Here is the Shattered Glass Video…

Above all Shattered Glass is a love story…

Shattered Glass as a novel is classified as Romantic Intrigue.It has all the classic elements, an unknown enemy, lies, treachery, but above all, it is a classic romance where two lovers are torn apart by treacherous forces and have to find their way back to one another.

Milo eschewed the colors of the ocean. The ocean belonged to Liam, and that reminder brought pain. Milo claimed the mountains and high desert country. Liam was his sun. Without him, Milo’s subconscious sought him everywhere. He knew why Conchita laughed. His furniture, the door, the garden, the ocean room, all done for a man he supposedly despised. He was such a fool.

He sat holding the brandy glass in his chair, his erection straining against the soft cloth of the light drawstring pants. Liam never lied to him, never cheated. Everyone’s pain—Liam’s, Sam’s, and Rick’s, as well as his own—lay wholly on his head. He now solely

owned the title of the asshole who’d torn his own beating heart out of his chest because he possessed too much pride to listen and too little self-respect to believe.

Milo’s soul needed music. He flipped the switch that turned on the CD player. It started to play the song he’d listened to throughout last night. Liam’s clear tenor came in right after his. “Turn around… The song that was Liam’s first gift followed by the greater gift of his virginity. Even on that night, Milo couldn’t form the words “I love you.”

Milo heard a noise, a thud from Liam’s suite. It shook him from his reverie. The song played in an endless loop. He felt as if Liam called his name. The door drew him. The suites connected. Liam stood somewhere on the other side, physically accessible for the first time in over six years. He held the key in his hand. His baby sat somewhere on the other side of the door.

Milo couldn’t think anymore, his body filled with emotions he didn’t want to feel. Oh Lord, I know I promised, but how can I let him go? How will he ever know how much I love him, if I don’t tell him? Even if he walks, now, tonight, at least for once in my god damned life, I will have stopped hiding who and what I am and what I really feel. I’ve got to tell him now, while I have the courage.

His body pressed against the door as his own memories of kisses both sweet and hot, made his cock leak. He grabbed it and pulled, imagining the touch of Liam’s hand rather than his own.

Liam and Milo are meant for each other. But how do they find their way back to love from six years and twelve hundred miles apart. Can they overcome the lies? The stalker?Find out the full story in Shattered Glass, available from Captiva Press atwww.captivapress.com or visit my website at www.ackatt.com.

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Shattered Glass – Location, Location, Location

When a realtor is trying to sell you a house hesays that the three most important things to consider are: location, location and location. Location is just as important in a novel. The setting of a novel should be as fully described as the characters. InShattered Glass, there are two primary locations for the novel. The first is the Jersey Shore. Liam is a child of water. He loves the ocean, the waves, sand and beach.

When Milo and Liam part ways, Milo wants to go as far away from anything that reminds him of Liam as he can get. Driving aimlessly through the United States, Milo comes upon the Sandia Mountains of New Mexico. Their beauty leave him breathless. Although it is as different from the Jersey Shore as it can be, Milo finds some peace in the home and garden he makes for himself in New Mexico. When Liam is forced to join him there to write a song for Rick, Liam also falls in love with the Sandias.

Milo’s home is built into the side of the foothills with numerous terraced gardens where he can tend his beloved flowers, but even his garden can not replace Liam. Here is an excerpt from the novel where Liam finds something he didn’t expect wandering through Liam’s New Mexican garden.

Outside of the bedroom suites, he saw strolling paths, which branched off into private arbors. He stepped off the balcony onto one of the slate pathways. A security guard startled him, but not before he noticed the tulips, daffodils, and snow crocus in full bloom, along with lilies of the valley and some native plants he could not name. Liam figured Sam must have arrived because the security was out in full force. He felt safe for the first time in what seemed like forever. He nodded to the guard and continued fifty feet down the path when he saw something that stopped him cold. There sat their bench from the Red Bank Antiques Center, displayed prominently

Liam walked up to it and noticed something different about it. A small gold plaque on the back read Liam’s bench. Liam sat and

started to cry. Every time he thought he had no tears left, Milo managed to pull out some more. Happy tears though, this time.

If you would like to find out more about Liam and Milo, Shattered Glass is available from Captiva Press at www.captivapress.com and on the buy link from www.shattered-glass.com.

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Shattered Glass – Biographies of the band

Milo Stamis was the founder and leader of the band, Shattered Glass. He admitted to his best friend, Sam Stein,that he was gay, at the age of twelve , the day before he met Liam O’Shea.

