Lisa Henry's Blog, page 13

Blog Tour - When All the World Sleeps

When All the World Sleeps is finally here! AND THERE ARE PRIZES! 


Join J.A. Rock and I on our blog tour, and you could win stuff: a copy of our last release Mark Cooper versus America , and a $20 gift voucher from Riptide. Psst: you should use that gift voucher to buy When All the World Sleeps. I've heard good things... 




So join J.A. and I at the following places, and leave a comment for your chance to win. 
March 24, 2014 - The Jeep Diva
March 24, 2014 - Elisa - My Reviews & Ramblings - Spotlight Stop
March 25, 2014 - The Blog of Sid Love - Spotlight Stop
March 25, 2014 - Words of Wisdom from the Scarf Princess - Spotlight Stop
March 26, 2014 - Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words
March 26, 2014 - All I Want and More Books
March 27, 2014 - Tracy's Place
March 27, 2014 - Cup O' Porn - Spotlight Stop
March 28, 2014 - Book Reviews & More by Kathy
March 28, 2014 - Joyfully Jay
March 28, 2014 - The Blogger Girls - Spotlight Stop
March 29, 2014 - Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews
March 30, 2014 - Prism Book Alliance
March 31, 2014 - Slitsread - Spotlight StopPlease note that all dates are American. Don't get excited like me and think it's sooner than it is! 

You can buy When All the World Sleeps here from Riptide. 

Meanwhile, When All the World Sleeps is the book of the month over at On Top Downunder Reviews. Check it out! 

Books. Babies. Not the same thing.

I don’t subscribe to that whole “my books are my babies” mantra that you see every now and then. I don’t have babies. Lucky, because I’d be in jail if I treated my babies how I treat my books. It’s my understanding that babies have to be fed and washed and clothed and, most importantly, that you can’t just abandon them if they begin to annoy you. So, no. Books and babies are very different things.

I do understand where this sentiment comes from, though. I really do. We work hard on our books. We create them. We are emotionally attached to them.


But they’re still not babies.

Because too often when an author pulls out the “But my book is like my baby!” thing, it's the first stop on the crazy train that is the Meltdown Express. Before you know it you're at "How dare you criticise me just because you're too stupid to understand my genius" Station. 

As though likening a book to a baby is an excuse to have an overwrought reaction to an unfavourable review.

As though someone saying they don’t like your book is like someone harming your child.

Rubbish.

Why not talk to someone who’s had a child, and ask them if that child in any way compares to a book? Better yet, why not talk to someone who’s lost a child and find out what they think of that cutesy little book analogy?

Books are a lot of things. They can inspire you, and educate you, and they can take you to places you never thought you’d get to go. Books are wonderful, and they are more than the sum of their parts. They can be magical.

And yet… they’re still not babies.

Well, maybe this kind of baby:



I hatch them, I wish them well, and then I kick them the hell out of my nest. 
Whatever happens to them out there, they’re tough enough to handle it, and so am I.

March is a big one!

This month I am the featured author over at Riptide! Hooray for me!

If you follow the link you can find out all about my newest releases and what's coming up from me at Riptide. You can also read an interview and find out why my study is full of garden implements, dog food, and outdoor furniture. I'm not lazy at all -- it's a safety issue. *whistles*

Being the March featured author isn't just good news for me -- it's good news for you as well.

You can buy He Is Worthy at half price -- only $1.99 The rest of Riptide's Warriors of Rome series is half price as well!





You can also preorder Bliss , co-written with Heidi Belleau, for the special price of $5.99!



They're always happy. Rory James has worked hard all his life to become a citizen of the idyllic city-state of Beulah. Like every other kid born in the neighboring country of Tophet, he’s heard the stories: No crime or pollution. A house and food for everyone. It’s perfect, and Rory is finally getting a piece of it.So is Tate Patterson. He’s from Tophet, too, but he’s not a legal immigrant; he snuck in as a thief. A city without crime seems like an easy score, until he crashes into Rory during a getaway and is arrested for assaulting a citizen. Instead of jail, Tate is enrolled in Beulah’s Rehabilitation through Restitution program. By living with and serving his victim for seven years, Tate will learn the human face of his crimes.If it seems too good to be true, that’s because it is. Tate is fitted with a behavior-modifying chip that leaves him unable to disobey orders—any orders, no matter how dehumanizing. Worse, the chip prevents him from telling Rory, the one man in all of Beulah who might care about him, the truth: in a country without prisons, Tate is locked inside his own mind.And to round off the month of March, When All the World Sleeps is out on the 24th. Seriously, I can't wait to share this one with everyone. I love it so much, and I hope you do too!



