C.A. Szarek's Blog, page 11
October 3, 2013
Friday Feature: Welcome Faith Ashlin on why we LOVE a good hero!
I have fellow TEB author, Faith Ashlin doing a little philosophizing about *my* favorite thing in a good read: THE HOT GUY! Hehehe, so without further ado, I'm going to turn things over to Faith.
Oh, after you read her fantastic post, check out that AWESOME book. SMEXY cover! (guess what, with this book, you get TWO hot guys!)
We all love a hero, don't we?
I've always loved the idea of a rough and ready hero, one who tries to do the right thing no matter what the cost to himself. A man who has honour and a sense of duty, which he holds true to quietly, without a fuss. I think we all know the type, from Charlton Heston's Rodrigo de Bivar in El Cid, to Orlando Bloom's Balian in Kingdom of Heaven. The rugged hero.
I'm sure it's partly because I'm ordinary, unexciting and I really like my creature comforts. I like central heating and knowing I have somewhere safe to go home to and a future to look forward to, however predictable it may be. That makes the brave and true hero seem all the more appealing.
But I wanted to take the idea of a hero one step further and make him a knight, like the romantic ones we think of in old Camelot. Respected and valued for what they did and what they stood for. I didn't want him in a silver suit of armour or on a white horse, though. No, I wanted my knight to be a modern day one with an armoured vehicle and the latest weapons but still that sense of honour and duty. You have to admit it's a lovely idea.
But how would my hero-knight cope if hit by a thunderbolt of lust that has him acting in crazy ways? It gets even more interesting when the lust turns into love. Add in a background of war and a desperate turn of events for King and country and things got really complicated. I wanted a story about love being put to the test by brutal events.
A story of modern-day knights, paint-splattered artists and a lightning bolt of attraction that hits hard enough to make a knight think he's going crazy. And then things get complicated.
The year is now, the place is somewhere like here but the feeling is very different. Matti Elkin is a modern-day knight and, while he may not have a horse or a suit of shining armour, he's brave and true, has a sense of duty and honour a mile wide and a passionate belief in his king.
There's a war on and the knights are fighting hard, but while on R&R Matti is hit hard with an overwhelming attraction for Jamie, a tall, handsome painter.
Jamie makes his head spin and his cock harden, and has him acting in ways that make him question his own sanity. But when the war takes an appalling turn, they are both thrown into a world of confusion that has them questioning everything they thought they knew.
Excerpt:
Matti pushed his hair back off his face and blew out a long slow breath. Enough—he’d had enough socialising for now. There was only so much wholesome happiness a man like him could take and he’d had his fill for the time being.
It was pretty damned awesome to see Maxim so happy he glowed as he looked at his bride-to-be. To see her looking back, eyes filled with promise for the future, filled with love and possibility. Matti just hoped—no, prayed—that they could have all they deserved. That events would turn out in the right way for them and that the future…but that was for another time. Now was for the simple love between two people. One that burned bright and would be fulfilled tomorrow at their wedding.
A wedding. It was an interesting thought at a time like this. But right now he’d had enough of small talk and playing nice. After the wedding, and its formal reception, his group would gather to celebrate in their own way. That would be more Matti’s thing, one where he could really relax.
Now he needed cool air and a glass of something very cold because it was damned hot in the banqueting suite. He stepped up to the bar and asked the bartender for water and ice, smiling when it was handed over quickly. Air, and the relief from being polite, were next on his agenda. He pushed his way between the groups of chatting people and made for the glass doors out onto the big balcony overlooking the city.
The noise stopped as soon as he closed the heavy door behind him and the respite was palpable. Space and peace, cool air on his face, they all drew him forward. Then there were the shimmering lights below. All those people living, loving, dying. They called out something to him that he couldn’t understand and wasn’t sure he was ready to hear. Or maybe it was all only in his head.
He was being daft again and there was nothing else for it but to laugh at himself. The world below didn’t need him, wasn’t asking anything of him. It didn’t even know he was there.
He rested both forearms on the ledge of the curved, stone balcony edge and looked down. Max was getting married. That was enough to make anyone smile. The amazing Isobel had finally decided it was time and they were making it formal and permanent. It kind of put everything in perspective.
"Anything interesting going on out there?" a voice asked from the darkness at his side.
"Oh." Matti turned but couldn’t see the man’s face. "I didn’t know there was anyone out here."
"Doesn’t matter. I just thought, as you were studying it so intently, there had to be something going on in the big wide world."
"Nothing as far as I know. I only came out for a bit of peace and to look at the pretty lights."
"Then I should let you have your peace." The man took a step forward and Matti saw him properly for the first time. "I’ll go."
"No," Matti said, louder and with more feeling than he’d expected, intended. "I don’t want you to go." Now that was just a plain stupid thing to say to a complete stranger. "I only… I…" He stopped, knowing how foolish he sounded, feeling his cheeks flare and the skin on his face tighten.
"Are you all right?" the man asked.
Matti took a step away as the stranger came closer, and now they were both in the light.
Tall, was Matti’s first thought. Very tall with wide shoulders and thick hair and the most startled look on his face Matti had seen outside a comic book. No, not startled. Shocked and a little dazed. "I think maybe I should be asking you if you’re okay," he said. He wasn’t quite sure how he managed to get the words out in the right order, his mind was whizzing so fast. Tall and right-looking and something else he had no intention of thinking about.
He might not be thinking about it but his blood was pulsing under his skin—he’d swear he could feel it.
"I…" It was the man’s turn to stammer, but he didn’t take his eyes from Matti’s. "I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. A big truck. One that’s going very fast and landed right on my head."
"Trucks don’t hit you on the head, they smack into you. Falling aeroplanes or meteors hit you on the head."
"And you’d know this because?" The man smiled and Matti wasn’t sure if he was going to be sick for all the wrong reasons.
"’Cause a meteor just smacked me on the head?" Matti couldn’t look away or breathe properly. Yeah, breathing properly—deep and slow—that was a good idea. It might stop him talking stupid crap to a perfect stranger for a start. "That bitch hurt and now I feel like I have my skin on inside out."
"I…" The man put out a hand, not quite touching Matti but looking like he wanted to. "This is…"
"Yeah, it is," Matti agreed, knowing just what he meant.
"Is this weird?" the man asked, his face scrunching up like something was hurting but in a good way.
"Weirdest thing I’ve ever known." There really wasn’t anywhere else Matti wanted to look, anyone else he wanted to look at. He wasn’t even sure he wanted to stop the crazy talk.
The man took a deep breath, holding it as he stared at Matti. Then he gave a curt nod, and held his hand out properly. "Jamie. I’m Jamie or my name’s Jamie or something."
"You think your name’s Jamie?"
"No, pretty sure it’s Jamie. I’m Jamie, who are you?"
"Matti. My name’s Matti and…" He grasped Jamie’s hand and lost the ability to speak. Jamie’s hand sat so perfectly in his, it seemed to mould itself to his palm, skin flushing and fusing and tingling as their hands settled together. And when did he think such crap? He guessed it was better than saying it out loud.
He looked up, his breathing still not working right, and Jamie didn’t look much better than he felt. Jamie’s pupils had dilated to ridiculous proportions, his face was flushed and there was a sheen of sweat across his forehead. He was trying to say something but he didn’t seem to be having any more success at forming a coherent sentence than Matti.
"I…you…" Jamie said, clutching Matti’s hand tighter.
"Yeah," Matti agreed again, nodding furiously, although he knew it made no sense.
For the longest moment they stood like that, at the edge of the balcony, palms pressed tight in what looked like a handshake that had become frozen in time, with the rest of the world forgotten. They were so still they could have been a photograph, a moment captured forever.
Buy It! TEB| Amazon|Barnes & Noble| Amazon UK
Who is Faith?When Faith was clearing out her attic many years ago, she found a book she’d written as a ten-year-old. On rereading it she realised that it was the love story of two boys. Over the years her fascination with the image of beautiful young men, coiled together as they fell head over heels in love, became a passion for her.
Since that first innocent book—written in purple sparkly pen—she has written many stories, set in varied worlds, but always with two men finding their way to happiness.
Still nothing much has changed because now she can be found in a daydream, wandering around the supermarket, or sitting in a meeting at work still dreaming up stories. More FaithBlogFacebookTwitter
October 1, 2013
Happy BOOK BIRTHDAY! In The Heart of Yesterday, by Jo-Anna Walker
I am so excited to welcome my bestie, Jo-Anna Walker back to the blog with her NEW RELEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Happy Book Birthday, In the Heart of Yesterday!
In the Heart of Yesterday – by Jo-Anna
Walker
Part 1 – A Heart Story – Serial Novel
RELEASE DATE: October 1, 2013This is a serial novel. There will be a new part released
approximately every month for a total of 4 parts.
Jesse Dawson is a typical seventeen year old girl. She goes to school, gets good grades, and like any other kid, just wants to fit in, blend in and survive high school.She doesn’t talk about all the crap she has to deal with. Her mom in the hospital and a step-dad from hell.
Rave Black sweeps into her life in the middle of the school year. He’s a dark loner.
The quiet kid, and fascinates Jesse. She should stay away from him, but a budding friendship slips into a bond neither of them can deny.
Rumors spread even as they share their secrets with each other.
Can Rave help Jesse learn to open up and trust, or will his personal demons consume them both?
Add it on Goodreads
Buy it!
Amazon
Favorite Quotes:
A small smile splayed on his lips. He reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear,
sending shivers down my back. ~ In the Heart of Yesterday (A Heart Story #1)
About The Author:I'm a new self-published author who just got introduced to the writing world early
2013. My aunt suggested that I write a story because I'm an avid reader but I waved
it off and left it alone. Well this year, a story came to me and I went with it. It took
me a little bit but I finally got a story idea that worked and now I can't stop or
control the characters/stories that keep popping up in my head.
I'm born and raised in Canada and I live with my very wonderful and supportive
husband, Michael. We don't have any children (yet) unless you count our two cats.
He's been my rock through this whole new experience for me. I couldn't have done
it without him and my friends and family.
One of the many things I love about this new chapter in my life is that I'm learning
constantly. It's never a dull moment and as long as one person likes my story, I am happy.
More Jo:
Goodreads
Blog
Tell Me About it Tuesday Welcomes Anthony Diesso!
This week I have fellow Gypsy, Anthony Diesso!
Meet Anthony!
Anthony Diesso currently lives in Northern California with his wife and his two young children. He enjoys reading, playing the piano, and sleeping in (when given the opportunity).
Q. What advice would you give a new writer just starting out?
Do not be discouraged by negative reviews. It’s a good sign that someone out there thinks enough of your work to dislike it.
