Jonathan Penn's Blog

Hearts On Fire Book Reviews is graciously hosting a guest post by Taomi and me. Click below to meet the artist who created the breathtaking cover for Turnabout, and find out...
Why I Adore Eric Arvin: http://heartsonfirereviews.com/?p=31222

Here's a link to the video trailer for Boughs of Evergreen , a holiday anthology in support of The Trevor Project.

It's 17 minutes, but I promise it's worth your time, and I sincerely hope you'll purchase at least one copy of this book (it makes a WONDERFUL holiday gift) to lend your support to our leading charity providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning young people ages 13-24.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pht-scIWiJg

I've been DYING to show off the cover for my soon-to-be-released short.

Just got the okay---along with a "pre-announcement" from the publisher:

*****

Keep an eye out for the Kickass Anthology---yes that's the title---which is coming out on Thanksgiving .

It's a benefit for Eric and Tj.   Bunch of us got together, and it's even illustrated!

I'd like to thank all the volunteers for writing, drawing, editing, and doing all the behind the scenes work.

Stay tuned for more details!

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I'd like to give a nod to the astonishingly talented artist, Taomi, who created this fabulous painting for everyone's enjoyment! 

"Taomi" begins with the Tao, has the Om in the middle...and "I" comes last.

Taomi is Love in a seventy-year-old body. She lives happily with her two cats on a trail near a peaceful river, making music, singing, painting, and dancing in the moonlight.

The book can be downloaded (for free) in mobi, epub, and pdf formats at:mmromancegroup.com — Raising Cade If you’re a member of the Goodreads M/M Romance Group, you can read it at:Love’s Landscapes — Raising Cade  (If you want to see the photo that prompted the story, members can view it on this page)If you’re not a member of the Goodreads M/M Romance Group,
you probably should be!I really hope you enjoy reading Raising Cade , and I’d be most grateful for any feedback you might offer. Please leave a comment here on the blog, or Friend me on Facebook and post there. Or, best of all, a review on Goodreads is worth its weight in gold!  (Well… hmm… considering the relationship between electronic text and gravity, it’s actually worth quite a bit more than that!  **grin**)Thanks for reading!CONTENT WARNING: Raising Cade is a gay romance and includes brief, but graphic depictions of sex, violence, rape, and PTSD. Readers who object to content of this nature should not download this book.



What readers are saying about Raising Cade:

This is a story with depth and real concerns. It is not light and fluffy, but a coming-of-age, in my opinion—second chances, if you are willing to try for them. I feel that our couple were meant to be together. It wasn't instant, for sure, but that just made them stronger in the end. The story is about the two of them balancing one another out, helping each other become stronger. They are each other’s anchor in the world they both live in now. You could see the growth from within as Cade comes to terms with what happened to him, and the life he wants to share with Alan. Maybe we will be lucky and be graced with more of their story… —Jeanne, Goodreads
When I finished reading this last night, I gave it 3-1/2 stars. However, I awoke this morning not only remembering the characters and the details of their lives, but still curious to get to know them and their friends better. In light of that fact, I had to bump it up that extra half star to a 4.I really enjoyed getting to know both Alan, a purple heart bearing Marine and poor, sweet Cade. I look forward to continuing to get to know them and their friends. Though this is apparently a first foray into publishing, Raising Cade doesn't “feel like” an author who is only beginning. —Pati, Goodreads
There are simply not enough stars to rate this the way I would like. Few books touch me as thoroughly. Cade and Alan are characters that will stay with me forever. This rarely happens.They are both very compelling and easily liked. There is a small cast of secondary characters as well… Cade and Alan though, oh my God, they practically lifted off the page to stand in my living room. They are as real to me as any physical person I have met.Jonathan has created beauty, and I do so hope he expands on this story. —Dawn Sister, Goodreads

It's unprecedented for me, but I'm at a loss for words to describe how excited I am over seeing the cover for Raising Cade ! It looks the same as all the other covers for this year's Don't Read in the Closet , with one very important difference: it's the first time I've ever seen my name on the front of a book!  
Now, I get what people mean when they say they're beside themselves. If anything, I'm in all four corners of the room at once—jumping up and down, grinning like a horny sailor fresh off the boat (or, maybe, one who just boarded? *wink*), dancing all around, and singing out (*Louise!* ) in a voice that's far too loud...

Isn’t it beeeee-you-tee-full?????
I just can’t wipe the smile off my face!!!!!

