Marie Sexton's Blog, page 33
November 17, 2011
Amber Kell's November Birthday Extravaganza
Today, I have Amber Kell visiting my blog. Amber is doing all kinds of fun things this month to celebrate her birthday. She's also giving away tons of prizes. One of her November treats is a free story, broken into 30 parts. Follow the icon above back to her blog for details. I've linked it to the November 1st post, so you can start there if you need to see the first installments. This is part 17 of her free story, Accidental Alpha. Be sure to check Amber's blog through the month so you can get the rest of the story!
Accidental Alpha, Part 17
After laying out all the food and settling in the formal dining room Stanley mother continued their conversation. "So when did you get shifted into a werewolf?"
Stanley choked on his bite of beef. Fenris patted him on the back and handed over a glass of water. "How did you know?"
"Well Sebastian is a werewolf and if your father was arranging a match I figured he'd make sure you were changed too." She gave his father a baleful glare.
He put up his hands in self-defense. "Now Millie I was only thinking of the boy."
"Uh, huh and not that pile of cash Sebastian must have offered you for our son."
Wow, he'd never seen his father blush before. It was kind of disturbing.
"I want to see him settled."
"I am old enough to make my own decisions. I'm not a boy any more," Stanley protested. Listening to his parents arguing made him feel about seven.
His father turned to him. "You need to find a permanent mate and stop going to all those dance clubs."
Stanley set down his fork and took a deep breath. "What are you talking about? I've gone to maybe six night clubs in the past three years."
"You were at one last Thursday," his father stubbornly insisted.
"And how would you know?" His mother asked the question burning on Stanley's tongue.
"I have you followed, okay. You always pick the wrong men."
"Is that what happened to him," a light went on in Stanley's head.
"Who?" his father grumbled.
"The guy I went to dinner with last night. He never came back from the bathroom. I thought he was just a jerk. Tell me you had nothing to do with it."
"Ouch," his father jerked. "Millie, you kicked me."
"I can't believe you did that," she scolded blithely ignoring his indignation. "I told you Stanley has to meet a few men before he finds the right one."
"Like he's going to meet someone proper in a sleazy club," his father scoffed.
"You can stop worrying. Stanley has someone now," Fenris' voice was one step above a growl.
His father raised one eyebrow. A move which meant he was gearing up to say something that will completely drive Stanley insane.
"And what makes you think you're good enough for my son," he said in icy tones. "Dammit Millie stop kicking me."
"Then stop being an ass. Fenris seems like a nice boy. What is your last name dear?"
Stanley jerked around to face Fenris. "You have a last name?"
Fenris laughed, breaking the tension of a moment ago. "Of course I have a last name, I'm not Madonna."
"Then what is it?" Stanley couldn't believe he didn't know something so basic about the guy who claimed to be his mate.
Stanley knew from the way Fenris bit his lower lip he wasn't going to like the answer.
"Harven."
A chill went up Stanley's spine.
"Yeah, your sweet boy is related to one of the biggest crime families in the city," Stanley's father said.
Huh, his mother could growl too. Maybe it was a family trait.
November 16, 2011
2 Years!
When I sold Promises to Dreamspinner Press, my husband had my contract and my advance check framed. I was just looking at them, and realized it's been two years, almost to the day. It was November 8th, 2009 that I signed my first publishing contract. What an amazing, crazy, rewarding, wonderful, enlightening, scary as hell, sometimes overwhelming, but worth every second, two years it's been. Thanks to all of you have bought the books, read the books, loved (or hated) the books. Thanks to everybody who's emailed, left a comment on my site or on my FB page. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Here's to year 3!
(Check out Weirdles.com for more funky Weirdles comics.)
November 12, 2011
Naked Men
I just realized that in my test post the other day, I said, "If this had been an actual blog post, it would have included naked men." But then I went and published a "real" blog post today, without naked men! How could I?
Well, the truth is, I try to keep my own blog fairly safe for work. If you want some truly NSFW naked men pictures, check out my blog with Heidi Cullinan, Coffee and Porn in the Morning. But, just because it's SFW here on my site doesn't mean it has to be boring. 
For those who haven't read it elsewhere, I'm currently working on a sequel to Song of Oestend. This book is mostly about Dante and his newfound love interest. There's also a secondary plot line involving Frances and Simon, but really, Dante is the real story.
