Ari McKay's Blog, page 22

Blood Bathory giveaway!

Blood Bathory: Like the Night, a paranormal adventure novel from Torquere Press, is coming out in just a couple of weeks, and we’re giving away an autographed print copy to one lucky reader!

Evan St. John, a young fashion photographer running from the pain caused by the death of his younger sister, is thrilled when he is offered a job with House of Nadasdy, a leading fashion house in Paris. What he doesn’t know is that Elizabeth Nadasdy, the elegant and powerful owner, is not at all what she seems on the surface; she is actually a centuries-old vampire with a penchant for collecting beautiful people, and to Evan’s horror and against his will, he is turned into one of her “children”.

Unable to bear what he has become, Evan flees back to New York and to his best friend, police officer Will Trask. For years, he has nursed an unrequited love for Will, but he also knows Will is the one person who might be able to help him. As Evan and Will grow closer and deal with Evan’s condition, they are drawn into the world of the theriomorphs: shape-shifters who are guardians of life and the sworn enemies of vampires. Caught in a ancient war between two powerful supernatural forces, Evan and Will find they must choose sides — because if they are to have any chance of ever being together, they must destroy Elizabeth Nadasdy before she destroys them.

 

Go HERE to enter! You can enter to win every day between now and July 4!

Trivia Thursday!

It’s Trivia Thursday instead of Trivia Tuesday this week because I was out of town, but better late than never!

Today’s trivia revolves around our Recipe for Romance series. Two stories in the series have already been published, the third will be published on July 24, and the fourth will be published later this year. Right now, we’re planning to end the series with #4, but the door is open for future stories if we ever get a plot bunny that bites hard enough.

As part of our collaboration process, we have to decide which of the characters we’re going to write. We start by picking which main character we want to write (or sometimes they pick us!) and then divide up the secondary characters more or less equally so we have about the same writing load throughout the story.

In the Recipe series, I’ve been writing against type. I tend to write the characters who are more inclined to brood, snark, and angst, which means I’d usually be the one to write a character like Stephen Pierce. But not this time! For those who might be curious, here’s a breakdown of the characters who have been seen in the series so far and which one of us wrote them.

Rhys Montgomery – McKay (i.e. me)

Clay Turner – Ari

Robert Logan – McKay

Stephen Pierce – Ari

Max Boyd – McKay

Darius Cooper – Ari

For minor characters, such as Stephen’s hapless sous chef Craig, we tend to trade off. For example, Ari wrote Payton Wilkes in the scene that created the main conflict for Rhys and Clay. The scene was in Rhys’ POV, so I was writing the bulk of the scene, and she picked up Payton so I’d have someone to play off of.

As a side bit of trivia, Payton got his name because I was thinking about Peyton Place and Ashley Wilkes from Gone With the Wind while trying to come up with a suitably Southern-sounding name.

I liked writing Rhys and Max since they were different from my usual characters. Rhys in particular was a nice change of pace for me; I liked writing a charming Southern gentleman who gets so caught up in making plans for a perfect confession of love that he almost loses his man. One of Rhys’ particular quirks is alluded to throughout the series, but I don’t think it’s ever been spelled out: when he gets depressed, Rhys holes up with a bottle of the best bourbon he can buy and listens to Patsy Cline songs on endless repeat until he starts feeling better. The worst instance occurred after his father’s death, a bit of info which I don’t think made the final cut of Bay Leaves and Bachelors. I can’t hear a Patsy Cline song now without thinking about Rhys and Clay, so she’d definitely be on the series soundtrack!

So far, my characters in the series haven’t been snarky at all, but that’s going to change with Ginger and Gentlemen, which is the third story in the series. For that one, I wrote Ian Pierce, Stephen’s younger brother, and let’s just say certain traits run in the family.  Ian is hands-down one of the most fun characters I’ve ever written because he rarely bothers to censor himself. He was also one of the more mouthy characters I’ve ever had in my head; he choreographed sex scenes and insisted I take notes so I wouldn’t forget what he wanted when the time came.

