Category: Fantasy

Review: Diego (Endangered Fae #2) by Angel Martinez

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Diego Endangered Fae coverDiego Sandoval’s life changed utterly the day he rescued an ailing Fae under the Brooklyn Bridge.  From dumped lover and struggling author, Diego’s life is now filled with the love of Finn, his Pookie lover and the book Finn inspired has gotten Diego a league of fans and followers.  Now relocated to a remote area of Montana, life is good but change is in the wind once more….

A misunderstanding between Finn and Diego shatters their happy lives when in a fit of jealous rage, Diego’s uncontrolled power rips a hole in the Veil which seals his universe away from the Otherworld.  The Otherworld is the place where all Fae fled in the face of humankind proliferation and despoiling of the Earth.  Pulled unwittingly into the Otherworld, Diego must learn how to use his powers, find Finn and make their way back home.

But so many obstacles stand in their way, including a mysterious disease that is slowly killing all the Fae, a disease that all Fae are sure Diego can cure.  And if that is not enough to contend with, then the appearance of the US Army with its own assumptions might be the biggest problem of all….

When a book and characters are able to pull me into their story to the point that I forget the time and other things I need to be doing then I know that the author has accomplished their mission as a craftsman of tales, a first rate storyteller that would be welcomed at any fire or table around.  That’s how I felt about Diego (Endangered Fae #2) when I finally put down the Kindle and looked at the clock.  I couldn’t believe how late it was or how absorbed I had been in Diego, the second book in the Endangered Fae series by Angel Martinez.  I loved the first story, but this one built on that and became so much better….

This is a complex story with numerous characters, locations and worlds involved. Once again, Martinez pulls from a number of mythologies to build her two universes and multitude of Fae species.  Diego follows months, perhaps a year, after the events of Finn.  They have moved into a cabin in the wilds of Montana,  and Diego has become a successful author based on his first published story about a fictionalized Finn.  But a state of happiness is an unknown territory for both man and Fae and Martinez is wise to include the points of view of both Diego and Finn here to highlight their feelings and insecurities about their relationship and each other.

Finn, while long lived or even immortal, has not had a happy history with relationships, especially his last one which ended in his dismemberment and his lover’s torture and burning.  And lurking underneath a traumatic history with love or because of it, is a case of poor self image and enough insecuritiesto fill a canyon.  He wants to be worthy of Diego, but is not sure exactly how to accomplish that.  He fears that Diego will abandon him even as Diego tries to reinforce the depth of his own feelings towards the Fae.  Diego too has a bad history of romance behind him.  Two insecure new lovers must balance their new relationship with the needs of each other, different species included.  That’s a heavy task that Martinez has placed in front of her two main characters and that is only the beginning as well as the foundation for most of their issues.  A stable, loving relationship is so new to both that neither understands how to communicate their fears or feel secure enough in their love for each other to question the firmness of the foundation upon which they base their feelings.  That an impressive fracture to overcome for any new couple, let alone a human and a Fae.  Plus both have a history with Diego’s prior self, Taliesin and the power that Diego has yet to harness.  More issues still for the couple.  I mean Martinez has these two on such shaky emotional ground (believably so) that its a wonder each gets out of the bed they are so fond of.

But an emotional jealous rage shatters a barrier raised by a Fae Queen and both are drawn into an ancient feud that has dire consequences for all.  Here Martinez delves deep into Fae mythology and comes up with some astonishing characters.  From Dana to Balor, ancient enemies with a common sorrow between them, and Lugh, half kin, ex lover and soldier, such amazing characters of immense gravitas and magic await the reader on the other side of the Veil.  And none of them even remotely come across as human.  This element of the story is incredibly compelling and magnetic in its pull.  I loved Martinez’ ability to continue with her relationship dynamics between Finn and Diego while building on Finn’s history and complex relationships with others in the Otherworld.  This will just add to the problems they face, trust me.

One aspect of this story will be the arrival (I won’t say where) of a top secret US Army detachment.  Their impact upon our beloved characters and story isn’t for the squeamish.  While Martinez is not as graphic as she might have been, my imagination supplied far too many details on top of the ones the author already delivered.  Vivid, traumatic, scary….just what you might expect from such an encounter.  The detachment fills much the same role as the Wendig0 did for the first story.  It shakes everything up, provides a enemy to thwart, and makes the ending of the story that much more satisfactory for all everyone went through to get to the resolution.  Not a easy element to read but so worthwhile once you get to the other side.  Don’t flinch…move smartly forward.  Trust me, its worth it.

