new release – J.K. Pendragon

Release Day! Junior Hero Blues is now Available!

Posted on March 30, 2021 by J. K. Pendragon

Great news! Junior Hero Blues is now available for purchase here and here! It’s is a tongue-in-cheek YA superhero story with a gay protagonist and lots of silliness that covers some dark topics as well.

Over on Queer Sci-Fi there’s an excerpt and a giveaway of a $50 gift card for NineStar Press! You could get so many queer books for that! 🤩

Anyway, here is the excerpt and cover for Junior Hero Blues. Please consider checking it out!

Junior Hero Blues

Wordcount: 59,000
Genre: YA, Superhero, Gay

Last year, Javier Medina was your average socially awkward gay high schooler with a chip on his shoulder. This year, he’s . . . well, pretty much the same, but with bonus superpowers, a costume with an ab window to show off his new goods, and a secret identity as the high-flying, wise-cracking superhero Blue Spark.
But being a Junior Hero means that Javier gets all the responsibility and none of the cool gadgets. It’s hard enough working for the Legion of Liberty and fighting against the evil Organization, all while trying to keep on top of school work and suspicious parents. Add in a hunky boyfriend who’s way out of Javier’s league, and an even hunkier villain who keeps appearing every time said boyfriend mysteriously disappears, and Blue Spark is in for one big dollop of teenage angst. All while engaging in some epic superhero action and, oh yeah, an all-out battle to protect Liberty City from the forces of evil.
Welcome to the 100% true and totally unbiased account of life as a teenage superhero.

Thanks for reading!

Books

Sea Lover is Now Available!

Posted on November 2, 2016November 2, 2016 by J. K. Pendragon

Today is the day! Sea Lover is now available on the LT3 website, and available for download if you pre-ordered!

I’m really excited for this book, and really thrilled that it’s been getting some positive reviews, because I truly wrote it just as the kind of book that I wanted to read. There’s no huge world-threatening conflict or angsty misunderstandings or anything like that. It’s mostly just two characters spending time together and falling in love. While I could happily spend a whole book just reading about characters talking and hanging out and getting to know each other, I was worried that it might not interest other people, so I’m really pleasantly surprised by the response so far.

The main character of Sea Lover is also a trans man who is post-transition. And in the first draft, I actually had his transness be more of a big deal, including a big revelation to his friends and resulting angst about that. But I came to realise that while that is a perfectly valid storyline for some trans stories, it wasn’t for this story and this character. Ian is a person who has transitioned and moved on, the way a lot of trans people do, and I think it was most true to his character to have that be the extent of it. While a lot of trans people are activists and continue to be open and vocal about their experiences throughout their lives, there are just as many trans people who want to transition and then leave that behind them and continue living a quiet, private life. Ian is one of those people, and I hope that maybe some trans readers can identify with him, and perhaps see something to look forward to, if they’re in the midst of a stressful transition.

Anyway, I think I’ve rambled enough. ^-^ Please check out the blurb and link below if you’re interested. Right now, Sea Lover is only $2.39 to buy!

Thanks for reading!

SeaLover

Ian is happy with his life in a remote Canadian fishing town, where he has only the sea and his fishing crew for company. People say being alone is terrible, but he’s never had any problems with it.

Then his peaceful life is thrown into upheaval when he finds an injured merman washed up on the shore. With no idea what else to do, Ian takes the merman home and nurses him back to health.

But as he helps S’mika heal, a bond begins to form, and Ian starts to wonder if maybe there is more to life than being alone…

Buy Now from LT3!
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Books, New Release

Release Day: Double Take aka “Oops! I’m Dating Twins!”

Posted on January 28, 2015January 29, 2015 by J. K. Pendragon

Yaaay, it’s finally here! It seems like ages ago that I was sitting at work and was randomly hit with the idea: “What if someone started dating what they thought was one person, but they didn’t realise that they were actually seeing twins?” Obviously I couldn’t pass that up! ^-^

I knew almost instantly that the main character was going to be genderqueer, but for a long time I couldn’t quite get the setting right. I kept imagining the characters at a British-style magical academy, and feeling like it just wasn’t quite right. Then I realised that I was viewing the story through my “white person default” glasses, and decided to try switching the setting, and the story immediately came into focus! (Hasani as a blonde white guy? Uh, no. What was I thinking??)

Anyway, here are some of the places where you can purchase Double Take online, either for your e-reader, or to read on your computer:

I had a ton of fun writing this story, and I hope readers will enjoy it! I also want to draw everyone’s attention to the other stories in Less Than Three’s fab Trans Geek Out collection, because I truly believe it had something for everyone! It’s a lovely example of the diversity in the trans community, and how trans people can and should exist in all different types of stories.

I’ll let the fantastic covers speak for themselves, but click through for more info:

Thanks for reading! As always, have a picture of my cat looking impressed. She’s super proud of me for publishing a book. You can tell.

