Tempeste O'Riley's Blog, page 32

Thursday Tasters: Desires’ Guardian

Welcome to the Thursday Tasters. Here you will find links to some awesome tasters of works written by awesome authors. Find the other tastes HERE

Today’s Taste is from my submitted manuscript, Desires’ Guardian. DG is the story of Chase and Rhys, whom you first met in Designs of Desire.

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Danni Burns, James’s seven-year-old stepdaughter, and Rhys sat on a blanket in a glade dotted with small flowers, near a gently winding brook, having tea. Rhys in his biker leather and Danni in one of her lavender princess dresses. Mrs. Rainbow—her beloved pastel, tie-dyed bunny in a tiny white and green Irish dancing dress with miniature black Mary Janes on—sat between the two.

“So, what do you think?” James asked Chase as he joined him before what was secretly one of his favorite paintings of his show. The gallery show had opened about an hour earlier, but the two men hadn’t had much time together to discuss what images would be shown. Honestly, the fact there was such a family feel to part of the images, as opposed to James’s usual erotic content, surprised him.

“I think you caught the mischief and sweetness of Danni beautifully.” In truth, he was in awe of how James managed to capture their inner-selves so beautifully. In his opinion, it was one of James’s best paintings. The gentle giant and his precious little sprite. “But why did you pair her with Rhys of all people. He’s so…” Chase trailed off, caught again by the beautiful masculinity before him.

“Powerful? Handsome? Gentle?” James raised an eyebrow at Chase and smiled. “I honestly wish you would tell me why all the animosity between you two,” he added, voice soft.

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Blurb:

Chase is outwardly a party-boy twink, or at least that’s what many think when they first meet him. Actually, Chase is a loyal friend with deep wounds that only his BFF knows anything about. When he meets Rhys things don’t go well, but he can’t shake the attraction for the huge, sexy man.

  Rhys Sayer is a man of contradictions and fear—a strange combination for a PI and bodyguard. When he first lays eyes on Chase Manning, he’s not in a good place emotionally and causes any possible future together to go poof, maybe. Rhys is not a complicated man, he doesn’t think so at least. But he fears the very type of relationship he desires, and even worse, Chase is his dream man in more ways than one!

  Can Chase move past his hidden pains to truly let a man into his heart in the forever kind of way? Can Rhys win over the whiley Chase and teach him that love and trust are his to grasp?

Guest Book ♥ RARE by Garrett Leigh

“Loss of Brain function can occur even without much visible damage to the head.” Twelve little words that struck a fear in me beyond any fear I’d ever felt before. Inside I was cowed in the corner, screamig, and yet somehow I was still by his side.

Hey, Tempe! Thanks for having me. Rare (Roads #2) and its accompanying short Freed released yesterday. Rare is my second novel with Dreamspinner Press and for some reason, I thought I’d be less nervous this time around. Schoolgirl error, obviously, but don’t mind me.

Anyway, Rare was a tough book to write, even tougher than Slide. Ash’s battle with his mental health is far from over and life just won’t quit throwing crap at him. You may remember the appearance of Ash’s sister in the epilogue of Slide, and by now, you may have read some of the book and learned a little more about her.

Huh. Now, listen…I’m aware that a particular plot point in Rare may strike a few, possibly more than a few, as preposterous. Well, what can I say? Not much, I’d imagine, but to those on the fence I’ve got some shit to share with you.

Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m not saying crazy stuff like this happens every day, but when I was researching Rare many moons ago I came across several stories that inspired the path Ash trod to reconnect with his surviving family.

These are those stories…

Long Brother and Sister Reunite After Thirty Years

Cmdr. Cindy Murray and her brother, Chief Aviation Ordnanceman Robert Williamson were separated in the 1970s when their parents separated. Originally from Denver both brother and sister grew up to enlist and on reuniting discovered they were both working for the Navy in California. After the siblings’ parents separated, Murray took her mother’s maiden name, making it difficult for Williamson to find his sister.

Two months ago Murray called her estranged father who told her that her brother was a chief in the Navy. Within only 15 minutes of giving her brother’s name to her leading chief petty officer (LCPO), the pair were on the phone. Chief Petty Officer Hospital Corpsman Jeremy Simon, and he made the siblings’ connection possible. Williamson reported that he was in shock. According to Williamson, Murray’s LCPO called saying, ‘I’m pretty sure my boss is your sister. Do you have a sister named Cindy?’

Williamson replied, ‘Yes, I do.’

Read the full story here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2437111/Lost-brother-sister-reunite-30-YEARS-serve-US-Navy-SAME-state.html

Chance Encounter Reunites Siblings After Sixty-One Years

Alice and Sandy’s mother was a nurse in Puerto Rico when she gave up custody of their brother, Bernardo, when he was just an infant. The sisters say it was their mother’s wish that the three would be reunited, but their attempts were unsuccessful. Decades later it was a chance encounter on a cruise ship that started their unlikely story. A woman told Alice that she knew a man with her maiden name “and you know what? … He looks like Sandy.

Read the full story here:

http://screen.yahoo.com/sisters-reunited-brother-61-years-020620330.html

A Long Lost Sibling Finds Her Sibling by Reading Her Best Selling Memoir

Many people identified with Cheryl Strayed after reading her fantastic memoir, Wild. The author told NPR that one woman felt particularly connected to her; this reader “was just halfway into chapter one when she said she sat bolt upright in bed and realized that we had the same father.”

http://gawker.com/a-long-lost-sibling-finds-her-sister-by-reading-her-bes-1272877542

As you can tell, I had a lot of fun researching this plot point, and there are many, many, more tales I could share with you, but I’m not going to. Instead, I’m going to give you the blurb and cover for Rare (Roads #2) and give you fair warning that Ash’s journey to his sister is just the start of a very rough ride for my favourite boys.

