Month: October 2015

Superhero Spotlight: ‘A Man of Unusual Talent (Lee Brazil) and ‘Flyboy’s First Misadventure (Havan Fellows) Series: Story Orgy Superheroes (guest post, excerpt and contest)

Flyboys First_1400 Man of Unusual Talent_1400

Book Names: ‘A Man of Unusual Talent ‘ by Lee Brazil

and

‘Flyboy’s First Misadventure’ by Havan Fellows

Series: Story Orgy Superheroes
 Release Date: October 12, 2015

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Goodreads Links:   A Man of Unusual Talent  and   Flyboy’s First Misadventure

Publishers:

A Man of Unusual Talent: Lime Time Press
Flyboy’s First Misadventure: Appleton Publishing Avenue
Cover Artist: Startled Monkeys Media

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We have a first here at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words.  Four characters from two books have stopped by to be interviewed. Collin Crane (CC) and Mathias Giraud (Matt) from A Man of Unusual Talent by Lee Brazil along with Dean Wades and Gavin Trevor from ‘Flyboy’s First Misadventure by Havan Fellows.  Let’s welcome all four!

  Our Interview with Characters Dean, Matt, CC, and Gavin!

Dean: Did Havan Fellow and Lee Brazil really leave us here to do this one all by ourselves?

Mat: We’re adults. We can handle it. I think the truth is, there’s no coffee and they saw a Starbucks on the corner when we drove up.

CC: Now that sounds like the truth.

Dean: But they had to realize that letting us all talk at once could be…um…

Gavin: They said something about not wanting to be around when we air our dirty shit. I guess we should introduce ourselves at least.

Dean: Not sure we’re airing any dirty stuff. I vote for Mat to start, he’s the person of authority here.

Mat: I’m Mat Giraud. I’m a policeman, and this is my lover CC who is a student of physics.

CC: Nice. Gloss over the whole career as a convenience store clerk thing. Are you practicing that for when I meet your parents?

Mat: Don’t be silly. My family get’s gas at the convenience store, same as everyone else in town. Of course they know where you work. But where you work isn’t who you are.

CC: But you called yourself a policeman.

Mat: Because I am. And always will be. You aren’t always going to work at that place.

CC: *glowing* Thank you.

Dean: Well, that leaves us, Gav. Hello. I’m Dean Wades. I’m from the west coast but currently visiting Florida, have a crazy best friend, and oh yeah, I can fly. This is Gavin Trevor…

Gavin: And I have an annoying older brother, I’m training to be a damn good tattoo artist, and he might be able to fly, but he can’t land worth shit.

Dean: Ouch… Crash land with someone one time and they never let you forget it. We’re the main characters of Flyboy’s First Misadventure and from Havan Fellows imagination.

Gavin: Really warped imagination—

CC: Uh… maybe I should have mentioned the marshmallows?

Gavin: *snorts* Okay, not as warped as Lee Brazil, evidently. But hey, our writers are pretty cool. They write for this group the Story Orgy and that’s where they got the prompts for these superhero type books.

CC: Seriously? Is that what this is all about? Here I’m trying to use physics and biology and it’s that simple?

Dean: Yeah, because only they would call us superheroes.

Gavin: Well, I think you’re kinda super…

Share a list of things you’ll never do again.

Dean: I’ll never forget to take my allergy medicine again. Levitating while you sneeze is not good.

Gavin: I’m never letting my brother get the better of me again…

Dean: Really? So this is a fantasy list?

Gavin: Fine, I’m never doing high school again, not with my brother and his group of buddies.

Dean: We might all go for the no high school again thing.

Mat: Uhm… let’s see. I’ll never let my cousin Thorne answer a call from the convenience store again. And I’ll never sleep alone again. And I’ll never go to a Marvel movie alone again…

CC: Wow…you uh… Okay. I’ll never doubt Mat again. And that other one he said, except the Marvel thing. I’m not going to go see Ant Man.

Mat: Then I won’t either.

For more Story Orgy Superhero goodness, our co-writers Hank Edwards and Em Woods will be releasing their books soon. 🙂

Blurb(s)

A MAN OF UNUSUAL TALENT:Man of Unusual Talent_1400

Collin Crane is a man of unusual talent. Really unusual. Too weird for the Guinness Book unusual. On the fifty-year plan to a doctoral degree in physics, and a quiet quest to understand his own oddities, Collin clings to obscurity. This superhero has learned the hard way that it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Enter Mathias Giraud, football hero, local cop, and CC’s secret fantasy since high school. Mat’s a simple man with a hero complex fostered by comic books and Marvel movies. Saving the world is his fantasy, but since his roots are firmly planted in Morrisonville and reality, he’ll settle for protecting and serving. Until he clashes with CC at the local convenience store and is reminded of his own high school crush.

