Summary How to Buy Reviews Excerpt
Fun and Games
in Sindustry Volume 1 from Dreamspinner Press
Summary:
Video game developer Patrick Sturtz has a huge deadline and no time to celebrate his 25th birthday. So his friends come up with the perfect surprise: Jack Whitaker, a beautiful, messy-haired, strangely endearing man of the evening. Jack sweeps Patrick away from his computer and into bed for a very private birthday bash. But the real surprise is that Jack keeps showing up?night after night?claiming it's all part of his present.
How to Buy:
Available in paperback and ebook
from Dreamspinner Press
Reviews:
Joan/Sarah F at Dear Author said:
I adored this sweet little story. Patrick is a video game designer, working the final kinks out of a game weeks before release. He?s not perfectly sculpted and toned?he?s a dork and kind of soft around the edges. His friends buy him a prostitute for his birthday, just so he?ll get laid. But Jack keeps coming back, ?the gift that keeps on giving.? The connection between the characters, the fun they have and the affection between them makes this a gem of a story. Grade: A-
Jenre at WellRead said:
My favourite story was Fun and Games by Lenore Black, which tells of geeky Patrick, who runs a company that produces video games from his home office. He never goes out of his front door to meet people and so his friends arrange for a hooker for his 25th birthday. That hooker is Jack, whose winning personality breaks down all Patrick's objections to his friend's 'gift'. Patrick is surprised when Jack returns the next night as well, and the next and wonders how much this is costing his friends. Imagine his surprise (but not mine, I hasten to add) when Patrick discovers that his friends aren't paying at all. I have a thing for geeky guys and Patrick was just the epitome of nerd. He spends all his time designing computer games; he never leaves his house; he has low self-esteem; and is completely clueless as to what is happening between him and Jack. This was a really lighthearted, fun read and even a minor misunderstanding at the end of the story didn't prevent me from enjoying it.
Tam at Tam's Reads said:
A video game developer's friends decide to buy him a guy for his birthday. The guy keeps coming back and he assumes his friends paid for it. When he finds out they didn't he accuses the guy of stealing his new game. Ooops. He didn't. Anyway, this was perhaps my favorite, I just really liked the characters and how they intereacted.
Kathy at Dark Diva Reviews said:
Like any book where love blossoms between two people, one of whom works in the ?sin? industry, these stories could easily be classified as modern fairy tales. But that?s true of romances on the whole. We want to have HEA or even Happy For Now love stories, stories where two people, often from divergent circumstances, find someone with whom they connect on an emotional level. Of course romances with hot and steamy man-on-man sex is even better! And in these 12 novellas, Sindustry beautifully fulfills our desire for tales where lust and love come together... and each couple finds something rare and precious. 4.5 Delightful Divas
About "Fun and Games," she said:
Even though we don?t really meet Patrick?s two best friends they are the instigators of what happens next. The brief conversations between the three men are funny, yet you know that they really care. When Patrick?s birthday present becomes the gift that keeps giving, he?s at a loss to explain just why Jack keeps coming... around, keeps coming around! All kinds of misunderstandings ensue, but it all works out in the end. Lenore Black?s "Fun and Games" is really a lot of fun!
Excerpt:
SUN slanted across the corrugated metal warehouse, flashing in Chaz Jepherson?s eyes. He hoisted his semiautomatic Glock in one hand and checked the grenades on his vest with the other. Ever since the world?s oil wells had run dry, people had gone crazy, willing to do just about anything to get their hands on the vanishing resource. The gang in the warehouse had slaughtered a family of five for a few gallons of gas. Somebody had to stand up for the innocent, and that somebody was Chaz Jepherson. He edged along the side of the warehouse, pushed the door open and?.
The screen flickered once, twice, and froze. Patrick sat back from the computer with an exasperated sigh. His new video game had a serious glitch on level 13.
The phone rang, and Patrick snatched it up. ?Yeah??
?Happy birthday to you,? blared off-key in his ear. ?Happy birthday to you!?
?Hey, Skeeter. You really don?t have to sing to me,? Patrick said, hoping to head off the rest of the verse.
Skeeter?s voice stubbornly rose several decibels, and he finished with a big, screechy flourish.
?Thanks,? Patrick said, with a grimace. ?That was very special.?
?Nothing but the best for my man, Patrick Sturtz.?
Skeeter was one of Patrick?s two best friends. They?d met their first day of college at the University of Chicago, the three of them packed into a dorm room that would have been pitifully cramped as a double. They?d eyed one another calculatingly, as if they were all thinking the same thing: which one of these guys can I kill so I?ll have a little more space?
Fortunately, it hadn?t come to homicide. In fact, by the end of the first week they?d been reprimanded four times by the RA, smuggled in twelve cases of beer, and nearly set one of their desks on fire. Their friendship had flourished ever since, even after they?d gone their separate ways post-graduation. Skeeter moved out to LA to pursue his dream of becoming a surf bum, Dale went off to business school in Boston, and Patrick stayed put in Chi-Town to start his own video game company.
