Confession: I’ve already started my holiday shopping.

I must tell you that as I’ve been thrashing around in the world of the newly-gluten-free, (and at the risk of sounding like a spambot!), I’ve discovered a great gift for friends and relatives who like to eat healthfully but kinda hate to cook. More about that, plus a recipe below. (Yes! A recipe! “Who are you and what have you done with Suz?!” I hear you shout, but I assure you, it’s me!)

First, the headlines. Lotta fun news this month:

1. My rom-com movie, THE PERFECT WEDDING is available NOW via streaming from WolfeOnDemand! (Here’s the link to rent or to buy it as a download, in case this news makes you need to see it before reading another word: http://www.theperfectweddingmovie.com (more below…)

2. THE PERFECT WEDDING is also gonna be available via On-Demand from your cable provider. Help us by playing our TPW Scavenger Hunt Game, plus more about the movie below…

3. We’re giving away an ARC of my next romantic suspense novel, DO OR DIE, as part of a blog interview I did with Jill Sorenson, at AAR! (Contest is open to US residents and ends 11/10, so act fast!) (more below!)

4. PASSION AND PERIL, a 2-in-1 paperback and e-book, will be out soon from HQN. This book includes a reissue of my originally-published-in-2003 category romance, SCENES OF PASSION, as well as a brand new story from Jill Sorenson called SCENES OF PERIL! (Haven’t read Jill yet? This is the perfect time to check her out!) (more below!)

5. Really Fun News Alert! I’ve co-written a YA (young adult) book called NIGHT SKY with my daughter, Melanie, and it’s gonna be published by Sourcebooks in late 2014! NIGHT SKY is set in the same paranormal/futuristic world as BORN TO DARKNESS, but its locale is Florida, and the main character is a seventeen-year-old girl named Skylar Reid. (more below!)

6. I’ve got a new blog up at Huffington Post’s Gay Voices. Check it out (and share, post, tweet, comment, like!) at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/suzanne-brockmann/three-beautiful-little-words-the-true-meaning-of-mom-im-gay_b_4205560.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices

7. DO OR DIE February book tour news! I’m working on setting up a virtual signing for the hardcover of DO OR DIE, but I’m also planning a road trip to brick-and-mortar stores in Sarasota & Jacksonville, FL; Florence, SC; Raleigh, NC; Richmond, VA; New Jersey; Wilmington, DE; Framingham & Sharon, MA! I’m also attending a variety of writers/readers conferences this year, include RT in NOLA, and RWA in San Antonio, TX! (more below!)

8. Book recommendation! UNDEAD CHAOS by Joshua Roots is available in all e-formats and in audiobook from Carina Press. You might remember Josh as the young Marine captain who was my contact in Iraq during our big “Support Our Troops” book tour effort, some years ago! Yes, UNDEAD CHAOS was written by THAT Josh Roots, and it’s a fresh, funny, action-packed-with-a-hint-of-romance read that I think you’ll love! Josh’s writing voice is wonderful and this book (a paranormal action adventure!) is ridiculously fun. Here’s the link to the book on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1fjtHCR (more below!)

9. Holiday shopping alert! (FYI, DVD copies of THE PERFECT WEDDING make great stocking stuffers! Pre-ordering is open now for the DVD (which releases and is shipped on 12/3/13) at https://www.wolfevideo.com/products/perfect-wedding-the/?R=1435 ) (And, yes, below, a recipe!)

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Okay, let’s get into the nitty-gritty:

1. My sweet little boy-meets-boy family-friendly rom-com movie, THE PERFECT WEDDING is available NOW via streaming from WolfeOnDemand! “What does that mean?” some of you ask.

Well, it means that you can finally watch the movie that I co-wrote and co-produced, on your computer. Or you can connect your computer to your TV and watch it on your TV, via your computer.

It’s available from our distributor, WolfeOnDemand, and you can either rent it for $3.99 (and watch it for a limited amount of time), or you can buy it for $14.99 as an MPEG4 download (and watch it as often as you like forever and ever). It’s also available as a hard-copy DVD that comes out on 12/3/13, which you can preorder now (for $19.95) at https://www.wolfevideo.com/products/perfect-wedding-the/?R=1435

Here’s the link to rent or to buy it as a download: http://www.theperfectweddingmovie.com/www.theperfectweddingmovie.com/Buy_The_Film.html

And if the technical stuff isn’t what’s creating your confusion, but instead you’re asking “Wait a minute, what, you made a MOVIE…?”

My answer is “Yes!” Back in 2010, I co-write a screenplay along with my husband Ed, and our son Jason. We loved our little indie script so much that we decided to produce the movie ourselves!

Here’s the official summary of the plot:

Gavin (super-cute Jason T. Gaffney, Jolly) and Paul (drop-dead handsome Eric Aragon, The Interview), two young gay men, meet and fall in love over a holiday weekend where family and friends are planning the wedding of Paul’s sister. The problem is, Gavin is posing as the boyfriend of Paul’s ex and the two find themselves in a classic comic quandary as they try to ignore their feelings.

