Andrew J. Peters's Blog, page 22

Guest Blog: Vicktor Alexander on his New Release, Why He’s Donating Profits to The Trevor Project

Today, I’m handing my blog reins to author Vicktor Alexander.

Vicktor and I connected through Triberr’s LGBT Authors Group. Realizing we both have new releases in the paranormal romance genre (shifters even), we decided to do a blog swap. He’s got a great book and a great cause to talk about. So, take it away Vic!

Thank you to Andrew for allowing me the chance to talk to you all about a book, a series and a cause that I’m very passionate about. Impossible, book six of the Tate Pack series and The Trevor Project.

Impossible, book 6 of the Tate Pack series released Friday, June 14th and I was and am so uberly excited to hear what everyone thinks. It was nice to return to the Tate ranch, to hang with the guys again and I think you’ll all be very shocked by what happens in the story. Though I am to warn you that it’s angsty and will make you cry, at least according to my betas and others who have read it so far.

In light of what the book is about and what my plans are for the profits, I decided to do more than just give you the blurb, excerpt, cover and buy links, I thought I would tell you all why I really want this book to do well.

Also, one lucky person who comments will receive a free e-Book copy of Impossible. Just read this post and drop a comment below with your e-mail address and an answer to the question: Is there anything in your life you wish you could do over?

Last year I made a promise to donate half the profits of Impossible to The Trevor Project and half of the profits of Untouchable to the It Gets Better Project. I made these promises in light of all of the teenagers who felt as if the bullying, the scorn, the oppression, etc. that they suffered was just too much and committed suicide. I made it in light of the online friend I’d made who also succumbed to the darkness. I made the promises because of Justin, Angel, Ryan and Keesha who all have come to my rescue, more than once, when I tried to give into the darkness.

I made the promise because of Susan.

Who is Susan?

When I was fifteen I moved in with my bio father in Pensacola because I was making a lot, a lot, of really bad, really dangerous life decisions. I didn’t want to stay with my father, but at the same time, the decision to move had been mine (try to figure that one out). When I first moved up to Pensacola, I was the outsider. I was one of maybe six black kids in the youth group at the church my father and I went to that consisted of over 200 teenagers, I was the only one of all of my friends who had engaged in a sexual relationship, had done drugs, drank liquor, rebelled, etc. I felt out of place. But I pushed on and began to clean up my act.

Then I met Susan.

Susan and I had a similar story. Our backgrounds and childhoods were similar and so because of Susan I had someone I could talk to. About a lot of different things. And I was the only person outside of Susan’s mother and a mutual friend, Eve, who knew Susan’s biggest secret.

Susan was a lesbian.

Because of the church we went to, the friends we had, Susan and I didn’t feel comfortable a lot of times sharing the thoughts, desires, the dreams or even our true feelings to those around us. But whenever we were alone, in her purple bedroom, with the walls covered with newspaper clippings, her bed covered in a black duvet and her cat hissing at us from underneath the bed, we could talk about those things.

Susan and I talked every day. We emailed (yes, they had email when I was 15), we called each other on the phone and we hung out all the time. We promised to stay in touch. We promised to look out for each other. We promised to keep each other sane and to keep each other’s head above water.

I didn’t keep my promise.

When I moved back to Winter Haven, Florida I was 16. It didn’t take long for me to fall back into my old ways. And wracked with guilt I started dodging Susan’s calls. Responding to her emails with one line or two-line sentences. Before long the phone calls, the letters and the emails stopped. I’ll be honest and tell you that I was relieved. At 16 I was already responsible for my younger siblings, for helping out my bio mom, a single mother, around the house. I had school, my after-school activities, my siblings’ after-school activities, and my job, I couldn’t and didn’t want to be responsible for someone else.

I only found out that Susan committed suicide four months after we stopped talking, two years later when I went back to Pensacola for seminary.

I have been wracked with guilt ever since.

For over thirteen years since we stopped talking and eleven years after I heard about Susan’s suicide, I have been walking around with that over my head and I wanted to donate to The Trevor Project for Susan. So that maybe it won’t happen again. To try and atone for deserting a friend when she needed me most. While I understand when people tell me that it’s not my fault, I can’t help but feel as if it is.

I don’t think that I’ve ever talked about Susan with anyone outside of my therapist and other friends who knew her, but I’m happy that I have shared it with you all now.

There is a world full of Susans out there and I want to do my part to help.

Half of my profits from Impossible, book 6 of the Tate Pack series, will be donated to The Trevor Project. If you want, when you buy the book, you can leave me a comment here and let me know if you bought the book because of someone, ie “This is for my friend_____” and each time I make a donation to The Trevor Project I’ll remember those who are mentioned.

I hope you all enjoy Impossible. Thank you for helping me, help others and honor Susan.