RARE

by Garrett Leigh

Roads: Book 2 – Sequel to Slide

Cover by G.D. Leigh

Contemporary M/M Romance

January 17th 2014

Paramedic Pete Adams lived through the year from hell watching his lover, Ash, fall apart, and the precarious balance between work and home is becoming more strained. His heart is always home, with Ash, but the dark side to his job is weighing him down.

Tattoo artist Ash Fagin is recovering from a nervous breakdown triggered by revelations about his traumatic childhood. His battle with mental illness is far from over, but with Pete by his side, he’s feeling good again, so good he doesn’t notice something missing until it walks right into his living room.

Ash believes he’s had enough coincidence in his life, but when a voice from the past comes looking for him, it takes the devastating injuries of the one he loves most to convince him to let a ghost become the family he never knew he wanted.

Dreamspinner Press

Ash

PETE HAD been busy while I’d been gone. I stood in front of the shiny new door to his apartment and wondered for a moment if I’d come home to the right place. Then I remembered the coarse message he’d sent me a few days ago, telling me in no uncertain terms what a bitch the new door had been to fit. A separate message—perhaps an afterthought—told me he’d left a key on top of the frame.

I reached for it and turned it over in my hand. It was silver and shiny. The old one was battered brass, bruised and familiar. It felt heavy in my pocket as I slid the new key into the lock. I considered the fate of the old key now that the door it belonged to was no longer there. Pete said I pondered the strangest things.

The new door swung open with a whisper. It felt odd after two years with a door that crunched like a gearbox. The new door was like a ghost, all shimmery and silent. I wasn’t sure I liked it.

A wry grin crept over my face. Really? Four days without Pete and you’re worried about a door? I took a tentative step forward. The door closed with a quiet click, and this time, I paid it no heed.

I glanced around the apartment. It was quiet and still. No TV, stereo, or signs of life. That was no surprise. I was a few hours early. Despite hating every moment of the flight between Chicago and Philadelphia, I’d caught an earlier plane home. Pete wasn’t expecting me, but I could feel in my bones that he was home. The invisible cord between us pulled me along, and a minute later, I found him passed out in our bed. He was asleep on his stomach, something he only did when he was alone or too tired to notice. It used to make me uneasy—sometimes it still did—but not today. Today his bare back was exactly what I needed to see. I sat down by his head and brushed my fingers over his stubbly jaw. He didn’t stir, even when I leaned down and breathed in the clean smell of his skin.

His back caught my attention again. I loved his back, perhaps because I so rarely got to see it like this—naked and still. A while ago he’d considered getting some new ink on his back, something small on his shoulder, but I’d refused to do it. I’d draw him anything he wanted, anywhere he wanted—just not there. His back was amazing—smooth, olive-brown, and flawless. It didn’t need anything else.

I leaned down and pressed a soft kiss between his shoulder blades. Dr. Gilbert, the therapist who had the pleasure of dissecting my messed-up brain, told me every week that I should do the things I wanted to do—trust myself to do them—before I overthought them. I’d wanted to kiss Pete’s back for years. Now seemed as good a time as any.

His warm skin felt good, so good I did it again, and again, until he began to stir. I pulled back and waited as his arm fumbled for me, but he didn’t open his eyes. Instead, he rumbled out a chuckle that came from deep in his belly.

“I must be fucking dreaming if you just did what I think you did.”

His voice was gruff and sleepy, but it had been four days since I’d heard it. My chest felt warm. “Open your eyes and see.”

He didn’t answer with words. Instead, he rolled over and pulled me on top of him. I went willingly and kissed him until he needed to breathe. When he pulled away, he noticed how damp my clothes were. I’d gotten caught in the rain on the walk from the L, one of those autumn showers that washed away the humidity and made everything smell fresh and clean. I liked that kind of rain; it felt good on my face. If I hadn’t been in such a hurry to get home, I would have stood in it longer.

Pete shoved me away, feigning irritation, but his sleepy eyes belied his humor. “You’re soaked.”

He blinked a couple of times and rubbed his face like he wasn’t entirely awake. I laid my forehead against his and laughed. It felt so good to be home.

Beneath me, Pete shifted. He was half-asleep, but I knew what he wanted. Since the first time I’d ever laid a hand on him, he’d always been a sucker for skin-to-skin contact. He tugged on my shirt with clumsy hands, and I was more than happy to pull it over my head. He stilled when he had me where he wanted me, and his breathing became deep and even again. I raised my head from the crook of his neck and eyed him. I felt like I needed to get closer, like I could climb inside his skin and still not be close enough. After a moment of deliberation, I reached for the one part of him that was definitely awake.

Pete was the master of the slow, torturous fuck. The way he played my body was something I still couldn’t quite believe. It wasn’t often I caught him in the mood to be on the receiving end, but as I watched him drift in that hazy world between awake and asleep, I knew that now was my chance to indulge him. I worked him over real slow with my hand. He hummed and shifted a few times, but when he came it was with a quiet sigh, and he was snoring again before I’d even let go of his dick.

It was mesmerizing to see him unconsciously unravel. I could have watched him for hours, but as I stared at his beautiful sleeping form, something in the back of my mind refused to rest. I ignored it for as long as I could, but the call in my head was persistent, so loud there was only one way to silence it. I kissed Pete’s chest and lingered over the biggest star he had etched on his skin, the one right over his heart, before I got up and left him. I padded through the apartment and retrieved my sketchbook from the bag I’d dumped by the door. Like fate, the book fell open to the most recent drawing I’d done of the mysterious baby girl who haunted my sketches. I stared at her, like her face could tell me what I needed to know, but the antsy feeling under my skin persisted until I turned the page on her face and my pencil touched clean paper.

Like so many times before, I was lost then, detached from my surroundings until the scratching of lead on the page petered out. Relieved, I felt better as I sat back and scrutinized the unfamiliar face of the young woman. The way I’d drawn her made her seem like a mystical princess. The brief time I’d spent in Philadelphia already felt like a lifetime ago, and in the darkening early evening, it was hard to believe she was the same girl I’d seen this morning. I had no doubt it was her, though. I’d recognize her anywhere. Her image would be imprinted on my brain forever, because she was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen.