So many wonders to be found here in this story and series.  I loved the Fae, all of them, and the Otherworld. I loved that Diego’s cultural identity is as important as Finn’s Fae one, a lovely touch that adds spice to the Endangered Fae melting pot of a series.  I absolutely fell in love over and over again with character after character, no matter the species and how much fun is that?

I am getting ready for the third book in the series, Semper Fae (great title).  It deals with the romance between a soldier who plays a major role in this story and another great chacracter found here too.  No spoilers as yet.  It won’t be out for several months.  Until then, get started on this series.  Start with Finn, and then go on to Diego.  I will meet you back here for Semper Fae.

Consider Diego (and Finn) definite recommendations from ScatteredThoughtsandRogueWords.  Such happy findings….I can’t wait to see where Angel Martinez takes us all next….

 

 

Cover art by Winterheart Designs.  Nice  cover, love the models standing in for both characters.

Buy Links:              MLR Press        Diego: Endangered Fae Series ” title=”Amazon buy link”> Amazon            ARe

Book Details:

book, 3rd, 296 pages
Published June 6th 2014 by MLR Press (first published September 16th 2010)
original titleDiego
ISBN 1608209342 (ISBN13: 9781608209347)
urlhttp://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=AM_DIEGO
seriesEndangered Fae #2
charactersDanu, Finn Shannon, Diego Sandoval, Lugh, Balor
settingMontana (United States)
Otherworld ,Tearman Island

Books in the series include:

Finn (Endangered Fae #1)
Finn’s Christmas (Endangered Fae #1.5) (note: this was folded into Finn as the last chapter in the latest edition)
Diego (Endangered Fae #2)
Semper Fae (Endangered Fae #3)

 

Review: Finn (Endangered Fae #1) by Angel Martinez

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Finn_432(1) coverStruggling writer Diego Sandoval spots a thin naked man from the rail of the Brooklyn Bridge, the pain and desperation inherent in that figure spurs Diego to action.  An advocate for the homeless, he wants to get the man help and then to a shelter.  But when Diego takes the man home to get cleaned up he gets the biggest surprise of all.  The man, Finn,  is in fact a Pooka,  a being left behind when the Fae closed the doors between worlds.  Worst of all, the city’s pollution and modern day chemicals are killing him. When Diego’s agent suggests he borrow a friends home in the woods up in New Brunswick to write, he jumps at the chance to get the Pooka, Finn, out of the city and into a more pristine environment where he can start to heal. But its not just Finn who needs healing but Diego as well, fresh off an abusive relationship.  Diego is not sure what to expect from their adventure in the woods but what happens is both more wonderful and horrific than anything he can imagine.

Fionnachd, a Pooka, awoke to a new modern world where nothing is the same as he left it and all the changes are ones that have the power to kill him, even the water and the air he is breathing is making him sick.  Rescued by a human who seems to glow with the light of compassion and something more, Finn slowly comes to care for Diego as he recovers from his centuries long sleep and illness.  When Diego takes Finn to Canada’s remote woods, Finn finally feels healthy and at home in the wild natural setting.  But something else lurks deep in the darkness, something that Finn accidentally awakes.  Like calls to like, so magic calls to magic, only this magical being is an ancient, evil spirit: the wendigo.

As Finn and Diego struggle to find a way to kill the wendigo before it can possess Diego and return to the the city, they find themselves falling in love.  Can a Pooka and a Human find love together or will the wendigo kill them first?

The púca (Irish for spirit/ghost) or pooka is an ancient Irish fae being, feared for its ability to assume all types of animals forms as it creates mischief and harm, usually after nightfall.  And while the pooka may be best known here in the US because of a large pooka rabbit called Harvey, trust me when I say, this is not your  parents pooka!  This fae being, Finn, is sinfully sexy, with long black flowing hair, and once healthy, a body to die for.  In Diego’s case, perhaps literally.  How I love this story!

It didn’t take me long to fall under the magical spell that Angel Martinez creates for Finn, the first in her Endangered Fae series.  With her first setting the melting pot that is Brooklyn, Martinez starts to spin a yarn that will incorporate a number of different mythologies into a romance with supernatural overtones.  There is the Irish púca (also pooka, phouka), the Wendigo from the Algonquian Nation, and Taliesin, a wizard and bard who acquired the gift of prophecy, found in Welsh mythology.  Layered onto such a fantastical foundation, Martinez brings in a main Hispanic character steeped in his own culture and language until this story just simmers with a richness of traditions, folklore, and diversity.