Readers will be able to find out more about Ian and his rocky relationship with his snarky older brother, Stephen when Ginger and Gentlemen is released by Torquere Press on July 24!

Ari McKay’s Trivia Tuesday

Stephen Pierce and Robert Logan are secondary characters (so far) in our Recipe for Romance series, but their predecessors have been leads in our stories for years.

Ari and I began writing together when we met as fanfiction writers in the Harry Potter fandom, and we bonded over a mutual love of the characters Remus Lupin and Severus Snape. In fact, we spent years writing those two characters, and over that time, we developed definite preferences for their characterization and interaction. After the book series ended, we kept going more and more AU (alternate universe) until we finally decided we might as well start writing original fiction.

One of our AUs involved casting the characters as a chef and his personal assistant. Snape was a snarky, demanding perfectionist and Lupin was his devoted PA. It was that version of the characters we had in mind when we began developing Stephen and Robert in “Bay Leaves and Bachelors”, both as a nod to our fanfiction roots and as a way to revisit variations on character types we wrote and loved for so long.

The original chef and PA story is wildly different from the path Stephen and Robert are currently taking, but writing those two feels (for me) like slipping on a pair of comfortable old shoes.

The newest novella in the Recipe for Romance series, Fennel and Forgiveness, is now available at Torquere Press. Fans of Stephen and Robert may be glad to know that the next novella, “Ginger and Gentlemen”, will focus heavily on Stephen and will introduce his younger brother, Ian, with whom he’s always had a rocky relationship. Let’s just say snark runs in the family.  ”Ginger and Gentlemen” will be published by Torquere Press on July 24!

Ari McKay’s Trivia Tuesday

Ari and I are huge geeks. HUGE. Ari is more into hard sci fi than I am, and I’m more into horror than she is, but we have a lot of overlap in what we like. Probably the biggest area of overlap is our mutual adoration of Firefly, a show we’ve both watched countless times. So no, keen eyed readers, it’s definitely not a coincidence that in Heart of Stone, the town is named Serenity or that Luke’s last name is Reynolds.

In fact, if you read the description of Luke closely, you might see he looks a lot like this:

I think of Luke as having Mal Reynolds’ wardrobe and Richard Castle’s personality.

Heart of Stone is now available in ebook or trade paperback format at Dreamspinner Press.

 

Writing a Western

Heart of Stone isn’t technically our first novel. We wrote Blood Bathory: Like the Night first, but it got rejected when we submitted it the first time, so we shelved it and started working on stories based on specific calls for submissions. Heart of Stone is the first novel we wrote that was accepted for publication, and it came about because we saw Dreamspinner Press has an on-going call for historicals. Westerns were mentioned specifically in the submissions blurb, we started brainstorming, and it wasn’t long before Luke and Stone moseyed up to have their story told.

Ari and I share an interest in history, so it wasn’t difficult for us to dive into this genre. In fact, we’ve got multiple historical plot bunnies on our ever-growing list, so chances are, we’ll write more! But Heart of Stone is the first historical and our first novel to be published, so it’ll always be special to us.

For me, writing this novel was a bit different. As part of our collaboration process, we choose which of the lead characters we’re going to write (I talked about that in more detail here). I wrote Luke Reynolds, who is a laid-back, easy-going cowboy with a penchant for teasing — very different from the type of character I usually write!

Normally, I gravitate toward characters who are a little darker, a little more angsty, a little more broody, have more of an edge, especially in longer works. Writing issue-free characters in shorter works is easier because the action isn’t sustained over hundreds of pages, although I can still develop a broody boy in short works, Aidan Grimm from On the Rocks and Jon Lawson from Caribbean Blues being two notable examples.