The band practiced in Sam’s garage with the original singer “Mike the Deserter.” On Milo eighteenth birthday, Mike left the band and Liam volunteered to take his place. Liam, although six years younger than Milo, seduced the band with his voice and from that time on, Liam became the lead singer of Shattered Glass.

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Liam O’Shea met Milo Stamis at the age of six. He moved to Hazlet with his mother, Lily, after an auto accident killed his father, Frank. Liam felt an instant connection to Milo as soon as they met. Milo, Sam and Rick let Liam follow them around in the position of adopted kid brother for six years until he replaced Mike as the lead singer. Liam was a brilliant musician and composer and impressed the band with his rendition of Johnny Borchoi’s Turn Around, which he re-arranged for two voices as a gift for Milo on his eighteenth birthday. After Lily died of cancer, Milo became Liam’s Guardian until Liam turned eighteen.

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Rick Stein is the younger brother of Milo’s best friend, Sam. Rick was a talented bass guitar player and was an original member of the band. Originally, Rick was one of Liam’s strongest supporters in Shattered Glass until he acquired an expensive drug habit. Rick was responsible for bringing Bart Hedge into the band to replace his brother, Sam, when Sam elected to take the bar exam and become an attorney rather than continue as Shattered Glass’ drummer.

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Sam Stein was Milo’s best friend and the original drummer for Shattered Glass. Sam was Shattered Glass’ drummer. He left the band after its first hit album to become an entertainment lawyer. Sam remained with Shattered Glass as their manager and lawyer. When the band broke up, Sam remained the one contact that all of the concerned parties trusted.

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Bart Hedge met Rick Stein and became his friend and drug dealer. He was the drummer in the house band of the local bar, Lucky’s. When it became clear that Sam was leaving Shattered Glass, Rick asked his friend to audition for Sam’s spot as the drummer. Bart deliberately hooked Rick on hard drugs and used Rick’s addiction for his own purposes. Bart hates Liam and is out to destroy him.

Read the story of the band in AC Katt’s Shattered Glass, available from Captiva Press atwww.captivapress.com. For additional information visit AC’s website at www.ackatt.com or theShattered Glass website at www.shattered-glass.com.

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Shattered Glass – Lyrics

I started to write Shattered Glass for NANOWRIMO in November of 2008.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with NANOWRIMO it stands for National Novel Writing Month and it is held every November.  The object of the contest is to write a fifty-thousand word novel within the month of November. Winners are simply those who finish the task.  Shattered Glass eventually became over ninety-thousand words, but the basic book started small, before extensive revisions at fifty-thousand for NANOWRIMO.

Initially, I had structured the as a series of flashbacks, but that didn’t work.  After several attempts ending in failure, to shore-up that approach, I was advised by my stalwart Beta Reader, Crossthebar, to put it in chronological order.  This worked well and with the exception of a single event, all of the novel’s action now takes place in sequence.

I realized soon after beginning the novel that since Shattered Glass was a band, the band needed songs, or, at the very least lyrics.  After a bit of soul-searching, I decided to write the lyrics myself.  As portrayed in the novel, Milo and Liam wrote music together with Liam as the composer and Milo as the lyricist.  While separated from Liam, Milo wrote a book of poetry entitled Words Without Music. Liam wrote songs for two solo albums. All of the lyrics I wrote for the book are credited to Milo’s book, Liam’s albums or the albums that Shattered Glass recorded prior to the breakup.  Here are some sample lyrics.  Shattered Glass will be available June 30thfrom Captiva Press at www.captivapress.com.  If you want to know more about me and my writing come visit my website atwww.ackatt.com.

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Shattered Glass

Here is an excerpt from Shattered Glass.

Sam Stein, attorney and owner of Stein Talent Ltd, looked around his suite at the Plaza. Half of his personnel came over from his office on East 73^rd to handle the crisis. A press conference scheduled for four p.m. put the media in a feeding frenzy. Rumor and speculation ran thick and heavy for ten days. Sam took the statements of the three remaining members of the group Shattered Glass now sequestered in adjoining suites. The fourth went AWOL. None of the band saw or heard from Liam O’Shea in ten days. Rumors circulated, but even his best investigator, J.B. Saunders, hadn’t a clue.

He yelled over to his assistant, “Margot, has J.B. filed a report on Liam?”

“Not yet, I’m working on it. You have ten minutes to get downstairs.”

Sam picked up his statement and headed out of the suite to the press room. None of the principals would say much more than the basic facts. Bart made a pass at Milo, and Liam walked.

Sam begged Milo Stamis, group leader and Sam’s best friend, to tell him what happened.

