Roan Parrish's Blog, page 4

Lead Me Into Darkness GIVEAWAY!

For me, nothing mixes with romance quite like the titillation of horror—that edge of fear that charges the air until you draw a little closer to someone … or something, buah ha hah. Ahem.

I love Halloween, so when I found myself shooting the ole Twitter shit with some of my favorite authors and enablers a few weeks ago, I was pretty quick to jump on the wacky “let’s write Halloween stories” bandwagon. But whereas I would’ve happily emailed bits of a dorky story to these folks like pieces of Halloween candy flung into their inboxes, instead we have … a whole haunted house of paranormal romance stories: LEAD ME INTO DARKNESS!

I moved to New Orleans recently and, since it’s basically the capital of Halloweentown, I figured I’d get y’all some New Orleans Halloween swag to add to the GIVEAWAY. Below you can check out some photos I took at the Krewe of Boo Halloween parade. The floats of Dracula, Frankenstein, and Alien were absolutely amazing, and the groups of dancers were in costumes that ranged from diaphanous white wings to green glow-in-the-dark skirts to … practically nothing.

And lest you think I wasn’t willing to sacrifice life and limb for you all, one of the pieces of Krewe of Boo swag I … encountered was HURLED at me by a gentleman who would’ve looked more at home on a baseball team than a Halloween float. Look, there is a reason that I do not play sports, okay. Well, there are a lot of reasons, but one of the main ones is STOP THROWING THINGS AT ME. This dude was lobbing tightly-packed bags of plastic beads into the crowd, in the dark. These suckers were basically BEAD BOMBS and when they hit the ground they exploded. But sometimes they didn’t hit the ground. Sometimes they hit hapless people. Ahem. So. Just know, whomsoever is the recipient of the BEAD BOMB, that should you choose to hurl it through the air like a ballistic at your nearest and dearest, and should it happen to hit them on the shoulder while they are just standing there, thinking, Ooh, pretty lights and Dracula I love whiskey dancers are beautiful, it will hurt and they might possibly swear at you really loudly. Not that I would ever do that in public. At a parade. With families. And a lot of children.

The giveaway also includes books from each of the story contributors and wicked LEAD ME INTO DARKNESS tee-shirts that Santino and I designed especially so that you could look like a TOTAL BADASS. No, seriously, how could people NOT think, “huh, that person is clearly a total badass,” if they saw you wearing a shirt like this? I wanted it to basically look like an Opeth record …

You can enter the giveaway below! (I have had to promise the organizers of said giveaway that I will not include any actual bones in the packages of New Orleans swag but I cannot guarantee with 100% certainty that some of it is not curséd.)

My story for LEAD ME INTO DARKNESS, “Mayfair,” is a young adult story set in Detroit and Ann Arbor, Michigan in the 1990s. It’s about a girl, Jocelyn, who is in love with her best friend, Bethany, though Bethany doesn’t feel the same. It’s dark and kinda angsty and very, very much a story that grew out of my experiences coming of age as, um, well, an angsty nineties kid in Ann Arbor, traipsing around industrial music clubs and shows in Detroit and obsessing over music and beautiful people while dyeing my hair every color of Manic Panic I could (except green; never ever green). So, when I was writing it, I was making mix tapes  in my head. But now it’s 2015 and I don’t have to make mix tapes anymore (I always cut off the end of the last song on the first side. I swear to god those tapes were not the lengths they promised they were. Math.) Now I can make a Spotify playlist and you, too, can imagine you’re making out with someone in your friend’s basement in Michigan in 1994.

SINK INTO THE TUNES OF “MAYFAIR” ANGST! 

(My sister, who’s basically the best thing ever, did the awesome “Mayfair” art above.)

LEAD ME INTO DARKNESS is also free . . . did I mention that? Here are blurbs of the stories. You can enter the giveaway (now with new bead bomb action!) at the bottom of the post. I hope you enjoy these tales of terror and titillation! (And I hope that if you win a shirt you will take a picture of yourself wearing it in a graveyard and send it to me!)