Garrett Leigh lives in a small commuter town just north of London with her husband, two kids, a dog with half a brain, and a cat with a chip on her shoulder. She’s twenty-nine, and now she’s reached that milestone, she intends to stay there for the foreseeable future. Garrett has been writing just about her whole life, but it’s been about three years since she decided to take it seriously. According to Mr. Garrett, it was either give the men in her head a voice or have herself committed.

Angst. She can’t write a word without it. She’s tried, she really has, but her protagonists will always always be tortured, crippled, broken, and deeply flawed. Throw in a tale of enduring true love, some stubbly facial hair, and a bunch of tattoos, and you’ve got yourself a Garrett special.

When not writing, Garrett can generally be found procrastinating on Twitter, cooking up a storm, or sitting on her behind doing as little as possible. That, and dreaming up new ways to torture her characters. Garrett believes in happy endings; she just likes to make her boys work for it.

Garrett also works as a freelance cover artist for various publishing houses and independent authors under the pseudonym G.D Leigh.

♥ Site ♥ Dreamspinner ♥ Cover Art ♥ Twitter ♥ Facebook ♥

IF you can help …

IF you can help … please do …
Tj Klune needs help with the financial bill of switching hospitals for his fiancee Eric Arvin … The hospital he’s currently in has been horrible and continues to not work for Eric’s betterment.
This is a much needed transfer, but the insurance won’t cover the move.

Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go!
http://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/help-eric-arvin/116877

Post by Tj Klune.

Guest Book ♥ Blue Light by Night byt Antonio

Welcome to my newest book visitor. Today I have invited a wonderful book to be my guest and hope you will give him a try once you read the blurb and fun little excerpt. Also, there’s a discount code below… so don’t miss out on a great new read!

Blue Light By NIght
A Layton Shayne Mystery 
by Anatonio
Cover by Antonio
Contemporary M/M Supernatural Mystery  
November 24th 2013 

Detective, and ex-military man, Layton Shayne’s newest case has taken him from his home out west into the dark and ominous swamplands of Louisiana. His client Leticia Carter has only told him that the case is simple and involves three siblings with the last name of Kennedy. Layton’s job is to discover who should inherit the old family estate located in Shelby, a town so small it doesn’t even show up on most maps. Immediately after he entered Shelby, the detective met some colorful and mysterious characters. It wasn’t long before he discovered that there was an ancient supernatural element which held the citizens of the town in fear.

Soon after meeting the Kennedy sisters and their handsome brother Alex, Layton noticed that the old southern veneer of the town was thin and disintegrating by the minute. He’d need to depend on his military training to learn not just who to trust, but in order to survive. Somehow in the middle of all this, love comes to the lovelorn detective from more than one direction. Layton knows that work comes first and the case he is there to solve, which sounded so simple, is anything but that. If Layton manages to survive night treks through the swamp, an impromptu trip to New Orleans, some wise-cracking kids, and the lusty inhabitants of Shelby, he still has to come up against supernatural forces and mysterious blue light orbs with the power to kill.

No matter what the outcome, Layton Shayne’s life will never be the same.

SmashWords

25% coupon for readers of Tempe’s blog
Good till March 31st 2014 coupon code: PL47Q

From Chapter 3 A Bang-Up Affair

I parked the truck and Jimmy wasted no time walking to the Jaguar.  I reached into the Manila envelope that I’d gotten from Leticia and pulled out the car keys with the attached clicker.  A press of a button and the Jag’s doors unlocked.  “Wanna go for a ride, little boy?” I said.

“Yeah, but not in the car.”

“Oh, good answer,” I said.

We headed upstairs to my room where we grabbed at each other’s clothes, practically tearing them off one another.  Hungry mouths and hungry tongues found each other as I guided Jimmy toward the bathroom and turned on the shower.  There was a desperation in me that caught me by surprise.  Deep inside I needed this.  We both shuddered as we felt the cold water on our hot bodies.  I pulled Jimmy close to me with my back to the water to shield him from the cold.  His back was to me and I wrapped my arms around him.

“You’re my big protector shielding me from the cold.  I like that.  I like that a lot, Layton.”

I nuzzled Jimmy’s lower neck, making my way to his ear while my hands roamed around his smooth, slick chest.  His slender body was firm but lacked definition.  On the other hand, his ass was perfect.  In fact, it was the very definition of a “bubble butt”.  The water was warm now, so I spun Jimmy around and we switched places so that his head was under the shower and he was facing the wall.  This gave me a nice look at his perfect ass.  I washed it with soap, rinsed it, then crouched down and kissed it.  I could make a meal of him.

Jimmy turned around, pulled me up and kissed me hard before making his way downward, leaving behind a trail of small kisses.  After a while we left the shower and finished getting to know each other in bed.  Later, I lay on my back with his head on my chest, my arm was around him, and his fingers were playing with my light chest hair.
“Do I need to set the alarm for you, Jimmy?”

“No, thanks.  I have tomorrow off.  Does your question mean I’m invited to stay the whole night?  I’m not getting booted onto the street now that we’re done.”

“No, you’re not getting booted out.  And I don’t remember saying we were done.  I should spank your butt for both those comments.”

“Let me make it easy for you, then,” he said.

He turned around, lifting his butt in the air and wiggled it my way.  Just because I didn’t think he expected it, I gave his butt a quick slap then kissed it.  He turned and we rolled around a bit in bed before getting more serious.  In the end, we were wrapped in each other’s arms and Jimmy was fast asleep.  Looking at him, I kissed his forehead.  I had no delusions about what was going on here.  It was nothing permanent or even short term, just two people keeping each other company and having fun.

The next morning I got up early, brushed my teeth, and sat at the table without bothering to dress.  I grabbed the Manila envelope from last night and opened it.  There was the aforementioned appointment card for the men’s clothing store and a plain white envelope.  It contained a more than generous amount of cash—five grand to be exact.  Damn!  That would definitely buy a lot of wining and dining.  But for now, it would buy breakfast for me and the sweet guy waking up in my bed.