And now, here’s where you can buy Impossible:

 

Kindle

ARe

BookStrand

R&PPublishing

Blurb:

Alexander Dieson always knew that he was different. Yes, he could shift like the other wolf shifting cowboys on the Tate Ranch, but he could also make fire and a host of other things. When his parents move him to California from Texas he resolves himself to spending a life alone.

Ross Barber discovers the scent of his mate hours after the younger man moves away with his family. He spends ten years searching for Alex and finally finds him just after Alex’s life has been completely turned upside down.

Ross promises Alex that he will help find his mate’s missing siblings but in the process of their search they learn the truth about Alex’s DNA and are completely shocked by the way their lives and the Tate Ranch changes because of it. And when they learn how high up the plot to kidnap and sell paranormals actually goes, the Tate Pack will never be the same.

Excerpt:

“Hey! You!”

Ross looked up at the shout and found himself facing the throng of men who had left the house and now spread out to surround him. The man holding the toddler walked back to the front of the house before he returned. Ross looked around at them all, noticing the pack’s Alpha stood among them, not at all shocked that he would be involved in something shady—most Alphas he’d met were—testing his odds and figuring out his best course of action. His father was a former Green Beret and his mother had been Special Ops.

Ross had been trained from the crib in hand-to-hand combat, just like his sister. They’d been trained to kill when they had no other options, and his parents had always made sure they knew how to get themselves out of any situation they ever found themselves in. Most people would think his parents had done him a disservice by raising him to be a fierce killing machine, dominant, aggressive… mean as all get out, but Ross didn’t see it that way. There were some fucked up things out there, and not all of them were in the paranormal world. Ross, his sister, and their parents had come in contact with evil in its purest form and he would be damned if he would ever be caught unaware.

He tensed his muscles, ignoring the fact that he was completely nude because of his shift, and waited for the first man to come charging at him. That was always where people went wrong. They immediately went on the offensive when it was defense that won games, no matter what his football coach had told him.

“Hey, look, we don’t want any trouble,” Vet said, the new Alpha, if the power that swirled around him, almost bringing Ross to his knees, was any indication. His hair, which looked black in the darkness, blew in the late night breeze and his scent wafted up to Ross’s nostrils. Ross took in a deep breath and wrote the Alpha off as his mate again. He hadn’t been back at the Tate Ranch in quite a while. Even though much of it was like returning home, there were still aspects of the pack lands that were new to him. Namely, the fact that the men before him were older and their scents, while at the core were still the same, had subtly changed. Ross knew Vet. They had, in fact, gone to preschool together, come out to each other, lost their virginity together, and had shifted together for the first time. It was shortly after losing their virginity to each other that Ross and his family had left the pack to assist in a rescue mission.

Apparently the pack had added more new members since then. One of them was his mate, but Vet, even with his new, more powerful, cloying scent, wasn’t his mate. None of the men who currently watched him were. Which meant that his mate was in the house. “We just want to know what you’re doing skulking around the Dieson home. I am the new Alpha of this pack, and I would have you identify yourself.”

Ross tucked away the name Dieson for later and bared his neck to the Alpha in a show of submission. “My apologies, Alpha. You may not remember me, but my name is Ross Barber. My family and I just re-joined the pack today. You met with my parents earlier.” Ross waited for Vernon “Vet” Tate to nod before he continued. “I smelled my mate and came to find him,” he finished simply. He noticed the large man who had been holding the toddler earlier tense and immediately turned his attention to him. “Do you know who my mate is, Beta?”

Ross grinned when he saw the big man blink at him in stupefaction. He wasn’t sure how he was always able to know exactly what someone’s position was in a pack, coven, herd, company or wherever, but from the time he was a child, it had been a gift of his. He could either peg what they currently were, or what they would end up being. It freaked people out all the time; he just saw it as a fact of life.

The larger man recovered from his shock and growled low in his throat, showing a small measure of aggression at Ross’s blatantly disrespectful tone with him, before his shoulder drooped and he whimpered in the back of his throat. The sound was one of despair, and Ross felt his blood run cold. Had something happened to his mate? And what did the Beta mean to the man who belonged to Ross?

“His name is Alex Dieson. Alexander Mitch Dieson. He’s not here anymore,” the Beta answered.

Ross felt his heart stop in his chest. He crouched low to the ground, a growl rumbling up from his belly and bursting forth from his lips. He didn’t know why the Beta sounded so upset that Alex was gone since he’d obviously had something to do with it, but Ross didn’t care. The Beta would be the first to go. The other wolves crouched low, and Ross ignored the small, niggling voice at the back of his mind that pointed out that there was no smell of blood in the air anywhere, so his mate wasn’t hurt. Ross’s eyes took in the other wolves, and he noticed that the Alpha remained standing.