Writing a character who is issue-free in a novel-length work was a huge switch for me, but I enjoyed the experience because it did take me outside of my usual comfort zone. When we meet Luke, he’s comfortable with his life and in his own skin. Falling for Stone shakes up his comfortable world, however, and he does get pushed through the angst wringer like most of our other characters (no escape from the angst wringer!), but he’s still significantly different from my usual leading men in his lightness of spirit, optimism, and good-natured personality. Luke is an extrovert, which is not a characteristic most of my characters possess.

It was a refreshing break for me, not only because he’s different but also because it let me know I can write issue/angst/broodiness-free characters in a longer work. Plus he was just fun. His playfulness was enjoyable to write, and I liked seeing how he was able to draw Stone out of his shell bit by bit.

I hope the readers enjoy watching Luke and Stone’s relationship unfold as much as we enjoyed writing it! If anyone has any questions about our characters, our writing process, our books, or whatever, just drop us a comment here or tweet us at AriMcKay1.

Heart of Stone is now available in ebook or trade paperback format at Dreamspinner Press.

Now Available!

Love’s Cabers Tossed is now available from Dreamspinner Press!

Description:

At the Coastal Carolina Highland Games, baker Martin Fletcher receives an unexpected visitor in the form of Fergus, Lyall McLannan’s escaped sheltie. When Fergus accidentally causes Martin to sprain his ankle, Lyall comes to the rescue, helping Martin run his booth at the Games. Unfortunately, Lyall doesn’t know a thing about baking, but he manages to avoid both disaster and Martin’s wrath by attracting patrons with his and Fergus’s showmanship.

Martin accepts Lyall’s invitation to stay in his RV during the fair, getting to know the lawyer-turned-Highlander he’s watched from afar. Martin is captivated by Lyall’s charm… and the tantalizing view of him in a kilt. Entranced by Martin’s dedication to his work and love for Fergus, Lyall sets out to woo him with starlight and bagpipe music, because he’s discovered opposites can attract and love can be found in the most unexpected circumstances.

On Sale!

All our books at Dreamspinner Press are on sale for 20% off through Friday! This includes the pre-release of Heart of Stone, in both ebook format and paperback! If you’ve wanted to check out our other work, such as On The Rocks or The Once and Future Love, this might be a good chance!

Go to here for the sale! And while you’re there, check out all the other 6th year authors on sale at Dreamspinner Press!

One week!

Only one week to go until the publication of our first full-length novel, Heart of Stone!! It is available for pre-order in both ebook as well as trade sized paperback!

Heart of Stone is the tale of two cowboys in 19th century Nevada. Stone Harrison is one-quarter Pawnee, and has been hiding more than just his ancestry from the world. When he inherits a ranch from an aunt he’s never even met, he decides to take a chance that Copper Lake Ranch just might offer him the home he’s been looking for. When he arrives, he finds not only a place to belong, but a man who tempts and entices him as no one ever has before. Luke Reynolds is Copper Lake’s foreman, and he wants to help Stone succeed at being a rancher — almost as much as he wants Stone in his bed. Surrounded by secrets and faced with disaster at every turn, Stone is trapped between one man who wants him, and another who wants him dead. In the end, Stone knows he must stand up and protect the man he loves… even if he has to kill someone to do it.

Another Giveaway!

Yep! We’ve got two giveaways going on right now, one to celebrate our one year anniversary as published authors and one to celebrate the publication of our first full length novel.

The new giveaway is available HERE! You can enter to win a free autographed print copy of our historical Western novel, Heart of Stone, which is being released on June 3. The giveaway will run through June 4, and we’ll pick a winner on June 5!

Meanwhile, our one year anniversary is still going strong! The prizes are a copy of “Love’s Cabers Tossed”  and a copy of “Once and Future Love”. The giveaway will run through May 31 with the winner being chosen on June 1, when the Daily Dose stories become available.

To enter the one year anniversary giveaway, please go here on Facebook or here!

Writing Update

Last night we finished the first draft of “Cinnamon and Seduction”, the fourth book in the “Recipe for Romance” series! Woo! This is the long awaited romance of Stephen and Robert, and I really think everyone is going to like it!