Jimmy got up and stretched his slender body, arms reaching to the sky.  I glanced at his nearly hairless body.  It formed an almost perfectly straight line except for that ass.  That did it.  Now Jimmy wasn’t the only thing waking up in the room.  His eyes caught sight of how my body was responding and he smiled in appreciation.  “Good morning,” I said.

Silently, Jimmy walked over to me, he wrapped his arms around my shoulders from behind and kissed my neck.  Without letting loose, he slid around and sat on my lap. Wrapping his legs around mine, he began kissing me full on the lips.  We were in the middle of tongue wrestling when he looked down and gave me a squeeze.

“And a good morning to you, too, Woody,” he said to my cock.  “What are the plans for today, big guy?”

“Are you talking to me now, Jimmy?  Well, after some morning sex to set the tone for the day—”  I couldn’t help but laugh before continuing.  I was happy at the moment and carefree.  “If you’ve been really good, we’ll have breakfast then you can show me around the area.”

“If I’m really, really good can I see you try on your new suit?”

“Damn!  You remember me telling you about that last night.  You do have it bad for me.”  I smiled at him.  “You can come, but only if you’re really, really, really good.”

I wrapped my arms tightly around him, while his arms were around my neck and stood up. Then quickly transferring my hands to under his butt, I held him.  He wrapped his legs around my waist and I walked us to the bed.  Then Jimmy proceeded to be really, really, really good.

    

Antonio was called to write at various times in his life. When he was young, the writing consisted of plays and short stories. Then he explored the fine arts and literature, earning a bachelor’s degree in the latter while minoring in art history. In his studies he was fascinated by and enjoyed analyzing characters, their personalities and motivations. To him it’s always been the characters who make a story special. Once again writing has taken hold of him. In the past it was just an amusement, but now—for Antonio—writing is a passion to live, eat, and breathe.

♥ Site ♥ Dreamspinner ♥ ♥ Smashwords ♥ EMail ♥

Pawn Takes Rook: Conventional Love blog tour

Hello, Internet! I’m Lex Chase and thank you for joining me on stop #5 on the Pawn Takes Rook: Conventional Love blog tour. Conventional Love is the final installment of the superheroic Checkmate trilogy. I decided to do something a little different this tour, and talking about the Checkmate series as a whole. I’m sharing the behind the scenes dirt, the inspirations, and what it was like in my first year as a professional author. And to play into the superheroic theme, I’m giving out trading cards drawn by yours truly. Make sure you check them all out in the tour!

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“Pawn Takes Rook: Cashing the Reality Check” by Lex Chase

Today, I’m nattering on about my favorite character in all of Checkmate that readers seem to either hate, or be indifferent toward. That would be Pixel Lee McGuiness. Or as most people seem to remember from Pawn Takes Rook: Cashing the Reality Check “The Girl on The Cover.”

Unbeknownst to me, I apparently have the honor of having the only book on the Dreamspinner website to have a female character on the cover in with Rook and Garth. I actually had no idea that readers of gay romance, actually don’t take too kindly to female characters hanging out with the guys. I had no idea what to make of this. I’m not pulling a fast one on anyone. Pixel likes boys, Garth and Rook like boys too. Garth and Rook specifically like each other. If anything, Pixel and the boys have something they can agree on.

Pixel, when we met her in Cashing the Reality Check we didn’t know if we could trust her. Her father’s the bad guy. And by all accounts she should be watched cautiously. But in my eyes, that’s all there is to it. She isn’t out to get her girl cooties all over Rook, she isn’t out to chase Garth off. There is no possible way that this story was going to become a straight romance. Have you seen my publisher’s website? They’re very specific.

But it’s a strange thing with readers. Add a character with an ‘innie’ instead of an ‘outie’ into the plot and watch them look upon her with distrust. Or as that girl in the corner that invited herself to the party.

In fact, the public reaction to Pixel was so not what I imagined, I cut her from Conventional Love. Completely. She was supposed to assist in saving the day and everything. And all of her parts were taken out and rewritten. The outline had been majorly tweaked to work around her not being there.

So, in my last hurrah to why Pixel is so golly gee so full of wunnerfulz, have her into scene in Conventional Love:

Pawn Takes Rook: Conventional Love Deleted Scene – Pixel’s Intro

Pixel Lee McGuiness is Power Alliance elite that had momentarily gone rogue due to her supervillain father Ree-Alli-Tee. She’s a technopath like me, but her specialty is composing digital images that come to life and do her bidding, for better or worse. The familiar clop-clop of Pixel’s high heels announced her presence before she emerged from around the corner. True to form, her black pleather dress was adorned with tracer lights and her fluffy green petticoat glowed about her thighs. Because Pixel considers herself a proper lady apparently, a black pillbox hat with a green glowing feather perched at a jaunty angle on her short finger-waved black hair.

“Hey boys,” she said, one finger constantly doodling on the digital tablet mounted on her arm. “Seemed you were in some Barney.”

Rook glanced to me, arching a brow. “Barney?” he asked and I shrugged.

Pixel tossed up her arms in frustration letting them flop to her sides. “Barney Rubble? Trouble?”

I stuck a finger in my ear and wiggled it. “Sorry. The Pixel to English translator microbes must be offline,” I said. As a refresher to those of you playing the home game, Pixel utterly fails at speaking any kind of normal human English. Seriously.

“You better not be looking for trouble,” Rook said, flexing his fingers and Pixel scoffed.

“Whatevs,” she said, waving dismissively. “I’m totes reformed and stuff. I’m here just to geek out like the fifty thousand other attendees.” She leaned in to whisper conspiratorially. “So, like…, rumor has it Rooster Blackrock is going to go full monty at the LGBT Cabaret tonight. Justthoughtthatyoushouldknow.”

“Rooster Blackrock—No!” Rook growled at me, recognizing the name.

