Author, A. J. Llewellyn » Category: Writing and Poetry

The End of the World as We Know It

AJ — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:56:18 +0000

By A.J. Llewellyn

I am not a doomsdayist but ever since my niece started telling me that one of her teachers believes December 2012 will be the end of the world and several readers have written me to ask for my opinion on the subject – I am starting to wonder.

I’ve always longed for the perfect world, a Dystopia where everyone was happy and treated each other right. As a kid I loved fairytales. I believed in them.

And I still want to.

The way we are all treating each other and the increasingly despicable things we are doing to animals, children and the elderly, makes me despair that we will never even come close to it.

I think we are at the end of the road as a species.

Last night, I watched in horror a terrible story on the news about a local woman in Burbank who stabbed her family’s cocker spaniel to death. Three people have been arrested in what police say was a horrific incident of animal cruelty.

A few days ago a friend called to tell me of a woman he knew who started starving her Chihuahua in hopes it would die. Starvation is not a swift way to go, even in a small dog. After several days when the poor, helpless animal began to convulse, she finally smothered it with a pillow and killed it.

This story has given me sleepless nights.

My friend relating the story has been a good, solid friend for eighteen years but the fact he did not report this to the police in Detroit (where the incident occurred) really bothers me. The fact that he would not tell me who the woman was so I could report it bothers me more.

I have said it before and I’ll say it again. Anyone who can harm an innocent animal WILL at some point hurt a human being.

Each and every day, new and worse atrocities make the news. A Brazilian nurse, Camila de Moura, beat her innocent Yorkshire terrier to death in December and her neighbor put the results on Youtube when the police refused to arrest her.

Why didn’t this neighbor do more than just video it? How could a mom beat a tiny dog in front of her toddler?

Why is she not in jail?

Last month, 101-year-old Texana Hollis was evicted from her home in Detroit, Michigan because officials deemed it unfit to live in. Were it not for the kindness of strangers she would be homeless. And still, her situation is dire. Her kindly Samaritans have no ramp for her wheelchair.

How far must we continue to fall before it all is really and truly over?

Yesterday, Josh Powell, the man suspected of murdering his wife, Susan, torched himself and his two tiny sons before social workers could stop him.

I despair of us as a race…I can’t bear to watch youtube videos of anything but Don Ho singing Tiny Bubbles. The bullying, the videotaped bashings, the despair of our teenagers who wonder if it really does get better?

How can we say it does when people bury dogs alive, stab their neighbors’ cats for no good reason…and the electric companies turn off services when people can’t pay? How do we justify 93-year old World War II veteran, Marvin Schur, freezing to death inside his Bay City, Michigan home?

Who is that we honor?

I could go on and on but I am too outraged and utterly devastated that this is world as we know it. I have friends who wonder how I can spend my whole day writing but for me, living in a world of love and romance beats reality. I like my protective bubble, not that it isn’t frequently burst, but I believe in the power of positive thought, of kindness to our fellow earthlings.

All of them.

And I believe this our challenge now, to protect, respect and cherish every man, woman, and creature that shares this sacred space. I hope for everyone who feels victimized and hopless that a beautiful change is coming.

I hope I am not just whispering into the wind…

Aloha oe,

A.J.

Blood Slave: Nibiru Vampire Warriors-Chapter Eleven

AJ — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:01:26 +0000

OUT NOW!!!

by A.J. Llewellyn | D.J. Manly |

Book eleven in the Blood Slave: Nibiru Vampire Warriors Series

Stride has wiped Zero’s mind of all memories of him, but love is stronger than death. Zero starts to remember, their passion rekindling in spite of terror and threats.

Stride might be in command of all the demonic forces in the world, but it sure doesn’t feel like it. Like any ruler, he never knows who trust…even his own sex shifter wife. Stride and Zero, the man he truly loves, are reunited but it’s no picnic in the garden of Eden…only snakes and demonic forces hell-bent on destroying Stride.

Fearing his beloved son, Akakios, will have to endure the same miserable childhood Stride did—not to mention the control of deadly, evil forces—Stride and Zero once again wind up on the run. This time, they have help in the form of the fallen angel, Étienne, to help protect their precious cargo. Realising that his own people want to take possession of Akakios, Stride must make decisions that could sacrifice his relationship with Zero…and his own life.

Reader Advisory: This book is part of a serial and is best read in sequence.

This serial contains scenes of menage and bdsm.

For an excerpt and for purchase, please click this link:

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=1514

Bunyip

AJ — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 15:47:52 +0000

Is OUT NOW!!

