were kissing? it’s hard to describe. Kids don’t know what they’re doing, for sure, but I had other kisses not long after that and they were much less slimy. I don’t know if it’s something I did differently or what, but all I really recall is needing to wipe my face off after and thinking to myself, ‘Wow, I didn’t think it would be this wet.’

Thanks for the fun question, and I hope to get more from you in the future! I love sharing about myself, but I often don’t know what to say, so please do send me questions, either by hitting reply or checking out my NGL.

More coming soon!

That’s it for this week! Still working on those gifts for subscribers, but I’m hoping to get them done in the next month or 2. In the If you’ve got something you’d like to see me do here, or even if you want to share something you’ve made with my followers, let me know by replying to this email and I’ll do my best to make it happen!

In a rough patch, but I’m getting back to it!