big life; small space

Most of my blogging is done at Letters from Titan, but feel free to stick around here for fanfiction and random personal exclamations.

I've been dealing with the pandemic by stress designing on Threadless. Some are tie-in merch for my books, some are just funny things.

And some are this.

If you're interested in buying any, the shop is here: https://avian30.threadless.com/

I am finally doing it.

For disaster humans by a disaster human.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XZNQP5Q/

Do you love workplace romances, snarky banter, and just a hint of magic?

Erin and I each started skating after we wrote a figure skating romance.

Then I broke my arm….

Broken arm for me, means price break to $2.99 for you til I’m back on the ice.

Aside from writing being our jobs, these sales will also help me pay my insurance deductible and replace the skating gear that had to be cut off me in the ER (skating is no joke, folks). (date of injury: Feb 13, 2019; expected return to ice: late March to mid-April if all goes well).

P.S., If you’ve ever been the unlovable anxiety-ridden heroine in your own life, this book is for you.

Also contains: tour bus dance party, awesome gay farm uncles, cows, magic, and a Russian best friend who is super sick of this shit.

Has a bit of yelling and door slamming and a knee injury (no medical details). No common triggers.

A 2018 Finalist for the BookLife Prize from Publisher’s Weekly.

A “magnetic tale of life and love after professional sports that explores what happens when two people must decide if what’s between them has been for the cameras or what is truly in their hearts.” — Rebekah Weatherspoon, 2016 Lambda Literary Award Winner

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BK9DR9L/

https://books2read.com/u/bwYdd0

(Also available in paperback)

“Figure skating fans will delight in this fun and engaging new work, rooting for Katie and Brendan long after they leave the ice.” – The BookLife Prize

“…a fascinating and tender look at obsession and anxiety, competition, and love – both for the sport, and for each other.” – Tamara Lush, 2018 RITA© Finalist

“I ripped through this in a day, rooting hard for both characters the whole damned time….Highly recommended contemporary romance.” – Lynne Thomas, seven-time Hugo Award Winner

For over a decade, world-champion ice skaters Katie Nowacki and Brendan Reid have been partners in every way but one. But now that their electric on-ice chemistry has led them to Olympic gold, they’re retiring from competition.

As they cross America on an exhibition tour with their fellow athletes, Katie and Brendan’s always volatile relationship becomes more turbulent than ever as they face down the media, their fans, and their increasingly nosy teammates.

When Katie realizes she wants to go back to the farm she grew up on, Brendan knows he has one last chance to make sure their fairy tale ends with happily ever after.

Wow, I am super behind.

If you missed it, my May 2017 release, A Queen from the North, was named Library Journal's Best Indie Ebook 2017. You can read an interview with me and Erin about it here.

Our March 2017 release, The Art of Three, also received some love, winning a Rainbow Book Award in its category. This book is incredibly close to my heart and involved a lot of crying in Vienna at 3am to write, so if it's your jam, I hope you will check it out.

MEAWHILE, our fifth novel, After the Gold, about a pair of Olympic figure skaters, comes out in one week on June 12, 2018. Smart Bitches, Trashy Books has already placed it on their list of most anticipated books for June. If you like road trips, cows, heroines battling generaized anxiety, or Virtue/Moir, this is the book for you.

https://lettersfromtitan.com/2016/04/18/reboot/ - Why

https://lettersfromtitan.com/2016/04/22/not-exactly-an-uptown-girl-at-the-zuckerbaeckerball/ - I went on an adventure in Vienna

https://lettersfromtitan.com/2016/05/07/on-unearned-holiday-greetings/ - Mother's day. That's a thing.

https://lettersfromtitan.com/2016/05/13/i-enjoy-being-a-girl-sometimes-sort-of/ - I have a celebrity wife problem

Hi everyone. Long-time no write! Most of my social media activity is now happeing on Tumblr (lettersfromtitan), Twitter (racheline_m), Instagram (rachelinem), and my blog with Erin McRae about our romance writing, Avian30.com.

The other big news is that I am the producer of and one of the writers on season 1 of Tremontaine, a 13-episode serial that is a prequel to Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint. Ellen, along with Malinda Lo, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Joel Derfner, Patty Bryant, and myself have created a series about the the rise of Diane, Duchess Tremontaine. The series also features Kaab, a foreign spy who is part of the city's merchant class; Micah, a farm girl who really, really likes math; and Rafe, a scholar who wants to change the world and irritate as many people as possible while doing it.

Swords, chocolate, and (generally quite queer) sex abound.

The first episode is free in both ebook and audio format. This week we're up to episode 4, but there's plenty of time to catch up, and you can go at your own pace.

The best place to subscribe is SerialBox.com where you get the ebook and audio versions of each episode for just $1.59 per week. Or you can buy the audio and ebook separately wherever you normally do those things on the Internet.

Hey, Erin & I wrote a book. That's a thing you can buy now.

Starling

Torquere Bookstore | Smashwords | AllRomance | Amazon

$5.99
By Racheline Maltese and Erin McRae

Be careful what you wish for…
When J. Alex Cook, a production assistant on The Fourth Estate (one of network TV’s hottest shows), is accidentally catapulted to stardom, he finds himself struggling to navigate both fame and a relationship with Paul, one of Fourth’s key writers. Despite their incendiary chemistry, Alex’s inexperience and the baggage they’re both carrying quickly lead to an ugly break-up.

Because the stars aren’t benign

Reeling from their broken hearts, Alex has an affair and Paul has an ill-advised reunion with an old flame. Meanwhile, the meddling of their colleagues, friends — and even the paparazzi! — quickly make Alex and Paul’s real life romance troubles the soap opera of the television season.

But while the entertainment value may be high, no one knows better than Alex and Paul that there are no guarantees when it comes to love in Los Angeles.

~~~~~

You can get Starling now on Amazon, at the Torquere bookstore, and at Smashwords, and AllRomance. Throughout today and the rest of this week, it will also become available at other major ebook retailers, including B&N. As that happens, we’ll update the links on our book page.

The print paperback should be available sometime next week.

As always, reviews help improve a book’s visibility. We hope you will take a moment to review Starling on your favorite website(s) (e.g., Amazon, Goodreads, etc.) and encourage you to do the same for all your reading choices.