When marshmallows are involved, the course of true love is bound to get sticky.

FLYBOY’S FIRST MISADVENTURE:

Flyboys First_1400Secrets? Oh yeah, Dean Wades has a doozy. When he goes up, he doesn’t necessarily come back down. Okay, that’s not true. Dean’s a master at falling, it’s the landing that could use improvement—a lot of improvement. After thirteen years of attempting to conquer this gravity defying mystery, he can no longer live with not knowing what he is anymore. So he heads cross-country to see the two people who just might be able to give him the answers he seeks…his folks.

Easygoing Gavin Trevor is always willing to help his family, even when they have ulterior motives…like forcing him to make up with his annoying older brother. When a simple task at his parent’s house puts him in a position of danger, he’ll need a lot more than luck to avoid a serious injury—he’ll need his very own superhero.

And the fates collide, well sort of. It may not be love at first sight—Gavin was unconscious in Dean’s arms for their initial introduction…but perhaps these two men can make it a relationship at first flight?

A threat against Gavin’s family throws a wrench in their plans, and while Dean gladly offers his amateur talent to help the mission, Gavin doesn’t want to put his rescuer’s life in jeopardy by risking exposure of the greatest secret ever.

This proves to be a rescue adventure for the books. Or is that a rescue misadventure?

 

Pages or Words: A Man of Unusual Talent (28,000), Flyboy’s First Misadventure (32,000)

Categories:

  • A Man of Unusual Talent: Contemporary, Gay Fiction, Humor, Paranormal, Romance
  • Flyboy’s First Misadventure: Gay Fiction, Humor, M/M Romance

 

Excerpts:

A Man of Unusual Talent:

Mathias squirmed on the seat. Had to piss. He cast a glance at his partner. Dillon was such a hard-nose. “Hey…how about you pull into that gas station over there? I got to take a leak.”

Dillon’s lip curled, but he swung the patrol car into the convenience store parking lot. “I told you not to get the grande coffee at Mabel’s. Good thing it’s dead tonight.”

“Want anything while I’m in there?” Mat paused with his hand on the door latch, cocking his head at Dillon. Guy wasn’t so bad…just a walking encyclopedia of procedure and a nitpicker. He gave out more jaywalking and broken taillight tickets than any cop on the force.

“No eating in the squad car.” Dillon turned to face him, lips narrow and tight, radiating disapproval.

“You know…if you weren’t my brother…” Mat shoved the door open with unnecessary force. The captain was punishing him…all because he’d missed last Sunday’s dinner with the family. Well, Pop should learn to separate work from personal. Riding with Dillon for a week was going to be torture. If Pop…Captain Giraud, head of Morrisonville’s twenty-five man police force…made good on his threat to force his grandsons to ride together for a month they’d be lucky if the both of them survived.

Shaking his head, Mat slammed the cruiser door as forcefully as he’d opened it. A poster on one of the convenience store’s huge plate glass windows boasted of sixty-four ounce sodas in refillable Hulk, Hawkeye, Iron Man, Black Widow, and Thor cups. Mm. I need to go see that new movie. “I’m getting a soda,” he called over his shoulder to Dillon as he opened the door. “Can I get the restroom key?”

His gaze automatically surveyed the interior, noting it was deserted except for the cashier…a cute little guy named CC he vaguely remembered from high school…and two hoodie-wearing teens. “Everything okay tonight, CC?” he asked. Not that he expected a negative answer; it was just that Collin Crane looked a little freaked. The two kids weren’t any bigger than Collin and weren’t familiar to Mat, so he figured they weren’t troublemakers. Generally he’d had dealings with most of the town’s rowdy teens.

“Yeah, fine, these two were just getting gas. Thanks for coming in, fellas.” CC stepped back, grabbed the restroom key off the hook, and tossed it to Mat.

Mat caught the keys, watching the boys leave without speaking. “Seriously, CC. Those kids giving you trouble? I can talk to them.” Something about the smaller man…regret probably, for ignoring the way the kid was bullied in high school…made him feel a little protective. It was weird, but Mat had learned a lot since he’d turned his back on bullying when he was a kid. Then he’d thought it was enough that he didn’t participate when Jake and Thorn and the others messed with the younger kids. Now…social guilt? Whatever. He was a better person at thirty than he had been at fifteen.

CC looked up, cheeks flushed a little, lower lip trembling. “No…it’s okay. They just wanted gas.”

“Okay. I’ve gotta go, but I want a Thor cup when I get back.” He nodded and walked toward the narrow hall lined with empty boxes which led to the restroom.

“You a fan of The Avengers?” CC called after him.

Mat paused and glanced back over his shoulder, letting his smile widen. “I’m a huge fan of Thor…that is one well put together man.” He was still chuckling over CC’s strangled response when he closed the restroom door.