“What?” I asked, incredulous.

“No,” Rook repeated.

“He’s just an actor!” I said, shrugging.

Rook crossed his arms, and glared. “You are not going to gawk at the penis of the actor that plays a cybernetic merman.”

I grinned, curling my fingers around Rook’s belt. “Ooooh, that’s so cute!”

Rook grimaced. “My boot in your butt is about to be so cute.”

“You’re jealous!” I said, clapping my hands.

“I am not!” Rook growled only it came out more like a whine of a dying wolf.

“Look at your face,” I said, laughing and pulling my mouth into a contorted frown. “I’m Rook and I’m a sourpants,” I grumbled.

Before I could even see it, Rook’s hand swatted the back of my head.

Genre: M/M Urban Fantasy, Superheroes, Sci-Fi, Humor

Series: Checkmate, Book #3

Length: Novella 41,000

Published: Jan 1, 2014

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

ISBN: 9781627984218

Blurb:

Sequel to Cashing the Reality Check

Checkmate: Book Three

Three years ago, superhero Memphis Rook saved Hogarth Dawson’s life, and now the two can’t imagine being apart. Sort of.

By day, they’re a loving couple. By night, they’re the superhero duo Checkmate. Since that’s too much time in each other’s personal space, Rook and Garth decide they need friends outside of each other. Garth finds friendship with a D&D group comprised of the social misfits Chad—who has crammed himself so far in the closet he might never find the door again, Jackson—who’s so mysophobic he’s afraid of his own germs, and El Jefe—who has all the social grace of a brick.

With an epic dose of peer pressure, the group urges Garth to go to Tolkicon, the biggest comic convention in Axis City. When the supervillain league the Coalition of Calamity appears and takes the convention hostage, as the only real superheroes around, it’s up to Garth and Rook to save the day. With Rook as one of the hostages, Garth knows it’s time to nut up or shut up about being a hero.

Pawn Takes Rook Trading Card!

Time for Card #5!

(Miss a card? See the previous ones at: Gay List Book Reviews | Lily Velden’s blog | Release Party at the Dreamspinner Press Facebook Page | Tali Spencer’s blog | House Millar )

You Can’t Hold Me – Lex Chase

Pawn Takes Rook: Conventional Love Excerpt

I limped down the foyer and into the great room, where he lounged on the couch, in a black robe, reading The Bucolic Plague as if the memoir of gay goat farmers in upstate New York meant anything to him beyond that they were gay.

“You can drop the act,” I said, and he looked up. “I know you don’t read memoirs.”

His brow furrowed and his lips pursed into a childish frown. “You’d be surprised,” he said, petulant.

I decided to play along as I inched down the steps into the recessed room. “What’s so interesting about it then?” I asked as if he’d spout the easy answer.

“It’s normal,” he said simply.

I blinked. Okay, that’s not what I was expecting. “Normal how?” I asked, once again fishing for the easy answer.

“The goat farm, the country life, the being self-sufficient, the being kind to your neighbor,” he said, watching me and clearly aware he had totally lost me. “You were expecting me to say they were gay, right?”

“No,” I lied.

“Hogarth,” he said, calling my bluff.

“Well,” I said, curling up next to him. “Of all books, why that one? Shouldn’t you be reading the updated Krav Maga compendium?”

Rook scanned a page, flipped it, and then scanned again. “I needed to be reminded,” he said softly, his tone having a strange sense of apology.

“Reminded of?” I asked, watching him while he kept his gaze on the book.

Finally his attention settled on me, and the murderous tint in his aquamarine eyes was replaced with the watery glaze of calm. Like the cool, still underside of a glacier.

“That I still feel,” he said, and my body shivered. “That underneath it all—the urges for violence, the lust of breaking bones, the frenzy at the scent of blood—I still remember I’m just a simple farm boy, raised on wholesome values from Iowa.”

Okay. So there’s those touching, sweet moments when you know you should be totally serious and sincere, like now. Now is a totally serious and sincere moment. But you know when you’re going to react completely inappropriately? Well, you never know when you’re going to react inappropriately, but I regrettably snorted a giggle into my hand.

“Iowa?” I asked, tears welling in my eyes. “Like potatoes?”

Thankfully, Rook humored me and gave me a double-knuckle noogie in my wet red hair. “That’s Idaho, cuddleskull,” he said with a grin. “Well, we can’t all be Mister Das Uber Urban from Axis City.”

“Wisconsin,” I said, confessing my best-kept secret. “Scandinavia, Wisconsin.”

It was Rook’s turn to pause. “Oh?”

“Yeah, your turn,” I said, nudging him with my elbow.

“Charles City, Iowa,” he said. “It was simple then. Before all this….” He pointed to the driftwood chandelier and the rolling fireplace. “This.”

“This,” I said, pointing to his forehead. “This,” I repeated, and lifted his broad hand and placed it over my heart.

It was his turn to take on the stunned, deer-in-the-headlights expression. I had never seen him so fragile before. So genuinely skittish. He swallowed. “I-I can’t change it,” he said quietly.

I knew what he meant. And it was my choice, right at that moment, to either cash in my chips and walk out that door, or just ignore it like it never was a problem. Like it’s never a problem that I’m sitting on a ticking time bomb. That it’s only a matter of time before one of us goes off. How could I have just ignored it? It’s not like it doesn’t come up every few months with every new explanation of what we do as Checkmate. It’s in our genes to destroy each other one day.

“I’ll understand,” he said, his warm hand gently wrapped around mine and his telepathy kicking in at the most appropriate moment. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Shh.” I pressed two fingers to his lips. He blinked owlishly as I straddled his clean, warm lap in my soggy clothes that smelled vaguely of motor oil and dog pee. “I’m dirty,” I said, rolling my hips against him, and he gasped under my fingers. “Let’s not think about this until I’m clean.”