Hello and Welcome,
Thanks for stopping by my blog. In all likelihood, you got here via a link at the end of one of my stories. If that’s the case, thank you for reading! I hope you really enjoyed yourself!
While it’s true that I’ve been making up tales for many years, I’m brand new to publishing them. For any new author, the climb up the “learning curve” looks precipitous from below—figuring out what appeals to readers… what I need to work on… So I'd love to hear your thoughts on my writing. And not just the good parts, although I never take praise lightly (*obsequious grin*).
I’m particularly interested in anything that didn't work for you, especially if you can share insights that might help me improve. If all you’ve got is “Hated it!” then I’m afraid all I can offer in return is, “I am truly, very sorry.” I’m an avid reader, and once in a while I’ll finish a book and not be able to put my finger on exactly why I didn’t care for it. But usually, I can at least narrow it down to a few likely suspects. So, as much as I’d adore hearing about what you liked, I’m even more interested in anything you didn’t—especially if you can say why. I hope to be in this writing game for many years to come, so this is your opportunity to get in on the ground floor—as it were—in helping me to improve my craft.  "Plastics, my boy. Plastics!"
As a reader, I love Author Bios! When it’s an author I haven’t read before, I’ll skip to the end and check that out before I start the book. It’s often less than satisfying, because it’s only a short paragraph and, in many cases, could be about almost anybody. So, if you want to know a little more about me, please read on. Otherwise, there are newer posts (above) that are less about me and more about what I’ve written (but, of course, what you really want is to get to know me, so why would you skip up there so soon? *bats lashes*).
As my Bio indicates, I grew up in The South. I was born in Atlanta and raised in North Carolina, with a one-year stint in Minneapolis when I was a toddler. From the age of three, I’ve been in North Carolina except for a few years in Boston in the 1980’s. I’ve worn a lot of hats over the years. After “some college”, I worked as a stage manager and lighting designer (I was “Born in a Trunk in the Princess Theatre in Pocatello, Idaho”—not really, that’s a song). After that, there was barista (decades before that became a thing), waiter, chef, technical support specialist, software consultant, trainer/road warrior, seamstress, nursing assistant, and medication technician. If I recall correctly, there were also numerous engagements as a professional dishwasher peppered in among the others. All these experiences have contributed to who I am and what I write about.
And, speaking of writing, how did that get tacked on, here at the end? Well… all my life people have told me I should do it. I never gave the idea any serious consideration until I stumbled across a genre that I find absolutely irresistible as a reader. As you’ve no doubt guessed by now, that would be Male/Male Romance. I don’t know what rock I’d been living under for fifty-some years, but it was about sixteen months ago when I inadvertently typed something into my Kindle search box… (I dunno, something like “gay cowboy”).  Imagine my surprise! (*grin*) Life has never been the same. I immediately tore through Laura Harner’s Willow Spring series like there was no tomorrow (in retrospect, I refer to Laura as my “gateway drug”). Then, I discovered Kaje Harper and couldn’t put her down until I’d read every single word she’d ever published! Since then, I’ve devoured nearly three hundred M/M titles.
Early in all that reading, a friendly soul directed me to the M/M Romance Group on Goodreads, and that was another life-altering experience. If you read in this genre and aren't already a member, you should definitely join! I started “drabbling” on the flash fiction thread there, and the writing bug bit me. Hard! Then, Love’s Landscapes (their 2014 Don’t Read in the Closet writing event) got underway. I was delighted to learn that I would be provided with a full summer of free reads, but I had no intention of participating beyond that—I wasn’t “an author” after all. About a month after the last of the prompts had been claimed, one became available again due to some unknown difficulty. I hemmed and hawed for a while, but finally squeezed my eyes tight, pinched my nose, and leapt off the high dive. Suddenly, life got very strange! For the next two months it seemed that, every time I turned around, yet another unforeseeable aspect of the universe was unfolding itself in some unlikely way to aid in bringing the story to life.
The resulting novella, Raising Cade , will be released in the very near future (details coming soon). In the weeks since submitting the manuscript—during intermittent periods of waiting for feedback from an editor, then proofreaders, then formatters, and, finally, the fine folks at Quality Control—I’ve managed to finish a short story (which will very likely be included in a fundraiser anthology), and started a second one which, barring any unforeseen tragedy that might prevent its completion, definitely will be in an upcoming holiday anthology (more info on both of these in the very near future, as well).
So, again, I appreciate your time and interest. The men living in my head can be very demanding when it comes to having their stories told! I look forward to sharing their experiences with you, and writing more effectively with each new book. If you take half as much pleasure in reading my work as I do in writing it, then we really are helping one another out. Thank You!