Writing about Dante is interesting, because he was such an unlikable character before. It's important to me that he not suddenly and inexplicably become a teddy bear. He has to keep his anger and his edge. He's impetuous and jealous and highly emotional, but he's also a decent guy. Hopefully, by the end of the book, I'll have convinced my readers to like him. Quite frankly, I'm loving the hell out of him. He's turning out to be a hell of a lot of fun to write.
Well, I'm prattling on, but the point of all this is simply to post this picture. Although I cropped out the peen in order to post it on my page, THIS is my picture of Dante. God, do I love that look on his face. That's what it's all about. 
Saturday Snark!
Another one from Promises, because Matt and Jared just have so much to offer.
"You know," he said teasingly, "I don't think gay guys are supposed to like football."
I rolled my eyes at him. "Yeah, I've heard that before. But so far, nobody's come by to revoke my 'Gay Guys' membership card."
Authors, please share some snark. Put up a quick post on your blog with a snarky line (or two or three) from one of your books. Important: Be sure you enter your link into the linky tool below. Also, be sure to include a link back to this post so your readers can check out all the snarky links.
Readers, please follow along to find some fun new snarky characters. Keep checking back for new links, and comment often! :-)
November 10, 2011
This is a test…
This is only a test. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. If this had been an actual blog post, it would have included naked men.
Carry on.
November 5, 2011
Blind Space
Thanks to the infinitely patient Reese Dante, I have a gorgeous cover for my upcoming release, Blind Space. She gave me so many options and I was ridiculously indecisive. Seriously, had I been her, I would have smacked me, but she's a champ. At any rate, here it is:
Blind Space is either a very short novel, or a long novella. It will be available in both print and ebook format. It will be released by Silver Publishing on January 7th, 2012.
Saturday Snark!
Another one from Promises. Matt and Jared have such fun snark.
"It's not a successful ride if you don't bleed."
"Oh really? Did you get that out of the Masochist Biking Club handbook?"
"Sure did. It's rule number three."
I took advantage of the break to try to get my hair back into a ponytail. Curls were escaping all over the place and falling in my face. Matt stood up and inspected the damage to his leg. "The blood's running down into my shoe."
"Rub some dirt on it."
"What?" He was laughing, still wearing that gorgeous smile and looking at me like I was crazy.
"Rub some dirt on it. It'll help stop the bleeding."
"Is that out of the masochist handbook too?"
"I think it's a baseball thing."
"Okay, but if I end up with a raging infection and have to get my leg amputated, I'm holding you responsible."
"I'll pay for your prosthetic."
Authors, please share some snark. Put up a quick post on your blog with a snarky line (or two or three) from one of your books. Important: Be sure you enter your link into the linky tool below. Also, be sure to include a link back to this post so your readers can check out all the snarky links.
Readers, please follow along to find some fun new snarky characters. Keep checking back for new links, and comment often! :-)
November 1, 2011
Securing the Meadow
My muse no longer trusts me.
That is the great truth I've recently come to accept.
Now, to explain it all, I need to back up, because although authors often talk about their muses, the truth is, I'd never given much attention to mine. I'd never put a face to it. I never really even acknowledged it. And in ignoring it, and ignoring the environment in which it lived, I very nearly lost it.
It's maybe ironic that so many authors talk about "plot bunnies", because in the last two days, that is the image I've come to associate with my muse: a rabbit. A small, white rabbit, in a meadow, surrounded by the forest. In the beginning, he was brave and playful, unaware of what lurked in the woods.
Am I being too strange? Let me back up yet again.
When I wrote Promises, I knew nothing about this genre. Yes, I'd read a few gay romances, but I didn't realize how big (and at the same time, how small) the genre is. I'd never heard of Goodreads, or Jessewave or any of the other sites that would later become part of the landscape of my life. I was only vaguely aware of ebooks. I'd never even heard of Samhain or Loose Id. When I finished Promises, I pulled the m/m books off of my shelf and checked the back cover to see who had published them: MLR Press, Torquere, and Dreamspinner. When Dreamspinner accepted Promises, I had no idea what I was getting into.
Fast forward a few months. I'm fumbling my way around this vast cyberworld that both makes up and encompasses my genre. My bunny is playing happily in his meadow, and I'm churning out stories at a stupid pace. A to Z, One More Soldier, The Letter Z, and Strawberries for Dessert all just fell into place. And I continue on, venturing deeper into the woods, unaware of the little bunny behind me.