Rook hummed thoughtfully against my fingers. “Are you doing what I think you’re doing?” he asked, and my fingers snaked under his robe, finding his length and giving a firm stroke. His head fell back against the couch. “Oh, Christ, Garth, you are doing what I think you’re doing.”

I giggled, leaning in to whisper my command against his mouth. “Fuck me, farm boy.”

Available from:

Dreamspinner Press | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Giveaway Prompt:

In any book, movie, or show, who is a character you dearly love that no other fans seem to appreciate?

About the Author:

Lex Chase

Lex Chase once heard Stephen King say in a commercial, “We’re all going to die, I’m just trying to make it a little more interesting.” She knew then she wanted to make the world a little more interesting.

Weaving tales of cinematic, sweeping adventure, epic love—and depending on how she feels that day—Lex sprinkles in high-speed chases, shower scenes, and more explosions than a Hollywood blockbuster. She loves tales of men who kiss as much as they kick ass. She believes if you’re going to going to march into the depths of hell, it better be beside the one you love.

Lex is a pop culture diva and her DVR is constantly backlogged. She wouldn’t last five minutes without technology in the event of the apocalypse and has nightmares about refusing to leave her cats behind. She is incredibly sentimental, to the point that she gets choked up at holiday commercials. But like the lovers driven to extreme measures to get home for the holidays, Lex believes everyone deserves a happy ending.

Lex also has a knack for sarcasm, never takes herself seriously, and has been nicknamed “The Next Alan Moore” by her friends for all the pain and suffering she inflicts on her characters. She is a Damned Yankee hailing from the frozen backwoods of Maine residing in the ’burbs of Northwest Florida where it could be 80F and she’d be a popsicle.

She is grateful and humbled for all the readers. She knows very well she wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them and welcomes feedback.

You can find her on those Facebook and Twitter things at:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LXChase

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lex_Chase

Find her blog at http://lexchase.com or drop her an e-mail at lex.a.chase@gmail.com.

1 winner will receive eBook copies of the full Checkmate trilogy

(Pawn Takes Rook, Cashing the Reality Check, and Conventional Love)

2 winners will receive an eBook copy of Conventional Love

Drawing is open to US and International readers.

Facebook Chat will have it’s own prizes!

Such as:

All 20 Checkmate printed trading cards! Including the 4 special mystery cards! Free books! Or a 25 USD Visa Gift Card!

To Enter

Just leave a comment on any of the blog posts along the tour, along with a contact email address. If you would still like to enter the contest but don’t wish to leave your email address in the comment, you can also enter by emailing lex.a.chase@gmail.com.

Winners will be chosen at random and posted on Lex’s blog at Lex Chase on Wednesday, February 5th, and on Lex’s Facebook page. Winners will then be notified via email.

Contest ends

Tuesday, February 4th at midnight, Eastern Time.

Pawn Takes Rook: Conventional Love Tour stops:

1/1 – Gay List Book Reviews [Collect Mystery Card #1]

1/3 – Lily Velden [Collect Trading Card #1]

1/5 – Release Party at the Dreamspinner Press Facebook Page [Collect Trading Card #2 and Win Bonus Goodies]

1/7 – Tali Spencer [Collect Trading Card #3]

1/8 -House Millar [Collect Trading Card #4]

1/10 – Tempeste O’ Riley [Collect Trading Card #5]

1/9 – Tricia Kristufek [Collect Mystery Card #2]

1/12 – Epically Romantic [Collect Trading Card #6]

1/15 – The Novel Approach [Collect Trading Card #7]

1/16 –

Guest Post ♥ Lloyd A. Meeker

Happy New Year! I’m ecstatic to have Romance Author Lloyd A. Meeker with me today share a bit about gay protagonists. Please say hi and leave him a comment or two below.

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Born and raised in a religious commune in the mountain west, Lloyd Meeker began his formal training as an energy healer at the age of ten. As an adult he served for a long time as a minister and teacher in that community before striking out on an individual path of mystical discovery.

His academic career has been sporadic and eclectic, ranging from English literature, history, theatre, music, and classical archaeology to computer science.

Previous published works include two volumes of poetry and an erotic swords-and-sorcery adventure novel, The Darkness of Castle Tiralur. His essay, “Gate-Keepers” appeared in the anthology Second Person Queer, Arsenal Pulp Press, 2009, Labonte and Schimel, eds.

Since 2009 he has served as a judge in the Queer Foundation’s annual High School Seniors English Essay Contest (queerfoundation.org), which promotes effective writing by, about, and/or for queer youth.

Meeker celebrates life with his husband Robert in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he is at work on his next novel. 

♥ Site ♥ EMail ♥ ♥ Amazon ♥ Goodreads ♥

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Gay Protagonists
Walking Between the Worlds

In the Hero’s Journey, the archetypal pattern of initiation into power, the hero leaves his familiar setting and sets out on a road of trials, along which he enters an underworld, encounters tests of many kinds, from which he learns and grows stronger, or doesn’t. If the hero is successful, he returns to his original setting (or arrives in one very similar to it), bringing the gifts of his journey with him to share with his community. At this point, the hero is adept in both the regular world and the underworld in which his growth was forged. He can travel the two worlds at will.

One of the psychologically significant differences for a queer hero is that to survive he had to learn to walk between two worlds long before he became an adult. His adult test is often to learn to walk between the worlds in a good way—good for himself and for his community. This is one of the great gifts same-sex-loving people bring, a naturally developed skill at navigating between paradigms.

I believe writers of stories featuring gay protagonists could explore this empirical aspect of a gay character’s psyche in greater depth. The possibilities are endless, each with its powerful mystical or psychological implications.

For example, in Traveling Light (MLR Press, 2011) Ian McCandless is approaching his initiation as a shaman in modern Vancouver. Being a shaman, someone who literally walks between the spirit and material worlds, is a traditional role for two-spirit people in cultures all over the world. I loved bringing that role into a modern context.

