It’s Ally Blue ~ Back With “Down”, Love with a Hint of Horror! (guest post and giveaway)

Ally Blue is here today at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words.  Any reader who loves romance with a hint of the supernatural or a touch of horror is familiar with this prolific author.  Ally Blue has written the popular Bay City Paranormal Investigations series, The Happy Onion, Willow Bend and so many more and now she brings us Down, her latest tale of romance and horror.

But let Ally Blue tell you herself….

Hi everyone! I’m Ally Blue, and I’m touring the internet tubes this week in support of my new horror novel, Down. I really appreciate my hosts here at Scattered Thoughts and Rouge Words for having me here today, thank you!

If anyone here is familiar with my work, you’ll know me as an author of gay romance. For the past ten years, I’ve written romance pretty much exclusively. I’ve hit several different sub-genres, including paranormal, contemporary (both angsty and comedic), futuristic/dystopian, sci-fi, and suspense. But except for a couple of horror short stories, my books have always been romances at heart, no matter what else happens.

Down changes that in a big way. The two central characters are still gay men and they do fall into a romantic relationship which plays an important role in the story, but this book is definitely not a romance. The relationship between Mo and Armin is important to the book, but it’s not the focus. The horror plot is the focus of this book—the thing the BathyTech crew finds, the events that follow from that find, and what happens to Our Heroes and the people around them as a result. And some things happen that are not very nice at all. Yeah, Down is definitely Horror. With that big old capital “H”.

Writing horror as a romance author has been interesting. As a reader, I’ve been a fan of horror all my life. I’ve always wanted to write it. Like I said, I’ve done a couple of horror shorts—one of them, Flesh and Song, is available through Riptide Publishing in their Bump In the Night erotic horror anthology—but Down is my first full-length horror novel, something I’ve wanted to do for a long, long time. Horror is a completely different animal to romance. The focus is different. I mean, the characters still have to be the main focus, or the story will feel dead and uninteresting. Or at least that’s my opinion. But the way you handle the characters, their motivations and the consequences of their actions, is different. Obviously, in horror you can go a lot darker than you can with romance. Or maybe it’s just me, ha. I wanted to weave the romance into the horror plot and make the relationship a part of the horror. That was a big challenge for me, as a big fan of the Happily Ever After ending, but I think I succeeded. I think the romance part is very poignant, and the horror part is pretty damn horrific, and I think they work well together to create a frightening but touching story.

I’m very proud of this book, and I want everyone else to love it too. Thanks for letting me talk about it! Happy reading, y’all

About Down

Seven thousand meters below the ocean’s surface, the crew of the BathyTech 3 mineral mining facility has found something remarkable: a rock-like sphere of unknown material and origin.

For Mo Rees, the discovery calls to his inner explorer and adds color to his dull miner’s life. Even better than the promise of new knowledge is the unexpected connection he forges with Dr. Armin Savage-Hall, leader of the team brought down to study the thing.

For Armin, the object is the find of a lifetime. It could prove his controversial theories and secure his scientific reputation. And Mo is a fascinating bonus.

Then crew members start behaving strangely. Worse, they start to change: their eyes glow purple, their teeth sharpen. Then the violence begins, the brutal deaths. As BathyTech descends deeper into chaos, the surviving crew works desperately to find the cause of the horrors around them. What they uncover could annihilate the human race. And they can’t stop it.

Buy It Here (and read an excerpt too) at Riptide Publishing.

About the Author

Ally Blue is acknowledged by the world at large (or at least by her heroes, who tend to suffer a lot) as the Popess of Gay Angst.

She has a great big suggestively-shaped hat and rides in a bullet-proof Plexiglas bubble in Christmas parades. Her harem of manwhores does double duty as bodyguards and inspirational entertainment. Her favorite band is Radiohead, her favorite color is lime green and her favorite way to waste a perfectly good Saturday is to watch all three extended version LOTR movies in a row.
Her ultimate dream is to one day ditch the evil day job and support the family on manlove alone. She is not a hippie or a brain surgeon, no matter what her kids’ friends say.

Connect with Ally:
Website: http://www.allyblue.com
Twitter: @PopessAllyBlue
Tumblr: https://www.therealallyblue.tumblr.com
Facebook fan page
Facebook profile page: https://www.facebook.com/AllyBlue.author
Group blog: http://www.fictionwithfriction.com
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/PopessAllyBlue

Giveaway

Every comment on this blog tour enters you in a drawing a $15 Riptide store credit. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on April 25. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Don’t forget to add your email so we can contact you if you win!  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter. Prizes provided by Riptide Publishing.