Q. Do you ever suffer from writer’s block? If so, what do you do about it?
Yes, I, uh…I wish I knew how to answer this, but…Anyway, writer’s block, like most things relative to writing, is best dealt with in an irrational way. I find being lazy helps get the job done: if I’m struggling to make plot points meet, or trying to come up with a good way to describe a character, I’ll go take a nap, and while drifting off to sleep, my thoughts will unloosen, and ideas will often start suggesting themselves. Outside of that, it can help to read something in a genre completely different from the one you’re working on, since the contrast can stir you out of a more linear frame of mind.
I also think that writer’s block can be beneficial, in spite of its frustration: writing is often improved and intensified in the face of resistance, and it sometimes happens that writers are at their best fighting for their freedom and not as good once they get it.
Q. How do you develop your plot and characters?
I think the term that most accurately describes the process would be schizophrenia. One: me is coming up with all sorts of ideas, while the other me is telling the first me how they’re not any good and won’t work. It’s all about struggle. Outside of that, I think most of the characters and plots I come up with have had an unconscious gestation, so that by the time I’m actually writing them, they’ve been going through a process of solidification, often for a number of years.
Q. What comes first, the plot or characters?
Actually, I think they tend to come simultaneously, since my ideas usually center around the juxtaposition of a certain type of person with a certain type of situation, the proverbial cotton candy salesman on the wing of a crop duster. That is a proverb, isn't it?
Drummmmroooollll time. Tell us about the book!
The Haunted Spring is tragical-comical. While there’s loss and sadness in the story (along with a ghost), there’s also quite a bit of breezy humor.
Blurb:
Jay Bennett, a comfortably maladjusted man in his early 20’s, finds Anna LaMonica knocking on his apartment door, looking for someone else. Seeing more of each other, however, they quickly fall in love. After overcoming an extended separation, as well as hostile family and friends, they marry and begin a new life together.
But Anna's sudden death during childbirth leaves Jay to watch over their infant, born premature and requiring an extensive hospital stay. Grief-stricken, helpless, and alone, he is tormented by apparitions of his lost wife, recalling their love and ruined hopes. These apparitions, at times horrifying, at others pathetic, yet others darkly alluring, threaten to crack loose his grip on reality. Attempting to overcome such frightening occurrences, he struggles to piece together his life, to pull some sanity and hope out of the world around him, and to become a good father to his newborn son.
Excerpt:
Chapter One
Knock, knock, knock.
From inside, in comfortable shadows, I just stared at my apartment door.
Knock, knock.
And jogged out of a late afternoon stupor, I put a mailed catalogue aside, hastily aligned a bowl of mushed bran-flakes upon the armrest, and stood up from the sofa. Its springs creaked abruptly with relief as I called out, “Who is it?”
There was a woman’s muffled voice. “I’m very sorry. I was looking for apartment seventeen.”
Pausing a moment without considering anything, I then turned the latch, pulled the knob, and found her waiting. She had auburn hair, which as she backed up from the opening door, was glazed with sudden sunlight, and her eyes, a soft, rich hazel, chilled me instantly. We waited for me to say something, ‘til, helping things along, she stepped forward under the eaves again and into the shadows before me. She wore a dark skirt and a smoky-colored blouse, and her lips curved slightly with embarrassment. I wondered if she could see the bowl of cereal from the door; I also wondered if it was about to tip. And almost looking back, I hastily put it out of my mind, trying to think of nothing as I waited politely.
“The numbers go from sixteen to eighteen,” she said in a more intimate voice, slightly tilting her head to one side, keeping her hands behind her back.
I grinned, nodded like a bobble-head, my own hands gesturing with theatrical intensity, my lips grown a bit stiff. “Yes, it’s on the way, other side of the building. Sharon McClean. I don’t know why they numbered it the way they did. Here, let me show you.”
“Oh, I’d appreciate that. Thank you very much.”
The day narrowed my eyes, along with a surface spangle on the swimming pool; and a reflected light cast wobbly shapes across the walk. I wasn’t much interested in any of that, but it was an excuse to avert my glance, and I fixed eyes on it while speaking, noticing peripherally her slow, legato steps. “So you’re a friend of Sharon’s?”
“Yes, we knew each other in Arizona before she moved out here.”
“Mmm. Where in Arizona?”
“From Flagstaff. I’ve come down for a couple of weeks.”
The walk began to warm my brain up. “Ah, I’ve been there once. A college, mountain town, with lots of forests, all shadowed green and pine. It smelled nice.”
“Some parts better than others, yes. Why were you there?”
“I was looking for my dog.”
“Really? What was it doing in Flagstaff?”
“I don’t know. He could have gone anywhere, so I decided to try Flagstaff. I crossed it off the list.”
She laughed with a pleasant familiarity, and I met her glance, if only briefly.
“Well, here it is.”
A woman waved from the window of apartment 17, a faded shape behind the sun-glare off of tinted glass. Having grabbed our attention, she disappeared into the dark behind the reflected white. Latches worked, the screen-door creaked, and before that nasty slam they make, she had gotten in several sentences.
“Finally! Anna, I thought you were lost. Are you all right? How was the traffic, was it bad? How was the drive?” Smack! “Did you get lost?”
“Yes, no, good, no.” The woman laughed while embracing her friend.
“I was ready to drive out to look for you myself. California has wonderful freeways, but like everything else here, there’s too much to choose from.”
“No, I followed your instructions. They were good. Your neighbor was nice enough to show me to your apartment.”
Sharon was a pleasant enough woman of about 24, rather short, and blonde, with black-rimmed glasses. Like a lapdog, she seemed to have a full-sized nervous system pressed into a smaller frame, and if you didn’t know her, you would think she was looking for someone to report some sort of disaster to. I moved into the complex after her, and she showed me where the mail drop was, the laundry room, the rear parking lot, the pool, all the things the apartment manager shows you in that first grand tour. We were amiable enough, but hardly close, and she probably couldn’t consider me a friend when I was already a neighbor.
But with her visitor, she seemed to view me in a fresh light, or at least to present me in a role I wasn’t expecting: “Jay, that’s nice of you. You’re the protector of travelers, like St. Christopher in cargo pants. I don’t think I even told you she was coming. Anna, this is Jay Bennett. Jay, this Anna LaMonica.”
We smiled awkwardly, as if we had just laid eyes on each other, and whatever corner table nuance our former looks and words conveyed was now entirely lost within a banquet hall exaggeration.
“Jay, would you help Anna with her bags?”
Her friend grinned, shrugged her shoulders. “I only have one bag in the trunk and it’s on wheels, with a handle.”
“Fine. While Jay is helping you to get it out of the trunk, I’ll set out the glasses.”
We nodded to each other, and I walked a step ahead of her, guiding her toward the parking lot.
Returning from the car, the two of us entered the small front yard space, and sat at a round glass table with impressions on it, like fingerprints, that made the two sets of knees and shins and shoes seem as if under ice. Sharon emerged from the apartment with a bottle, and seeing only part of the label, I noticed, in curling, vine-like script, the name of some sort of leaf. She poured the rosé into each of the scarlet-tinted glasses, then sat and watched. I pinched the stem, lifted it, declared, “Well, salute.”
“Salute,” murmured Anna.
“May the road rise up and smack you in the face,” Sharon piped in. “That’s an old drinking toast. At least that’s what my father said.”
I tasted the wine. It was light and sweet, with a slight carbonation that pestered my tongue. It was refreshingly cold for a late, summer afternoon, and would have been just the thing for an alcoholic’s tea-party.
“Anna, I’m glad you’re here. And Jay—thank you for helping with the bags.”
“No, not at all. Thank you.” I lifted my glass again and nodded.
The walk lamps clicked on, producing frail, golden auras. The dusky mood and, of course, the wine, stirred shadowy but pleasant thoughts in me, at least: a number of peculiar and buried recollections, like odors not inhaled for many years. When the conversation drifted toward our childhoods, I mused, “Oh, the things that I believed when I was small: that coins shook in the sunlit trees, and boughs were crooked spider legs. I’d peek out from the window and see those dangling things, and plead with Ma to sweep them from the tree. She’d take a broom, go outside, then come back in to say that everything was fine.”
I stopped talking, conscious that I might be drifting in my conversion, amusing only to myself. I glanced at Anna tenuously: her face was lowered in reflection, its expression cast upward from the table toward me, a lit veil of fixed eyes and slightly parted lips. She traced her finger in the moist imprint left by the base of the wine-glass, and spoke almost in a whisper, “My parents had a small statue of the Virgin, and at night, by the dim candlelight, she would move her eyes or change expression. I told my parents, and they smiled and said it was a miraculous sign.”
“At least they didn’t have to take a broom to it,” Sharon laughed.
“Have you outgrown it?” I asked Anna, after smiling at Sharon’s quip. Given the opportunity, I lingered over her delicate, oval face, her supple, curved lips, her brightly dark and almond eyes; her look turned upward from her finger, gliding as if on ice, to me.
“Mostly,” she replied. “Have you?”
BUY IT:Amazon | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble | Gypsy Shadow
More Anthony:
Website
Blog
Twitter
Facebook
Meet Anthony!
Anthony Diesso currently lives in Northern California with his wife and his two young children. He enjoys reading, playing the piano, and sleeping in (when given the opportunity).
Q. What advice would you give a new writer just starting out?
Do not be discouraged by negative reviews. It’s a good sign that someone out there thinks enough of your work to dislike it.
Q. Do you ever suffer from writer’s block? If so, what do you do about it?
Yes, I, uh…I wish I knew how to answer this, but…Anyway, writer’s block, like most things relative to writing, is best dealt with in an irrational way. I find being lazy helps get the job done: if I’m struggling to make plot points meet, or trying to come up with a good way to describe a character, I’ll go take a nap, and while drifting off to sleep, my thoughts will unloosen, and ideas will often start suggesting themselves. Outside of that, it can help to read something in a genre completely different from the one you’re working on, since the contrast can stir you out of a more linear frame of mind.
I also think that writer’s block can be beneficial, in spite of its frustration: writing is often improved and intensified in the face of resistance, and it sometimes happens that writers are at their best fighting for their freedom and not as good once they get it.
Q. How do you develop your plot and characters?
I think the term that most accurately describes the process would be schizophrenia. One: me is coming up with all sorts of ideas, while the other me is telling the first me how they’re not any good and won’t work. It’s all about struggle. Outside of that, I think most of the characters and plots I come up with have had an unconscious gestation, so that by the time I’m actually writing them, they’ve been going through a process of solidification, often for a number of years.