In Enigma (Wilde City Press, 2013) my gay PI Russ Morgan has psychic abilities that asserted themselves once he had accepted his true sexuality. In The Companion, due out from Dreamspinner Press later this year, Shepherd (protagonist) must enter an underworld of terrors that have haunted him from a past life before he can return and live fully in his current one.

My comments here offer only a brief glimpse of a complex subject worthy of much more exploration. For the purposes of this blog post let me urge you to look for this natural strength in gay heroes you read or write about. Whether it’s through magic, psychological healing, mystical enlightenment or psychic strength, he is by his core nature different from most men, and therefore uniquely prepared to shift seamlessly between familiar and strange worlds.

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Enigma
A Russ Morgan Mystery

Who’s blackmailing the high-profile televangelist whose son was famously cured of his homosexuality fifteen years ago? Now in 2009, that ought to be ancient history.

It seems there’s no secret to protect, no crime, not even a clear demand for money—just four threatening letters using old Enigma songs from the 90′s. But they’ve got Reverend Howard Richardson spooked.

Proudly fifty and unhappily single, gay PI Russ Morgan has made peace with being a psychic empath, and he’s managed to build a decent life since getting sober. As he uncovers obscene secrets shrouded in seeming righteousness he might have to make peace with a sword of justice that cuts the innocent as deeply as the guilty.

Amazon

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Traveling Light

An eye for an eye…

Ian McCandless is a hospice nurse, training to become a shaman. When his mentor orders him to make peace with his estranged family, Ian reluctantly agrees, anticipating just another conflict-filled visit. On their way from the airport Ian’s older brother Will interrupts a convenience store robbery and is shot, dying in Ian’s arms and calling to him for vengeance.

Ian uses his shamanic abilities to track down the killer, but his quest soon turns into a hunt for revenge—forbidden to any shaman. Ian’s pursuit jeopardizes his relationship with the spirit world, endangers the lives of those he loves and threatens to banish him from the only path that gives his life meaning.

Amazon

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Guest Book ♥ Memory’s Prisoner by Jamie Lynn Miller

Welcome to my newest posting series. Today I have invited a wonderful book to be my guest and hope you will give him a try once you read the blurb and devastating excerpt. Also, there’s a giveaway… so don’t miss out of a great new read!

Memory’s Prisoner
by Jamie Lynn Miller
Cover by LC Chase
Contemporary M/M
December 4th 2013 

Detectives Mitchell Reid and Joseph Valentino of the Chicago Police Department have finally moved from friends to lovers, partners on the job and off. Then an escaped bank robber with a thirst for vengeance shatters their world. The police tactical raid to recapture the convict goes horribly wrong, leaving Mitch severely wounded and Joey with a devastating head injury. They both survive, but Joey’s long-term coma and memory loss will change their lives – and love – forever.

Dreamspinner Press
Amazon

Mitch crouched at the corner of one crate, preparing to slip to the next closest one. The flash from a rifle’s muzzle inside the warehouse caught Mitch’s eye as it illuminated the gunman.

Doyle.

Their eyes locked and an evil, maniacal grin crossed the psychopath’s face. Mitch’s cover had been blown. A split second later he heard the ominous click of the triggering mechanism inside the crate he was leaning against and Mitch knew he had seconds to live.

Launching himself up and away from the crate, heedless of the gunfire surrounding him, Mitch desperately tried to put as much distance between himself and the bomb as he could. Four frantic strides were all he could manage.

The force of the explosion threw him off his feet and hurled him forward, wave after wave of intense heat and debris at his back, before he slammed down onto the dock. Excruciating pain like he’d never known raced through his battered body as he rolled across the wooden surface before coming to rest on his back. Dazed and winded, fighting unconsciousness, Mitch heard Tim frantically calling his name. His head lolled to the side as he tried to answer but his gaze caught sight of the torn, bloody mass of flesh that was his left leg.

“NO! MITCH!”

Joey’s cry of utter terror drew Mitch’s attention from his mangled body. He looked up to see his partner racing toward him, surrounded by Team Three, weapons blazing. Uncaring of the extreme danger he was in, Joey charged forward in a desperate rescue attempt, his fear for Mitch written all over his face.

Horrified, Mitch tried to call out, managing only a hoarse whisper. “No… get back….”

Two feet from Mitch it happened.

Another crate exploded, sending huge pieces of debris through the air. Unable to slow down or change course, Joey plowed directly through the explosion, his head suddenly snapping violently to the side as a large piece of wood impacted it.

“JOEY!”

The scream was torn from Mitch’s throat as he watched his partner’s expression change from one of terrified concern to one of total confusion as the wood hit its mark and his body crumpled like a rag doll.

The nightmare had begun.

Leave me a comment over at my blog (http://jamielynnm.wordpress.com) and I’ll pick a random winner on January 11th to receive a free copy of Memory’s Prisoner!

Jamie Lynn Miller has been writing fiction since childhood and decided to take the plunge and go pro in 2008, finding to her amazement that people truly enjoyed her love stories. She’s a romantic at heart, and her tales reflect the desire we all have to find “the one,” persevering through trials and heartache for that happy ending.

Jamie has a degree in fine arts and has spent the last twenty years working as a graphic designer, though she’d much rather be writing. She was born in Chicago and still lives there today with her husband and their two furry, four-footed children, er… cats.

If she’s not brainstorming story ideas, you can find Jamie at a sci-fi convention, in front of a furnace doing glass blowing, or on a mat twisted into a yoga pose.

♥ Site ♥ Dreamspinner ♥ ♥ Goodreads ♥ EMail ♥

Question Time…

For my author newsletter in February, I’m going to include a short little Valentine’s Day story. Who would you like to see get the story?

James and Seth (Designs of Desire)
New Characters (prompt of choice please, lol)
Other Character/s from the Desires story? (names please)

 

Guest Author Wednesdays ♥ CJane Elliott

Happy New Year! I’m ecstatic to have Romance Author CJane Elliott with me today to ring in 2014 with a great book and interview. Please say hi and leave her a comment or two below. Oh, and her ebooks are on sale through Jan 4th!