FLYBOY’S FIRST MISADVENTURE

He attempted to roll the green-eyed man with the dreamy voice off him, but only succeeded in flipping them over so he was now stuck on top. What the fuck? He glanced down their bodies and noticed a cord of some kind wrapped repeatedly around their midsections and legs. No wonder his legs had stopped obeying him. A quick look up showed him numerous clothes line poles with no actual line attached to them.

Well, that was probably because it was all bound around their bodies…and tight too. In the middle of their airborne Cirque du Soleil auditions, their bodies managed to rearrange themselves so the clothesline wrapped them up in the missionary position. With them being damn near close to the same height they lined up quite perfectly with each other.

And that thought made Dean’s cock jump and want to do a few flying lessons of its own.

Dean saw the fog lift from his captive’s eyes as they narrowed with suspicion. His voice was steely this time, not whimsical and light with confusion. “What is happening?”

When all else failed, there was one surefire way to handle what appeared to be an unhandleable situation—channel his snarky best friend Tia.

So he put on a lopsided smile and shrugged as he tried to loosen their bonds somewhat. “You know how Mondays are…run out of coffee, get an extra dose of paperwork at the evil day job, end up in a neighbor’s backyard tied to a charming and well-meaning stranger…” He forced a chuckle out for good measure.

The man’s intense voice didn’t cut him any slack. “Today’s Sunday.”

 

Buy the book:

 

A Man of Unusual Talent:

 

Flyboy’s First Misadventure:

RC

Meet the Authors

LEE BRAZIL:

Somewhere in a small town in up-state New York are a librarian and a second grade teacher to whom I owe my life. That might be a touch dramatic, but it’s nevertheless one hundred percent true.

Because they taught me the joy of reading, of escaping into worlds crafted of words.

Have you ever been nine years old and sure of nothing so much as that you don’t belong? Looked at the world from behind glasses, and wondered why you don’t fit?

Someone hands you a book, and then you turn the page and see… There you are, running from Injun Joe in a dark graveyard; there you are fencing with Athos; there you are…beneath the deep blue sea- marveling at exotic creatures with Captain Nemo.

I found myself between the pages of books, and that is why I write now. It’s why I taught English and literature for so many years, and it’s why my house contains more pounds of books than furniture.

If I’d had my way, I’d have been a fencer…or a starship captain, or a lawyer, or a detective solving crimes. But instead, I am a writer, and I’ve come to realize that’s the best thing in the world to be, because as a writer, I can be all those things and more.

If I hadn’t learned to value the stories between the pages, who knows what would have happened? Certainly not college…teaching…or writing.

 

Where to find the author:

LEE BRAZIL:

HAVAN FELLOWS:

 

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Tour Dates & Stops:

12-Oct: Michael Mandrake, Jessie G. Books

13-Oct Love Bytes, MM Good Book Reviews

14-Oct Unquietly Me, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, Happily Ever Chapter

15-Oct Joyfully Jay, Inked Rainbow Reads, Molly Lolly

16-Oct Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, V’s Reads, Bayou Book Junkie

 

Giveaway

Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: 2 – $10 ARe Gift Cards (One each to two winners).  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.  Link and prizes provided by the authors and Pride Promotions.  

 

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A BJ Review: Kraken by M. Caspian

Rating:  5 stars out of 5

Looking for a spooky, creepy Halloween month read?! Check this one out!

Kraken: A gothic erotic horror with tentacle non-con.

Kraken coverWill MacKenzie’s boyfriend Parker gave him an ultimatum: move to a remote off-shote island with him or call it quits. Will initially chooses the latter but it rips his heart out. It doesn’t take him long to decide that he’d picked wrong, and he finds himself heading off into the unknown to fix his mistake. After a terrifying incident on the docks sets the mood for the excursion, Will is further chilled to find that most of the locals think they recognize him? And why can’t he seem to leave the island once he’s arrived?

Please do heed the reader advisory. This story contains scenes that may offend some people, including rape, extreme violence, tentacles, and reference to past sexual abuse of children.

If you can get on board with all that, then step right into a tale that is deliciously eerie right from the beginning with a bit of a gothic feel to it. Ominous and foreboding are good words to describe how this made me feel right off the bat. It made me shiver even as it gripped me and drew me inexorably in.

Next came enticing layer upon layer of mystery that kept me guessing as to exactly what the heck was going on. I encountered quite a few WTF moments before things began to become clear. And them, YIKES! It’s horrifying, and the author pulls no punches in describing that in detail for us folks. Strong visceral visual images abound.

Do not doubt it, this book is a m/m horror, genuine monster erotica—and it’s high on the gore and slime factor. Not recommended for the squeamish. Take a sociopath, cross him with tentacles, give him time to mature into a truly evil villain and you have the inkling of the idea of what a read is in for here.