Read a five star review of When All the World Sleeps on Goodreads. 

King of Dublin Blog Tour

Hi everyone!

The King of Dublin blog tour kicks off on the 24th. Follow me and Heidi around, leave a comment somewhere, and you could win one of each of our backlist titles, and also an Irish-related thingummy. I can't be more specific, as I haven't seen the thungummy. But I'm sure it's very nice. 


February 24, 2014 - Sid LoveFebruary 24, 2014 - Sinfully Sexy Book ReviewsFebruary 25, 2014 - Book Reviews & More by KathyFebruary 26, 2014 - Mama Kitty Book Reviews - Spotlight StopFebruary 26, 2014 - Twlib ReviewsFebruary 27, 2014 - The Saucy Wenches Book Club - Spotlight StopFebruary 27, 2014 - Prism Book AllianceFebruary 28, 2014 - Steamy Guys After DarkFebruary 28, 2014 - The Jeep Diva - Spotlight StopMarch 3, 2014 - The Fiction VixenMarch 4, 2014 - The Novel ApproachMarch 4, 2014 - Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

Trouble with Possums

Well, anyone who’s been following my Twitter lately has seen that I’m currently fighting off a possum invasion. And by “fighting off” I mean “doing nothing to prevent it”. I think I'm going to start telling people it's an elaborate promo scheme for JA Rock's Trouble At Possum Ranch . That's plausible, right? 

A few people have asked about animal control. Now, I could hire a possum trap, but it’s after trapping them that things get tricky. Possums are a protected native species, so you can’t hurt them (and look at those cute little faces!). You also can’t relocate them more than fifty metres from where you trap them. Fifty metres? THEY COULD STILL SEE MY HOUSE FROM THERE! 
So that seems a pointless expense.



Anyway, the other day at the hardware shop I was looking at screens, thinking that I could tack it up around the shutters in my house, and damn the aesthetics. And then I remembered that possums have been known to peel back tin in order to get into roofs.
So that seems like a pointless expense as well.


At the moment, I think bribery seems like the best option. It’s worked before. In the Great Possum Invasion of 2012, after Cyclone Yasi knocked down a bunch of trees, the possums were breaking in and stealing bread and bananas and whatever they could get their clever little paws on – they can also open cupboards – I ended up leaving food outside for them. I agreed to do this, and they agreed not to break in unless I forgot. Or was late. Or they wanted something apart from bananas.
Anyway, once the trees grew back the possums went back to their old diet.


Another option, of course, is earplugs. Because here’s the thing. If the possums break in and I don’t hear it, it doesn’t count, right? Ignorance is bliss. That way, if I come out of my bedroom in the morning and there are things knocked onto the floor, I’ll just blame the cats.


Now, I don’t hate possums. I just wish they’d remember that they are outside animals. Particularly when it’s midnight, this is my bathroom, and I really, really need to pee.


I peed anyway. With a towel over my head for protection.

Release the Kraken!

Today on the blog I’m talking to the very talented M. Caspian, author of one of my favourite m/m tentacle reads, KRAKEN. Thanks for stopping by, M.