LEAD ME INTO DARKNESS: FIVE HALLOWEEN TALES OF PARANORMAL ROMANCE

Take You Farther by Santino Hassell

Brian Watts’ boyfriend is a newly turned vampire, and he’s shouldering the blame. Watts would do anything–including offering up a vein, stripping for cash, and demanding answers from other creatures of the night–to redeem himself and save the man he loves.

Memory Hill by J.C. Lillis

Billy Hartigan’s been dead for ten years, and it’s really pissing him off. Stuck in Memory Hill Cemetery due to “unfinished business,” he fritters away the long days playing monster movies in his head, reliving the glory days of his indie band, and mourning his missed chance at love with his best friend. Then one Halloween he gets a visit from troubled teen geek Todd Racklin, the last living fan of Billy’s old band. Todd needs some beyond-the-grave help from his idol–and his visits might hold the key to Billy’s release from Memory Hill.

Grave Circumstances by J.R. Gray

Secret agendas collide with guns, ghosts and confusing erections, on a tour through a haunted graveyard. Jesse’s been carrying a secret and needs a night alone with George. But George has his own agenda, leading Jesse into darkness, the fright of his life, and a blinding release he won’t soon forget.

Boyfriends in the Boneyard by Kris Ripper

In a perfect world, Truman Jennings would be spending Halloween with both his husband and his boyfriend; alas, in this one he’s on a ghost tour with his husband, and his boyfriend is probably watching scary movies and eating pizza rolls.

The cemetery is appropriately creepy, their tour guide weaves a good yarn, and Hugh’s in a very odd (but utterly delightful) mood. When Hugh leads him away from the group Truman doesn’t know what to think, but considering his husband’s filthy, kinky mind, he’s more than willing to find out.

As usual, Hugh has both tricks and treats up his sleeve.

Mayfair by Roan Parrish

Jocelyn has been secretly in love with her best friend Bethany for a year. And it’s hell. But there are other things—dark, creeping, illusory things—that are tormenting Jocelyn even more. They’ve been appearing more and more lately and Jocelyn is starting to doubt her sanity. But a Devil’s Night ritual in a Detroit cemetery may reveal more than she ever imagined…

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Santino Hassell

Santino Hassell was raised by a conservative family, but he was anything but traditional. He grew up to be a smart-mouthed, school cutting grunge kid, then a transient twenty-something, and eventually transformed into an unlikely romance author. Santino writes LGBTQ romance that is heavily influenced by the gritty, urban landscape of New York City, his belief that human relationships are complex and flawed, and his own life experiences.

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J.C. Lillis

J.C. loves koi ponds, abandoned amusement parks, and peanut butter & banana sandwiches. She hates paper cuts, cabbage, and writing bios. She lives in Baltimore and is the author of two YA novels.

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J.R. Gray

When not staying up all night writing, J.R Gray can be found basking in the warm glow of the Miami sun, or at the gym where it’s half assumed Gray is a permanent resident. A dominant, pilot, and sword fighting enthusiast, Gray finds it hard to be in the passenger seat of any car. Gray frequently interrupts real life, including normal sleep patterns, to jot down nonsense. The bane of Gray’s existence are commas, and even though it’s been fully acknowledged they are necessary, they continue to baffle and bewilder. If Gray wasn’t writing…well, that’s not possible. The buildup of untold stories would haunt Gray into an early grave or possibly a mental institution where the tales would end up on the walls in crayon and finger paint.

J.R. Gray is genderqueer and prefers he/him pronouns.

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Kris Ripper

Kris Ripper lives in the great state of California and hails from the San Francisco Bay Area. Kris shares a converted garage with a toddler, can do two pull-ups in a row, and can write backwards. (No, really.) Kris is genderqueer and prefers the z-based pronouns because they’re freaking sweet. Ze has been writing fiction since ze learned how to write, and boring zir stuffed animals with stories long before that.