Q. What comes first, the plot or characters?
Actually, I think they tend to come simultaneously, since my ideas usually center around the juxtaposition of a certain type of person with a certain type of situation, the proverbial cotton candy salesman on the wing of a crop duster. That is a proverb, isn't it?
Drummmmroooollll time. Tell us about the book!
The Haunted Spring is tragical-comical. While there’s loss and sadness in the story (along with a ghost), there’s also quite a bit of breezy humor.
Blurb:
Jay Bennett, a comfortably maladjusted man in his early 20’s, finds Anna LaMonica knocking on his apartment door, looking for someone else. Seeing more of each other, however, they quickly fall in love. After overcoming an extended separation, as well as hostile family and friends, they marry and begin a new life together.
But Anna's sudden death during childbirth leaves Jay to watch over their infant, born premature and requiring an extensive hospital stay. Grief-stricken, helpless, and alone, he is tormented by apparitions of his lost wife, recalling their love and ruined hopes. These apparitions, at times horrifying, at others pathetic, yet others darkly alluring, threaten to crack loose his grip on reality. Attempting to overcome such frightening occurrences, he struggles to piece together his life, to pull some sanity and hope out of the world around him, and to become a good father to his newborn son.
Excerpt:
Chapter One
Knock, knock, knock.
From inside, in comfortable shadows, I just stared at my apartment door.
Knock, knock.
And jogged out of a late afternoon stupor, I put a mailed catalogue aside, hastily aligned a bowl of mushed bran-flakes upon the armrest, and stood up from the sofa. Its springs creaked abruptly with relief as I called out, “Who is it?”
There was a woman’s muffled voice. “I’m very sorry. I was looking for apartment seventeen.”
Pausing a moment without considering anything, I then turned the latch, pulled the knob, and found her waiting. She had auburn hair, which as she backed up from the opening door, was glazed with sudden sunlight, and her eyes, a soft, rich hazel, chilled me instantly. We waited for me to say something, ‘til, helping things along, she stepped forward under the eaves again and into the shadows before me. She wore a dark skirt and a smoky-colored blouse, and her lips curved slightly with embarrassment. I wondered if she could see the bowl of cereal from the door; I also wondered if it was about to tip. And almost looking back, I hastily put it out of my mind, trying to think of nothing as I waited politely.
“The numbers go from sixteen to eighteen,” she said in a more intimate voice, slightly tilting her head to one side, keeping her hands behind her back.
I grinned, nodded like a bobble-head, my own hands gesturing with theatrical intensity, my lips grown a bit stiff. “Yes, it’s on the way, other side of the building. Sharon McClean. I don’t know why they numbered it the way they did. Here, let me show you.”
“Oh, I’d appreciate that. Thank you very much.”
The day narrowed my eyes, along with a surface spangle on the swimming pool; and a reflected light cast wobbly shapes across the walk. I wasn’t much interested in any of that, but it was an excuse to avert my glance, and I fixed eyes on it while speaking, noticing peripherally her slow, legato steps. “So you’re a friend of Sharon’s?”
“Yes, we knew each other in Arizona before she moved out here.”
“Mmm. Where in Arizona?”
“From Flagstaff. I’ve come down for a couple of weeks.”
The walk began to warm my brain up. “Ah, I’ve been there once. A college, mountain town, with lots of forests, all shadowed green and pine. It smelled nice.”
“Some parts better than others, yes. Why were you there?”
“I was looking for my dog.”
“Really? What was it doing in Flagstaff?”
“I don’t know. He could have gone anywhere, so I decided to try Flagstaff. I crossed it off the list.”
She laughed with a pleasant familiarity, and I met her glance, if only briefly.
“Well, here it is.”
A woman waved from the window of apartment 17, a faded shape behind the sun-glare off of tinted glass. Having grabbed our attention, she disappeared into the dark behind the reflected white. Latches worked, the screen-door creaked, and before that nasty slam they make, she had gotten in several sentences.
“Finally! Anna, I thought you were lost. Are you all right? How was the traffic, was it bad? How was the drive?” Smack! “Did you get lost?”
“Yes, no, good, no.” The woman laughed while embracing her friend.
“I was ready to drive out to look for you myself. California has wonderful freeways, but like everything else here, there’s too much to choose from.”
“No, I followed your instructions. They were good. Your neighbor was nice enough to show me to your apartment.”
Sharon was a pleasant enough woman of about 24, rather short, and blonde, with black-rimmed glasses. Like a lapdog, she seemed to have a full-sized nervous system pressed into a smaller frame, and if you didn’t know her, you would think she was looking for someone to report some sort of disaster to. I moved into the complex after her, and she showed me where the mail drop was, the laundry room, the rear parking lot, the pool, all the things the apartment manager shows you in that first grand tour. We were amiable enough, but hardly close, and she probably couldn’t consider me a friend when I was already a neighbor.
But with her visitor, she seemed to view me in a fresh light, or at least to present me in a role I wasn’t expecting: “Jay, that’s nice of you. You’re the protector of travelers, like St. Christopher in cargo pants. I don’t think I even told you she was coming. Anna, this is Jay Bennett. Jay, this Anna LaMonica.”
We smiled awkwardly, as if we had just laid eyes on each other, and whatever corner table nuance our former looks and words conveyed was now entirely lost within a banquet hall exaggeration.
“Jay, would you help Anna with her bags?”
Her friend grinned, shrugged her shoulders. “I only have one bag in the trunk and it’s on wheels, with a handle.”
“Fine. While Jay is helping you to get it out of the trunk, I’ll set out the glasses.”
We nodded to each other, and I walked a step ahead of her, guiding her toward the parking lot.
Returning from the car, the two of us entered the small front yard space, and sat at a round glass table with impressions on it, like fingerprints, that made the two sets of knees and shins and shoes seem as if under ice. Sharon emerged from the apartment with a bottle, and seeing only part of the label, I noticed, in curling, vine-like script, the name of some sort of leaf. She poured the rosé into each of the scarlet-tinted glasses, then sat and watched. I pinched the stem, lifted it, declared, “Well, salute.”
“Salute,” murmured Anna.
“May the road rise up and smack you in the face,” Sharon piped in. “That’s an old drinking toast. At least that’s what my father said.”
I tasted the wine. It was light and sweet, with a slight carbonation that pestered my tongue. It was refreshingly cold for a late, summer afternoon, and would have been just the thing for an alcoholic’s tea-party.
“Anna, I’m glad you’re here. And Jay—thank you for helping with the bags.”
“No, not at all. Thank you.” I lifted my glass again and nodded.
The walk lamps clicked on, producing frail, golden auras. The dusky mood and, of course, the wine, stirred shadowy but pleasant thoughts in me, at least: a number of peculiar and buried recollections, like odors not inhaled for many years. When the conversation drifted toward our childhoods, I mused, “Oh, the things that I believed when I was small: that coins shook in the sunlit trees, and boughs were crooked spider legs. I’d peek out from the window and see those dangling things, and plead with Ma to sweep them from the tree. She’d take a broom, go outside, then come back in to say that everything was fine.”
I stopped talking, conscious that I might be drifting in my conversion, amusing only to myself. I glanced at Anna tenuously: her face was lowered in reflection, its expression cast upward from the table toward me, a lit veil of fixed eyes and slightly parted lips. She traced her finger in the moist imprint left by the base of the wine-glass, and spoke almost in a whisper, “My parents had a small statue of the Virgin, and at night, by the dim candlelight, she would move her eyes or change expression. I told my parents, and they smiled and said it was a miraculous sign.”
“At least they didn’t have to take a broom to it,” Sharon laughed.
“Have you outgrown it?” I asked Anna, after smiling at Sharon’s quip. Given the opportunity, I lingered over her delicate, oval face, her supple, curved lips, her brightly dark and almond eyes; her look turned upward from her finger, gliding as if on ice, to me.
“Mostly,” she replied. “Have you?”
BUY IT:Amazon | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble | Gypsy Shadow
More Anthony:
Website
Blog
September 27, 2013
Friday Feature: Why Erotic Romance with Siren Allen AND GIVEAWAY!
I am so stoked for this week's Friday Feature! Siren Allen is taking over my blog to share her love of writing erotic romance, which happens to be one of my fave genres to read!
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }
Why do you love to write Erotic Romance?
I was asked this question by a friend over the weekend. My first thought was...because I can. But that wouldn't have been a very nice thing to say to someone who wasn't being judgmental. She simply doesn't read erotica, have never read erotica and swears she never will read erotica...which is fine. Everyone is free to read whatever makes them happy. Likewise, I am free to write whatever makes me happy....or aroused, sometimes the two are interchangeable. (Joke) :)
The answer is simple - I write what I like to read. I'm not afraid to push boundaries. Of course I
I don't think there's anything wrong with inviting the readers into your characters bedroom. Of course, Erotica is not for everyone. But for those of us who do enjoy it...don't you just love it when the hero stares into the heroine’s eyes and just from that one glance she can feel the love he has for her. Then he leans closer to her and she knows he's going to kiss her and she's ready for it. She shivers slightly in anticipation. For so long she has wanted him, has loved him and knowing that he feels the same way makes her heart swell with joy. Right before he kisses her he whispers in her ear, "I'm going to f**k you so hard, you'll never forget that I was here and that you are mine." Then he kisses her and proves that he's no liar by doing exactly what he said he would.
Yep, that's the kind of stuff I love to write and I'm not ashamed to say - I AM AN EROTIC ROMANCE WRITER. If you like Erotic Romance you are going to love ‘Yours, For Now’. The chemistry between Preston and Elizabeth is steamy. My favorite scene is the kitchen scene, oh and the scene on the beach. Trust me you will need a fan near you while reading this yummy story.
((Editor's note: By the way, the cover is fricking YUMMY!))
Excerpt:
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } He took a step away from her and bumped into the chair he was just sitting in. He sank down onto the seat. “You got five minutes to think of more rules. After that, you’re mine.”
Her toes curled. She was ready to be his, all night long and again in the morning.
“First things first. You can’t tell me I have five minutes because I get to be in charge for the first two weeks.”
“Shit,” Preston mumbled under his breath.
“Rule number…whatever number we’re on now, no cursing. You know I hate that.”
“Okay, I promise not to curse when we’re together.” He waved his hand trying to speed her up.
“Great, next rule is…” Elizabeth ran her hands through her hair and glanced around the room looking for inspiration. “The next rule is…” She stared at the salad and dressing on the table. They probably wouldn’t be eating that tonight. “I need to put this in the refrigerator.”