The story is told, in part,  from Diego’s point of view, a gentle city dwelling writer whose daily jaunts through the streets of Brooklyn include stops to check in on various homeless people who have become friends.  Diego delivers food, clothing and kindness and receives their trust in return.  Martinez manages to reveal Diego’s personality not through a summary of his character traits but through his actions.  And that’s a method that almost guarantees our affection and understanding of his nature and generosity of spirit.  Diego’s support system includes Tia Carmen,his wonderful landlady whose friendship, acceptance, and wisdom will be necessary for the events to come.  Through Tia Carmen, the story is peppered with bits of their language, cooking recipes and herbal medicines that Finn will need to recover.  I wanted to taste her chicken and stuffed poblanos, red beans, and rice along with Finn as he licked his fingers and asked for more.  It is this attention to detail and the layer upon layer that Martinez adds to her stories that make this such a multidimensional tale that will resonate with many.

There are so many characters to love here.  From the most important ones such as Finn (such a lovely construct of a Fae) and Diego, a warmhearted, heart torn, generous soul to Tia Carmen, literary agent Miriam, or even such fleeting characters as Tiff and Rodney West, homeless,discarded street people, Martinez has taken great care to make each and every one a believable individual, one character as well rounded as the next.   It’s the reason why you come to care for them all and remember their names long past the scenes they were mentioned in.  In Marinez’ world, there doesn’t seem to be any such thing as a “throwaway” person, whether they be real or fiction.  All matter, all count.  That just deepens my appreciation of her talents as a writer as well as my admiration for her stories.

Both the romance and the Wendigo are great elements here.  The romance is a slow build to love, especially as it has so many obstacles to overcome.  Diego’s ex boyfriend, the very nature of the pooka himself, and finally the absolutely scary Wendigo, a horrific delight for those who enjoy a little fright with their m/m love stories.  The Wendigo and its actions might gross out a few readers but the vivid descriptions and the manner in which Martinez gets her characters out of the wild situations they find themselves in is more than worth some of the gore found here.  Really not bad at all by some of the standard stuff I see or read these days.

Martinez throws hints and clues here and there, scattered about her plot, that point to the next story in the series, Diego (Endangered Fae #2).  I can’t wait to see what’s in store for my favorite pooka and his human love.  This is the second edition for Finn, and as I am unfamiliar with the first, it is the only edition for me.  I definitely recommend Finn for all lovers of m/m romance, the Fae, and the wild unknown.

Cover Art by Winterheart Design.  Nice cover, love the model who stands in for Finn.

Buy Links:    MLR Press        Amazon          ARe

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 205 pages
Published May 2nd 2014 by MLR Press (first published July 2nd 2009)
original titleFinn
ASINB00K3496AS
edition languageEnglish
seriesEndangered Fae #1
charactersFinn Shannon, Diego Sandoval
settingNew Brunswick (Canada)

 

Books in the series in the order they were written and should be read are:

Finn (Endangered Fae #1)
Finn’s Christmas (Endangered Fae #1.5)
Diego (Endangered Fae #2)
Semper Fae (Endangered Fae #3)

Author Book Tour & Contest: An Interview with Angel Martinez on Finn (Endangered Fae #1)

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On Tour with Angel Martinez and the first in her new series,

Finn (Endangered Fae #1)

ScatteredThoughtsandRogueWords welcomes Angel Martinez here today to talk about the new series and the story that starts it, Finn ( Endangered Fae #1).  Contest: Angel Martinez has brought along with her a Rafflecopter giveaway. To enter to win an eBook copy of Finn: Endangered Fae, visit this Rafflecopter link and fill out the form.  Contest ends June 13th. 

FinnBanner

 

STRW: Thanks, Angel, for stopping by today.  I am always fascinated by the different approaches authors take the writing process and inspiration.
What research did you do for this novel?

AM: It’s funny. People don’t often associate research with fantasy. They think you can just toss it together all higgledy-piggledy. You can’t. You have to understand the genesis and history of your world, the nature of the characters and its magic, and the natural history of any non-human species you use. Urban fantasy is compounded with real world research as well. Sure I’ve been to New York and New Brunswick, but it had been awhile. What did I have to research?

Brooklyn neighborhoods, streets and where a Goodwill was located
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (it’s changed enormously since I saw it last)
Fundy National Park, the trees and wildlife there, and its surroundings
What to do for a carsick dog
Pookas – I dug through every old story I could find with a pooka reference and then had to decide what I wanted to use and what to discard
Wendigo – again, I knew something but not enough. I needed everything I could dig up.