One of the more unusual takes on shape shifters that I’ve encountered. Nice world-building. Well-rounded characters that grow and change throughout the story.

I’m not going to go into attempting to describe the plot, as it’s better that reader’s experience it for themselves. I’ll just say, it creeped me out, it made me shiver and shudder, it made me very glad I was nowhere near an island or a boat or an ocean or any body of water… but it held me spellbound as all was revealed.

If you’re looking for something unusual and dark with a satisfying ending, this author delivers up tentacle-sex with plot that fits that requirement in spades.

The cover is perfect for this story.

Sales Links:   Amazon | Buy It Here


Book Details:  

ebook, 193 pages
Published December 22nd 2013 by M. Caspian
ISBN1311997350 (ISBN13: 9781311997357)
edition language English
url https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/390989
characters Parker, Will MacKenzie, Aiden Hayden, Cryus Keller

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Author Discovery: Mika on Avril Ashton

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Mika on Author Avril Ashton

If you are looking for an author who talks with her readers, I’d say Mrs. A is one of the best ever. She is funny, she is honest and she writes about glorious guys. I just happened to come upon Love the Sinner (Brooklyn Sinners, #1) one day, never heard of the author and decided to give it a go. Well 2 series later and a couple of stand alones I’m hooked on Mrs. Ashton’s writing. I’m always looking forward to her guys. They are masculine, sexy, passionate, gritty and dangerous. Then she writes about those sweet damaged boys who would hurt you more than those other physically demanding guys.  She has some memorable characters; Rafe, Syren, Mateo, Dima, Tek, Xavier, Donovan. Those are just to name a few. She writes about tropes that are not likely commercialized in this genre. I mean if you want recommendations pick up A Sinner Born (Brooklyn Sinners, #3) and (Watch Me) Save You (Run This Town, #4), I’d start from book one on both of those though.

I like that she writes about guys from all different walks of life. From the privileged to the outcast; she writes a web of story with actions that sometimes I have a hard time seeing. One of my favorite characters ever was written by Mrs. A, that guy Syren. She killed it with him. I love him. He was so damaged, but he pulled on my heart strings. I was interacting with Mrs. A the other day on Twitter and I asked her if she ever considered writing a contemporary M/M romance with no destruction. Her response was yes, she wrote So Far Gone. I laughed because peoples response was the opposite of the book. I on the other hand really liked it. It was realistic fiction. Cheating, scandals, death it all happens in real life so when that was put out there I enjoyed it. 

I like her writing because she delivers the feelings, rawness, the love and the passion from her characters. No matter what she puts her characters through they always come out with a HEA. She is automatic-buy for me. I like that she connects with her readers. If you are looking for some passion with your stories then try out Avril. I really like you would like her guys.

About the Author

Avril Ashton Icon

A Caribbean transplant, Avril now lives in Stone Mountain, GA., with a tolerant Spousal Equivalent. Together they raise an eccentric daughter who loves reading and school (not so much school anymore). Avril’s earliest memories of reading revolve around discussing plot points of Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys with an equally book-minded mother

Always in love with the written word, Avril finally decided to do the writing in August of ’09 and never looked back. Spicy love scenes, delicious heroes, and wicked women burn up the pages of Avril’s stories, but there’ll always be a happy ending; Av remains a believer of love in all its forms.

You can connect with her as Mika does through (AvrilAsh) Twitter, or through her website and check out Avril Ashton’s Goodread’s page for all her stories.  You can find it here.  Looking for a new contemporary novel to read?  Start with one of Mika’s recommendations, Love the Sinner by Avril Ashton.  Check it out below.

Love the Sinner coverLove the Sinner (Brooklyn Sinners #1)
by Avril Ashton

Detective Gabriel Ashby has never looked twice at another man, yet the criminal across from him, the man he’s interrogating, isn’t like any other. Gabe can’t deal with the sudden, intense need he has for one of NYPD’s Most Wanted. Everyone close to Angelo Pagan ends up dead, with the smug gang leader standing amid the rubble. Gabe would love nothing more than to bust Angelo’s ass and lock him up. So why is he seeing the bastard in his dreams at night?

Angelo Pagan knows attraction to Gabe is suicide. He’s resolute to ignore the chemistry…until a police raid goes wrong. He critically injures Gabe, changing the trajectory of both their lives. Now the two can’t get close enough. They settle into a forbidden affair threatened by lies and betrayal, living on different sides of the law with no way of breaching the gap between them. With the authorities looking to make an example of Angelo, Gabe has to decide if it’s really worth it to hate the sin but love the sinner

Book Details:

ebook, 229 pages
Published May 9th 2012 by Ellora’s Cave
ISBN1419939688 (ISBN13: 9781419939686)
edition languageEnglish
series Brooklyn Sinners #1
characters Gabriel Ashby, Angelo Pagan

A Sammy Review: Where There’s Fire (Panopolis #2) by Cari Z.