“Elizabeth Abigail Kemp.” Preston leaned his head back against the chair and closed his eyes. She could hear the frustration in his voice. Her gaze travelled down the length of his body and landed on the erection straining against his pants.
“Oh my,” she whispered before turning and grabbing the salad bowl and taking it to the refrigerator. She was unable to see Preston with the refrigerator open. Instead of closing it after she was done, she leaned in further, relishing the feel of the cold air on her heated skin.
“Elizabeth, if I’m not inside you within the next few seconds I’m going to explode.”
Her knees buckled. She gripped the refrigerator tighter for balance. She heard a chair scrape against the kitchen floor. A second later she felt his erection against her ass. She stood up straight and nearly came undone, her movement pushing her closer against his hardness.
“Your two weeks have just begun.” His breathing was irregular. “Where do you want me? The bedroom or the couch?” he asked.
She closed the door. Turning around, she pressed her back against the refrigerator. These two weeks were hers. She refused to let him dominate during her time no matter how delicious he looked standing in front of her. “Take your clothes off.”
Now that you know what my favorite Genre to read and write is, let me know what type of books you like to read. One lucky commenter will win either a pair of ‘Yours, For Now’, mini book earrings or a mini-book necklace. (You get to choose!)
BUY IT!Amazon|Amazon UK|Amazon CA|
Add it on goodreads
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } Information about the book:Title: Yours, For NowAuthor: Siren AllenGenre: Contemporary Erotic RomanceRelease Date: 23 September 2013
Yours, for Now Soundtrack: http://grooveshark.com/#!/playlist/Yours+For+Now/89344325
About the Author:Hi, my name is Siren Allen. I’m a writer and lover of all things erotic and romantic. I reside in southern Mississippi where I write steamy romances that are guaranteed to make you blush. When I’m not listening to the characters in my head and jotting down their adventures, I am busy working as a Clinical Laboratory Technician.
I love to travel, preferably with my husband, so he can do all of the driving. I enjoy time with my family, who are just as silly as I am. I have no children…yet, wish me luck! My hobbies are reading, writing and shopping, though I hate trying on clothing. If I wasn’t a writer or a Laboratory Professional, I would probably be a Secret Agent. But that’s the beauty of being a writer; you can create your own world and be whoever you want to be. In my imaginary world, I am Queen and my siblings are my minions
Other books by Siren Allen – Erotic Paranormal – Lovers Unchained - AmazonRomantic Comedy – The Makeover - Amazon
More Siren:Facebook Website Twitter Goodreads
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }
Why do you love to write Erotic Romance?
I was asked this question by a friend over the weekend. My first thought was...because I can. But that wouldn't have been a very nice thing to say to someone who wasn't being judgmental. She simply doesn't read erotica, have never read erotica and swears she never will read erotica...which is fine. Everyone is free to read whatever makes them happy. Likewise, I am free to write whatever makes me happy....or aroused, sometimes the two are interchangeable. (Joke) :)
The answer is simple - I write what I like to read. I'm not afraid to push boundaries. Of course I
I don't think there's anything wrong with inviting the readers into your characters bedroom. Of course, Erotica is not for everyone. But for those of us who do enjoy it...don't you just love it when the hero stares into the heroine’s eyes and just from that one glance she can feel the love he has for her. Then he leans closer to her and she knows he's going to kiss her and she's ready for it. She shivers slightly in anticipation. For so long she has wanted him, has loved him and knowing that he feels the same way makes her heart swell with joy. Right before he kisses her he whispers in her ear, "I'm going to f**k you so hard, you'll never forget that I was here and that you are mine." Then he kisses her and proves that he's no liar by doing exactly what he said he would.
Yep, that's the kind of stuff I love to write and I'm not ashamed to say - I AM AN EROTIC ROMANCE WRITER. If you like Erotic Romance you are going to love ‘Yours, For Now’. The chemistry between Preston and Elizabeth is steamy. My favorite scene is the kitchen scene, oh and the scene on the beach. Trust me you will need a fan near you while reading this yummy story.
((Editor's note: By the way, the cover is fricking YUMMY!))
Excerpt:
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } He took a step away from her and bumped into the chair he was just sitting in. He sank down onto the seat. “You got five minutes to think of more rules. After that, you’re mine.”
Her toes curled. She was ready to be his, all night long and again in the morning.
“First things first. You can’t tell me I have five minutes because I get to be in charge for the first two weeks.”
“Shit,” Preston mumbled under his breath.
“Rule number…whatever number we’re on now, no cursing. You know I hate that.”
“Okay, I promise not to curse when we’re together.” He waved his hand trying to speed her up.
“Great, next rule is…” Elizabeth ran her hands through her hair and glanced around the room looking for inspiration. “The next rule is…” She stared at the salad and dressing on the table. They probably wouldn’t be eating that tonight. “I need to put this in the refrigerator.”
“Elizabeth Abigail Kemp.” Preston leaned his head back against the chair and closed his eyes. She could hear the frustration in his voice. Her gaze travelled down the length of his body and landed on the erection straining against his pants.
“Oh my,” she whispered before turning and grabbing the salad bowl and taking it to the refrigerator. She was unable to see Preston with the refrigerator open. Instead of closing it after she was done, she leaned in further, relishing the feel of the cold air on her heated skin.
“Elizabeth, if I’m not inside you within the next few seconds I’m going to explode.”
Her knees buckled. She gripped the refrigerator tighter for balance. She heard a chair scrape against the kitchen floor. A second later she felt his erection against her ass. She stood up straight and nearly came undone, her movement pushing her closer against his hardness.
“Your two weeks have just begun.” His breathing was irregular. “Where do you want me? The bedroom or the couch?” he asked.
She closed the door. Turning around, she pressed her back against the refrigerator. These two weeks were hers. She refused to let him dominate during her time no matter how delicious he looked standing in front of her. “Take your clothes off.”
Now that you know what my favorite Genre to read and write is, let me know what type of books you like to read. One lucky commenter will win either a pair of ‘Yours, For Now’, mini book earrings or a mini-book necklace. (You get to choose!) BUY IT!Amazon|Amazon UK|Amazon CA|
Add it on goodreads
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } Information about the book:Title: Yours, For NowAuthor: Siren AllenGenre: Contemporary Erotic RomanceRelease Date: 23 September 2013
Yours, for Now Soundtrack: http://grooveshark.com/#!/playlist/Yours+For+Now/89344325
About the Author:Hi, my name is Siren Allen. I’m a writer and lover of all things erotic and romantic. I reside in southern Mississippi where I write steamy romances that are guaranteed to make you blush. When I’m not listening to the characters in my head and jotting down their adventures, I am busy working as a Clinical Laboratory Technician.
I love to travel, preferably with my husband, so he can do all of the driving. I enjoy time with my family, who are just as silly as I am. I have no children…yet, wish me luck! My hobbies are reading, writing and shopping, though I hate trying on clothing. If I wasn’t a writer or a Laboratory Professional, I would probably be a Secret Agent. But that’s the beauty of being a writer; you can create your own world and be whoever you want to be. In my imaginary world, I am Queen and my siblings are my minions
Other books by Siren Allen – Erotic Paranormal – Lovers Unchained - AmazonRomantic Comedy – The Makeover - Amazon
More Siren:Facebook Website Twitter Goodreads
September 24, 2013
Tell Me About it Tuesday welcomes Tamara Lowery!
Today I have fellow Gypsy, Tamara Lowery! So excited! Her book looks like a fantastic read!
Meet Tamara!
Tamara Lowery is a former maid and current auto industry worker. She is a graduate of Soddy-Daisy High School and Chattanooga State, where she majored in Journalism. She is a new author. She currently lives in Tennessee with her husband and the Rottentots, her cats.
Q. Do you do any special research for your novels?
A. I do some, depending on the storyline, location of the story, and plot elements. For Silent Fathoms, I researched Mexican folklore, naga peppers (which rival ghost peppers for highest capsaicin content), Bengali names and folklore, the Sundarbans (pronounced shun-DAR-banz, an area bordering both India and Bangladesh), and coconut crabs. Ironically, for all the research involved, Silent Fathoms is the shortest book in my Waves of Darkness series, to date.
Q. What’s your favorite genre to read? Do you write it?
A. I would have to say my favorite genre is speculative fiction. That way I don’t have to pick just one. I enjoy fantasy, paranormal, hard sci-fi, soft sci-fi, Steampunk, horror, adventure, mystery, historical fiction… the list goes on. What I write does fall in there somewhere. I don’t limit myself to one genre, even in the same book.
Q. What are you working on right now? Can you tell us about it?
A. I just finished the rough draft for Hell’s Dodo, the fifth book in the Waves of Darkness series, a few months ago. I took a reading break to work down my ever-growing TBR pile. I am still waiting, as of this writing, for the editing round from Gypsy Shadow Publishing on Silent Fathoms, the third book in the series, which is due out as an ebook this Fall. The first two books in the series, Blood Curse and Demon Bayou, have been available for some time now as ebooks, but will be available as soft cover Print-on-Demand books after Halloween. Depending on its release date as an ebook, Silent Fathoms will be available in P-O-D at that time or early next year.
Currently, I am working on a project I started a couple of years ago. The Adventures of Pigg and Woolfe, is a Steampunk adventure serial. I am writing it in episodes for individual release and plan to do yearly omnibuses with bonus material. While the individual episodes will be suitable for most age groups, some of the bonus content is definitely adult-oriented. TAoPaW is the result of revisiting an old creative writing project from high school. We had been assigned to take a favorite nursery rhyme or fairy tale and rewrite it. I was deeply into Star Wars at the time and made a space opera short story out of The Three Little Pigs. Rather than continue in that vein for this incarnation, I chose to follow one of my more current interests, Steampunk, with the two main characters but in slightly different roles. I won’t go into detail, since I still don’t have anything ready even for beta readers, yet, but I will say that it is a fun serial to write.
Q. Did you ever write a character you didn’t like? Or one that gave you problems, goingagainst your intentions for them or your story?
A. Oh yes! One character that I don’t like, because he is a completely despicable excuse for a human being, makes three appearances in the series, despite being a secondary (possibly even tertiary) character. I will not name him here; let’s give readers something to figure out. He first appeared in Blood Curse and makes a second appearance in Silent Fathoms. I took great pleasure in his horrible demise in his final appearance later in the series.
One of my main secondary characters has defied my original plot points, at least once, to the betterment of the story. She kept a tertiary character alive as a pet/tool when I had originally meant for her to kill him shortly after their initial meeting.
Okay...enough with the business questions! How about some fun stuff. You know, just between the two of us.