You’re welcome. Thank you for having me. But before you ask any questions, I have to thank you, Lisa. You had no reason to pick up my book, and I’m so grateful that you did. I don’t even know how you saw it. Once you reviewed it, BAM: it went on 40 to-read lists. And thank you everyone who read it, even if you decided tentacles weren’t for you. I’ve been overwhelmed by the book’s reception by readers. I’m very thankful and happy.
Hey. Fresh non-con m/m tent-sex? As soon as that hit my radar, I was all over it! I’ll start with an incredibly unfair question: why tentacles? And I only ask this because I’m not sure of the reasons I like it so much myself. Only that I do. I definitely do. Is it the dub-con factor? The weird Other/alien factor? Or does it tap into something older than that: humanity’s primal fear of the monsters in the deep and the dark?
When I was a child I had a bed with storage drawers underneath it. I was convinced there was an octopus living in those drawers. It was my deepest fear. I made my mom check every night, but of course she wouldn’t pull all the drawers out at the same time, so I knew the octopus was simply playing Scooby Doors with her. Waiting. Biding its time.
Because I was afraid, I had to know more. Sheer terror made me learn about octopuses, and cephalopods in general. It’s that sense of the abject, you know? You want to look away, but you have to keep watching. Much as with YouTube videos of people s.l.o.w.l.y removing nose pore strips.
I think interesting things come from juxtaposition. What we wish for, and what we fear, at the same time. That’s why love and hate together are so powerful. Love and indifference: meh, no big deal. Tentacled creatures are both very different and very similar to us, simultaneously. When you watch an octopus work out a puzzle, its intelligence seems very human, but when you see it watching you back, you also realize it’s utterly alien. And octopuses are solitary, whereas human are inherently social.
I guess I was just thinking about tentaclesex fics where the tentacle monster is just like a human, which kind of overlooks that they are not only a completely different species, but a different phylum! There would be a distinct difficulty in creating empathy between an octopus and a human. One is utterly individual, yet good at mimicry and camouflage, and collects and keeps things it finds pleasing. The other creates social connections as a matter of survival and uses the exposure of vulnerabilities, and sharing, as a way of creating emotional closeness. It’s a recipe for disaster, relationship wise.
Saying that, I don’t want to overthink things, here. I mean, it’s horror tentacle porn. There’s the . . . length aspect. Tentacles: getting into places other appendages just don’t reach, since 1624. It should be oozy fun with the occasional shudder. Which is why writing Cy and Will was so enjoyable.
Were you inspired at all by hentai, or did you find your own way towards tentacles?
No, actually, I’m not a big hentai fan. I’ve always gone more the traditional art history route. I know most tent fans are familiar with Hokusai’s shunga work Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife -- 


-- but you know, there’s a Reuben with tents from the Marie de’Medici series, that’s 200 years older: the one where she’s arriving in Marseilles. 