STRW: So many people are enthralled by the Fae.  And there is a huge amount of Fae folklore and writings to draw from.  Did you create your own or draw from some of the more traditional aspects?

AM: I went straight to Irish legend, the old stories of the Tuatha Dé Danann and the several waves of invasions, of heroes and gods and ancient wars. My fae are directly built on those old stories, though I’ve made certain to characterize them as neither gods nor humans. Those stories and the old folktales people my fae courts and my Otherworld.

Obviously, I’ve taken liberties in creating distinct fae species and setting down the rules and characteristics of each type, but the old stories from the age of heroes are their forerunners.
STRW:What drew you to write about the Fae?  What was your inspiration for this story?

AM: I suppose you could say my inspiration was a lifetime of stories, a deep love from early childhood for stories of fairies and non-human realms. They’ve always been with me. I suppose I had to write about them eventually.

This story specifically was a reaction to an internal need, though. My first M/M story was a contemporary piece – one written for a specific reason. But I wasn’t comfortable with contemporary fiction and probably never will be. I don’t read it. Why would I write it? My critique partners urged me to turn to what I loved. Why didn’t I write a fantasy? Elves and things. I wrinkled my nose. Everyone had written about elves. I didn’t want to do what had been done a hundred times already. So I dove for the books and searched until I found a critter that people rarely discussed. The pooka.

STRW: How many books are planned for this series?

AM: There are currently four – three already written and one in the works. I may find I need a fifth, depending on where things end up, but four has been the goal for some time now.
STRW: How long have you been writing or writing in the M/M genre?

AM: I’ve always written something, from the time that I could write. I first started writing novels in, oh, 1998 or so? I think that’s about right. The first novel was written for my son as a chapter-by-chapter bedtime story – a novel that will most likely never see the light of day. Then I spent several years writing mainstream science fiction, with no success in finding a publisher until a short story sold in 2005. I probably started writing M/M romance in 2001 but didn’t seek publication for a few years. The first M/M story I wrote specifically for publication was contracted in 2007.

So, the answer to the question is: a lifetime of writing, almost ten years as a published author and over seven years as a M/M fiction author.

STRW:  Thank you, Angel Martinez, for a great interview and for stopping by today.  And for all readers, check out Finn (Endangered Fae #1) below and don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for a chance to win a copy of this book for your own!

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Finn_432(1) coverBook Name: Finn (Endangered Fae #1)
Author Name: Angel Martinez
Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 205 pages
Published May 2nd 2014 by MLR Press (first published July 2nd 2009)
original titleFinn
ASINB00K3496AS
edition languageEnglish
seriesEndangered Fae #1
charactersFinn Shannon, Diego Sandoval
settingNew Brunswick (Canada)

literary awardsDark Diva Top Pick

Buy Links: MLR Press   Amazon   ARe

 

Author Bio: While Angel Martinez is the erotic fiction pen name of a writer of several genres, she writes both kinds of gay romance – Science Fiction and Fantasy. Currently living part time in the hectic sprawl of northern Delaware, (and full time inside the author’s head) Angel has one husband, one son, two cats, a changing variety of other furred and scaled companions, a love of all things beautiful and a terrible addiction to the consumption of both knowledge and chocolate.

Author Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amartinez2
Facebook Author Page
Pinterest
Tumblr
Twitter:
Cover Artist: Lex Valentine
Publisher: MLR Publishing
Blurb:

Lost and starving, Finn wakes to a poisoned world, but a man comes to him, a white light in the darkness—can a centuries old pooka find what he needs with a heartbroken, modern man?

When Diego rescues a naked man from the rail of the Brooklyn Bridge, he just wants to get the poor man out of traffic and to social services. He gets more than he bargained for when he discovers Finn is an ailing pooka, poisoned by the city’s pollution. To help him recover, Diego takes him to New Brunswick where Finn inadvertently wakes an ancient, evil spirit: the wendigo.

While they struggle to find a way to destroy the wendigo before it can possess Diego or kill nearby innocents, Diego wrestles with his growing feelings for Finn. Kill the monster and navigate a relationship between a modern man and a centuries old pooka. Piece of cake

Finn (Endangered Fae #1) Excerpt:

The ordeal of the shower seemed cruel, but Finn was filthy and smelled like a dumpster during a garbage strike. Diego placed one of his plastic kitchen chairs in the middle of the shower and installed Finn there, but he only slumped against the chair back, eyes closed, face turned into the spray.
Too exhausted to even flinch.