Rating: 5 stars out of 5         ★★★★★

WhereTheresFire_600x900Panopolis is a city of stark colors, folks. Right or wrong, black or white, no shades of gray here. Panopolis is epic battles and soaring rhetoric on both sides, and dirty secrets buried so deep beneath layers of lies that you’d need a map to know where to start digging. Moral ambiguity is for stories, not real life. At least, that’s what we’re told.

But the best stories, I’ve found, are the ones that aren’t so clear-cut. No spoon feeding you Truth, Justice, and the Heroic Way, or telling you that every Villain was born flawed from the start, not made into that. The best stories are the ones that make you think and leave you wondering. I think Panopolis needs a new caliber of storytellers, folks. Maybe it’s time to find those maps and ready those shovels.

Maybe it’s finally time for a change in the narrative.

Edward Dinges was once a normal guy in a city of Supers. He worked at a bank, had a plain life… then he fell in love with a Villain and found himself imprisoned. Soon, normal was a thing of the past.

Though he’s been working to harness his new powers, Edward is still trying to gain control over his life. It helps that Raul is always at his side, but it’s time to step out by himself for his first real job as a villain.

But nothing ever really goes as planned. Soon, Edward finds himself needing to fight for Raul’s life and free him from the hands of a true Super Villain. Whether they make it out alive or not, Panopolis will never be the same.

“You made it back. Not a lot of people do. That makes you interesting, maybe worth forming an alliance with. You need to work on making connections, especially if you don’t love to fight for fighting’s sake.” Vibro sounded tired.

“You don’t like fighting either.”

“I like living,” she corrected me.

So, first off, I want to put it out there that I absolutely loved this. The series is set in such an interesting world that it really pulled me right in from the get-go and I continued to be incredibly interested in it even months after reading the first book. Cari does a brilliant job of building a world that is so unique, but in this book, I really felt it resonated with reality.

I’m not sure if it’s that social justice has been on my mind a lot recently or what, but the way Cari writes about the dichotomy in the city, pitting two sides against each other, having this large body of power that rules over everyone and manages to cast aside the undesirables… the book takes massive and frustrating issues and puts it into an abstract and easily digestible manner. What do I mean with that? I mean people can turn their face to the real world and it’s social justice, but if you really read this, you’ll find yourself feeling everything the SuperTruther conveys and not even realizing how much Panopolis resembles the world just outside your door.

Now, onto the characters. Edward continues to grow on me. At first, I felt like he was just as boring as he projected himself to be, but in the first book we got to see his evolution when it came to morals. Now he’s crossed that line and is trying to find himself within his new powers.

Raul was a lot less present in this, but I didn’t really mind that, as I think this story is so much more than a romance. Sure, the romance is there, but the story is just front and center, adorned with action and alliances and… okay, just, really great story telling.

And new characters – Vibro is just freaking fantastic. I mean, she has purple hair! On top of that, she seems to have such an interesting personality and I would love to learn more about her and her brother.

The only downside I can think of is that the editing was off a bit. There was a lot of misplaced commas and such. But besides that, it was great.

I can’t wait for the next book in the series. Cari set us up for a great sequel.

The cover by L.C. Chase is very nice. It fits the previous book well and has a nice punch of color. Additionally, getting to see Edward is a nice treat. Great job.

Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing  |  All Romance (ARe) |  Amazon | Buy It Here

Book Details:

book, 113 pages
Published July 13th 2015 by Riptide Publishing (first published July 12th 2015)

Afternoon Book Highlight: Seven Tears at High Tide by C.B. Lee (author interview, excerpt and contest)

Seven Tears 1600px COVER-Front

Seven Tears at High Tide by C.B. Lee
 Release Date: October 15, 2015

Goodreads Link
 Publisher: Interlude Press
Cover Artist: C.B. Lee
 Cover Design by C.B. Messer

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Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing C.B. Lee, author of Seven Tears at High Tide.

Hi C.B., thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.

Hi! I’m C.B, thank you for interviewing me on your blog today. I’m from California, and grew up in a small neighborhood that was made up of almost all immigrant families. As a first generation Asian American and as a bisexual writer, I am so excited to be able to write more about characters whose backgrounds are like my own. My current novel is Seven Tears at High Tide, a contemporary romance meets fantasy, where a teenager meets a selkie has to navigate the consequences of wishing for love.

  • What are your ambitions for your writing career?

I would just love to see my stories being read by the people who want to read them. It’s a dream of mine, for people to be able to pick up a story about a character that they might see themselves in.