As a kid growing up in Australia, I was a bit obsessed with bunyips. Depending on who you ask, these legendary Australian creatures are real or imaginary…to me, well…read my new book to find out what I think!

Amber Allure’s Heavy Petting PAX Anthology was released today with sparkling, pet-related stories from Christiane France, KC Kendricks, Rick R. Reed, Deirdre and Me!

My story, BUNYIP, is a contemporary, romantic comedy with a paranormal twist. Check it out!

http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Bunyip.html

Forensic audio specialist Steve Maddox is a busy guy who has no time to date. Balancing a strenuous work schedule and time for his cat and dog, he’s ecstatic when his best friend, Silvana, organizes a gay speed dating event, bringing into his life the magnetic and handsome criminal defense attorney, Alexio Manolis.

The two men hit it off instantly, with sparks bouncing off the walls of the Petersen Automotive Museum where the event is being held. Their conversation crackles until Alexio says he has a pet—a bunyip named Norman. Steve feels a little stupid. What the heck is a bunyip? He has no time to ask, though, since he’s onto his next “date.”

Alexio, however, pursues Steve and the two men start dating. Meanwhile, Steve googles bunyips and discovers they are mythical Australian creatures of Aboriginal legend. It’s just impossible. Does this smart and sexy attorney really have an imaginary, violent pet? Or is “bunyip” slang for something else?

Alexio is tight-lipped and keeps putting off the meeting between Steve and his elusive pet. Soon Steve starts to worry when Alexio disappears into his basement all the time and has savage scratches on his body he says Norman gave him by accident.

Is Steve’s fantastic, hot new lover absolutely crackers, or does the cantankerous bunyip actually exist?

For a HOT excerpt and to buy it, baby, buy it! Please click this link:

http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Bunyip.html

Harriet Klausner: For the Love of Books

AJ — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 18:24:24 +0000

By A.J. Llewellyn

As a writer I am an avid reader but I confess most of the stuff I read is non-fiction, or if it is fiction, it tends to be material related to things I adore, such as Hawaii. I have devoured a wealth of material this year but what I have found more entertaining than the books themselves are some of the Amazon reviews.

I rarely look at Goodreads as a research option. It is not a very good source of upcoming titles unless the author puts them up themselves. Sometimes clicking one book leads you to another, a fact I love, but for sheer volume of reference material, Amazon is the best. I also like ABE books but that’s another story…

I have books on my TBB pile and eagerly await their releases both in ebook and paperback format. I tend to roam Amazon for information rather than actual purchases and time and again I run into one reviewer, Harriet Klausner whose name pops up as the #1 Hall of Fame Reviewer.

How in the heck does she read and review so many books? Does she have unlimited time and funds? Does she get more hours in a day than the rest of us? Does she have no life outside of reviewing?

Of course, I had to delve a little deeper (I do adore research) and she was once an acquisitions librarian in Pennsylvania. She says in her Amazon bio that she is a speed reader and reads two books a day. It still doesn’t explain the plethora of reviews she posts daily but good for her that she has found a niche and works it.

I don’t see how she can read two books a day and post so many reviews. She must be reading more. Further research (Google her) shows that Wikipedia posing the questions everyone asks. They also point to a Time magazine article about her where she says she reads 4 to 5 books a day which is a staggering output.

From forum posts and blogs about this fascinating lady. many question her actual reading of all the books she reviews. Almost all have glowing 4 or 5 star reviews.

It captivated me…and I was determined to learn more. I checked on a few reviews she did of books I read and loved…and some not so much.

None of her reviews have much detail. They skim the surface and sometimes skip over real issues addressed in the pages of the books she covers.

For instance, she reviewed one book I seriously detested (and won’t name here) but she gave it five stars and the kind of gushing prose I’ve come to expect from her. I was offended by the book playing fast and loose with Hawaiian history and Princess Kaiulani in particular, but then since Klausner – who seems to love Hawaii as much as I do – glosses over the details of everything she reads, she must have missed some pertinent facts.

I have a friend who teaches speed reading and he tells me that a good speed reader ingests 60 to 70% 0f material they read and, he explained, the read down the center of the page, their brain ‘filing in facts’ from left to right. I am over-simplifying what he told me, but it explains why Harriet’s reviews seem so…threadbare.

Whether she is retaining everything she reads or not, or even merely glancing at the books she critiques, I have to say I am glad that readers and writers have someone like Harriet.

A reader who writes, reviews and thinks about books…for the love of books.