Milo exploded in an angry tirade against Liam. “If I could find the little bastard, I’d choke him. He’s been carrying on with that fucking roadie, Danny, behind my back for years. Bart kept trying to warn me and I wouldn’t listen. Leave it alone, Sam. I’ve called everywhere to try to locate him. He’s probably sunning himself with his new lover somewhere in the Caribbean. Fuck if I care.”

Sam shook his head, “I wouldn’t believe Bart Hedge if he told me the sky was blue.”

“Damn it, you hired the bastard. If you’d stayed with the band, on the drums where you belonged, this wouldn’t have happened. Now get the hell out of my room.”

Sam left thinking that the dark circles under Milo’s red eyes told more of the story than his temper.

Sam’s brother, Rick, the bass guitarist, didn’t help. He told Sam, “Bart sidled up to Milo during rehearsal the day after Milo threw Liam out of the house. Liam hauled off and punched Bart and gave him a black eye. I went to the back to check the drums, so I didn’t see it happen. Anyway, what the fuck do I know? I get little respect and less information.” Rick shrugged with assumed indifference.

Bart, who to Sam stood out as the root of the whole fiasco, gave him a terse, “No comment.” After some coaxing on Sam’s part, he would only say Milo kicked him out of the band and that he refused to finish the tour even if asked back.

The guys were better off without that sleazy bastard, anyway. I’ll have to talk Milo into keeping Bart for the remainder of the tour. After that, Bart’s a goner. He’s replaceable. Liam is not. How could I have missed all of the tension of the last few years?

That’s easy, his conscience replied. You let the band slide because you let your business consume you. But Milo refused to go near Bart, so Sam would be forced to assume his former role and play in the band to finish the tour.

As for Liam, none of the band or the crew laid eyes on either him or Danny Hobbs, the roadie in question, for over ten days.

When he arrived downstairs, networks, cable news, all the legitimate music magazines, newspapers, and stringers from every supermarket rag that ran covers of alien invasions and three-headed cows packed the Plaza’s press room, all of them­­ ready to take a bite out of Sam’s hide.

Margot preceded him through the door and announced his entrance. The room burst into a cacophony of voices all shouting questions he could not or would not be able to answer.

Sam began to sweat in his Armani suit, but soldiered on to the podium. He faced the crowd as they settled into an expectant silence.

“Good afternoon. I have a prepared statement and will take no questions afterward. Liam O’Shea, Shattered Glass’ composer, lead guitarist and singer, has left the band due to creative differences. Milo Stamis informed me today that Liam will be replaced for rest of the tour by solo artist, Johnny Borchoi, who graciously agreed to interrupt his sabbatical to fill in for Liam.”

The media exploded in protest as Sam prepared to leave the podium. Margot whispered, “Sam, you need to answer a few questions or they’ll bombard the office. We won’t be able to work.”

Looking over the rabble, Sam agreed with Margot’s assessment. He returned to the podium and braced himself for what he knew would come.

“I will take a few questions.”

Hands flew into the air. Sam pointed at random. The reporter jumped up.

“Rolling Stone. Mr. Stein, didn’t you once play the drums for Shattered Glass, and isn’t bass guitarist Rick Stein your brother?”

“Yes. Next question, over there in the corner.”

“Billboard. There are rumors of an altercation at a rehearsal. It’s said that Liam attacked Bart Hedge?”

“No comment. Second row, third from the left.”

“Joe Menendez, Entertainment Tonight. Doesn’t Liam owe his fans an explanation?”

“Liam’s music speaks for itself,” Sam growled. “I’ll take one last question.”

A stringer for one of the grocery rags stood up and shouted a question that silenced the room. ”Sam, were Milo and Liam lovers?”

“No comment.” Sam abruptly left the podium and disappeared behind the curtain, heading to the private exit.

Their public relations representative pulled Sam aside as he attempted to exit the room.

“Come on, Sam. At least tell me the truth off the record. Are Milo and Liam lovers? Rumors abound of a blowup at the rehearsal, and a physical altercation.”

“No comment.”

The PR rep left. Sam stood, shoulders slumped. He shook his head. The truth was more complicated than anyone could imagine.

You can find out more about Shattered Glass, on my website www.ackatt.com.  Shattered Glass will be available from Captiva Press www.captivapress.com, on June 30, 2010.



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Shattered Glass is now available from Captiva Press at: http://placidapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=18_28&products_id=19

Shattered Glass
Author: AC Katt
ISBN: 978-1-936356-02-7
Cover Artist: Placida Publishing, LLC
Length: 99.4k words (Nourishing Nosh)
Genres: m/m, GLBT, erotic romance, erotica, contemporary, thriller, mystery
Heat Level: 4 Suns

Can love survive and be rekindled when a heart is broken like Shattered Glass?