Diego fought down the little shiver of revulsion at the stench, stripped to his boxers, and stepped into the stall with him. He attacked the tangled mass of hair first, positioning Finn so his head hung back over the chair. No lice—a good sign. He might have been homeless, but he probably hadn’t lived on the streets too long. The nest of midnight snarls unwound under the caress of water and shampoo. If Finn stood, his hair would reach at least to the top curve of his butt. A strange blue-black iridescence shone in it, his natural coloring as far as Diego could tell rather than bottled special effects.

The rest Diego washed with a loofah, shoving away modesty out of a need to get Finn to his rest. An ache lodged around his heart to see how malnutrition had ravaged what probably had been a lean-muscled frame. An athlete, perhaps, before he went off the deep end, an impression reinforced by the absence of almost all body hair. Waxed or electrolysis-denuded—only Finn’s crotch sported a black thatch of soft hair. Swimmer, perhaps. The Olympic competitors often shaved it all off for every small gain in streamlining.

He turned off the water and tugged at Finn’s arm. “Come on. Let’s get you settled. You can’t sleep in the shower.”

Finn staggered to his feet and Diego all but carried him to Mitch’s room. The spare room, he corrected himself. He usually kept the door closed so the stark, unfurnished space wasn’t glaring at him.

He sat Finn down against the wall, brought him a pair of flannel pajamas, soft with age, and went out to the front closet to retrieve the air mattress and vacuum. Six boxes lay stacked against the wall; all that remained of Mitch’s things. Diego ran a hand over one, and then shook his head against the temptation to open the top and look at its contents. When he returned, Finn hadn’t moved from where he sat, naked and dozing in a patch of sunlight.

“You might want to put those on.” Diego toed the pajamas closer as he dragged the air mattress into place. When Finn’s only response was a long sigh, he added, “We need to get you warm. I don’t want to have to take you to Emergency.”

With a puzzled frown, Finn unfolded the material and managed, after looking back and forth between the pajamas and Diego’s jeans a few times, to pull the bottoms on. His efforts with the top, though, were sabotaged when the vacuum roared to life. He startled and scuttled sideways, wide-eyed and panting.

Diego hurried to switch it off. “Sorry. Should have warned you.”

“Is it some sort of small dragon?”

For a moment, Diego stared in blank surprise before he caught himself. At least the nature of Finn’s delusion was becoming clearer. He might even share his history later when he had the energy, perhaps some tragic story of an exiled prince. For now, Diego thought it best to play along.

“Not a dragon. Just a machine. It blows out and sucks in air with great force.”

“Ah.” Finn seemed disappointed, but waved a hand for him to continue.

Mattress inflated, Finn dressed and installed in bed, Diego thought he should get something in him before he drifted off. He tried tap water first but Finn jerked his head away, the color draining from his face.

“Tainted,” he gasped. “Great Dagda, it reeks.”

Diego sniffed above the glass, puzzled. New York City water, piped in from the mountains, was cleaner than most but it was treated. Chlorine. Fluoride. Maybe Finn had an allergy to one or the other.

Bottled water produced a less violent reaction. Finn smelled it, nose crinkled, but he downed half the bottle in desperate gulps before Diego could take it back from him. Hydration, at least, wouldn’t be an issue.

The hurdle of food remained. Starvation often did terrible things to the body’s ability to accept nourishment. Not the best time to offer a hamburger and fries. Diego decided he should start with the foods one was supposed to give sick kids: bananas, rice, applesauce and toast, minus the applesauce, since he didn’t have any.

Finn wouldn’t touch the boiled-in-tap-water rice. He nibbled a corner of the toast and set it aside with murmured apologies. The banana completely stumped him. He turned it over and over in his hands and finally tried to bite through the skin.

“You eat these?” He handed it back to Diego with a grimace.

All right, so his reality doesn’t include New World fruit. Diego peeled the banana for him and handed it back. “You don’t eat the skin. Try the inside.”

Finn took a careful bite and his eyes widened. “That’s not bad.”

Diego could only watch anxiously, praying his guest wouldn’t choke, as the rest disappeared in three bites. With a contented sigh, Finn handed the peel back, gathered the covers into a circle in the center of the mattress, and curled into a tight ball inside his nest. By the time Diego brought an extra comforter to cover him, Finn was fast asleep.