In this sad year in which more and more book stores are closing and radio DJs are griping about the wasteful expense of keeping libraries open, I wish there were more people like Harriet spreading their love of books – and not giving one star reviews on books authors haven’t yet even written (Hello, Goodreads!!!).

I wish her a year of good books in 2012 and for all of us the exact same thing.

Aloha oe,

A.J.

“Blood Slave 10: Nibiru Vampire Warriors” is OUT TODAY!

AJ — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 17:05:11 +0000

by A.J. Llewellyn | D.J. Manly |

Book ten in the Blood Slave: Nibiru Vampire Warriors Series

Stride has sent Zero back to Earth in an effort to keep him safe, but there is no safety anywhere. Evil soon follows and so must Stride…

Stride is forced to embrace his new life as Lord of the Underworld. Being in charge of some of the most evil entities the world has ever known comes at a price—the love he desires with Zero. Banishing Zero to the Earth without him, without any memory of Stride, Stride hopes for a new and peaceful life for Zero.

Honouring his destiny, Stride impregnates his sex shifter wife, Tressa who delivers his precious son, Akakios—a magnificent half demon, half vampire. Though Stride adores his child, he quickly realizes the baby isn’t safe with him. There are those who wish to control and manipulate the fast-growing boy. He sends Tressa and Akakios to Earth, hoping they can find peace and contentment. They find anything but…

Reader Advisory: This book is best read in sequence as part of a series and also contains scenes of MMM ménage and bdsm.

For an excerpt and to purchase, please click this link:http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=1477

Books for Christmas

AJ — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 16:40:44 +0000

By A.J. Llewellyn

Some years ago I heard an awful story about a spurned gift that still resonates in my mind. So much so that the first thing I do when I receive a book is to open it and check there’s nothing inside.

It’s a good habit to fall into because some people, especially older folk, like to tuck a little something extra into these books. The weirder the tome, the more likely it is to contain a hidden gem.

This year, my cousin in Australia sent me a biography of some bloke I’ve never heard of…a maverick priest called Chris Riley.

Now, I’m an avid reader and I like reading on a variety of topics but this book just didn’t…call out to me. I looked at it, turned it over, read the back and thought, I am ashamed to say, I can wait to read this one. I tore into the rest of the things she sent me and thought no more about the gift until I called her yesterday (which was Christmas Day in Australia) to wish her a wonderful day.

“What did you think of the photo?” she asked.

What photo?

I hemmed and hawed until she said the photo she’d tucked inside the book. I raced to open it and was thoroughly ashamed I hadn’t cracked it open until our phone call. Inside was a crisp one hundred dollar bill (thank you, Jesus!) and a photo taken 50 years ago at Bondi Beach of her father and mine, long before they got married and had families.

They were so handsome and excited, hope shining in these Greek immigrants’ eyes for the future. My uncle is now gone after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s, a disease that now has my father in its steely grip.

This photo, one I’ve never seen before is now my most treasured possession. I will never, ever not open another book I’m sent for Christmas or any other day. And I will hold onto the hope I see in my father’s eyes. I will make a point of reading Father Riley’s story, too. There has to be a damned good reason my cousin sent it.

Whoever and wherever you are today and every day over this holiday season, hug and love those you hold dear. Our time is short, but love, like books for Christmas, lives forever.

Aloha oe,

A.J.

How to Make Love to an Elf

AJ — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 21:35:34 +0000

Aloha!

I am blog-hopping over at the amazing and talented Joyee Flynn’s blog. In honor of her staggering achievement – 12 days of brand new Christmas releases from her each and every day (she makes ME look like a slacker!), I am addressing the burning issue of how to make love to an elf.

Of course I haven’t tried it and my suggestions are mere heresay, however, if you drop by and make a comment you’ll enter the draw to win a copy of my Christmas book “Christmas in Flip Flops” so run, don’t walk! Go over there.

NOW!

http://joyeeflynn.blogspot.com/2011/12/how-to-make-love-to-elf-by-aj-llewellyn.html

And if you do make love to an elf, I’d like to know if my guidance proved…useful!

Merry Christmas/Mele Kalikimaka, kids!

Aloha oe,

A.J.

