Jane Davitt's Blog - Posts Tagged "laying-a-ghost"

This is a short snippet featuring John and Nick, the characters from Laying a Ghost because today is Alexa's birthday. It's set some time after the trilogy ends. A few others are on my LJ here

Echo

Nick walked into the bedroom to find a strange man kissing his husband. The tray he carried was heavy, laden with a teapot, two mugs, a plate of buttered toast, and a pot of homemade raspberry jam, so he set it down on the bedside table before doing anything else.

John was fast asleep, snoring in a way Nick found endearing now, less so when he was trying to go to sleep. It was past eight in the morning; on the decadently late side for John to be in bed, but they'd made a night of it.

Nick swallowed, the back of his throat raw, matching the throb in his ass. Oh yeah. Quite a night. There was something about his birthday that made John express his love in a way that went beyond passionate and into insatiable, as if the awareness of another year gone made him want to make the most of those that remained.

Nick had no complaints. None. And he wouldn't be the only one moving with a little extra care today.

He'd planned to wake John with the treat of breakfast in bed, then maybe keep John between the sheets for a gentler version of the lovemaking that'd kept them up until the small hours, but the stranger would have to be dealt with first.

John frowned as a kiss landed on his ear and rolled over, his hand exploring Nick's side of the bed, vaguely groping for him.

Also endearing.

Less so was the woman who shimmered into view where John had been lying. Turning her face up for a kiss from the stranger – no stranger to her, Nick guessed from the loving smile on his face – she murmured something.

What it was, Nick didn't know. Sounds tended to die away over the centuries.

Not ghosts, but an echo. He sighed. A fresh ghost in the house would've been a pain in the ass, but once gone, they were gone. An echo was harder to eradicate; the paranormal equivalent of rising damp.

He chewed his lip, watching the couple repeat what seemed to be about thirty seconds of kissing, ending with that smile and murmured words. John would wake soon and what Nick had planned wouldn't work with an audience, even if only he could see them.

He'd never seen the couple before which implied something he'd done had triggered this echo. They seemed happy and in love, but it couldn't have been the wild night that had created the link between past and present. John and he had plenty of those, even if they didn't always match the heights of a few hours ago.

His gaze went to a scrape on the wooden floor that was on the to-do list to fix and he exhaled. Shit. That had to be it. They'd rearranged the bedroom furniture a few days ago, and the bed was against a different wall. Last night was the first time they'd made love with the bed in the new position. The combination of the intense emotions taking place in the exact place these two had experienced a similar moment of shared passion had created the echo.

It was a working theory, anyway.

John stirred, his hand rubbing his face. "Imph."

"Morning, love. Happy Birthday."

"Mmm." John blinked, yawned, then opened his eyes fully. "Tea? You brought me breakfast in bed?"

He sounded so pleased Nick decided to do it more often. Of course, that resolve was tricky to execute when John got up before him pretty much every morning…

"Yeah. Planned to feed you until you got your strength back, then pick up where we left off."

"I'll not make it to the end of the day, let alone my next birthday, but aye, why not? Come here and give me a kiss then."

Nick scratched his cheek. The couple was as clear to him as John was and it was really disconcerting to see them kiss with John oblivious. "Uh, hold that thought and get out of bed?"

"Why?"

"Because we need to move the bed back where it was and with you in it, we'll do more than scratch the floor."

"You're going to explain this, aren't you?" John threw back the sheets – which passed through the kissing couple – and planted his feet on the floor.

Nick eyed John's lean back appreciatively and when John stood extended his admiration to John's ass. He could see faint marks on it from his fingers, but John hadn't complained at the time and wouldn't be likely to today. He'd been the one driving into Nick and making him cry out incoherently after all.

"I walked in to find you in the middle of a smooch session with two ghosts. The filling in a sandwich." He explained his theory, wondering if he was even close to the truth. When it came to events like this, it was all mostly guesswork.

John's hand went to his face again, rubbing it irritably as if he'd felt the kisses from whoever the hell the guy was. Interesting. And annoying. "Oh for the love of— Well, we'll put it back where it was. And you can tell them, whoever they are, that they've got no manners."

Laughing, more in love with John than he could ever express in words or actions, Nick went to him and pulled him close. "I'll scold them all you like, but they won't hear me."

John leaned his forehead against Nick's shoulder, his breath warm through the T-shirt Nick had pulled on. "And you're sure we have to move it? I liked it fine where it was."

"I'm not sure, but if they disappear when we do, it's probably fixed it."

"We move it an inch at a time," John said grimly. "And you tell me when they disappear."

The bed ended up on the same wall, completely off-center, with no room for the table that went on Nick's side of the bed, but John gave a satisfied nod. "That's sorted them."

"You know we can't leave it like that."

John got back into bed, snagging a piece of toast on the way. "Pour the tea before it's cold and stewed and stop nagging me. We can put the bed in the middle of the garden later, if that's where you want it. Right now, I just want to know the only man I'm sharing it with is you."

Nick checked the room again for ghosts. "You are."

John gave Nick's side of the bed a pointed glare. "I am not then."

Without bothering with the tea – John was right, it'd be too strong to be drinkable – Nick got back into bed. "You are now," he said and put his kiss over the ones John had gotten from the ghost, replacing a distant echo of love with the warmth of reality.

Blown away by the great reviews for The Final Round; so happy people are enjoying it.