Clean and at rest, his face had a childlike quality with his hair tucked behind one finely-curved ear. Diego wasn’t certain it was a handsome face, almost unearthly in its delicacy, and though Finn stood six inches taller, he had the odd feeling he could scoop that long frame up in his arms without much effort.
He backed out and closed the door as quietly as he could, confident Finn wouldn’t die on him. Tomorrow he would see about finding the right agency to take his guest, preferably one that wouldn’t hand him right over to immigration.

A few hours of peace while Finn sle

Crystalpt should let him at least get through the current chapter he was writing.

The moment he sat ready at his desk, fingers poised over the keys, the phone rang.

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FinnBadge for TourTour Dates: June 2, 2014 – June 13, 2014
Tour Stops:
June 2: Tara Lain
June 3: Parker Williams
June 4: Kimi-Chan, Jade, Talon SO
June 5: Book Reviews Rants, and Raves, MM Good Books
June 6: Nephylim, Hearts on Fire
June 9: Prism Book Alliance, Dawn’s Reading Nook 
June 10: Love Bytes, My Fiction Nook
June 11: Fallen Angel Reviews
June 12: The Novel Approach, Rainbow Gold Reviews
June 13: Amanda C. Stone, Velvet Panic, ScatteredThoughtsandRogueWords
Contest Link for an eBook copy of Finn: Rafflecopter Link

 

WillPride

In the Spotlight: David Pratt, author of Looking After Joey (Contest)

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In the Author Spotlight:

Meet David Pratt!

I recently read a story called Looking After Joey and immediately had to get to know the author behind this marvelous novel.  So I invited David Pratt to ScatteredThoughtsandRogueWords today to talk about Looking After Joey, his inspirations, his muse, his favorite porn stars and whatever else came to mind.  What a great interview it turned out to be.  Here is a photograph of David Pratt at a reading.  Copies of the cover and model Nicholas Gorham can be found at the end of the interview.  Don’t miss out on those!

Contest:  David has brought with him a copy of Looking After Joey to giveaway.  To enter to win, leave a comment and an email address where you can be reached.  Contest ends June 18th at midnight.  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.David Pratt reading

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STRW:. How did this idea (Looking After Joey) come to you?

David Pratt: Part One, “Calvin Gets Sucked In” comes from a short story I wrote. But I forget where the idea for that came from. Once I had it, though, it seemed natural to wonder, what if Joey took Calvin up on his offer and came into this world? I thought, that’s not a story. That’s a novel! A novel about what really matters to us — and what doesn’t. A novel that could be very funny. Half the stuff Joey encounters inspires existential wonder or panic. The other half inspires flat-out mockery! Some things inspire both.

STRW:  Is there a porn star out there you would like to see step out of a video?

David Pratt: I love watching Peto Coast. You can look for his videos on ice-gay.com. Now, I’m not sure about him stepping out of the TV. He is an extremely aggressive top. I can bottom, for sure, but he might be too much in person. In the Goofy Kid category, I like Paul Canon of Broke Straight Boys. I like Gino and Chase on Spanking Central, and I like this guy Kenny who’s on Sean Cody.He could step out of the TV for me! As could some of the guys from the Fraternity X website. But really, I did most of my porn watching in the 1980s, so I fondly remember Rod Garreto, Eric Manchester and Ted Cox from that era. I’d love it if Garreto stepped out of the TV! He was my fave.Rod Garetto porn star

STRW:. The Native American character was a terrific element, where did he come from and will we see him again in another story?

David Pratt: In the original short story, he was a joke, because of his name. In the book he acquires dimension because he reappears and we find out what he thinks of the “real world.” The decision he made shocked even me. I, of course, have experienced times when all arrows pointed to something in my work, but rarely does a character take a significant action that totally takes me by surprise. But Jake did, and I had to go with it. His presence signals a change for the other four. They can no longer think their world is all about wine bars and video nights. In the second half of the book there is an undoing of the cozy world of the first half. Everyone is growing up and moving on. Jake makes them think about who they are and what they are doing. Will we see Jake again? You never know. The whole gang of “Joey” characters could be revisited. I mean, tell me you don’t want to hear from Stuart again. In moderation, of course. And Desmond, hmmmm?

STRW:. That porn world was hysterical with all the elements most people see in a typical porn DVD, the delivery guys, the pizza, the gym etc. Do you think you will revisit this world and a certain character in it again?

