Love Action, Suspense & Romance? Check Out Enduring Night by John Wiltshire (author interview, excerpt and giveaway)

Enduring Night (More Heat Than The Sun #7) by John Wiltshire
Release Date: October 23, 2015

Goodreads Link
Publisher: MLR Press
Cover Artist: Dana Jamroz

Today we’re happy to have back one of our Down Under Showcase writers John Wiltshire, author of Enduring Night, a new release in John’s wonderful More Heat Than The Sun series.

Hi John, welcome back to Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words. Tell our readers about yourself, your background, and your current book.

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What are your ambitions for your writing career?

Hah. Besides my books making it to a movie one day? I think it would be being able to carry on. I’ve suffered from writer’s block in the past and it’s debilitating. While I can still write I reckon I’m blessed.

How many published books do you have? Can you tell us something about them?

I have seven now published in the More Heat Than the Sun series. I set out with this series to deliberately write a world that builds slowly. The first book is almost like a seed. You may not even engage with the characters. It was a risk on my part to start a long series like this, because I needed people to be intrigued enough to stick with it. Fortunately many have been, and now in Book 7, and even more in Book 8, it’s become a hopefully rich and very engaging world. The two main characters, Nikolas and Ben, now have an eclectic group of friends and adopted family around them, which would seem incredible to anyone reading the introduction to the series, Book 1, Love is a Stranger.

I also have two historical novels published: A Royal Affair and its sequel Aleksey’s Kingdom. I really enjoyed writing these two books because they are written in the first person, which allows a lot of humour when you write it. Nikolai is not the most self-aware chap, and his attitudes and opinions make me laugh. I’m also a bit of a history buff, so it was fun doing the research for them. I like characters who aren’t entirely honest about who they are, and Nikolai has his pretenses and masks peeled away when he falls in love.

I have a short story published, Catch Me When I Fall, which was actually the first thing I wrote for publication. It’s about a fallen angel.

Your main character wants to cook something special for his love interest. What does he make?

Uh-huh. I sometimes wonder if I’m writing in the right genre. My characters don’t really interact over food, or make romantic gestures, come to that. Ben has been trying to cook a bit recently. He had to learn once to go undercover and it was a disaster. I think Nikolas once made Ben a cup of tea. Does any of that count?

What are you working on at the moment? What’s it about?

I’m writing a short story for a co-authoring project at MLR Press. Four authors were chosen to write a series of mystery stories based around the seasons. I’m doing autumn, but it’s autumn with a difference. I’m also writing a novel set in a small village in Devon. All my characters are members of a book club. It’s huge fun to write, because I know all these people. Fortunately, I’m eleven thousand miles away, and they can’t get me when the book comes out.

Do you aim for a set amount of words/pages per day?

Not at all. I write scene by scene mainly. If it’s just a tiny scene, so be it. Sometimes I go months without writing anything. I start to panic a bit if I’ve not got one whole unpublished novel still in the bag.

I’d rather write nothing at all than write something I wasn’t happy with.

Thanks, John, for stopping by. You are always welcome here at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words.

Now more about Enduring Night…

Blurb

You’d have thought that Ben and Nikolas would have learnt that their romantic holidays inevitably end up as disasters. A short break on the polar ice sees them trapped in a nightmare of murder and deceit. Neither of them, however, foresees the long-term impact that endless winter has on their relationship. They return with a metaphorical darkness that threatens everything they have created together. Desperate and fearing for Nikolas’s life, Ben makes a bargain with a surprising ally. For the first time, Nikolas meets an enemy more powerful than he is. But fortunately, not as sneaky…

Pages or Words: 80,000 words
Categories: Contemporary, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Thriller

Excerpt

Prologue

The view from the window hadn’t changed since the last time Ben had studied it—one grey, depressing wing of the building, the car park below, and some scraggly trees, still bare in January. Farther away, he could see the roofs of some houses, and perhaps, if he let his imagination run away with it, the distant hills of Bodmin moor. He didn’t speculate in the realms of fiction much these days. He brought his gaze back to the utilitarian architecture.

The seagull was back, perched on the sill, as it had been day after day. Sometimes, it tapped the window with its beak. Ben was never sure if the gull wanted in, or for him to open the window and join it outside, flying or falling. Freedom either way.

Secretly, Ben thought the gull was an albatross. It was so vast, so impressive, that it seemed inconceivable that it could be an ordinary gull blown in from Plymouth Sound and sitting on the grimy ledge. The first albatross perhaps to make it to England, tossed on ocean currents all the way from the Chatham Islands, lost, alone. If it was, then it was in good company. Ben had never felt so lost or so alone, and he had spent a fair proportion of his life being buffeted by metaphorical winds far stronger than those that prowled the vast oceans of the world.

Buy the book: MLR Books

Meet the Author

John Wiltshire is English, an ex-army officer, who emigrated to New Zealand and now spends his time surfing and procrastinating on YouTube.

Where to find the author:

Giveaway

Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: E-copy of ‘Enduring Night’ by John Wiltshire. Must be 18 years of age or older to enter. Link and prizes provided by the author and p

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Tour Dates & Stops:

23-Oct: Mikky’s World of Books, Velvet Panic, Reviews by Jessewave, Sinfully Addicted to All Male Romance

26-Oct: BFD Book Blog, My Fiction Nook, Happily Ever Chapter

27-Oct: Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Jessie G. Books, Boy Meets Boy Reviews

28-Oct: Wake Up Your Wild Side, MM Good Book Reviews, Inked Rainbow Reads, Bayou Book Junkie

29-Oct: The Hat Party, Cheekypee Reads and Reviews