There’s no actual penetration, you understand, but the lushness of the tentacles, and the slippery silveriness where they blend into a meaty thigh . . . well, they’re gorgeous. And also look muscular enough to rip a horse apart.
One thing that impressed me a lot about KRAKEN was the research. I mean, I actually learned something about cephalopods. Was there anything you learned while you were writing KRAKEN?
Arguably, I already knew more about cephalopods than is strictly healthy. But I did learn that there are squid who live too deep for ink clouds to be an effective predator deterrent, and instead they extrude a gelatinous glowing glob, made with bio-luminescent bacteria, to act as a decoy. I would have liked to have worked that in somehow, but, you know, a mucous glob, even a glowing mucous glob, is pretty challenging to make sexy. Also I now know entirely too much about the processes and chemistry involved in copper smelting. Probably best to avoid me at parties.   
I’ve raved about the world building in KRAKEN before. The island feels very authentic, with its own history and industry and geography. It felt very real, even while the story itself was imbued with a kind of dreamlike (or nightmarish) quality as we experience the island along with Will. That’s not a question. That’s an observation. See? I’m still raving about the world building!
So let’s talk Cy. To begin with, I didn’t know what to make of Cy. I felt that you set him up like so many “alphas” in m/m romance – he was all possessive and “you’re mine” and right on the line of the creep factor. The sort of guy that seems so popular in romance. And then you pushed him right over the edge into Freaky Monster OMFG Get It Away From Me territory. Which I loved! Was it your intention to subvert readers’ expectations in that way?
Ah, the possessive alpha male we love so much. Yes, I wanted to kind of extend that to its logical conclusion. Because, in the real world, possessive alpha males are not sexy after the first half hour. But in a book – hell, yes. So at what point would Cy stop being perceived as alpha, and clearly start being sociopathic? And I think that point is different for every reader. But then he’s never seen an actual successful relationship modelled for him: maybe he’s just a lonely tentacle monster who grasps precious things too tightly to his chest, until he cracks them.
No, no, don't try and make me feel sorry for him now! Was KRAKEN your first attempt at writing a novel? If so, was it different than you thought it would be? Did you find anything easier or harder than you thought you would?
Technically, not my first attempt. I wrote a fantasy novel when I was 13. It had hand-drawn maps. I may have spent more time on the maps than the plot. My English teacher raved about it, so naturally I threw it in the garbage in embarrassment and never tried another. Until Kraken.
OMG. Interrupting here to reminisce about my own fantasy epic with hand-drawn maps. Terrible. It was just terrible. About four million words long without a single original idea. Sigh. I loved it so. 
Was it different than I thought it would be? That’s a tough question. It makes novel-writing akin to an unexplored country, doesn’t it? “But the portions are so big! And how do I purchase a subway ticket?”
What did surprise me was that the characters seemed to have their own minds, and I was merely transcribing their actions onto the page. There’s a scene in the book where Cy does something particularly . . . um . . . bad. I initially thought that was going to be a sweet love scene. Cy took Will by the hand, led him into the bedroom, and suddenly I’m pleading for Cy to stop because he’s freaking the hell out of me. But my fingers kept typing. According to experts, that’s the sign of a terrible writer: losing control of what is happening on the page.
Pfft. Experts have no fun.
Was anything harder than I expected? Well, I assumed everything would be hard. And I was right. But the hardest thing of all: mistakes! Not even typos: flat out mistakes that nobody caught, least of all me. Like *cough* Cy and Will having a conversation in the kitchen, and Parker leaning back against the kitchen counter to deliver a line. Say what now? To my shame, the story was indeed riddled with typos. I was racing to get it out as a freebie for Christmas Day, and I just didn’t get them all. If you downloaded a free copy, then you can go to Smashwords and get the latest version. Which is possibly typo-free. And definitely has no Parker in the kitchen. If you bought it from Amazon, then you got a clean copy. But I do apologize for that.
What was betterAnd finally, what can we expect to see next from M. Caspian?
I am working on something. Which does not involve tentacles in any way. But might involve partner-sharing slash exhibitionism. Again, not something every reader wants to enjoy.
I want to keep writing. I enjoy putting words together, but I know how flawed Kraken was. Is. I just want to work at getting better.
One other thing that was unexpected about Kraken was discovering how much I enjoy the physical act of writing fiction. For tech junkies, I have a Ducky keyboard with Cherry blues, and the clicky-clicky is a very appealing sound. The physical feedback a mechanical keyboard offers is remarkably soothing. Writing for fun is a very different beast than writing for work. On those rare occasions the words are flowing, the process is, well, highly pleasurable.
You had me at "partner-sharing slash exhibitionism". Thanks so much for visiting, M, and good luck with your future projects!
Thanks, Lisa.
P.S. Kyn from GR wants me to ask if there is a chance of mpreg in any further tentacle stories.
Dear Kynthos-the-Archer, if you get your prompt ready for the M/M romance story event later in the year, I’ll write one just for you, set in the same universe. Because your updates, and review, kept me smiling through a whole week. Again, a sign of a terrible writer: I know we’re not supposed to read reviews! It probably won’t be MPreg!Will, though. And you have to specify if you want struggly non-con, an HEA, etc.
Hear that, Kyn? We’re all counting on you!
Meanwhile, if you haven’t read KRAKEN yet, you can buy it at Smashwordsor at Amazon. And check out my previous post for my gushing review!

TENTACLES!

So...tentacles. Specifically, in m/m. Look, you'll either like them or you won't, and nothing I say will change your mind. 
*whispers* I like them! 
But if you want to dip your toes into the dark, mysterious waters of tentacle sex, here's a good place to start. My three favourite m/m (m/something else?) tentsex stories: 


The Tentacle Monster Everyone Wanted, by Evie Kiels 

This free, fun, and surprisingly sweet story is all about the tentacles. But more than that, it's all about the boy with the tentacles -- Kip -- who is lonely, unloved (except for his sister, who's off to join the Peace Corp) and still suffering from being rejected by Aniket, his high school crush, when they both realised the same night he was a tentacle monster. Then, years later, Aniket walks back into his life. 
Most tentacle stuff I've read is all about the alien non-con, but not here. Here, the monster is just a sweet young guy with some unusual biology. 
Read this one, guys. It's super short, super fun, and has some seriously hot scenes going on. Check this out even if you don't like tentacles, because Kip is such a lovely character that it won't take you long to see past them. 