Q. The opportunity to go on a surprise vacation arises. You have 90 minutes to packand get to the airport. Where will you go and what will you pack?
A. Not happening. I’ve only flown twice in my life, and I loved it, but I refuse to go through TSA nonsense on the spur of the moment. Besides, I have too many obligations to just pick up and take off without serious planning and arrangements for my absence.
Q. When YOU read, what do you like to pick up?
A. Oh wow, where to start? I have several authors I follow: Sherrilyn Kenyon, Laurel K. Hamilton, recently departed Barbara Mertz writing as Elizabeth Peters, Janet Evanovich, Anne McCaffrey (also lost in recent years), A.C. Crispin, Stephanie Osborn, Andy Deane, John Hartness, Kevin J. Anderson, D. A. Adams, Rocky Perry, the list goes on. I also enjoy discovering new authors; even if their writing needs some polishing, a good story is a good story.
Q. If they make a movie about your life, who do you want to play your part?
A. An unknown would be best. I so do not resemble most of the lead actresses favored by Hollywood. I would say pick someone from my region of the country, but I don’t really sound like most people around here (southeast Tennessee) due to moving around so much in my lifetime. I would adamantly protest anyone using a “fake” Southern accent. The only place I’ve ever encountered an accent that really sounds like that has been in Macon, Georgia.
Q. Tell us one thing about you that might surprise us...it can be a secret...we won't tell.:)
A. My very first rejection letters were not for my writing, but my artwork. Back in the mid-1980s, just after high school, I submitted my portfolio to both Marvel Comics and to Disney Animation. I keep that little bit of ammo in the back of my mind in case I ever encounter at any of the conventions I attend any of these so-called geeks that insist geek-girls are fake and can’t possibly know anything about comic books. So far, none of that particular species of troll have made themselves known locally.
Now I'm excited to hear all about that upcoming book!
Silent Fathoms will be the third installment in my Waves of Darkness series. Although it will be closer to novella length than novel length, it covers a LOT of ocean and adventure.
Viktor Brandewyne, aka Bloody Vik Brandee, my pirate cursed to vampirism, continues his quest for the Sisters of Power. The third Sister is known by some as the Devil’s daughter, and she fully intends to entrap Viktor and bend him to her own purposes. In fact, the quest she sends him on (in exchange for a portion of her magic to help break his curse) will give her the means to enslave him.
To make matters worse, he has to face this challenge without the aid of the siren, Belladonna, whom he has come to rely on. The magic/psychic bond they share has gone dead, and he cannot contact her. It is as if she has simply ceased to exist. This proves very troubling to him, for not only does he need her aid in finding and dealing with the Sisters of Power, he has, on some level, come to love her, an awkward and unusual situation for a man whose sole care and priority has always been himself.
The ebook edition is due out this Fall, with the print edition following either this Fall or early Winter.
This is also the first book I have done the original cover art for. I felt this was better than settling for a stock photo that just missed capturing the imagery I wanted for this book. I feel very fortunate to have a publisher (Gypsy Shadow Publishing) and art director (Charlotte Holley) that are flexible enough to allow me to contribute my own art. Many of the larger publishing houses give their authors almost no voice in how their book is presented and represented. Some even give the author no voice in how their works are titled.
More Tamara:Facebook PageFacebook ProfilePlurk Tamara's Author Page at GSP
Meet Tamara!
Tamara Lowery is a former maid and current auto industry worker. She is a graduate of Soddy-Daisy High School and Chattanooga State, where she majored in Journalism. She is a new author. She currently lives in Tennessee with her husband and the Rottentots, her cats.Q. Do you do any special research for your novels?
A. I do some, depending on the storyline, location of the story, and plot elements. For Silent Fathoms, I researched Mexican folklore, naga peppers (which rival ghost peppers for highest capsaicin content), Bengali names and folklore, the Sundarbans (pronounced shun-DAR-banz, an area bordering both India and Bangladesh), and coconut crabs. Ironically, for all the research involved, Silent Fathoms is the shortest book in my Waves of Darkness series, to date.
Q. What’s your favorite genre to read? Do you write it?
A. I would have to say my favorite genre is speculative fiction. That way I don’t have to pick just one. I enjoy fantasy, paranormal, hard sci-fi, soft sci-fi, Steampunk, horror, adventure, mystery, historical fiction… the list goes on. What I write does fall in there somewhere. I don’t limit myself to one genre, even in the same book.
Q. What are you working on right now? Can you tell us about it?
A. I just finished the rough draft for Hell’s Dodo, the fifth book in the Waves of Darkness series, a few months ago. I took a reading break to work down my ever-growing TBR pile. I am still waiting, as of this writing, for the editing round from Gypsy Shadow Publishing on Silent Fathoms, the third book in the series, which is due out as an ebook this Fall. The first two books in the series, Blood Curse and Demon Bayou, have been available for some time now as ebooks, but will be available as soft cover Print-on-Demand books after Halloween. Depending on its release date as an ebook, Silent Fathoms will be available in P-O-D at that time or early next year.
Currently, I am working on a project I started a couple of years ago. The Adventures of Pigg and Woolfe, is a Steampunk adventure serial. I am writing it in episodes for individual release and plan to do yearly omnibuses with bonus material. While the individual episodes will be suitable for most age groups, some of the bonus content is definitely adult-oriented. TAoPaW is the result of revisiting an old creative writing project from high school. We had been assigned to take a favorite nursery rhyme or fairy tale and rewrite it. I was deeply into Star Wars at the time and made a space opera short story out of The Three Little Pigs. Rather than continue in that vein for this incarnation, I chose to follow one of my more current interests, Steampunk, with the two main characters but in slightly different roles. I won’t go into detail, since I still don’t have anything ready even for beta readers, yet, but I will say that it is a fun serial to write.
Q. Did you ever write a character you didn’t like? Or one that gave you problems, goingagainst your intentions for them or your story?
A. Oh yes! One character that I don’t like, because he is a completely despicable excuse for a human being, makes three appearances in the series, despite being a secondary (possibly even tertiary) character. I will not name him here; let’s give readers something to figure out. He first appeared in Blood Curse and makes a second appearance in Silent Fathoms. I took great pleasure in his horrible demise in his final appearance later in the series.
One of my main secondary characters has defied my original plot points, at least once, to the betterment of the story. She kept a tertiary character alive as a pet/tool when I had originally meant for her to kill him shortly after their initial meeting.
Okay...enough with the business questions! How about some fun stuff. You know, just between the two of us.
Q. The opportunity to go on a surprise vacation arises. You have 90 minutes to packand get to the airport. Where will you go and what will you pack?
A. Not happening. I’ve only flown twice in my life, and I loved it, but I refuse to go through TSA nonsense on the spur of the moment. Besides, I have too many obligations to just pick up and take off without serious planning and arrangements for my absence.
Q. When YOU read, what do you like to pick up?
A. Oh wow, where to start? I have several authors I follow: Sherrilyn Kenyon, Laurel K. Hamilton, recently departed Barbara Mertz writing as Elizabeth Peters, Janet Evanovich, Anne McCaffrey (also lost in recent years), A.C. Crispin, Stephanie Osborn, Andy Deane, John Hartness, Kevin J. Anderson, D. A. Adams, Rocky Perry, the list goes on. I also enjoy discovering new authors; even if their writing needs some polishing, a good story is a good story.
Q. If they make a movie about your life, who do you want to play your part?
A. An unknown would be best. I so do not resemble most of the lead actresses favored by Hollywood. I would say pick someone from my region of the country, but I don’t really sound like most people around here (southeast Tennessee) due to moving around so much in my lifetime. I would adamantly protest anyone using a “fake” Southern accent. The only place I’ve ever encountered an accent that really sounds like that has been in Macon, Georgia.
Q. Tell us one thing about you that might surprise us...it can be a secret...we won't tell.:)
A. My very first rejection letters were not for my writing, but my artwork. Back in the mid-1980s, just after high school, I submitted my portfolio to both Marvel Comics and to Disney Animation. I keep that little bit of ammo in the back of my mind in case I ever encounter at any of the conventions I attend any of these so-called geeks that insist geek-girls are fake and can’t possibly know anything about comic books. So far, none of that particular species of troll have made themselves known locally.
Now I'm excited to hear all about that upcoming book!
Silent Fathoms will be the third installment in my Waves of Darkness series. Although it will be closer to novella length than novel length, it covers a LOT of ocean and adventure.
Viktor Brandewyne, aka Bloody Vik Brandee, my pirate cursed to vampirism, continues his quest for the Sisters of Power. The third Sister is known by some as the Devil’s daughter, and she fully intends to entrap Viktor and bend him to her own purposes. In fact, the quest she sends him on (in exchange for a portion of her magic to help break his curse) will give her the means to enslave him.
To make matters worse, he has to face this challenge without the aid of the siren, Belladonna, whom he has come to rely on. The magic/psychic bond they share has gone dead, and he cannot contact her. It is as if she has simply ceased to exist. This proves very troubling to him, for not only does he need her aid in finding and dealing with the Sisters of Power, he has, on some level, come to love her, an awkward and unusual situation for a man whose sole care and priority has always been himself.
The ebook edition is due out this Fall, with the print edition following either this Fall or early Winter.
This is also the first book I have done the original cover art for. I felt this was better than settling for a stock photo that just missed capturing the imagery I wanted for this book. I feel very fortunate to have a publisher (Gypsy Shadow Publishing) and art director (Charlotte Holley) that are flexible enough to allow me to contribute my own art. Many of the larger publishing houses give their authors almost no voice in how their book is presented and represented. Some even give the author no voice in how their works are titled.
More Tamara:Facebook PageFacebook ProfilePlurk Tamara's Author Page at GSP
September 21, 2013
100th Sunday Snog Celebration!
This is so much fun, I don't know why I haven't participated before! Victoria Bliss and many other a gifted author hosts a Sunday event, a Sunday Snog! Today is the 100th one and there's an awesome giveaway! Make sure you click here and check out ALL of the snogs! Talk about HOT STUFF!
And it's for a good cause!
ReadersOn the Sunday 22nd September until Friday 27th you will be able to visit the below blogs and read lots of hot snogs and enter for lots and lots of fabulous prizes! Please consider visiting my Just Giving Page and donating to Médecins Sans Frontières so we can help these brave doctors kiss lots of boo-boos better.
Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is a worldwide movement. They deliver medical aid to the people who need it most, wherever they are. We’re hoping to make at least 100 pounds to contribute to their work. Here’s to many snogs and many donations which will help to make this world a better place.
So my snog is from my recent release, Collision Force (Crossing Forces Book One). I hope you enjoy it!
