Saturday, March 27, 2010

PAST LIES won!

Color me startled! *cackle*

PAST LIES won first place in the erotic category in the New England Chapter RWA Bean Pot Awards! I don't win stuff. Definitely not very often. So color me startled. Especially when you consider the competition--Tina Donahue, Desiree Holt, Dalton Diaz and Samantha Cayto!

When the contest coordinator sent the email, my jaw hit the floor and I had to re-read the list several times. When I emailed her to thank her and the judges, she responded with the information that my score was nearly perfect and the second highest out of all of this year's categories. Color me shocked! But the Snoopy dancin' commenced!

And I get to use the line "won in the NEC RWA Bean Pot Awards" in every query letter from now to eternity. *cackle*

PAST LIES
Available at Ellora's Cave

Two opposite men, two different lives, two sets of past lies.

With his twenty-year high-school reunion looming, Paul Loughton dreads seeing the one person who could tempt him to stray from his path. Small-town mayor, lawyer and budding politician, Paul can’t—won’t—admit he’s gay, even to himself. Years of denial and lies are now threatened by an inevitable encounter. With his denial slipping, he has to come face-to-face with temptation.

Randy Martin left his small-town roots behind before the ink on his diploma was dry. The cliquish world of his childhood didn’t have room for the weird kid from the wrong side of the tracks. Rumors of his sexual preferences made life that much more difficult. Now, twenty years later, he should be anxious to rub his wealth and success in the faces of his former classmates. Except with one of them, the urge to rub something else hasn’t diminished over the years.

5 comments:

Barbara Sheridan said...

Congratulations!!!!!

I remember that feeling and that same type call only mine was the NJRW Golden Leaf about a zillion years ago. ^__^

debbie v said...

Congrats Shayla! Of course, I knew all along your stories were special.

Shayla Kersten said...

Thank you, Barbara! I'm still Snoopy dancing! LOL I hope the feeling last a zillion years!

Thank you, Chris!

Thank you, Deb! Big hugs!!

Dalton Diaz said...

I was there! Tried to get it on my phone video, but we were seated too far away and it didn't come out.

I can't tell you how thrilling it is to have finaled in such great company, and I'm proud for all of us that 1st place went to a m/m in a contest judged by readers, booksellers and librarians.

Huge congrats, and thank you for helping to pave the way. It's an amazing feeling all around!

Shayla Kersten said...

Thank you, Dalton! I'm still grinning! Although my bad hip decided it was time for the Snoopy dancing to stop. *cackle*

I thought it fabulous that of the four books, one was m/m and one was m/m/f! We've come a long way, baby! LOL

HUGS and congrats to you too!