Milo grew up in fear, hiding the fact that he was gay. Becoming a rock star with his band Shattered Glass was a dream come true. Finally lovers with Liam, the friend he’d desired since childhood, Milo worries about his image and keeping their relationship a secret.

Liam knew he loved Milo, even as a kid. But their fame and fortune can’t buy him the happiness of talking Milo out of the closet, able to freely express their love. Unfortunately, a fellow band-mate with vengeance on his mind conspires to break the lovers up in the most vicious way possible, destroying the couple’s relationship and shredding Liam’s peace of mind.

Six years later, Liam is older, wiser, and has rebuilt his life after the devastating loss of Milo and the band. Forced into a tenuous working reunion, Liam knows his heart still belongs to Milo. Working together to uncover the web of lies that pulled them apart, now all they have to do is survive the psychopath intent on silencing Liam and his music forever.

Contains hot rock star manlove, mysterious motives, and a brotherhood of friends strong enough to forgive.

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The Shattered Glass Video

Shattered Glass

“Where do you get your story ideas?” Is the first question most people ask a writer. My answer is, “It’s a process,” which probably annoys the hell out of whom ever asked the question. I give this answer because to explain how the idea for a story jelled would, at most times, fascinate another writer, but bore the reader to tears. However, since you have asked so many times, if not me, someone else, I will attempt to give you insight into how I get an idea for a story.

My husband and I were in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Asbury is a New Jersey Shore town that grew seedy in the seventies. Once, it was one of the hot spots at the Jersey Shore. They still have a beautiful beach and the Clean Water Act along with the help of multiple environmental groups have worked hard to make the water as inviting as it was back when. The town was financially troubled and never recovered from riots in the seventies or series of disastrous, promise long—cash short developers.

Late in the nineties, a new group of residents began to move into thetown. They weren’t concerned about schools, they had disposable incomes and the means to set up small businesses and the clientele to support them—they were gay. By the summer of 2007, they established themselves as permanent residents of Asbury Park, welcomed by the town as a tax paying minority group who improved property and enlarged the tax base.

Along Cookman Avenue the once fashionable shopping district, boarded up storefronts reopened and turned into galleries, smart restaurants, and trendy boutiques. This brought back business from the straight citizens of the surrounding towns and slowly but surely, Asbury Park was turning chic. We used to go visit the boardwalk just to walk by the ocean on a regular basis.

After our walk along the boards, we usually strolled down Cookman Avenue to see what was new or to find somewhere for lunch. That day we found a cute little eatery that was doing a bustling brunch business. We stopped and ate. Throughout the restaurant were paintings on the walls from the local galleries. The one just behind my husband’s head caught my attention; indeed, I could say it caught my imagination. It was a poignant study of a young man’s face. The artist put it that indefinable something extra into the portrait. The young man’s eyes held the weight of the world. He was frightened, yet quietly resigned to something. I knew I had to have that painting. My husband sat through lunch watching me stare at a point somewhere above his left ear. When he asked me a question for the third time, he finally said in exasperation, “Where are you?”

“Look on the wall in back of you,” I answered. All of a sudden, he was as caught up in the painting as I was. We discretely checked the name of the gallery on the tag and to our delight; it was only two doors away. We were there as soon as we paid our check. The owner of the gallery told us that their resident artist had done the painting on a board during his student days. He had painted it from a photograph. The compelling young man in the photo was Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd. I did not care who he was. I wanted the portrait. Leaving my husband to settle the details, I went to study my latest acquisition and after about fifteen minutes, I knew there was a story in that picture and it was not Syd’s story. However, I still did not know whose story it was. He was a rocker, from sometime in the late eighties to the early nineties, but I had no plot, just a face. I brought the painting home and wrapped it carefully. We were in the middle of packing up and moving from New Jersey to New Mexico primarily for my health. I have a joint disease that thrives in the humidity of the Jersey Shore, but dies in the high desert.

When we unpacked, I put my painting of Syd Barrett right across from the chair in my office where I usually sat while I wrote. I finished The Sarran Plague and was in the process of editing it for publication. The radio was on and Jon Bon Jovi’s Make a Memory came on the radio. I absently listened to the song while doing my edits but my subconscious mind heard something that my ear did not. The next time I heard the song, I was in the car and my husband was driving. I could to listen carefully to the lyrics. Syd’s painting now had a story. With a little bit of imagination and an application of my particular writing niche the song became Shattered Glass, a work in progress.