Find Kris at:

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Roan Parrish

Roan Parrish grew up in Michigan and lives in Philadelphia, but is always a few minutes away from deciding to move. A former academic, she’s used to writing things that no one reads. She still loves to geek out about books, movies, TV, and music—now, though, she’s excited to be writing the kind of romantic, angsty stories that she loves to escape into.

When not writing, she can usually be found cutting her friends’ hair, wandering through whatever city she’s in while listening to torch songs and melodic death metal, or cooking overly elaborate meals. One time she may or may not have baked a six-layer chocolate cake and then thrown it out the window in a fit of pique. She loves bonfires, winter beaches, and minor chord harmonies.

Sign up for Roan’s newsletter to get periodic announcements about new releases, giveaways, and, you know, general super secret stuff.

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You can read LEAD ME INTO DARKNESS for free in all these places!

All Romance Ebooks    |    Kobo    |    Barnes and Noble/Nook    |    Apple/iTunes    |    Oyster    |    Page Foundry/Inktera    |    Scribd

Aaaaaand, finally, the GIVEAWAY!

The giveaway is open now and will stay open until the witching hour on Halloween, so cast your die, choose your tarot card, burn your entrails, et cetera, et cetera. There will be 5 winners, each of whom will get 1 of the following LEAD ME INTO DARKNESS prize packs:

1. Signed copy of JC Lillis’ How to Repair a Mechanical Heart + LMID Tee + NOLA swag

2. Signed copy of J.R. Gray’s Legally Bound + LMID Tee + NOLA swag

3. Paperback of Roan Parrish’s In the Middle of Somewhere + LMID Tee + NOLA Swag

4. Paperback of Santino Hassell’s Stygian + LMID Tee + NOLA Swag

5. Set of 5 Ebooks by Kris Ripper including Catalysts, Unexpected Gifts, Take Three Breaths, Breaking Down, and Roller Coasters + LMID Tee + NOLA Swag

ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK (of awesomeness)!

KREWE OF BOO, NEW ORLEANS

Happy reading, you ghouls . . .

Daniel Mulligan Live-Tweets A Dance Movie, Wha?

So, the amazing Kris Ripper and I did a thing the other day! I basically goaded Kris into live-tweeting a movie with me. (In fact, ze got so excited that ze geeked out about it in zir video blog—vlog? is that what the kids say?—which is called “Ripper’s Rambles,” the greatest title for a vlog by a thoughtful pirate ever.) Kris tweeted as Hugh Reynolds from the fab Scientific Method series (which you should all read because it’s amazingness piled on top of kinky deliciousness with a side of yes, please) and I tweeted as Daniel Mulligan from In the Middle of Somewhere.

Tweeting as Daniel delighted me. The idea of Daniel watching a dance movie delighted me. I mean, basically Daniel would be all, “what is this crap,” before quickly getting sucked in to the story and having Strong Opinions about everything. Hugh Reynolds (whom I love and adore) is a very dry, very self-contained, very in-control therapist. So, naturally, the idea of seeing him live-tweet a dance movie made me giddy with delight. Also: it’s worth tuning in for Hugh straight-up PSYCHOANALYZING Daniel. Really, worth the price of admission in and of itself. Especially as the price of admission is absolutely goddamned nothing.

The dance movie in question? Center Stage, a fin de siècle masterpiece of cheesiness and dance montage. Now, Kris would have you believe that it’s not a good movie. But. This is simply untrue. It is a CLASSIC OF THE GENRE! And, of course, it’s made approximately 9,000 times better if you watch it while live-tweeting as one of your characters, conversing with one of Kris’ characters. Or, um, you know, you could just play along with us!

The premise? Daniel and Hugh find themselves at the same academic conference, at one of the evening entertainments, for quite different reasons. Here, have a conference schedule to get an idea of what Daniel and Hugh were in for:

So, without further ado, dim the lights and pop the corn. It’s time for Center Stage with Daniel Mulligan and Hugh Reynolds!

CLICK HERE! (and, erm, let it load as you scroll down—sorry, WordPress won’t let me do ANY of the things I want here. Like, for example, have a cupcake right now.)