David Pratt: Like Calvin, I learned two things about porn:  1.) it is rich with possibilities; and 2.) you run through those possibilities pretty quickly. Stuff starts to repeat. Which is kind of the point, isn’t it? There is just one character from that world that I’d be curious to follow up with. But I am not saying which one. I suppose I don’t want to be held to it. And writers never give away what they are thinking about that has yet to be written down. Or they shouldn’t.

STRW: . I found the pathos and angst surprising and it added layers of dimension that really made this story work. Had you planned on that happening or did the story take an unexpected direction once you started writing?

David Pratt: There was more pathos and angst in the original story, though there was comedy, too. In the novel,  Calvin and Peachy effectively become parents, so there has to be angst and pathos! Parents know, it’s a joyful but dangerous world out there. And it all starts with Calvin being lonely. His relationship with Joey springs out of loneliness and lack of confidence. For Joey there is angst and pathos in being introduced to time and the suggestion, which at first he barely understands, of death. That was just there. I had to include it. Think how completely different this world is from the world presented in porn.

Calvin compares Joey to an immigrant. The opera singer Teresa Stratas tells how, when her family emigrated to Canada from Greece, her father could not adjust. He sat and stared at the wall all day. Vietnamese dancer/choreographer Ea Sola freaked out when she came to France as a very young woman; her first performances consisted of standing still staring in the street, basically having a breakdown. Her audiences thought it was art; to her it was just what she did. My partner emigrated from Brazil. When he first came here, coincidentally, he delivered pizza. One day he stopped in the middle of the street in the rain and for a long moment couldn’t go on. This kind of paralyzing moment happens to Joey a couple of times. He’s immobilized by fear when he notices his fingernails growing — even after he’s cut them once! He can’t look at pictures of Calvin as a child. I think there is also a natural pathos as well as humor in, for example, Joey seeing what disabled people or people of different ethnicities look like. This is a rough world! But Calvin and Peachy and Doug teach Joey that there is love in it, and loyalty. And these defy time.

STRW: Do you have a favorite genre and a least favorite one? And why?

David Pratt: I tend to like “literary” fiction (see my New England background, below), but I have become open to anything. I never thought I’d go for erotica, until I encountered Erastes, Dale Chase and Ellis Carrington. I did not pay much attention to paranormal or fantasy until I read Felice Picano’s “Tales from a Distant Planet.” I had no interest in “spiritual” fiction until I stumbled on Cathryn McIntyre’s weird memoir/fiction mash-up “Honor in Concord.”

STRW:. What author or story has influenced your writing the most?

David Pratt: As a child I loved the Winnie-the-Pooh stories. They’re a direct influence on “Joey.” Chelsea is the Hundred Acre Wood. Calvin is Pooh, Joey is Piglet, and Peachy is Rabbit—or he’s Owl on speed! The House at Pooh Corner has one of the great endings ever: “Promise you won’t forget me, ever. Not even when I’m a hundred.” That could be the ending of “Joey,” too. In terms of the off-the-wall, what-the-hell feel of the book, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was probably an influence. I read everything by him when I was sixteen, though today I am not so interested. And as I come from New England, there’s all that transcendence and all that symbolism, though not so focused on the natural world. Emily Dickinson heard a fly buzz. Calvin hears a taxi. Melville had his white whale. Calvin and Peachy have Bunce van den Troell!

Finally, some more images are attached. Reading photo at Hotel Monteleone, credit it J. Stephen Young. All other photos,(c) 2014 Eva Mueller. Joey cover design, Adrian Nicholas, (c) 2014 Wilde City Press. Bob cover design, Peachy Boy Design and Distillery, (c) 2010 Chelsea Station Editions.

Thanks again so much for the great review and for your interest and the blogging opportunity. Let me know anything else you need.

Best,
David

STRW:  Thanks, David, for stopping by for such a wonderful interview and for generously donating a copy of Looking After Joey to give away.

Book:  Looking After Joey by David Pratt

Blurb: 

From the author of Bob the Book comes a funny, fast-paced, touching tale of love, laughter, family of choice and fabulousness!

Wouldn’t it be great if a character from a porn movie stepped right out of your TV, into your life? Well, be careful what you wish for. Because that’s how Calvin and Peachy end up looking after Joey. Then Peachy decides to make Joey the center of in a social-climbing scheme that will take them all from Chelsea to Park Avenue to Fire Island and will entangle a rogues’ gallery of eccentric Manhattanites, including portly, perspiring publicist Bunce van den Troell; theatrical investor Sir Desmond Norma; studly thespian Clive Tidwell-Smidgin; and evil lubricant king Fred Pflester and his mysterious nephew, Jeffrey. Tender, wise, witty and utterly deranged, Looking After Joey will make you wish you, too, had a porn character sitting at your kitchen table, pointing at the toast and asking, “What’s this called again?”