She was at the sink scrubbing her electric skillet. Cole pressed a kiss to the back of her neck, then nuzzled the hollow of her ear, nipping her earlobe. He watched the shiver travel down her spine and slipped a hand around her waist, settling it low on her stomach. He pulled her bottom against him. His cock shot from six o’clock to midnight in two seconds flat.
“I thought he would never leave,” he whispered against the baby hairs at the back of her neck. Her ponytail brushed his cheek.
“Cole…”
“Stop thinking, Andi.” He nuzzled her again, rocking against her firm bottom. “That’s half your problem.”
Cole whirled her around and covered her mouth with his. She yelped, but he smothered it with his tongue, exploring her sweetness. Kissing him back, she moaned after only a moment, shooting her arms around him.
He pulled back, staring into her half-lidded sapphire eyes. Warm, probably soapy water sank into the fabric of his pale blue button-down shirt—the only non-tee with him in Texas.
“You got me wet,” Cole said, his lips hovering over hers.
Blurb:
Badboy, married to his job FBI agent Cole Lucas always gets his man. So when the unthinkable happens and one gets away, Cole grits his teeth and hunts human trafficker Carlo Maldonado all the way to Antioch, Texas, where he collides with Detective Andi MacLaren.
Cole doesn’t do small towns and he doesn’t get involved with women he works with, but Andi tempts him in ways he doesn’t want to acknowledge.Two murders, her partner shot and leading the investigation on her own, the last thing Andi needs is a cocky FBI agent that sees her as no more than a tagalong.
Widow and single mother Andi is used to being on her own. When Cole gets stuck without a place to stay, crashing on her couch puts them in dangerous territory.
Attraction and passion bring Andi to a place she left behind when her husband died.
Her three-year-old son quickly wiggles his way into Cole’s heart, and he starts contemplating things—family, love—that he’d never planned for himself.
Like it? Buy it HERE!Can being forced to work together make them stronger or will their differences jeopardize their case and their hearts?
Happy Sunday!
Happy Reading!
September 17, 2013
Tell Me About it Tuesday Welcomes Genevieve Bergeron!
This week I'm welcoming fellow TEB author, Genevieve Bergeron!
Meet Gen!
Genevieve Bergeron has been an avid reader and writer of digital fiction for nearly two decades. A veteran journalist, children’s author and professional communicator, Genevieve now spends her time reading and writing hi-tech inspired romance and erotica, in addition to working a fast-paced day job as a communications director at a U.S.-based national nonprofit.
Genevieve, originally from Huntsville, Ala., has lived in New Orleans and Paris, and now resides in Washington, D.C., where she does her best to avoid any steamy political scandals. She holds a degree in International Communications and French from Tulane University and a Master’s Degree in Strategic and Digital Communications from Georgetown University. She loves collecting condoms, cooking for friends, and trying boxed wines.
Check out our interview!
Q. Do you do any special research for your novels?
If one would call it "research," then I'd have to say, "Sort of." I had never written a romance in a hospital setting until my most recent release, "Sorry, Bro." In preparation, I started watching copious amounts of "Grey's Anatomy." And when I confess, I usually get two reactions: shock that I had never seen an episode of "Grey's" before about six months ago and curiosity as to whether any of the anatomical/medical jargon/maladies/cures are correct. Luckily, the hospital serves as little more than a setting. I'll leave all technical matters to actual doctors.
Q. What’s your favorite genre to read? Do you write it?
I love science fiction and fantasy. A fantasy romance is on my to-do list.
Q. What are you working on right now? Can you tell us about it?
I'm on a brief hiatus from writing at the moment (darn day job), but I've begun research into construction workers as the stars of my next novella. Specifically, I've looked at ironworkers. While there's obviously something inherently sexy about hypermasculine-manly-men who lug heavy objects and bang tools, I think there's something extra special about men who do all that, plus build stunning, mind-bogglingly large bridges and skyscrapers.
Okay...enough with the business questions! How about some fun stuff. You know, just between the two of us.
Q. The opportunity to go on a surprise vacation arises. You have 90 minutes to pack and get to the airport. Where will you go and what will you pack?
Probably the Pacific Northwest because the scenery is stunning, and I know it well enough that a surprise vacation wouldn't be too much of a surprise. I travel light, hence I'd grab my carry-on, stuff it full of layerable clothes, a hat, my iPad, and I'm off!
Q. When YOU read, what do you like to pick up?
Science fiction, fantasy, and nonfiction. I love nonfiction on the New York Times bestseller list.
Q. Tell us one thing about you that might surprise us...it can be a secret...we won't tell. :)
well, it's drumroll time! tell us about that fantastic book!
"Sorry, Bro" is my second novella from Total E-Bound publishing. It's a little different than what you may expect from an M/M romance. It's heavy on the what-would-a-man-actually-do-and-think and light on the flowery prose. Especially the dialogue--I tried to channel my best guy friends and write as if they were talking over beers, the "bro's" and all!
Blurb:
Still aching from the mistakes and denials of his past, this ER nurse could heal anyone but himself…until now.
Handsome, athletic and intelligent, twenty-six-year-old Bryce should be living the high life.
But he’s far from it.
After shunning his best baseball buddy in high school, dropping out of medical school and fleeing New York to put down roots—if only shallow ones—in New Orleans, Bryce is uncertain about both his past and his future. Working long hours as a low-level nurse and confined by a sexless relationship with a questionably devoted girlfriend, Bryce can’t shake the feeling that things should be somehow better now he’s escaped the confusion and indecision of his former life.
Yet when the ghost of Bryce’s high school past, the handsome and charismatic Tim, shows up injured in the ER, Bryce’s already turbulent emotions engulf him in a vortex of confusion and regret. Haunted by his own insensitivity towards Tim eight years before, Bryce first finds comfort in the powerful arms of a resident surgeon he barely knows, then gives Tim the explosive, cataclysmic relief he had denied him in high school. As Bryce comes to terms with his sexuality and recognises his undeniable attraction to both men, he must decide, once and for all, where his fidelity—and his desires—lie.
BUY IT!Amazon| Amazon UK| Barnes & Noble
More Gen:
Gen’s website and blog Email Goodreads Amazon.com For all Gen’s books published with Total E-Bound, visit her page at http://www.total-e-bound.com/authordetail.asp?A_ID=241.
Meet Gen!
Genevieve Bergeron has been an avid reader and writer of digital fiction for nearly two decades. A veteran journalist, children’s author and professional communicator, Genevieve now spends her time reading and writing hi-tech inspired romance and erotica, in addition to working a fast-paced day job as a communications director at a U.S.-based national nonprofit.
Genevieve, originally from Huntsville, Ala., has lived in New Orleans and Paris, and now resides in Washington, D.C., where she does her best to avoid any steamy political scandals. She holds a degree in International Communications and French from Tulane University and a Master’s Degree in Strategic and Digital Communications from Georgetown University. She loves collecting condoms, cooking for friends, and trying boxed wines.
Check out our interview!
Q. Do you do any special research for your novels?
If one would call it "research," then I'd have to say, "Sort of." I had never written a romance in a hospital setting until my most recent release, "Sorry, Bro." In preparation, I started watching copious amounts of "Grey's Anatomy." And when I confess, I usually get two reactions: shock that I had never seen an episode of "Grey's" before about six months ago and curiosity as to whether any of the anatomical/medical jargon/maladies/cures are correct. Luckily, the hospital serves as little more than a setting. I'll leave all technical matters to actual doctors.
Q. What’s your favorite genre to read? Do you write it?
I love science fiction and fantasy. A fantasy romance is on my to-do list.
Q. What are you working on right now? Can you tell us about it?
I'm on a brief hiatus from writing at the moment (darn day job), but I've begun research into construction workers as the stars of my next novella. Specifically, I've looked at ironworkers. While there's obviously something inherently sexy about hypermasculine-manly-men who lug heavy objects and bang tools, I think there's something extra special about men who do all that, plus build stunning, mind-bogglingly large bridges and skyscrapers.
Okay...enough with the business questions! How about some fun stuff. You know, just between the two of us.
Q. The opportunity to go on a surprise vacation arises. You have 90 minutes to pack and get to the airport. Where will you go and what will you pack?
Probably the Pacific Northwest because the scenery is stunning, and I know it well enough that a surprise vacation wouldn't be too much of a surprise. I travel light, hence I'd grab my carry-on, stuff it full of layerable clothes, a hat, my iPad, and I'm off!
Q. When YOU read, what do you like to pick up?
Science fiction, fantasy, and nonfiction. I love nonfiction on the New York Times bestseller list.
Q. Tell us one thing about you that might surprise us...it can be a secret...we won't tell. :)
well, it's drumroll time! tell us about that fantastic book!
"Sorry, Bro" is my second novella from Total E-Bound publishing. It's a little different than what you may expect from an M/M romance. It's heavy on the what-would-a-man-actually-do-and-think and light on the flowery prose. Especially the dialogue--I tried to channel my best guy friends and write as if they were talking over beers, the "bro's" and all!
Blurb:
Still aching from the mistakes and denials of his past, this ER nurse could heal anyone but himself…until now.
Handsome, athletic and intelligent, twenty-six-year-old Bryce should be living the high life.
But he’s far from it.
After shunning his best baseball buddy in high school, dropping out of medical school and fleeing New York to put down roots—if only shallow ones—in New Orleans, Bryce is uncertain about both his past and his future. Working long hours as a low-level nurse and confined by a sexless relationship with a questionably devoted girlfriend, Bryce can’t shake the feeling that things should be somehow better now he’s escaped the confusion and indecision of his former life.
Yet when the ghost of Bryce’s high school past, the handsome and charismatic Tim, shows up injured in the ER, Bryce’s already turbulent emotions engulf him in a vortex of confusion and regret. Haunted by his own insensitivity towards Tim eight years before, Bryce first finds comfort in the powerful arms of a resident surgeon he barely knows, then gives Tim the explosive, cataclysmic relief he had denied him in high school. As Bryce comes to terms with his sexuality and recognises his undeniable attraction to both men, he must decide, once and for all, where his fidelity—and his desires—lie.
BUY IT!Amazon| Amazon UK| Barnes & Noble
More Gen:
Gen’s website and blog Email Goodreads Amazon.com For all Gen’s books published with Total E-Bound, visit her page at http://www.total-e-bound.com/authordetail.asp?A_ID=241.
September 15, 2013
Six Sentence Sunday: First look at Calculated Collision!
Welllllllll, I am working hard on Calculated Collision (Crossing Forces Book 3), and I really wanted to share this one! It's more than six sentences, but I hope you enjoy!
