Wolves, a cover and a contest

In just a week, on Sept 19th, my third Hidden Wolves novel will release from MLR Press. Unjustified Claims is the story of Brandt and Ethan, werewolf and human, and their rocky path toward a relationship.

Brandt Davis loved being part of his Michigan werewolf pack, until they found his stash of gay porn. He escaped their anger, running in wolf-form into the wilderness, but he can’t live that way forever. And he can’t hide in fur like a coward when an injured man needs his help.

Ethan Sjulstad knows life is making him crazy when a solo hike into the Minnesota Boundary Waters seems reasonable. Then a bad fall leaves him seriously hurt and facing death. Delirious, he hallucinates being rescued by a big grey wolf and a naked woodland godling. For a man who has always loved fantasy, it's worth surviving just to find out what the hell is going on.

Brandt is increasingly drawn to the man he rescued in the wilderness, but it's easiest to just be friends. The homophobic scorn of his old pack still haunts him. Even if he can bring himself to admit his attraction to another man, what kind of relationship can he have with Ethan, when he can't tell any human about his biggest fears, or the details of his past?

Ethan has been fascinated by Brandt from the beginning, even back when he was too hurt to do anything about it. Spending more time together should be good. But Ethan's been deceived before, and some of Brandt's evasions and silences begin to feel like outright lies. It's hard to trust a man who's clearly hiding a big part of himself.

They don't have the leisure of time to figure it out. Old enemies and new acquaintances, human and werewolf, show up and complicate their lives. The guys have to handle their mix of friendship, desire, and distrust, as they decide when to fight, when to stand together, and when to run...

And I now have a cover:



Although the novels are intended to work as a series without the free shorts, you'll find a few familiar references to Unwanted Appeal, the free book 2.5 novella that comes right before this novel. So if you want to ease back into the world of my werewolves and haven't read that freebie yet, this might be a good time to check it out.

To celebrate the release of the book, I'll be giving away three ebook copies of Unjustified Claims to three randomly chosen commenters from either my Goodreads or Wordpress blogs. The drawing will be open through midnight CST September 18th. Make a comment on one of the two blogs (no email needed) and I'll draw three winners out of a hat on the 19th - on Goodreads I'll PM winners, on Wordpress the comment will save your email link.

I'm looking forward to seeing this novel release next Friday. I hope readers will enjoy another encounter with Minnesota's werewolves.