C. L. Ingro

Flash Tease

August 23rd, 2026

(Apparently, “flash tease” is a p-hub category. You learn something new every day.)

In addition to working on my current stories, I’m also rewriting a Harborview Immortals Halloween-themed prequel flash fiction that I plan to post here in October, before Two Princes is published in November. I commissioned a friend of mine to do a piece for it, and she sent me a preliminary sketch last night.

Here are some sketch teasers:

As someone who can barely draw a straight line, it always makes me happy to see my characters make the leap from my brain to actual images and not just words. I think I’m going to be very pleased with the end result.

But for now, words await.

Happy writing.
Aspirations

August 9th, 2026

Once upon a time, back when I was taking a break between day jobs, I fancied myself writing all day, every day. I was going to tackle all my stories and make serious progress!

As it turned out, the only things I tackled were naps. Lots and lots of naps.

Sometimes I think I would like to try again. But I happen to like my current day job. My bank account likes my current day job, too. Maybe I’ll revisit the idea in ten years or so, when I semi-retire.

Until then, I’ll just have to write around my job. And my naps.
Ch-ch-ch-changes

July 26th, 2026

A couple of weeks ago, when I was (finally) getting ready to move forward with getting Freeroll published, I reached out to the person I always worked with to hire them for formatting and all that fun stuff. Unfortunately, that person was no longer able to work with me. My first reaction was to immediately look for someone else to do the job, all the while in the back of my mind practicing my “by the way, I write M/M stories that contain the occasional instance of thorough adult activities and semi-frequent references to those activities” spiel because I understand that it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. But then I thought, why not just do the job myself?

So I did. And it didn’t kill me. And then I went back and did a little tweaking to Family Matters and The Rising Son, and that didn’t kill me either.

I’m really happy with how everything turned out. I should have trusted myself with the process from the beginning.

Anywho, the Published Works page has been updated. Now I need to go work on adding more to it.

Have a great rest of the weekend.
Better really late than never.

July 17th, 2026

Almost exactly one year ago, I posted that I was going to publish my last old pen name story “within the next few weeks.” Time flies when you’re procrastinating.

Freeroll: a no-lose situation.

Daniel’s addiction to, or rather, enthusiasm for gambling has finally caught up with him.

After showing up uninvited to a not so secret (or legal) poker tournament and holding his own for longer than anyone expected, he finds himself indebted to an alleged crime lord who doesn’t accept payment plans. But instead of having to sacrifice his body parts to pay what he owes, he’s tasked with driving the alleged crime lord’s nephew, Javier, to Florida and back to Pennsylvania for… reasons. Simple enough, right?

Although it sounds entirely too easy to be legit, the idea of a road trip with an extremely attractive stranger is distracting enough to stop worrying so much about what might be hiding in the metal briefcase that Javier is bringing along for the ride. Mostly.

Over the next five days, Daniel will manage to avoid facing certain truths about himself and his gambling “hobby.” However, his assumptions about Javier will be shattered, again and again, in the best possible way.

All versions (ebook, print, and audio) available here.
Ja.

July 12th, 2026

Daily writing prompt
Are you a lifelong learner?
View all responses

Absolutely. To be otherwise is to be stagnant.

Picture it. Florida. Mid-1990s. My brother had just left the Army and moved back to the States from Germany, where my nephew was born and raised up until then. I remember the look on his three-year-old face when he realized that I could speak German. The realization that this “auntie” he had just met knew how to speak to him in a language he recognized was absolutely precious. I’d like to think that it made him feel a little bit more comfortable in such a new and strange place. And he grew up to be a wonderful human being, so I’m going to take a pinch of credit for that.

I didn’t originally decide to learn German because of that; I started learning it before my brother even met his future wife. Even so, it ended up coming in clutch. I will treasure that memory for the rest of my life.
Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale

July 5th, 2026

Over the years, I have found many a literary gem over at Smashwords, including some of my forever favorite stories. I highly recommend checking out their Summer/Winter sale!

And oops, I tripped and dropped a little flagrant self-promotion all over myself. How clumsy of me. 🙂

Happy reading!
Two Princes Excerpt

April 19th, 2026

I wanted to share the opening scene of Two Princes featuring my favorite vampire twins. Their conversations are entirely too much fun to write.

See my Published Works page for info about the two preceding stories, Family Matters and The Rising Son.

Enjoy!

*~*~*~*
(more…)
Morning is evil.

November 30th, 2025

Daily writing prompt
Are you more of a night or morning person?
View all responses

“I am most definitely a night person,” she said as she typed her reply at 5:30am, having not even considered going to bed yet.

… Maybe this is why I write about vampires?
Petty little vampires.

November 30th, 2025

In my last, so very long ago post, I mentioned that I was about to (re)publish Freeroll so I could be done with my old pen name. Well, apparently my vampires became jealous that I dared to pay attention to another story for even a moment and decided to bombard me with all the inspiration. As a result, Two Princes is pretty much finished, and now I will start editing it and pretend that I haven’t been doing that all along while writing it.

But first, I will get Freeroll published. I’m giving myself a deadline of my birthday to do it, which is coming up soon. So no more moving the goalposts, damn it.

Anywho, I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Mine was lovely, even though I’m pretty sure I ate enough turkey to last me until next year. 🙂 Happy writing!
Place Your Bets

July 29th, 2025

I was just remembering that time when I said I wanted to have Two Princes finished last month. Heh, that was funny. Deadlines are adorable.

But alas, I am actually publishing a story within the next few weeks. Just not a vampire story. Freeroll is the last of the stories I originally published under my old pen name, and I decided I wanted to go ahead and deal with that so I can properly lay Emma Peterson to rest once and for all.

Story summary:
Daniel’s addiction to, or rather, enthusiasm for gambling has finally caught up with him. He finds himself indebted to an alleged crime lord who doesn’t accept payment plans. But instead of having to sacrifice his body parts to pay what he owes, he must drive the alleged crime lord’s extremely attractive nephew, Javier, to Florida and back to Pennsylvania for… reasons. Simple enough, right?

Freeroll is part one of a three-part series.