I can't really say for sure when I became aware of the wolves, but they're there. Maybe the wolves take different forms for different people, but for me, they're multi-faced and multi-faceted. They're all over this m/m cyberworld. Some of them spend their days bitching endlessly about this genre, but the worst of them are the ones who turn on each other out of nothing more than boredom or the need to try to prove themselves the Alpha. They're the ones who want everybody to be a wolf.
But some of us just aren't.
Not far from my house is a big open field, and in it, there are tons of prairie dogs. Last Memorial Day weekend, the city decided to fill in their holes. Hapless prairie dogs were suddenly scurrying through our neighborhood, with no place to go. Unfortunately for one, during our Memorial Day barbecue, he found himself in my yard with my very large dog. We looked out the sliding glass door to see my dog whipping the poor little thing around his head like a ragdoll. It was bloody and horrifying and really rather brutal.
I share this disturbing image with you now because this is what my rabbit saw when he finally looked out into the woods: wolves tearing other little critters apart. He found this inexplicable violence random, meaningless, and utterly horrifying.
And me? Yes, I was aware of the wolves, but I didn't think they had anything to do with my muse. I assured my bunny he was safe. The wolves could not touch him in the circle of his meadow. And he played on.
Fast forward again several months to early 2011. Somehow, the woods are taking over my little meadow. My bunny is scared, but I tell him it's fine. The wolves push their way into what little of the clearing remains. I see them, their jaws snapping and their hackles raised, circling and snarling and salivating. And yet still, I tell my bunny, "It's fine. They're tame enough. They can't hurt you."
The thing is, I was wrong.
That image of my huge dog savaging the helpless prairie dog? That's the image I have of what happened next. The wolves got to my bunny muse. They very nearly destroyed it.
Now, had I realized then what had happened, it might have been different. I might have taken cover with my muse. I might have nursed it back to health and convinced it that it would be fine. But that's not what I did. I wasn't aware enough of my muse to see what had happened. Instead, I railed against the environment. Why are the wolves there and why do they have to be so fierce? Why do we allow them? Why do some people bait them and feed them and even encourage them? Why do we bend over backward to accommodate them? Why should I have to put up with them at all?
I still don't really know the answers to those questions. I suppose for some people, the wolves are fun. I suppose for some, the wolves themselves might be the muse. What I've come to realize for myself is that the answers are irrelevant. But my muse is not.
I once saw an SUV run over a squirrel. It wasn't killed. Its back was broken, and it used its front paws to pull its broken little body out of the street and up into the grass where it lay, panting. And I sobbed for it.
That's the image I have in my head for what happened next. My poor little muse pulled its broken and bloody body (without my help) into its hole. It burrowed down deep. It curled up. And it waited — not to heal, but to die. Because that was the only thing worth doing. What would be the point of healing? It could no longer stand the thought of venturing out of its hole. It could no longer trust me to keep the wolves at bay. It wanted nothing more than to cease to be.
If this all sounds melodramatic, all I can say is, it felt very real to me. It was February when my little bleeding muse took to his burrow. I spent a few months looking around, wondering stupidly where he'd gone. I spent a few more trying to reason with him. I've spent the last couple trying to patiently lure him out. Because although he longed so much to die, he didn't get his wish. He lived on. And although here, in Colorado, winter draws near, in my bunny's little meadow, it's beginning to look like spring. The sun is warming the ground. The birds are singing. And my muse wonders if maybe, just maybe, he has enough strength and enough bravery to play.
I can't keep assuring him. Words mean nothing. The only thing that matters is proving my intent, and my intent now is to make the meadow the secure.
What does that mean? It means not venturing into the woods. It means not baiting the wolves.
Yes Marie, we get it, you may say. But in real-world terms, WTF are you saying? What exactly does it mean to secure the meadow?
To a large extent, what it means is climbing into the burrow with my bunny. It means shutting off vast sections of my online life. It means not venturing into those areas where people tear my beloved genre apart like some defenseless prairie dog. It means not engaging with any of those people who seem to want nothing more than to prove that their muse is better than mine. Because the truth is, maybe their muse is better, but this poor little wounded, scarred, scared furtive bunny is mine. And I miss him. I think it's time he remembered how to play.
Blog Hop Winners
Thanks to everybody who participated in my Bewitching Trick or Treat Blog Hop contest!
My grand prize winner is Kerrita. The two runner-up winners are Kaetrin and Adara. Ladies, I'll be contacting you by email about claiming your prizes.
Also, I have an interview up today at Coffee Time Romance & More.
I'm also supposed to be participating in NaNo for the first time ever, and since it's November 1st, I better get my backside in gear. Have a great day!