“Hold it, guys. He doesn’t understand,” he said, the power in his words causing them all to freeze. He stared at Ross and sighed. “Alex isn’t dead or hurt. At least, we have seen no evidence that he is. We came to invite him out for our weekly bowling party and found his home deserted. All of his stuff is gone, as well as those of his parents. We believe they left town sometime earlier today, without the permission of the Alpha, and with no indication about where they were going. They didn’t leave a note or a letter behind to explain their actions, either, though Alex did leave something written on his wall for us to see.”

Ross didn’t allow the Alpha to continue talking, instead turning and yanking off the doorknob to the back door in his rush to get inside. He ignored the shouts of the men behind him as he ran upstairs. He followed the scent of his mate and charged into the room where the smell was heaviest. He stopped when he saw the words written on the bare blue wall. There, written in large, black permanent marker were words that filled Ross with hope and a determination to find the man who belonged by his side.

I’ll be back.

Ross would make sure of that. He would find his mate and bring him back to Wichita Falls, where he belonged, no matter how long it took to find him.

Don’t forget: for a chance to win a copy of Impossible, drop a comment below with your e-mail and an answer to the question: Is there anything in your life you wish you could do over? At midnight EST on June 23rd, I’ll choose a winner through Random.org. 

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Werecat: The Rearing Giveaway at Bibliophilic Book Blog

For a chance for a free copy of Werecat: The Rearing, head over to Bibliophilic Book Blog where paranormal romance reviewer Star is hosting a giveaway drawing through June 30th.

You can enter by clicking here, reading her June 18th article (which is an interview with me), and dropping a comment. A winner will be chosen randomly after June 30th.

Bibliophilic Book Blog is definitely worth a browse. There’s a huge catalog of paranormal romance titles, including quite a few of gay/m/m interest.

 

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Boys, Bears & Scares

Boys, Bears & Scares is a new fan page on Facebook  created by author Daniel W. Kelly.

The page is “a place for everything gay horror: books, movies, tv, art, graphic novels, porn and more.”

Some recent posts include photos from the indie film “The Gay Bed and Breakfast of Terror,” cover art from the Horror line of e-Books at MLR (Man Love Romance) Press, as well as scene shots from classic horror films and TV series (those that feature scantily clad, hunky dudes) like My Bloody Valentine and of course HBO’s True Blood.

The content is most definitely eye-grabbing and sexy. It’s a celebration of horror and a reclaiming of horror, and it doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Explains Dan: “Horror exploits sex. Horror exploits camp. Who does sex and camp better than gay guys? Gay horror is a refreshing alternative to all the T&A rated horror.”

That’s not to say that Dan doesn’t have an important agenda with Boys, Bears & Scares. Dan writes horror. He’s a fellow Bold Strokes Books author. He was most recently seen here when I posted a photo from the June 9th Bold Strokes Books Presents 6 Authors event. He read from his recently released book Combustion.

I asked him via Facebook  to share his inspirations and hopes for BBS.

“There’s plenty of gay horror being made, but as a writer, it’s hard to get it to the audience, and as a fan, it’s hard to find it. I’m hoping Boys, Bears & Scares will make it easier for all of us.

“I want Boys, Bears & Scares to be a place where guys can see what movies, books, art, personalities, and websites are out there, and where gay horror makers can reach other gay horror fans.

“A gay presence isn’t always welcome or realistically portrayed in horror. The gay horror subgenre fixes that. You know. Sometimes, if you want it done right, you have to do it yourself.

“There are gay horror fans who are in the closet, either about being fans of horror or about wanting more man meat with their monsters. Boys, Bears & Scares exposes the horror gay guys have only dreamt of.”

I think it’s pretty brilliant. You can check out the page by clicking here.

 

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Author Interview at Newtown Literary

Surf over to Newtown Literary’s blog this week where they’re running spots on the contributing authors in Issue 2 Spring/Summer 2013.

I did an interview that went up today. And you can purchase Issue #2 by clicking on the journal image below:

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Bold Strokes Books Presents 6 Authors – Event Photos

Left to right: Authors Joel Gomez-Dossi, Jane Hoppen, Daniel W. Kelly, Jeremy Jordan King, Andrew J. Peters and Nora Olsen

There’s the whole crew of Bold Strokes Books authors who did readings yesterday at the Bureau of General Services – Queer Division.

I thought it was a really fun and successful event. We had readings that ran the gamut from sci fi/fantasy (Nora Olsen’s Swans and Klons and Jeremy Jordan Knight’s In Stone) to thriller (Joel Gomez-Dossi’s Deadly Cult) to contemporary (Jane Hoppen’s In Between).

I read one of my favorite scenes from my young adult fantasy The Seventh Pleiade.

My partner snapped the following photo from his iPhone.

 Many thanks to the great folks at the Bureau who hosted the event.