Other cool things I want you to know about THE PERFECT WEDDING:

**TPW stars James Rebhorn (Independence Day, Homeland, White Collar) and Kristine Sutherland (who played Joyce Summers, AKA Buffy’s mom in Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as our hero, Paul’s parents, who have a really juicy subplot of their own. Both of these amazing actors joined our cast out of their love for our script!

**The movie is approximately 80 minutes long.

**It was filmed in approximately twenty days, in June, in Sarasota, Florida, with a cast and crew of over fifty people.

**Bonus features include video interviews with James Rebhorn and Kristine Sutherland!

**The fabulous soundtrack for the movie was composed and arranged by the up-and-coming very-talented Jack Gravina.

**You can watch a trailer at our website!

**Follow THE PERFECT WEDDING on Twitter @TPWmovie

**Like THE PERFECT WEDDING on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ThePerfectWeddingMovie

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2. THE PERFECT WEDDING is also gonna be available via On-Demand from your cable provider (Time Warner, Xfinity, Comcast, etc.) and other formats like iTunes, some time in the coming month.

Help us out by playing our TPW Scavenger Hunt Game, and if you see THE PERFECT WEDDING listed on your cable provider’s Movies-On-Demand list, do me a huge-large, and post that info on my facebook page (www.facebook.com/SuzanneBrockmannBooks), or tweet it to me @SuzBrockmann, or even just zap me an email at [email protected].

If you can include vital stats like: your general area, name of your provider, that would be welcome info, too, as we work to spread the word about where THE PERFECT WEDDING is available!

(Thanks for playing our game!)

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3. I’m giving away an ARC of my next romantic suspense novel, DO OR DIE, as part of a blog interview with Jill Sorenson, at AAR!

Check out the interview! It’s posted in two parts.

Part One: http://www.likesbooks.com/blog/?p=11074

Part Two: http://www.likesbooks.com/blog/?p=11083

To be eligible to win the ARC of DO OR DIE, you must post a comment to Part II of the interview! (More detailed directions are at the end of the interview, on the Part II blog!)

Contest is open to US residents and ends 11/10/13, so act fast! (Also? If you want to ask a question or chat, I’ll be over at the blog site later today and tonight, 10/6/13!)

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4. PASSION AND PERIL, a 2-in-1 paperback and e-book, will be out soon from HQN.

This book includes a reissue of my book, SCENES OF PASSION, originally published in 2003. (It’s my community theater-set romantic comedy — one of those fun books-of-the-heart, and I’m really glad HQN is reissuing it!)

But this 2-in-1 also includes a brand new story from Jill Sorenson called SCENES OF PERIL! (Haven’t read Jill yet? This is the perfect time to check her out!)

PASSION AND PERIL’s official release date is 11/26! (Just in time for a good Thanksgiving-weekend read!)

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5. Really Fun News Alert!

I’ve co-written a YA (young adult) book called NIGHT SKY with my daughter, Melanie, and it’s gonna be published by Sourcebooks in late 2014!

NIGHT SKY is set in the same paranormal/futuristic world as BORN TO DARKNESS, but its locale is a wealthy community in Florida. The main character is a seventeen-year-old girl named Skylar Reid, whose world is turned upside down when the little girl she babysits for is kidnapped.

Melanie was born with the writer gene, and collaborating with her on this project has been a really fun adventure. Mel’s planning to come with me to RT, in New Orleans, so you’ll get a chance to meet her there!

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6. I’ve got a new blog up at Huffington Post’s Gay Voices.

Check it out (and share, post, tweet, comment!) at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/suzanne-brockmann/three-beautiful-little-words-the-true-meaning-of-mom-im-gay_b_4205560.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices

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7. DO OR DIE February book tour news!

My next book, DO OR DIE, comes out in hardcover and e-book from Ballantine Books and in audio from Blackstone Audio (formerly AudioGo), all on February 4, 2014.

I’m working on setting up my usual Virtual Signing for the hardcover edition of DoD (more on that next month!), as well as planning a road trip to brick-and-mortar stores.

I’ll be driving (with Ed and my dogs, Little Joe and CK Dexter-Haven) from Florida to Boston, and our tentative stops currently include: Sarasota & Jacksonville, FL; Florence, SC; Raleigh, NC; Richmond, VA; New Jersey; Wilmington, DE; Framingham & Sharon, MA!

I’m planning to visit the local RWA chapters in both Jacksonville and New England as part of my tour! (Details to come, soon!)

Along with my February travel plans, I’m also attending the RWANEC chapter conference in Burlington, MA, in early May; the Romantic Times Conference in New Orleans in mid-May; and RWA’s National Conference in San Antonio, TX in July. (With tentative trips to NYC for BEA, and Las Vegas for ALA also on my radar!)

As soon as any dates are definite, I’ll put them on my website Appearances page!

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8. Book recommendation!

I loved UNDEAD CHAOS by Joshua Roots, available in all e-formats and in audiobook from Carina Press.