Just wanted to say that despite the title, this isn't necessarily the end of the series. We love these guys and the Peg and there is one more story we want to do at least. If you've read the book, you can probably guess what it will be about :-)

2015 has been a busy writing year; three books and a novella. I've slacked off a bit recently, but I'm working on a solo novel and I hope 2016 ends up being productive. Alexa and I have a novella in the Laying a Ghost series coming out in January so that's a start.

I'll have more to say about this before the release date a week today, but for now, here's the cover of Laying a Ghost 4, Love Strong as Death.

The cover's by the wonderfully talented Valerie Tibbs.

Next week, Love Strong as Death, a novella in the Laying a Ghost series comes out to mark the tenth anniversary of the first book.

Ten years. Wow. So I thought I'd go all rambling and nostalgic about how LaG came about.

Back in April 2004, Alexa and I weren't published authors, but we had dozens of fanfics to our name. Since we were in the Buffy fandom and friends we decided to co-write a Giles/Xander fic set post-show, with Xander alone on a Scottish island getting a house ready to serve as a training place for all the new Slayers. Willow dies and Giles travels there to break the news. He finds Xander involved in a mild flirtation with an islander, John, a character we created solely to make Giles jealous pretty much :-)

We adored John. The readers adored John. And because naturally, it being a G/X fic, John had to end up broken-hearted, we were left sad too.

Fast forward a little to 2005 and Alexa and I were dipping our toes in the world of pro m/m romances. Hey, all the cool kids on LJ were doing it and most of them were on our friends list, people we knew, read, co-wrote with.

But it was a scary step to take alone, so we decided to co-write and see how it went. We'd worked on many long fics together and we knew our writing styles meshed and the process was fun.

We needed a plot. And why not take our character John, move him to a fictional Hebridean island, and give him the HEA he deserved with Nick, an American who saw ghosts?

So we did. The setting was one we knew. Alexa, who's American, had been to Iona on a vacation and though I live in Canada now, I spent the first thirty-three years of my life in England. A month a year from age ten to twenty was spent in the Hebrides, camping with my family on the edge of a beach. I've visited half a dozen of the islands, creating lasting memories. My parents settled on Barra as their favorite, and they kept going back, making close friends and loving the peace. When Dad died, a memorial mass was said for him on Barra, a gesture that touched my mum deeply.

I said this would ramble, didn't I?

So that's how the first book came to be written, followed by Giving Up the Ghost and Waking the Dead.

I wrote some John/Nick snippets for Alexa on her birthday over the years (they're here; http://archiveofourown.org/series/46070) but it's been a long time since we wrote a proper story with them.

On January 19th, the first three books will be available as a boxed set, and the novella, Love Strong as Death will come out.

http://www.loose-id.com/laying-a-ghos...

We loved visiting John and Nick again and we hope you do too.

Love Strong as Death is now available from Loose Id

It's the fourth in the Laying a Ghost series and we wrote it to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the first book, Laying a Ghost, which was also the first we ever wrote together.



No amount of distraction can keep Nick and John from each other; time hasn’t dimmed the heat between them. That doesn't mean a frustrated, angry ghost isn't going to try, and she won't hesitate to do whatever it takes to force Nick to help her, no matter whose life she endangers. 


Worried about John’s injured hand, guilty that his ability to see ghosts is disturbing their peace again, Nick’s torn between wanting to help this ghost and wishing her far away.


As events spiral out of control, they’re about to discover which is stronger; love or obsession.


For their sake, love needs to win.

So excited! On Feb 9, the Laying a Ghost trilogy will be available from Loose Id as a boxed set to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the first book, Laying a Ghost.

It looks so freaking cool!



To celebrate 10 years of Laying a Ghost: books 1-3 in a single, collected edition.

Laying a Ghost
When John McIntyre sees Nick Kelley step off the island ferry, he's instantly attracted, and fairly certain that he knows what Nick is keeping secret, because he's been doing it himself for years. When he discovers Nick's real secret he's drawn into a world he never knew existed, one haunted by grief and guilt and ghosts. In the shadowed world of the spirits, Nick's power is all that the ghosts have to help them. But Nick is still mourning the death of his lover in an accident he believes he caused, and John's determined to keep their relationship secret.

It's going to take a lot more than attraction and really good sex to solve their problems but will they be lucky? Or will one week be all they have before they're left alone again?

Giving Up the Ghost
Most of the people in Florida are soaking up the sun. Nick and John are dealing with a plane crash, a gold-digger, a reporter with an eye on more than a good story, and some startling revelations about Nick's family.

And that's before the ghosts from the crash get angry with Nick, the one person who can hear them.

They’re struggling with their relationship when the trip begins -- sex works, sex works well; it’s the other stuff that’s a problem. Getting away seemed like a good way to work things out. But this is one getaway that might leave John and Nick wishing they'd stayed at home.

Or it might be just what they needed to find out that home is where the heart is.

Waking the Dead
When your lover can speak to ghosts and his half-brother can read minds, you get used to life being a step away from normal. But when angry ghosts take over the bodies of the living, seeking revenge for their centuries-old murders, even John and Nick have trouble coping.

Teenaged angst, pushy tourists, and the dead walking... If they want the peaceful summer they'd planned, they're going to have to fight for it.

Side by side.

is up for Book of the Month at The TBR Pile.

Voting ends April 1.

If you liked the book, please consider voting!

http://thetbrpile.weebly.com/