Christmas in Flip Flops

AJ — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:49:13 +0000

By A.J. Llewellyn

My latest release, “Christmas in Flip Flops” is one of my new favorites. The idea came for it whilst I was in Honolulu this past September researching my fourth and final Pearl Harbor series book, “Avenging Heart”.
Mt friend Shani had just taken up an unusual post as a dental hygienist at one of the many military bases on the island. It gave me the idea when she talked about how weird it would be to be spending Christmas in flip flops.
Yes, even though we live in LA, it’s still winter…to chilly for flip flops!
Of course, I took the idea, ran with it, turned it on its head and gave it some romantic angst.
How would you cope if you’d been unemployed for almost a year, you finally land a great job with good pay and full benefits…but it’s in Honolulu and your lover’s entire family is traveling from Peru to Los Angeles for the holidays?
Well, my character, Devon, takes the job and ignites his lover, Manco’s wrath. Devon wonders if he still has a boyfriend when he flies to Oahu reporting for duty…
I noticed with great interest the day after my book was released that the US pulled out its last soldier from Iraq this past weekend.
This doesn’t mean that the war on terror is over. Far from it. We still have men and women stationed in Afghanistan, Kuwait, other points all over the world, and, in military bases all over the Hawaiian Islands. In fact there have never been so many soldiers in Hawaii since WWII.
My story is timely but it is not a political one. It is a love story between two men whose problems – unemployment, disagreements, family, work – are real, but their love is strong and very, very romantic.
It is also my love song to the islands and all the people who call it home. To the many men and women stationed in those historic facilities that played such a significant part in history following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, I love you and respect you all. I hope you all get to have a peaceful Christmas, hopefully with your families, and definitely in flip flops.
For more info on “Christmas in Flip Flops”, please check out this link at the awesome Amber Allure site:

http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/ChristmasFlipFlops.html

Aloha oe,

A.J.

Christmas in Flip Flops

AJ — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 18:58:25 +0000

Is Out NOW!

Christmas In Flip Flops
by A. J. Llewellyn
ISBN-13: 978-1-61124-228-7 (Electronic)

It’s twelve days ’til Christmas and Devon Callahan is a dental hygienist with a very big problem…make that two. He’s been unemployed for months and now a thief’s stolen his cell phone. Tracking the guy through MobileMe, he’s got a cyber lead on his purloined phone, but he’s also hot on the trail of a mysterious new job. What’s a guy almost maxed out on his credit cards to do?

He goes to his interview and discovers he could soon be gainfully employed. The catch is he’d have to fly to sunny Waikiki within twenty-four hours to start work at Schofield Barracks, caring for the dental health of thousands of US soldiers stationed in the islands.

Devon is thrilled to be part of such an important post, but what’s his boyfriend, Manco, going to say? His movie producer lover is expecting his entire family to visit from Peru. Will Devon see the sunny side of Christmas in flip flops, or will he be feasting on dinner for one?

Gay / Contemporary / Voyeurism Heat Level: 3 Novella (28k words)

Purchase Link: http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/ChristmasFlipFlops.html

Dream Maker

AJ — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 21:05:35 +0000

By A.J. Llewellyn

When I was twelve years old, my father gave me the best Christmas present of my life. It was an Olivetti portable typewriter. He was a little concerned about my obsession with writing and reading, but somebody must have given him the idea of the typewriter (he says he regrets it now because he hates my books!) and I will be forever grateful. I loved that thing. For me, messing with the typewriter ribbon, blue carbon paper (memba those?) and thick pieces of paper on which I taught myself to type was the stuff of dreams.
I wrote my first celebrity fan mail to actor Richard Chamberlain on it. I wrote stories, poems, ideas…and have never stopped.As a journalist, which was my first and only career choice, the company I worked for had giant behemoth manual typewriters. You had to pound on the damned things. Hello carpal tunnel!
To this day, I can always tell if a person learned to type on a typewriter first by the way they pound a computer keyboard.
By the time the company I worked for invested in electric typewriters, I was in love. Mine was an IBM Selectric and it came with an extra corrector ribbon. Remember those fiddly little orange plastic spools?
Gone were the days of having to retype each and every page because of one misspelling.
I bought my IBM from my boss because I was working on articles for a magazine in my private time. I had become attatched to the machine and was worried it would disappear one day the way the behemoth had…but I did feel as if I was cheating on poor Olivetti.
That beautiful machine has traveled the world with me. He (I think of him as a he) sits in my office in my loft and has been looked after by the House of Typewriters here in Studio City for decades. When computers became big, the store changed its name to House of Office Machines, but they still love handling typewriters.
I covet many they have on display (people dropped them off and never picked them up again) and once had a sizable collection. I cut them all back and have kept Olivetti and my laptop. The thing of it is, I can’t let go of my first love. The machine that listened, without judgment and let me pour my heart out. Computers will come and go but Olivetti will be with me until some natural disaster separates us.
How about you? What was the first thing you learned to type on and do you still have it?

Aloha oe,
A.J.