Goosebumps rose and she shivered. Both reactions she couldn’t hide from him. “No.”
“No? I see it. Straining nipples. The rise and fall of your gorgeous breasts. Panting, flushed cheeks. Swollen lips. I see you tremble and beg for my touch you. You can’t hide it, Selena Dawson. You want me.”
His hand fell to his side, but he didn’t have to touch her. Nate’s words rolled over her body like a caress and Lee bit her lip so she wouldn’t moan. Glued her back to the wall so she wouldn’t lean in to him.
Happy Sunday!
Happy Reading!
Goosebumps rose and she shivered. Both reactions she couldn’t hide from him. “No.”
“No? I see it. Straining nipples. The rise and fall of your gorgeous breasts. Panting, flushed cheeks. Swollen lips. I see you tremble and beg for my touch you. You can’t hide it, Selena Dawson. You want me.”
His hand fell to his side, but he didn’t have to touch her. Nate’s words rolled over her body like a caress and Lee bit her lip so she wouldn’t moan. Glued her back to the wall so she wouldn’t lean in to him.
Happy Sunday!
Happy Reading!
September 12, 2013
Friday Feature: H.C. Brown!
Fellow TEB author is taking over my blog for this lovely Friday Feature!
Here's a little intro :D
H.C Brown is a multi published, best selling, award winning, author of, Historical, Paranormal, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, BDSM, Time Travel, Action Adventure and Contemporary Romance. "I write tender erotic romance,always with a happy ending." H.C writes under the pen name Pia Moonglow for YA Fantasy. Living in Australia with her own alpha male, HC gets her inspiration from the beautiful Gold Coast beaches. " Let me take you to a world of fantasy and romance with delicious Alpha Males to melt your heart."H.C. Brown— My Journey Into The Delicious World of M/M and Ménage Erotic Romance.
My first venture into the delicious world of M/M & Ménage erotic romance came in the guise of seven foot tall King of the Fae. I named the character, Nox. I’d written the first story in the Pride Brother’s Series and had started to polish the manuscript and it needed a bit more spice. I introduced Nox as a secondary character but he was so gorgeous I just had to give him a love scene with two of the shifters. Nox went on to feature in the entire series and became a hit with my readers, mainly I think because of his ability to join any ménage M/M/M or M/M/ F and leave everyone panting for more.
My kinky side kicked in and I started to write M/M, BDSM. I’m very particular about my Doms, they must be alpha males, strong yet loving Dominants but with a flaw—never perfect and I like my subs to have an attitude and a need to be trained. I wrote my first series about an imaginary leather club called Floggers. My readers wanted longer stories so I followed these novellas with the novel length story, Hurt Me Good and Take, Me Break Me from Dreamspinner Press and my new release Shades of Pain from Hawt Books Publishing.
I write in a variety of genres: Paranormal and Fantasy, BDSM, Contemporary, Sci-fi, Action Adventure, Time Travel and Historical. My Historical books include the problems gay men faced in the Georgian era but I like to add humor to my stories—I mean who wants to be serious all the time?
My stories are about rock stars, strippers, fire fighters, shape shifters, coming out and confusion. I tell my stories from the heart, with compassion and want to take my readers on a rollercoaster ride of emotions. I have to admit, writing stories about two men in hot, sexy love is great, but three is even better. :)
My latest release is a M/M Paranormal, romance Dance to the Wolf by H.C. Brown.
Dance to the Wolf came to me in a recurring dream. My dreams moved through snowfields, forests, and a dark medieval castle with a flag waving from the ramparts depicting a wolf with blood red fangs. In my dream, a young man was fleeing a pack of werewolves.
This dream continued for some days. Then it turned to a white tiger bounding through the snow.
The next day I began to write the story about a slave, Eton, sold on his majority to the sex slave market. His life inside the notorious Den was at least tolerable until his master sells him to the Alpha of a werewolf pack.
I needed a hero and introduced Raz, a white tiger shifter. The story is about Eton’s escape from the werewolf with the help of his lover, Raz. Time is running out, on the full moon, Eton will become the werewolf’s lover. I enjoyed writing this story and there is more to tell about the lives of these remarkable tiger shifters. So, I created the Tull Pride Series. This is book one, a standalone story. I hope you enjoy reading it.
H.C. Brown
Blurb: Sold as a pleasure slave to a werewolf, Eton’s survival depends on the love of Raz. Can the tiger shifter rescue him before certain death on the full moon?
In love with a slave from another realm, the Tull Alpha, Raz, plans to free Eton and take him for his lover. However, politics cause a delay and Raz arrives late at the auction to find Eton’s master has sold the handsome young man as a pleasure slave.
Six months later, Raz discovers Eton dancing to entice customers in the infamous Den of Depravity at Tennabolt Gate. The knowledge that the Beast of Darktrees, has bought Eton for his own form of wickedness throws Raz into an impossible position. To rescue his young man means war between the shifters and the werewolves. He must regain Eton’s affection because his love is all the slave has to sustain him in the hands of the Lycaon.
Exceprt
Zulka City—Land of the Five Gates"Have you lost your wits?" Ransom glared at his brother. "You are the Alpha. What in heaven’s name are you doing sniffing around a slave boy in Zulka City?" He gave Raz an appraising look. "And why are you dressed in rags? Have you no shame?"
Anger stirred Raz’s inner cat. He pushed the albino tiger back into the dark recesses of his mind and turned to face his brother. "I’m in love."
"No. You’re in lust. You can’t have this slave’s ass, so you’ll hang around him until he comes up for auction even though owning a slave is against our laws." Ransom pushed the hair off his sweat-soaked face. "Come home. You’ve important matters to attend to." He sighed. "In any case, this slave cannot be your mate. He’s not a shifter." He grasped Raz’s arm. "This love you speak of is a passing fancy."
Raz wrenched his arm away. "You’re correct, brother. I am the Alpha and I will make the decision on who to love or not." He bared his fangs at Ransom. "And I don’t require you to inform me of my duty to our pride or our laws. Leave me now. I’ll return home in a couple of hours."
"Don’t come growling to me if the sexy little slave steals your purse." Ransom turned on his heel and strode with purpose into the crowded city streets.
The market square sizzled below the blinding summer sun. Heat shimmers rose above the flagstones and reminded Raz of the distortion of air around shifters at the point of morphing. He stepped under the canvas awning attached to the rear door of the tavern, and leant back in the shadows. The dry coolness from the brick wall seeped through his buckskin jerkin. He peered down the dusty street, searching the crowd. People moved around the multitude of stalls in a noisy throng. The free citizens dressed in brightly coloured garments stood out against the slaves in homespun brown and indigo.
A fat man with limp greasy hair stood a few paces from him holding a bunch of squawking chickens by the legs. Raz wrinkled his nose. His heightened senses had overloaded with the stench of unwashed bodies, fish and animals. Another variety of scents wafted on the breeze to confuse him, in a combination of fragrant flowers and the aromas of the stalls offering food delicacies.
Anticipation fluttered Raz’s stomach. In the distance, Eton pushed through the crowd, a basket over one arm and his long golden hair, prominent amongst the dark-haired masses. The slave made his way toward him. Raz smiled at the sight of the delicious young man he loved beyond reason.
Warmth curled around his heart. A long purr escaped his lips. The slave’s perfection in male beauty made him weak in the knees. His young man’s kisses had become desperately passionate of late. Of course, he wanted Eton as his lover. Raz’s cock grew hard at the thought of bedding his delicious friend. One more day and he will be mine. The connection between them had grown into something special. Raz counted each hour between their brief interludes.
Gods, he had fallen in love with a slave. A free man and the Alpha of the Tull Pride, he moved around the realms of the Five Gates unchallenged. He chewed on his bottom lip. Each time they met, his presence put Eton in danger.
He understood the law. In Zulka City, for a slave to consort with a free man without his master’s consent brought instant death. Raz ground his teeth. He hated the clandestine meetings with his friend and the constant arguments with his brother over his relationship. In truth, all affairs of his pride fell into insignificance at the thought of Eton. He could not get enough of Eton. He craved the taste of his lips and the delicious flavour of his love’s innocence.
Eton’s master planned to auction him on the breaking dawn. As a virgin, he was a valuable asset to the pleasure market. He had the fine bones of a female. His skin, oiled daily, was soft to the touch. His handsome features and almond-shaped emerald eyes had caught Raz’s attention more than six months ago. To find such a jewel in a filthy marketplace had astounded him.
Two days had passed since Eton had clung to him sobbing with the news that his master planned to sell him. Delighted at the chance to purchase Eton and set him free, Raz had calmed his young man. He smiled to himself. Soon, they would leave this place and go to his home in Dragonspawn Gate. Thank the gods, his realm’s laws prevented slavery. For once Eton could live in peace, far from the constant harassment of the Slave Masters.
Ten paces away, Eton tossed his long golden hair over one shoulder and moved into the shadows alongside the buildings. A man jostled the young slave. Raz’s tiger rose to the surface, roaring with jealousy. Raz curled his hands, and needle sharp claws broke through his fingertips. The cat rippled beneath his skin. A soft whine spilled into his head.
"You must bond with Eton soon before he is lost to us. He may be small, but he is well past his majority."Raz pushed down the cat’s need to emerge. Morphing in a busy marketplace would reveal his identity. "I crave to be with him, but Eton’s scent doesn’t lure me as a mate should. I’m not sure if he belongs to me, cat. Perhaps, he is slow to maturity because of his size. In time, we will know the truth."
The slave moved gracefully towards him. His narrow sexy hips swayed with each delightful step. Raz held out a hand. "Eton." He pulled his love against him. His cat roared with pleasure. Raz inhaled the man’s fragrance and sighed. "I’ve missed you."
The urgent need to kiss Eton overwhelmed him. He pushed open the back door to the tavern and drew him inside.
"I’ve missed you too." Eton followed Raz into a small room. "I don’t have too long. I must return to my master within the hour." He rubbed a hand down Raz’s back.
With a moan, Raz cupped Eton’s chin and lowered his head to capture his soft mouth. Eton curled his long fingers in his tunic. He parted his warm lips and explored the contours of Raz’s smile with his inquisitive tongue. With a long purr, Raz deepened the kiss. The slave moaned, and returned his embrace with passion.
Raz used his tongue to stroke every crevice, marvelling at the young man’s delicious flavour. He brushed Eton’s fangs with his lips, so like his own and yet many of the species of humanoid in the realms had fangs. If only this delightful man had been cat, his brother could have had no objection to them being together. He gripped Eton’s muscular buttocks and squeezed. Eton mewed against his lips and pressed his hard shaft into Raz’s thigh. So innocent and yet so demanding, his sweet man would have to wait a little longer for the joy of his lovemaking.