Yeah, it’s not a romance, but variety is refreshing, right? And it’s got romantic elements. It’s a really fun, fast read! Josh’s voice is really entertaining. Also? He’s an old friend! Those of you who are long-time readers and subscribers to this e-newsletter already know him!

Josh Roots is the young Marine captain who was my contact in Iraq during our big “Support Our Troops” book tour effort, some years ago!

Remember when I went out on tour, and invited readers who were attending my signings to bring a small item or two to include in a box that I’d then ship over to a squadron of Marines in Iraq? The coolest thing happened during that book tour! So many readers contributed at each bookstore event, that I ended up shipping two, three, or sometimes even four boxes of books, DVDs, toys, little shampoo bottles, to Iraq. (Times the dozen-plus stops on my tour…)

Well, I shipped those many, many boxes directly to Josh, who put those contributions and gifts into the hands of his Marines.

Josh is out of the Marines now — but you know that old saying, “Once a Marine, always a Marine?” His military experience serves him well as a fiction writer. (If you love military or former military heroes, you’re gonna love his main character, Marcus Shifter!)

Josh and I have been friends for years — we’ve exchanged many an email — and I noticed early on that he could REALLY write. He’s a natural storyteller with a warm, friendly voice. In wasn’t long before I started dropping things like, “when you write your novel,” into our e-conversations!

So, yep, UNDEAD CHAOS is our old friend Josh Roots’s first published novel, and it’s a fresh, funny, action-packed-with-a-hint-of-romance read that you’re gonna love!

Here’s the link to the book on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1fjtHCR It’s also available as an audio download!

Follow Josh on twitter @CobraMisfit

Check out his website and blog at http://joshuajroots.com

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9. Holiday shopping alert!

(FYI, DVD copies of THE PERFECT WEDDING make great stocking stuffers! Pre-ordering is open now for the DVD — which releases and is shipped on 12/3/13 — at https://www.wolfevideo.com/products/perfect-wedding-the/?R=1435 )

Okay. This e-newsletter is waaaay too long, so I’ll (try to) make this brief.

This past summer, I discovered I’m gluten-intolerant, and I embraced the daunting task of going completely gluten-free. (Amazing how much better I feel, and my health is continuing to improve!)

But eating gluten-free is challenging, and in my quest to find variety, I stumbled across a gluten-free shop that sold a tin of spices that were gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, kosher (all those great things).

It was called Basik’s at Home: Key West Citrus Blend, and the label said you could use it on just about anything. I thought okay, brought it home, gave it a try.

Best! Roast chicken! Ever!

So here’s my super-easy recipe (and/or sign of the coming apocalypse because I’m including a recipe in my e-newsletter):

Suz (and Basik’s @ Home) Roasted Split Chicken Breasts:

Preheat over to 350 F.

Sing your favorite celebratory Motown hit while getting out your roasting pan (with lid), because dinner’s gonna rock. (My favorite roasting pan is Granite Ware, but glass with a lid works, too! The lid is essential!) (Fav Motown hit: Just My Imagination.)

Rinse the split (bone-in) chicken breasts. (Or not — whatever works for you. I won’t judge.)

Give me another chorus of the song while you put the chicken in the roasting pan, along with a generous splash of H2O. (Get finicky and use bottled water, that’s okay with me, because here on Siesta Key, the water that comes of of the tap smells like ass.) (How much is a “generous splash?” It’s about as much as you can pour in while singing a rousing “Oh, yeah!”) (Double dinner bonus points if you can get kids or spouse or roommates to add harmony when you sing!)

Wash your hands after touching that icky chicken! (Here’s where I WILL judge!)

OPTIONAL: Feel free to add a vidalia or sweet onion, peeled, cut in half and quartered. Stick the pieces into the roasting pan, under and around the chicken. (Wash hands again if you touch the chicken!)

OPTIONAL: Feel free to add a potato to the roasting pan (any variety potato!), cut into smallish pieces, and nestled beside and beneath chicken. (Think nothing bigger than 2” in any direction, so it will cook well within an hour.)

Drizzle the chicken (and onion and potatoes) with cold-pressed olive oil. Be generous.

Use a regular ol’ tablespoon to sprinkle Basik’s at Home Key West Citrus Blend spices onto the chicken (and onion and potatoes). Use anywhere from 1 to 2 heaping tablespoons for two split breasts. Sprinkle some of the spice blend into the water at the bottom of the pan, too.

Cover with lid and cook in 350 F oven for one (1) hour.

Set timer and go write another chapter of your book.

Eat while weeping with joy, and then get on line and order some of this amazing spice in an adorable tin, as a holiday gift for everyone you know!

Here’s the link to Basik’s At Home Key West Citrus blend:

http://www.basiksathome.com/shop/spice-blends/key-west-citrus/45-oz-key-west-citrus-blend-tin

I have no connection to Basik’s @ Home, other than being a very satisfied customer!

And, PS DVDs also make great holiday gifts! (Connection to TPW stated clearly and proudly!) 🙂
TPW 3D_DVD-Perfect-Wedding-2 A