?So, big plans for tonight?? Skeeter asked. ?Tell me you?re turning twenty-five in style. You know if I was there I?d drag your ass out where there are Jell-O shots and midget wrestling and pretty boys with questionable morals for you and hot-ass girls for me and??
?We?d get arrested in a barroom brawl,? Patrick finished the sentence for him. ?That?s how you celebrate all my birthdays.?
?Why mess with a winning formula?? Patrick could practically hear Skeeter?s big, goofy grin. ?Just tell me you?re not going to spend all night working.?
?I?ve got a release date!? Patrick insisted. ?If we miss it, we lose market share!?
?Aren?t you, like, Chicago?s youngest millionaire or something? Shouldn?t you have people? Shouldn?t they take care of stuff like this??
?Chicago?s youngest millionaire is a twelve-year-old with an uncanny knack for hedge funds,? Patrick corrected him. ?And I do have ?people?. I have a whole team. They did their jobs. Now I have to do mine.?
Skeeter sighed. ?Seriously, Patrick. Sometimes I think that whole work-from-home policy of yours has nothing to do with you being a cool boss or your company saving on overhead. You?re going all Howard Hughes on us, aren?t you??
Patrick rolled his eyes. ?I?m not turning into an obsessive recluse. I?ll see you guys out in LA next month. We can get thrown into the county lockup to celebrate my birthday then.?
He hung up and went back to pondering the problem with level 13. He typed in a command and restarted the action. His avatar appeared on screen, tall and dark and broad-shouldered, with bulging biceps and an intimidating snarl.
No man and his avatar could possibly have been a bigger study in contrasts. Patrick was pale and strawberry-blond, a little soft around the middle from too many hours spent in front of the computer. Once he kind of, sort of, maybe intimidated one of his baby sister?s stuffed animals. Or possibly orange fuzzy platypuses always looked a little scared.
The phone rang again. Patrick checked the number, but he already knew who it was. ?Hey, Dale.?
?Is this about Andy?? Dale said, without wasting any time on niceties like hello. ?Because, hey, I get it. He dicked you over. That totally sucked. But you?ve got to get on with your life.?
Three days before Patrick?s last birthday, he?d come home early from a gaming convention to discover his now ex-boyfriend, a food stylist with a flair for fruit, buck naked on the kitchen floor, licking raspberry coulis off some blond beefcake. Patrick probably would have forgiven him, but Andy had just rolled his eyes at the suggestion of couples counseling and packed his bags. A year later, Patrick still kept to his side of the bed, as if some part of him secretly hoped that Andy might come back.
?I?m getting on with my life,? Patrick lied.
?We?re talking about sex, man,? Skeeter piped up. Apparently, Dale had thought this was important enough to break out the power of three-way calling. ?If you don?t use your dick, you lose it. That?s a true fact, man.?
?Guys, I?m fine. Honestly,? Patrick assured them. ?Twenty-five isn?t that big a deal. And I really do have work to do.?
?I was afraid you?d say that,? Dale said grimly.
?Time for Plan B,? Skeeter concluded.
The line went dead in Patrick?s ear.
?Huh,? Patrick said, wondering what they could possibly be cooking up. But then he glanced at his computer, and level 13 seemed to be smirking at him. He quickly forgot all about his friends? cryptic threats.
At least, he did until there was a knock at the door. Patrick wouldn?t put it past those guys to fly in just to enforce the mandatory birthday shenanigans. He got up to answer it, bracing for a vigorous round of noogies.
Instead, he found a complete stranger standing on his front porch, holding a pizza box, with a six-pack of Patrick?s favorite beer tucked under his arm. The guy was slight and dark-haired, bangs falling in his face. He wore tight-fitting jeans and a sky-blue hoodie, with what was either a camouflage pattern printed on it or possibly clouds. There was an edge of purple T-shirt showing below the hem of the hoodie, and where the sleeves were pushed up, Patrick could see inked skin. A pair of oversized white plastic sunglasses sat perched on top of the guy?s head. He had what Patrick calculated to be about two o?clock shadow, and hey, a very pretty mouth. Patrick quickly looked away, trying not to think about that.
The guy smiled sunnily. ?I?m Jack. You must be Patrick.?
Patrick frowned. ?Um, I think there?s been a mistake. I didn?t order??
?Yeah. No. You didn?t.? Jack slipped past Patrick into the house, not waiting for an invitation. ?Your friends did.?
?They got me a pizza?? Patrick?s confusion deepened.
?They got you me.? Jack broke into a smile, all white dazzle and overwhelming teeth. ?The pizza was my idea. And?? He gestured with his head toward the beer, which was listing precariously beneath his arm.
Patrick grabbed it before the carton went plunging to the floor. He glanced around, not sure what to do with it, and finally sat it down on his desk. Figuring out what to do with Jack, he suspected, was going to be more of a challenge.