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After years of hearing characters chatting away in her head, CJane Elliott finally decided to put them on paper and hasn’t looked back since. A psychotherapist by training, CJane enjoys writing sexy, passionate stories that also explore the human psyche. CJane has traveled all over North America for work and her characters are travelers, too, traveling down into their own depths to find what they need to get to the happy ending.

CJane is an ardent supporter of gay equality and is particularly fond of coming out stories.

In her spare time, CJane can be found dancing, listening to music, or watching old movies. Her husband and son support her writing habit by staying out of the way when they see her hunched over, staring intensely at her laptop.  

♥ Site ♥ Twitter ♥ Dreamspinner Press ♥ EMail ♥ Blog ♥

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Hi all, and thanks to Tempe for letting me hijack your blog for a New Year’s Day post! I have always loved New Year’s because of the promise of new beginnings. It may sound naïve, but I don’t think anyone is ever stuck in life: with how they are as a person, with the situations they find themselves in, with the way their relationships are going. I believe in second (and third, fourth, etc.) chances, and I give them to my characters (after putting them through some angst, of course!).

What do you find the hardest part of being an author?

The isolation. So much of writing is spent being in one’s own head and in the world of the characters. I find myself needing people to share with during the writing process. I love when we go on long trips in the car because my husband gets to hear my latest draft whether he wants to or not.

What’s your favorite thing about writing?

It’s the very thing that makes it so isolating: I love being in the worlds that I’m creating and living with the characters and watching what they do. I love when they do things that surprise me or weren’t in the outline.

Just how H.O.T. are most of your books? 

I love writing passionate sex scenes, probably because I’m a Scorpio and passion is part of my nature.

How sweet or romantic do they tend to be?

I like my romance sweet but not unrealistically so. I put my characters through some challenges before they get to their happy endings.

Do you have a specific writing style?

I use a lot of dialogue. It’s all those “voices” that I hear in my head.

Which is your favorite storyline/angst situation and why? What inspired you to write about it? 

I love stories where the characters have to gain a deeper understanding of themselves in order to let love in. My stories are “psychological adventures” and the “angst” or obstacles are most often those of the interior/psyche rather than the outside world.

What inspires me to write about that is my own experience as a seeker and as a therapist and my respect for the work that it takes for people to come to a deeper understanding of themselves. “Love at first sight” is great, but true, lasting love takes work. The more my characters grow in self-awareness, the more love is available to them.

Boxers or Briefs? I know which I prefer . . . *wink* 

Hee hee, I like both, so I’ll go with boxer-briefs.

Oh, I’m so with you on that one. Favorite author?

I love many authors but my top gal is Jane Austen. She rocks.

Favorite quote?

From Leonard Cohen’s song Anthem:

Ring the bells that still can ring.

Forget your perfect offering.

There is a crack in everything,

That’s how the light gets in.

What’s next for you?

I’m working on a spin-off novel featuring Aidan, one of the key characters in Serpentine Walls. I should be submitting it to Dreamspinner by the end of January. After that, I’d like to try my hand at a YA story. I also have a “magical realism” story I’m working on and a third Serpentine story featuring Jed, the nice guy that Pete has a “friends with benefits” relationship with in Serpentine Walls.

Can’t wait to read more from you, CJane! Now, I’m going to share a little about CJane’s novel, Serpentine Walls…

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Serpentine Walls

Reeling from the news that his parents are divorcing, Pete Morgan starts his junior year at college cynical about love and commitment. Although his new openness to one-night stands does wonders for his sex life, fighting his romantic nature proves harder than he’d anticipated. He soon finds himself pining for a glamorous senior, Aidan, who doesn’t mind taking Pete to bed but shows no interest in commitment—at least not with Pete. And Pete’s attempt at a “friends-with-benefits” relationship with sophomore Jed leaves Pete feeling empty.

One bright spot in Pete’s year is Matthew, an easygoing graduate student who assists Pete in making his first film. Matthew has some baggage too, and has sworn off relationships and sex altogether, so Pete feels safe to enjoy their friendship. But he falls for Matthew anyway, not able to fight his growing conviction that Matthew is the perfect guy for him. Even if Pete can accept that he made a mistake when he turned his back on relationships, that doesn’t mean Matthew will feel the same. With a few life lessons under his belt, Pete’s ready to take a chance on love. As he finds the courage to bare his heart to Matthew, he can only hope that Matthew will take a chance with him.

Dreamspinner Press

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2013 Wrap-up / 2014 Plans

Morning!

So, I thought I’d share a little wrap up review of 2013 and tell you about some of my writing goals for next year.

Now, as to my 2013 Goals… Some I met, and :c( some I didn’t. But don’t worry, they aren’t being forgotten, just pushed back a little.

Designs of Desire – not only found a home (Thank you DSP!) but was released in ebook and print July 2013 and as an audiobook Dec 2013! How’s that for a debut!


Desires’ Guardian – Completed and submitted! Yes!


Signs of Desire – Is on my plan for this summer actually. So look to head more about it in July.


Temptations of Desire – Contracted! Yes!!


Tags of Desire – Will be my NaNo project for 2014.

Also, I’ve submitted 2 short stories to DSP Anthologies!

Truth in Lace (Harmony Ink, First Time Anthology) – Completed and submitted!


Just Deserts (DSP, Juicy Bits Anthology) – Completed and submitted!

Now, what about 2014, you ask?…

I hope to see Desires’ Guardian, Truth in Lace, and Just Deserts published in 2014.

Temptations of Desire will be out June/July 2014

I am hard at work already planning the basics for my first project for the new year. Dreamer’s Destiny is a standalone novel sharing the story of Cameron and Liam as they find their way to each other.

Also, I will be writing Signs of Desire and Tags of Desire, as mentioned above, plus possibly a couple of other shorts/novella lengths stories… have to wait and see ;c)

Oh…. and I’ll be at GayRomLit 2014: Chicago too! So excited.