Books, Coming Soon

1 Month Countdown! – My Fears about Publishing Trans Romance

Posted on October 2, 2014October 2, 2014 by J. K. Pendragon

To Summon Nightmares comes out in just over a month, and I’m filled with both excitement and trepidation.

I’m excited because I honestly believe that it’s a great book, and I can’t wait to share it with the world. It’s probably the best book I’ve ever written, and at the time of writing it, it definitely was. There was a flow to the writing that hadn’t been there before. I knew what I was doing, and although I ended up having to scrap and rewrite quite a bit, I felt confident in my ability to make it better, and to really write something good. I believe that confidence is one of the best tools that an author can have. To make the audience believe that you know what you’re doing, to make the audience trust you, is invaluable.

On top of that I’ve had a couple of people who read early versions go out of their way to tell me how much they liked it, and that it was one of their favourites.

It’s also a subject that is very personal to me, and writing stories with transgender characters is something that I feel is incredibly important. In this story, the fact that Cohen is transgender isn’t just a medical condition from his past (although I think stories that have trans characters without revolving around that fact are important too.) He’s in the midst of the turbulence of transition, dealing with issues of self and self-image, and wrestling with dysphoria. I wanted to get up close and personal with Cohen’s dysphoria, and much of it is lifted directly from my experiences. It’s a story about a turning point, and writing it mirrored and became a turning point in my own life as well.

So the trepidation I’m feeling is because I suspect very strongly that it’s not going to sell well. I shouldn’t care so much, I know. I should be happy if it reaches a few readers who really love it. And it really isn’t about money (although money would be nice, haha.) My last book, Ink & Flowers, did phenomenally well. But hey, it was a contemporary romance with conventionally attractive gay cis boys. That’s what sells. Paranormal fantasy with a chubby trans lead? Probably not so much. I know I’m getting ahead of myself here, and it might end up selling very well. I’m mostly trying to prepare myself for disappointment. But I’ve read plenty of testimonials from authors who want to write more trans characters, but unfortunately they rely on writing for their income, and trans stories, they say, just don’t sell.

I want to become a successful author with a wide reach. But I don’t want to have to sacrifice writing stories that mean something to me. (Not that I&F didn’t mean something to me, because it did, but so does Nightmares.) So what do I do? And I know I’m not the first author to lament this. But I do want to be able to retire from my day job eventually. And I don’t want to stop writing trans characters either. The only solution I can think of is just to keep writing really, really good trans stories, and hope they catch on!

Anyway, after all that, I don’t want to be a huge douchewaffle and start pressuring you to buy my book. Instead I think I’ll link to a few romance books about trans characters by authors who I would love to see more trans stories from. If you would too, consider supporting these books!

A Matter of Disagreement by E.E. Ottoman
Breaking Free by Cat Grant
Wallflower by Heidi Belleau
Static by L.A. Witt

If you know of more, please feel free to link in the comments! And of course, you can pre-order To Summon Nightmares here.

And this blog post is now over the recommended length of 500 words, and doesn’t contain anything close to the optimal quota of cat pictures. So I’ll leave you with a photo of my cat and no more words, and that’ll have to do! Cheers!

Books

Release Day!

Posted on June 4, 2014June 4, 2014 by J. K. Pendragon

Ink & Flowers is officially available for purchase! Release day is always exciting. ^-^ Click here to read an excerpt and here to read a lovely review from Prism Book Alliance.

Buy here!

The other thing that’s up today is the first part of To Summon Nightmares, my supernatural trans* romance that is currently running as a serial with Less Than Three Press:

Three years ago, Cohen Brandwein was “Ireland’s Favorite Daughter”, a popular teenage author and internet celebrity. But ever since he came out publicly as trans, the media’s treatment of him has been less than golden, and these days, Cohen is desperate for escape.

When he inherits an old house in the country, Cohen sees it as a perfect opportunity to escape the press and work on his new book. What he doesn’t count on is becoming embroiled in a small town murder mystery and falling for the primary suspect, a man whose reality makes Cohen’s fantasy books seem like child’s play…

So, to give a bit more info than the blurb does, Cohen meets Niall, a man who has been imprisoned by an organisation called the Guild for the last five years. The Guild are studying Niall and his (now-ex) boyfriend Jacky because of the powerful magic they acquired in a demon summoning gone wrong. Niall and Jacky are now on the run from the Guild, and pursued by a witch. Niall doesn’t want to be recaptured by the Guild, but he also doesn’t want Jacky to go through with his plan to summon something even worse than a demon in order to punish the people who have wronged him (spoiler: Jacky’s gone off the deep end a bit.)

In the middle of all this is Cohen, who just wants to get on with working on his new book in peace. But it wouldn’t be much of an adventure if I let that happen.

It’ll be updating every two weeks, available to anyone who has a serial subscription (which, btw, gives you access to all sorts of goodies. Check out LT3’s current serials here.)