Gay Tentacles From Space! by Charlotte Mistry

First of all, ignore the title, the cover, and probably the blurb. This isn't cheesy like you think it is. We all know how it's going to go, right? Sexy, cocky guy gets entangled and ravished by a tentacle monster, and has the forced-gay time of his life. 
Well it kind of goes there, but for starters the writing is better that. There's some nice world building that you don't usually get in shorts like these, but more than that it's atmospheric. I mean that. This isn't PWP tentacle sex, this is almost a horror story. It's dark and weird, and the ending was really, really unexpectedly creepy and wonderful. 
Much more than I was expecting! 



And now, the best for last: Kraken, by M Caspian

I thought I knew was I was getting into -- a smutty piece of fluff with a man who is molested by a tentacle monster but it's okay because he likes it in the end. That is not this book. This book is creepy. I said that, right? It's the word I keep coming back to. 
It has the following elements: 
1. A monster. See title. Check. 2. An isolated location. An island. Check. 3. Creepy locals. You know those assholes know exactly what's going on, but you don't know whose side they're on. Check. 4. A guy who wanders into the middle of everything and happens to be the next chosen sacrifice. Check. 
But that's not all this book has got. It's got a fantastic sense of place -- the descriptions of the landscapes weren't just visual, they were visceral. The island has it's own history, of both its people and its industries. And the atmosphere just gets creepier and creepier, like the rolling fog in a 1940's gothic film. The details here are fantastic. I don't want to give any spoilers, so I'll just say -- the birds! Oh my god, the birds! There are so many layers here, that I will definitely be rereading it, and at a slower pace this time so I don't miss a thing. 

Make no mistake. Kraken is not romance. What Kraken does is take the basic set-up of a romance and twist it around until you realise you're looking at a horror and you have been since the very beginning. 
This is a great book if you like darker fiction. Dip your toes into these waters, and I guarantee you'll be back for more. 
And I'll be interviewing M Caspian soon on my blog, so stay tuned for that! 

Trouble At Possum Ranch

So, in addition to getting me an important collection of things for my birthday, including a macaw key chain and a diary with important things marked in it like this -- 



-- J.A. Rock also got me the best birthday present ever. And this is its cover: 

And, you guys, it was illustrated! 


So thanks so much to JA Rock for the best birthday present ever. And thanks to everyone who provided quotes for the inside cover -- you guys rock. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to read it again! 

Pledging at Prescott - win a copy of Mark Cooper versus America!

Want another chance to win a copy of Mark Cooper versus America ? All you need to do is take the quiz below, and let me know in the comments which Prescott student you're most like. 
JA Rock and I will draw a winner in a week! Good luck! 

Happy Belated Australia Day!

It's Australia Day! Well, not any more here, but maybe still in some parts of America. Or it would be, if they took any notice of it. 

But yay! 
First up, let's get down to business and announce the winner of the J.A. Rock and Lisa Henry Joint Mark Cooper Versus America Happy Birthday Giveaway Multi Hemisphere Blogapalooza. Or, as it is more sensibly known, The Thing. 
Congratulations to Will who successfully answered that Deacon's middle name is Andrew. Will wins a copy of Mark Cooper versus America ! 


And for everyone else, here is a recipe for lamingtons. If you've never tried one, trust me, do it. Please note the oven temperatures are in Celsius and I think we also use different measurements than you guys. Good luck! 


Cake: • 125g butter, softened• 1 cup caster sugar• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract• 3 eggs• 1 3/4 cups self-raising flour, sifted• 1/2 cup milk• 2 cups desiccated coconut
Icing: • 3 1/2 cups icing sugar mixture• 1/4 cup cocoa powder• 1 tablespoon butter, softened• 1/2 cup boiling water
Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Grease a 3cm-deep, 20cm x 30cm (base) lamington pan. Line with baking paper, leaving a 2cm overhang on all sides. Using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition
Sift half the flour over butter mixture. Stir to combine. Add half the milk. Stir to combine. Repeat with remaining flour and milk. Spoon into prepared pan. Smooth top. Bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in centre comes out clean. Stand in pan for 10 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack. Cover with a clean tea towel. Set aside overnight.
Make icing: Sift icing sugar and cocoa into a bowl. Add butter and boiling water. Stir until smooth.
Cut cake into 15 pieces. Place coconut in a dish. Using a fork, dip 1 piece of cake in icing. Shake off excess. Toss in coconut. Place on a wire rack over a baking tray. Repeat with remaining cake, icing and coconut. Stand for 2 hours or until set. Serve.