He dragged his mouth away and gazed down into Eton’s hooded green eyes. "You know how much I want you, but a kiss is all I can offer until tomorrow." He smiled. "It’s only one more night. Know that I love you and we’ll be leaving this place for good soon."
Buy it! TEB| Amazon | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble | ARe
ALSO LOOK FOR:
Coming from Steam eReads 15 September: A Tryst of Fate, M/M Time Travel Romance.GET IT HERE
Friday Feature: HB Brown!
Fellow TEB author is taking over my blog for this lovely Friday Feature!
Here's a little intro :D
H.C Brown is a multi published, best selling, award winning, author of, Historical, Paranormal, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, BDSM, Time Travel, Action Adventure and Contemporary Romance. "I write tender erotic romance,always with a happy ending." H.C writes under the pen name Pia Moonglow for YA Fantasy. Living in Australia with her own alpha male, HC gets her inspiration from the beautiful Gold Coast beaches. " Let me take you to a world of fantasy and romance with delicious Alpha Males to melt your heart."H.C. Brown— My Journey Into The Delicious World of M/M and Ménage Erotic Romance.
My first venture into the delicious world of M/M & Ménage erotic romance came in the guise of seven foot tall King of the Fae. I named the character, Nox. I’d written the first story in the Pride Brother’s Series and had started to polish the manuscript and it needed a bit more spice. I introduced Nox as a secondary character but he was so gorgeous I just had to give him a love scene with two of the shifters. Nox went on to feature in the entire series and became a hit with my readers, mainly I think because of his ability to join any ménage M/M/M or M/M/ F and leave everyone panting for more.
My kinky side kicked in and I started to write M/M, BDSM. I’m very particular about my Doms, they must be alpha males, strong yet loving Dominants but with a flaw—never perfect and I like my subs to have an attitude and a need to be trained. I wrote my first series about an imaginary leather club called Floggers. My readers wanted longer stories so I followed these novellas with the novel length story, Hurt Me Good and Take, Me Break Me from Dreamspinner Press and my new release Shades of Pain from Hawt Books Publishing.
I write in a variety of genres: Paranormal and Fantasy, BDSM, Contemporary, Sci-fi, Action Adventure, Time Travel and Historical. My Historical books include the problems gay men faced in the Georgian era but I like to add humor to my stories—I mean who wants to be serious all the time?
My stories are about rock stars, strippers, fire fighters, shape shifters, coming out and confusion. I tell my stories from the heart, with compassion and want to take my readers on a rollercoaster ride of emotions. I have to admit, writing stories about two men in hot, sexy love is great, but three is even better. :)
My latest release is a M/M Paranormal, romance Dance to the Wolf by H.C. Brown.
Dance to the Wolf came to me in a recurring dream. My dreams moved through snowfields, forests, and a dark medieval castle with a flag waving from the ramparts depicting a wolf with blood red fangs. In my dream, a young man was fleeing a pack of werewolves.
This dream continued for some days. Then it turned to a white tiger bounding through the snow.
The next day I began to write the story about a slave, Eton, sold on his majority to the sex slave market. His life inside the notorious Den was at least tolerable until his master sells him to the Alpha of a werewolf pack.
I needed a hero and introduced Raz, a white tiger shifter. The story is about Eton’s escape from the werewolf with the help of his lover, Raz. Time is running out, on the full moon, Eton will become the werewolf’s lover. I enjoyed writing this story and there is more to tell about the lives of these remarkable tiger shifters. So, I created the Tull Pride Series. This is book one, a standalone story. I hope you enjoy reading it.
H.C. Brown
Blurb: Sold as a pleasure slave to a werewolf, Eton’s survival depends on the love of Raz. Can the tiger shifter rescue him before certain death on the full moon?
In love with a slave from another realm, the Tull Alpha, Raz, plans to free Eton and take him for his lover. However, politics cause a delay and Raz arrives late at the auction to find Eton’s master has sold the handsome young man as a pleasure slave.
Six months later, Raz discovers Eton dancing to entice customers in the infamous Den of Depravity at Tennabolt Gate. The knowledge that the Beast of Darktrees, has bought Eton for his own form of wickedness throws Raz into an impossible position. To rescue his young man means war between the shifters and the werewolves. He must regain Eton’s affection because his love is all the slave has to sustain him in the hands of the Lycaon.
Exceprt
Zulka City—Land of the Five Gates"Have you lost your wits?" Ransom glared at his brother. "You are the Alpha. What in heaven’s name are you doing sniffing around a slave boy in Zulka City?" He gave Raz an appraising look. "And why are you dressed in rags? Have you no shame?"
Anger stirred Raz’s inner cat. He pushed the albino tiger back into the dark recesses of his mind and turned to face his brother. "I’m in love."
"No. You’re in lust. You can’t have this slave’s ass, so you’ll hang around him until he comes up for auction even though owning a slave is against our laws." Ransom pushed the hair off his sweat-soaked face. "Come home. You’ve important matters to attend to." He sighed. "In any case, this slave cannot be your mate. He’s not a shifter." He grasped Raz’s arm. "This love you speak of is a passing fancy."
Raz wrenched his arm away. "You’re correct, brother. I am the Alpha and I will make the decision on who to love or not." He bared his fangs at Ransom. "And I don’t require you to inform me of my duty to our pride or our laws. Leave me now. I’ll return home in a couple of hours."
"Don’t come growling to me if the sexy little slave steals your purse." Ransom turned on his heel and strode with purpose into the crowded city streets.
The market square sizzled below the blinding summer sun. Heat shimmers rose above the flagstones and reminded Raz of the distortion of air around shifters at the point of morphing. He stepped under the canvas awning attached to the rear door of the tavern, and leant back in the shadows. The dry coolness from the brick wall seeped through his buckskin jerkin. He peered down the dusty street, searching the crowd. People moved around the multitude of stalls in a noisy throng. The free citizens dressed in brightly coloured garments stood out against the slaves in homespun brown and indigo.
A fat man with limp greasy hair stood a few paces from him holding a bunch of squawking chickens by the legs. Raz wrinkled his nose. His heightened senses had overloaded with the stench of unwashed bodies, fish and animals. Another variety of scents wafted on the breeze to confuse him, in a combination of fragrant flowers and the aromas of the stalls offering food delicacies.
Anticipation fluttered Raz’s stomach. In the distance, Eton pushed through the crowd, a basket over one arm and his long golden hair, prominent amongst the dark-haired masses. The slave made his way toward him. Raz smiled at the sight of the delicious young man he loved beyond reason.
Warmth curled around his heart. A long purr escaped his lips. The slave’s perfection in male beauty made him weak in the knees. His young man’s kisses had become desperately passionate of late. Of course, he wanted Eton as his lover. Raz’s cock grew hard at the thought of bedding his delicious friend. One more day and he will be mine. The connection between them had grown into something special. Raz counted each hour between their brief interludes.
Gods, he had fallen in love with a slave. A free man and the Alpha of the Tull Pride, he moved around the realms of the Five Gates unchallenged. He chewed on his bottom lip. Each time they met, his presence put Eton in danger.
He understood the law. In Zulka City, for a slave to consort with a free man without his master’s consent brought instant death. Raz ground his teeth. He hated the clandestine meetings with his friend and the constant arguments with his brother over his relationship. In truth, all affairs of his pride fell into insignificance at the thought of Eton. He could not get enough of Eton. He craved the taste of his lips and the delicious flavour of his love’s innocence.
Eton’s master planned to auction him on the breaking dawn. As a virgin, he was a valuable asset to the pleasure market. He had the fine bones of a female. His skin, oiled daily, was soft to the touch. His handsome features and almond-shaped emerald eyes had caught Raz’s attention more than six months ago. To find such a jewel in a filthy marketplace had astounded him.
Two days had passed since Eton had clung to him sobbing with the news that his master planned to sell him. Delighted at the chance to purchase Eton and set him free, Raz had calmed his young man. He smiled to himself. Soon, they would leave this place and go to his home in Dragonspawn Gate. Thank the gods, his realm’s laws prevented slavery. For once Eton could live in peace, far from the constant harassment of the Slave Masters.
Ten paces away, Eton tossed his long golden hair over one shoulder and moved into the shadows alongside the buildings. A man jostled the young slave. Raz’s tiger rose to the surface, roaring with jealousy. Raz curled his hands, and needle sharp claws broke through his fingertips. The cat rippled beneath his skin. A soft whine spilled into his head.
"You must bond with Eton soon before he is lost to us. He may be small, but he is well past his majority."Raz pushed down the cat’s need to emerge. Morphing in a busy marketplace would reveal his identity. "I crave to be with him, but Eton’s scent doesn’t lure me as a mate should. I’m not sure if he belongs to me, cat. Perhaps, he is slow to maturity because of his size. In time, we will know the truth."
The slave moved gracefully towards him. His narrow sexy hips swayed with each delightful step. Raz held out a hand. "Eton." He pulled his love against him. His cat roared with pleasure. Raz inhaled the man’s fragrance and sighed. "I’ve missed you."
The urgent need to kiss Eton overwhelmed him. He pushed open the back door to the tavern and drew him inside.
"I’ve missed you too." Eton followed Raz into a small room. "I don’t have too long. I must return to my master within the hour." He rubbed a hand down Raz’s back.
With a moan, Raz cupped Eton’s chin and lowered his head to capture his soft mouth. Eton curled his long fingers in his tunic. He parted his warm lips and explored the contours of Raz’s smile with his inquisitive tongue. With a long purr, Raz deepened the kiss. The slave moaned, and returned his embrace with passion.
Raz used his tongue to stroke every crevice, marvelling at the young man’s delicious flavour. He brushed Eton’s fangs with his lips, so like his own and yet many of the species of humanoid in the realms had fangs. If only this delightful man had been cat, his brother could have had no objection to them being together. He gripped Eton’s muscular buttocks and squeezed. Eton mewed against his lips and pressed his hard shaft into Raz’s thigh. So innocent and yet so demanding, his sweet man would have to wait a little longer for the joy of his lovemaking.
He dragged his mouth away and gazed down into Eton’s hooded green eyes. "You know how much I want you, but a kiss is all I can offer until tomorrow." He smiled. "It’s only one more night. Know that I love you and we’ll be leaving this place for good soon."
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ALSO LOOK FOR:
Coming from Steam eReads 15 September: A Tryst of Fate, M/M Time Travel Romance.GET IT HERE