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

Seven Tears at High Tide is my first novel! It’s my take on selkie lore, particularly on subverting the trope that follows a lot of the mythology, where a selkie comes ashore and their pelt, and subsequently their freedom, is taken away from them when a human steals it or discovers it. I wanted to write a story where the selkie– and the human both are presented with difficult choices in their relationship, and how they deal with these questions of agency.

  • Give us an insight into your main character. What does he/she do that is so special?

Kevin and Morgan are the two main characters, and they’re both quite special to me! I hope readers think so too. Kevin can be quite stubborn at times, and act before he thinks, but he’s got a good heart, knows who he is and what he wants, and that helps him steer through a lot of difficult choices in the novel. Morgan has a few special supernatural abilities, like an enhanced sense of smell and the ability to read people’s intentions and their heart’s desires, but I think what makes him special is his positivity and his determination, and especially how he cares deeply about others.

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

I’m currently working on another young adult novel, about a high school girl who comes from a family of superheroes– except she’s nonpowered, and really just wants to prove herself. She ends up getting a job, along with her crush, working for a mysterious corporation which turns out to be run by the town’s supervillain, and these two girls uncover this huge plot that’s more than just heroes versus villains. And they also fall in love.

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

I try to write at least a thousand words a day, if I have a deadline for a particular project. Sometimes I’ll write more, and often times I’ll write less, but I do try to write every day, even if it’s only a sentence!

RC

Blurb

Kevin Luong walks to the ocean’s edge with a broken heart. Remembering a legend his mother told him, he lets seven tears fall into the sea. “I just want one summer—one summer to be happy and in love.” Instead, he finds himself saving a mysterious boy from the Pacific—a boy who later shows up on his doorstep professing his love. What he doesn’t know is that Morgan is a selkie, drawn to answer Kevin’s wish. As they grow close, Morgan is caught between the dangers of the human world and his legacy in the selkie community to which he must return at summer’s end.

 

Pages or Words: 234 pages
 Categories: Contemporary, Fantasy, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Romance, Young Adult

 

Excerpt

They wander into the house, wipe their wet feet on the welcome mat, climb up the stairs and giggle as they pass Ann’s bedroom. She’s dancing with her headphones on, oblivious to the open door, swaying to the beat.

In Kevin’s bedroom, he quickly scrounges up some clean shirts and shorts. “Here, you can wear this,” he says, handing an outfit to Morgan and then ducking into his bathroom to change. He peels off the wetsuit and hangs it up in his shower, then leans his surfboard carefully against the wall, eyeing the crack. He’ll have to fix it tomorrow.

When he returns, Morgan is holding onto the wet board shorts, wearing the outfit Kevin gave him. He looks curiously at the rock collection prominently displayed on Kevin’s bookshelf. “These are beautiful,” he says.

“Here, I’ll take that,” Kevin says, holding out his hand for the bedraggled board shorts to hang in his shower. He’s certain now that they’re the ones from the lifeguard’s lost and found. Kevin’s starting to worry that Morgan doesn’t have any other clothes, but he doesn’t know how to bring it up. Money can be a touchy subject.

Morgan holds Kevin’s favorite specimen, a piece of green olivine on basalt. Kevin once almost convinced Ann it was an avocado roll—it certainly looks like one, bright green speckled with sesame seeds, wrapped in dark seaweed.

“That’s from Mexico. My family went on vacation to Baja last year, and I got that out of an old volcano.” He tries his best to describe the sweltering heat and the excitement of finding geodes and cracking them open with a hammer. Morgan listens in rapt silence as Kevin talks about the find and tilts the olivine so it catches the light. He sets it back in its spot behind its label, slowly so as not to disturb the other specimens, and Kevin is quietly pleased with Morgan’s careful appreciation.

“I changed my mind,” Kevin blurts out.

“About what?”

“I do want this to be a date. For us, to do that,” he says, blushing. “I like you. A lot.”

Morgan’s face breaks into a bright, happy smile.

“And what do we do differently, for this to be a date?”

Kevin can feel the heat on his cheeks. “We can hold hands, if you like. Um, or kiss, if you want to. But we don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. I’m fine just hanging out and watching a movie with you.”

Morgan tilts his head and steps closer. “I want to,” he says, not specifying what, but Kevin knows immediately.

It’s just the quickest brush of lips, but Kevin feels it all the way to his toes. A warm curl of excitement blooms throughout his body, and Morgan’s mouth is warm and wet against his. It’s not like any kiss he’s had, chaste and sweet and over in a second, and yet his heart is still pounding after Morgan leans back. He’s close enough for Kevin to be able to count the eyelashes dark against his cheek.

Morgan ducks his head and asks, “Was that okay?”

Kevin’s a little dazed, but he finds his voice. “Yeah. Yeah, that was great.”