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Sights from Newtown Literary Issue #2 Launch

Newtown Literary has posted great photos from last Thursday’s Issue #2 launch event at the monthly REZ Reading series.

It was standing room only at Odradek’s Coffee House. That included me, my partner and two of our friends, even though we arrived a few minutes early. But the authors and the crowd’s positive energy made standing scarcely a hardship.

You can check out photos from the event here.

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Bold Strokes Books Presents 7 Authors – This Sunday, June 9th!

Just a reminder and a re-invitation: Bold Strokes Books is hosting a reading event featuring  a panel of its authors (including me!) at the fabulously-named Bureau of General Services – Queer Division, a queer bookstore and event space.

It’s this Sunday, June 9th 3:00 – 5:00PM

I’ll be reading an excerpt from The Seventh Pleiade.

Admission is free so come on out to hear from a range of LGBT fiction authors and maybe pick up one of our books. Address, directions to the event space can be found here.

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Werecat Giveaway at The Romance Reviews

Continuing my release month/LGBT Pride Month promotion, you can enter a drawing for a free copy of Werecat: The Rearing at The Romance Reviews from June 7th – June 15th.

For a chance at the drawing, just click here.

Good luck. May the feline gods favor you.

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Tomorrow Night: Newtown Literary Issue 2 Release Party Featuring Writers from Queens, NY

Just a quick reminder that the New Literary Issue 2 Release Party is happening tomorrow: Thursday, June 6th 7:00 – 8:30pm at Odradek’s Coffee House in Kew Gardens.

I’ll be reading an excerpt from my short story “The Trouble with Finklesteins” along with an array of Newtown authors.

Stop by and say hello!

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On the Culture of Cattiness: Do We Really Need This Now?

Retrieved from dreamstime.com

I’ve been thinking a lot about cattiness lately.

That’s partially tongue-in-cheek. I’m working hard to market my new release about feline shapeshifters so I’m trying to call up all the words and phrases about cats I can from my mental thesaurus in order to promote the book.

Take a prowl into the world of Werecat.

When a werecougar and a werejaguar get together, watch the fur fly.

Etc.

But that’s not the kind of cattiness I want to talk about.

Cattiness is a (sometimes) artful, aggressive behavior. It’s a way of ridiculing someone in an indirect way. Gay men and women are often described as being catty. I see it as a complex form of marginalization and shaming. Men, especially non-gay men, call gay men and women catty in order to keep them in their place. When gay men and women adopt catty behavior, it becomes a self-fulfilling stereotype.

Cattiness is lateral aggression. It’s putting each other down. It’s vying to get to the top of the heap because attacking someone who really holds power – men, especially non-gay men – is too threatening.

I’ve often been bothered by cattiness, and this recent article by Madison Moore on Thought Catalog got me thinking about the subject again: 15 Things Gay Men Need to Stop Doing.

I tend to respond better to community issues framed more positively, e.g. what about 15 things gay men could start doing? But I thought it was a good conversation-starter. The article talks about gay men’s fear of effeminacy, which Moore says is “misplaced misogyny.” I agree. Most of us have grown up hearing hostile messages about our sexuality: we’re too girly, too flamboyant, swishy, not “real” men, and so on. Why beat up each other with the same B.S.?

Meanwhile, here in New York City, there’s been a shocking rise of physical assaults against gay men, including a murder. Both the victims and the perpetrators have been young men of color. I see it as another form of lateral aggression. Pick on someone who you perceive as weak in order to experience a sense of power.

What does it accomplish? No real power in the ways that matter — culturally or politically or economically.

Gay men being catty toward each other might not have the same deadly consequences, but I think it hurts us. It perpetuates a sense of shame about who we are. Sometimes, that happens by reinforcing shame around effeminacy, which shames women as well. Sometimes it perpetuates shame about other “undesirable” characteristics.

“Can you believe that guy looked at me? He’s such an old troll.”

“That fat queen really thinks he has a chance with me? I’m not into pork.”

Writing about this subject brings up mixed feelings for me. I’m not trying to be preachy. I’m not claiming to be the arbiter of what constitutes cattiness versus what might be joking around between friends, a kind of social bonding that I think is hard-wired in guys’ brains. We tend to communicate through put-downs, most especially among the guys we consider our best friends. It’s kind of an adolescent thing, but really in most cases harmless. There’s no real threatening intention or desire to create shame.

I’m also not claiming to have always been an angel myself.

I was drawn to the topic because in some instinctive way it bugs me when I hear one of my gay friends making fun of another gay man, usually an acquaintance or a stranger, based on physical characteristics, or age, or what he’s wearing, or how he talks, or because he comes across as effeminate in some other way.

If gay men treated each other better, I think we would be a stronger community. I’m not saying we should never criticize each other. But criticism of physical characteristics, like effeminacy, is just cattiness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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