Here is my blurb for the story— Milo of mega band, Shattered Glass, must write one last song with former lover and lead singer, Liam O’Shea after six years apart. Can they overcome a stalker and the lies that separated them?

I’m sure that this was not quite the story Jon Bon Jovi had in mind when he wrote the song. However, my painting of a young man who turned out to be Syd Barrett, the founder of the band, Pink Floyd, coupled with a song from Bon Jovi and my move from the Jersey Shore to New Mexico gave me a book, Shattered Glass. Shattered Glass will be available from Captiva Press at www.captivapress.com at the end of June.

Oh, and by the way, I located the photo from which the artist painted my painting. He is a very talented young man. The photo said nothing. The painting said everything.

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Gay Discrimination in the Workplace

In my book, A Matter of Trust, Brian Murphy is employed by Drummond Realty, which is touted as a gay-friendly environment. He finds out quickly that although the owner of the firm, Donald Drummond, is gay, the company policy against discrimination doesn’t trickle down to the trenches. Hired to work in the Information Technology Division, Brian finds himself relegated to the Mailroom after a run-in with an administrative assistant with a boss distracted by a messy divorce.

Brian’s situation is not uncommon. According to an article by Bruce Mirken for Consumer Health Interactive, one-quarter to two thirds of lesbian, gay and bisexual people have lost jobs or been denied promotions because of their sexual orientation. Gay workers earn less money than their equally educated counterparts.

Discrimination can take place subtly or overtly. In A Matter of Trust, Brian faces both overt and covert hostility. Mirken article states, “promotions…mysteriously go to less-qualified employees or a constant barrage of insults and antigay jokes that create a hostile, threatening atmosphere” are just some of the forms that homosexual bias can take.

Unfortunately that bias can extend to men or women whose “supervisors or co-workers believe he or she is gay,” even when their assumption is wrong. This kind of behavioral bias in the workplace is not illegal under present federal law. Gender discrimination is currently illegal in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. Delaware, Indiana, Michigan, Montana, and Pennsylvania protect against discrimination in public workplaces only. In the rest of the United States, if you are gay or lesbian, you are at risk unless your local municipality has and enforces anti-discrimination laws.

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), S.1284/H.R. 2692 is pending federal legislation that would make it illegal to discriminate against an employee because of sexual orientation including hiring, firing, promotion, compensation, and most terms and conditions of employment. It would also protect workers from retaliation for reporting such discrimination to the authorities. ENDA is structured in the same manner as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which is the law that prevents discrimination against race, gender, or national origin and would be enforced in the same manner.

To live a decent life in the United States of America, you must be able to work. Discrimination in the workplace prevents a citizen from living a normal, decent life. As a country, we owe it to ourselves and the gay citizens among us to encourage our Congressmen and Senators to vote for ENDA to give true meaning to the phrase “liberty and justice for all.”

A Matter of Trust is available from XOXO publishing at www.xoxopublishing.com

A Matter of Trust

A new novel by AC Katt

Donald “Bear” Drummond has almost everything he could want: a high profile, successful real estate career, co-ownership of the city’s most exclusive gay BDSM club, and a string of gorgeous boys interviewing to be his live-in sub. But the boy of his dreams eludes him– until he meets Brian Murphy, a kindhearted and broke IT specialist with a troubled past. Before Bear can win Brian’s trust and forge the relationship he has always desired, he’ll need to overcome his own deep-seeded wariness to save Brian from his abusive family and a murderous ex-con seeking revenge against Bear.

For Bear and Brian, it’s all A Matter of Trust

Excerpt

In slow degrees, the tow-headed boy woke on the hard floor. A faint moan, an eyelid twitch, a soft flutter of pale lashes, and then a blue eye opened face-to-antenna with a cockroach. The Sears Toughskin jeans he opened as his birthday gift two days ago felt wet around the crotch and smelled of both urine and feces. His new plaid shirt with the pearl cowboy buttons was torn and bloody. He swallowed hard, past the dry lump the size of a baseball stuck in the back of his throat. He opened his left eye, the one nearest to the bug. It looked as if his bone stuck out of his shirt, a handhold under his elbow; the right arm bent at an unnatural angle just below the tear.

It took a few additional seconds for the pain to hit, long enough for him to realize he did not know how he got here or why. Then, it struck, shock abated.

He hurt, bad. Even so, he knew enough not to cry out. He heard Mama pounding on the door of the bathroom and Aunt Mary in the distance, along with the whine of sirens. Then the pain took him away, and he rode it back to safety.

A Matter of Trust is available from XOXO Publishing
at www.xoxopublishing.com

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