 

Buy the book:

Interlude Press | Amazon |Book Depository | Indiebound 

Meet and connect with C. B. Lee:

C. B. Lee is a bisexual writer, rock climber and pinniped enthusiast based in California. Lee enjoys reading, hiking and other outdoor pursuits. Seven Tears At High Tide is a first novel.

Connect with C.B. at cb-lee.com, on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/authorcblee,

on Twitter @author_cblee, and on Goodreads at Goodreads.com/cb-lee.

 

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Tour Dates & Stops:

15-Oct: Prism Book Alliance, Happily Ever Chapter, Velvet Panic, Vampires, Werewolves, and Fairies, Oh My,

Michael Mandrake, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words

16-Oct: BFD Book Blog, Books A to Z, The Jena Wade

19-Oct: It’s Raining Men, Hearts on Fire, Bayou Book Junkie

20-Oct: Divine Magazine, Three Books Over The Rainbow, Bike Book Reviews

21-Oct: Amanda C. Stone, Just Love Romance, Mikky’s World of Books

22-Oct: Emotion in Motion, Kimi-Chan, Elisa – My Reviews and Ramblings

23-Oct: Molly Lolly, Love Bytes

26-Oct: Boys on the Brink Reviews, Inked Rainbow Reads

27-Oct: Cathy Brockman Romances, Book Reviews, Rants, and Raves, MM Good Book Reviews

28-Oct: TTC Books and More, My Fiction Nook

 

Final

Giveaway

Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: $25 Interlude Press Gift Card to one grand prize winner plus copies of the Seven Tears at High Tide multi-format eBook to five winners. Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.  Link and prizes provided by the author and Pride Promotions.

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A Barb, A Zany Old Lady Review: Shadows Fall by J.K. Hogan

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Shadows Fall coverTitus McGinty is a natural-born chovihano, medium, witch, Shaman—a Romany who has the gift of seeing dead people everywhere he looks. To most people that may sound intriguing, but to Titus it’s a curse. Spirts don’t just hover, they reach out to him, speaking, calling or making eerie noises. Together, at any given moment, the cacophony is enough to drive him crazy, so he never leaves his home or his coffee shop, both warded to keep the spirits out, without his earbuds firmly in place as he listens to whatever music queues up next on his iPod.

Most spirits hover in the area where they lived or died, never leaving one place, but recently a quartet of females, all grotesquely maimed, are following him around, trying to get him to help them, and he knows there’s nothing he can do.

Homicide Detective Charlie Hale, closeted, handsome, and the type of guy Titus has a hard time resisting, shows up at the coffee shop Titus owns and slowly wins Titus over. The attraction is mutual, but it’s soon evident that Charlie has never acted on his desire for men until Titus rocks his world. The two act on their attraction, but Charlie is shocked when he finds out that Titus might be more than a material witness to a murder he’s recently discovered.

It’s not Titus’s fault that the spirit of a newly dead man leads him into the building where his body is lying shortly after he’s been murdered. The biggest issue is that he has the same markings as the four female spirits who have been haunting Titus and has now joined the others in their pursuit. Titus wants to help, but he also wants peace and quiet so he sends for his grandmother, the Shaman of their gypsy tribe and the only person who might be willing to help him figure out how to keep out the spirits he doesn’t want but communicate with those he does.

Between his grandmother showing up, and Titus’s discovery of that body, his life goes into chaos. Charlie is pressuring him to reveal how he found the body, Charlie’s cop partner is pressuring both of them by threatening to arrest Titus, and the spirits are threatening his sanity by continually trying to get him to understand something. By the time, the chaos is sorted, Titus is on the radar of the serial killer and may become the next victim before he can help Charlie solve the crime.

This is just a very brief summary of a story that was shockingly good. Shocking to me because I’ve never read this author’s work, and I’m not a huge fan of gruesome murder stories. However, this was very well-written, with rich detail and an intricate plotline that piqued my interest.

Both the primary and secondary characters were well-developed and captured my attention right from the beginning of the book. I like a story which engages me immediately, and this certainly did that. Titus was feisty and independent, yet so emotionally needy for close contact with another human being that when Charlie walked into his life, he soaked up the attention like a sponge. And Charlie, tough guy detective and closeted gay man, was so hard shell on the outside with a soft chewy center, i.e. tenderness on the inside, I found myself rooting for him to win Titus’s heart. Grandma Hester Faa was a hoot—picture Ester from the Golden Girls of yesteryear. She too was feisty and took no backtalk from anyone, particularly from some gaje cop who was sleeping in her grandson’s bed. Other support characters could easily constitute a recurring cast for future spinoffs from this story, and judging by the way the author ended the book, I’d say it’s highly likely there will be some.

Actually, the one thing that kept my rating from being five stars was the ending of the story. It felt rushed, with a few subplots left outstanding, including the fate of Titus’s missing employee, Titus’s own future standing with his family and grandmother—will it be closer now or go back to being estranged?—and Charlie’s relationship with his partner—a partner who was very on again-off again. I’m sure much of the reason things stand the way they are at the end of the story are to tie into a future book, however the transition wasn’t smooth and simply felt too rushed and incomplete.

I would recommend this to those who like a creepy mystery with a paranormal element along with some blood and gore all mixed in with their M/M romance. Throw in a little feisty granny and some mighty hawt sex scenes with a virginal cop, and you’ll likely really enjoy this one as much as I did.

~~~~

The cover, designed by J.K. Hogan, is a photo depicting a young man, with dark hair and dark complexion with a background of a graffiti-marked underground tunnel. Once the story is complete, readers will understand the symbolism of the tunnel, and the young man is an attractive version of Titus McGinty.

Sales Links:  Wilde City Press  | All Romance (ARe) | Amazon | Buy It Here

Book Details:

ebook, 329 pages
Published June 10th 2015 by Wilde City Press
ISBN13 9781925313246
edition language English

Looking for A New ShapeShifter Story? Check Out Natural Order From Moondancer Drake (excerpt)

NaturalOrder

Natural Order By Moondancer Drake
Release Date: October 1
Goodreads Link
Cover Artist Acorn Graphics

*Buy the book from Bella Books | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Blurb

An evening at the movies turns into a living nightmare for Elizabeth Crew as her lover Dusty battles for their lives and the unborn baby Elizabeth is carrying. Dusty’s dying request is that Elizabeth go live with Dusty’s family, where she and the baby will be safe.

Dusty’s family takes Elizabeth into their home with open arms and a bit of concern. What will happen if Elizabeth learns that her new family includes shape-shifters? For Elizabeth, the family secrets are not all that awaits her in the darkness.

Excerpt

“Dusty, who are they?” Beth wheezed out the question she’d asked many times since Dusty saw the men outside the movie house. Still she got no answer. They ran past a trio of poorly maintained apartment buildings. At the back of a large red brick structure, covered in graffiti, the street abruptly ended.

“You’re tired.” Dusty pulled Beth closer with an arm around her shoulders and slowed to a fast walk. “You can’t keep this up, babe. We have to find someplace so you can rest.”

“Where? If we stay in here, they’ll catch us for sure.”

“I’ll find someplace. C’mon.” They turned down a narrow walkway and came across a set of steps that led to the basement of a gray and beige stone building. Dusty stopped and glanced the way they had come. Beth took the respite to catch her breath and study her companion’s bedraggled appearance. Dusty’s straight, shoulder length hair clung to her ruddy brown face in pitch-black clusters. Her once tan Statesman hat was now soggy, dark brown, and rainwater fell from the wide brim in a steady flow of droplets.

Dusty turned back and guided Beth down the stairs, into a doorway. Water-soaked trash littered the stairwell, the musty smell that accompanied the detritus only added to Beth’s despair. Dusty’s hands moved from Beth’s shoulders and slipped the cell phone from her jacket pocket into Beth’s shaking hand. “Stay down here. Call the cops again. Tell them where you are now and what’s happening.”

“What’s happening? I don’t even understand it.”

“I know, babe,” Dusty said in a strained, but gentle tone. “I promise, when we get outta this I’ll explain everything. Stay here and make the call.”

Beth’s eyes widened as the realization hit her and her throat tightened with fear. “You’re going out there, aren’t you? Are you mad? We have to get out of this together,” Beth pleaded. “Promise me. Together.”

***

Winner of the 2010 Rainbow Award for Best Lesbian Paranormal / Horror and Best Characters Development

“Moondancer Drake has created a fantasy which harmoniously plucks elements from many different cultural and spiritual dishes to mix up a delectable fusion feast. Few other authors offer a multicultural, multi-spiritual world as a given, both of which lend strength to the story.” ~ K. Tempest Bradford

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About the Author

Moondancer Drake

Moondancer Drake is a Two-Spirit Cherokee author of environmental and spiritually driven multicultural fiction. Moondancer is also a vocal advocate for civil rights and the responsibility of all people to take better care of Mother Earth.

Natural Order Book Details:

NaturalOrderISBN:  978-1-61929-246-8
ISBN  978-1-61929-247-5
Genre: Fiction/Speculative Fiction

Format: Trade Paper, 2nd Ed.  252 pages
Cover Price: $ 17.95 Ebook  $9.99
Publication Date:  October 2015
Publisher: Regal Crest Enterprises

*Please, if you can, order the book from your local LGBTQ and Indie bookstores. Otherwise the book can be purchased from these online locations.

Email: General inquiries – sales@regalcrestbooks.biz
Fax:(866) 294-9628
Available from Ingram & Bella Distribution