Details: ebook, 255 pages
Published April 2nd 2014 by Wilde City Press

Highly Recommended by ScatteredThoughtsandRogueWords

Buy Links:   Wilde City  Amazon   ARe

Contest:  Leave a comment, your email address where you can be reached below.  Contests ends 6/18 at midnight.  

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All photo credits are Eva Mueller. The cover model is Nicholas Gorham.

Photograph and book covers are credited to the following:

Reading photo at Hotel Monteleone, credit it J. Stephen Young. All other photos,(c) 2014 Eva Mueller. Joey cover design, Adrian Nicholas, (c) 2014 Wilde City Press. Bob cover design, Peachy Boy Design and Distillery, (c) 2010 Chelsea Station Editions.

Review: Apollo’s Curse by Brad Vance

Rating: 4.25 stars out of 5

Apollo's Curse coverDane Gale has had one goal in life. That was to write and be a successful author.  But his only published novel lies languishing on the shelves with little to no takers.  When he joins a romance book club, he gets more than he bargained for.  His new friends Rose and Sherry and Dale find themselves critiquing the novels they are reading and finding that they believe that they could write one as well.   Soon an author is born. “Pamela Clarice,” self-published romance novelist, consisting of the three of them, and quickly they find they have published their first romance to some success.  And for each of their novels, Dane chooses a popular model to use for their covers, a man he can’t get out of his mind.

The model Dane is obsessing over is Paul Musegetes. Paul is the world’s most popular romance cover model, but hardly anything is known about him, other than only one photographer is allowed to take his pictures. When Dane, Rose, and Sherry attend the Romance Writers’ Ball on the Summer Solstice, Dane meets Paul  and connects for one night of passion that will change his life forever…

After that night with Paul, Dane finds his muse has ignited a storm of inspiration and he starts writing one successful novel after another.  And that’s all Dane does….he writes to the exclusion of all else.  Paul is a Muse who comes with a curse as well as the writers Midas touch.  The writer he anoints on the Summer Solstice has but one year of phenomenal success and then will never be able to write again.

Heartbroken at the price he never knew he would have to pay, Dane vows to track down Paul and break the curse.  But how to find a man who doesn’t seem to exist outside of a photograph?  All the clues lead to Venice and Paul’s photographer Jackson da Vinci…

What a great concept for a story!  The idea that a popular cover model, you know, the ones you see over and over again, is actually a Greek Muse, who with one night of supernatural sex, anoints an author to become the world’s most prolific and successful writer?  I love it!  And it works beautifully here as a means to explain the writing process and as a raison de etre for Dane , who has to travel not only to Venice but to Greece itself in order to find his answers and a way to break the curse.

Dane Gale is a character that has to grow on a reader.  At the beginning, he seems very self-involved and so sure he has written the “great American novel” that no one can appreciate as demonstrated by its poor sales.  But it’s what Paul is lacking that is the source of his writing woes and inability to understand love and romance.  Vance gives us the key to Dane early on when he introduces the women that will become not only Dane’s writing partners but his friends too.  Rose and Sherry open Dane up emotionally as each has a different talent to bring to their novels.  What does it say about Dane that his talent is editing,research,  formating and such?  As the three of them work on stories and ideas, it becomes clear to them all where Dane deficiencies lie.  Until he sees a picture of Paul Musegetes when searching for a cover model for their romances.  Then Dane becomes able to write not only steamy and believable sex scenes but frame out entire stories around Paul’s pictures.

Brad Vance does a great job here in relating the publishing world as it exists today with all the new avenues and formats of self publishing ebooks.  He goes into details about all the various ways in which an author can’t only publish their own stories but track their success and sales as well.  This element of the story teeters on almost too much information.  It is practically a “how to publish” pamphlet on its own.  Interesting but a little overwhelming although I understand why he wanted us to “watch” Dane’s excitement grow as his success climbs exponentially upward.

The women in this story are terrific characters and I wish we had as much of them towards the last section of the story as we did at the beginning.  We become invested in these women only to have them disappear halfway through the story.  Understandable, necessary, but their absence is definitely felt. Jackson da Vinci is a character to love the more you know about him.  He too needs enlightenment and only through his search with Dane does the end result of his own choices become apparent.

One of my most favorite aspects of Apollo’s Curse is the Greek island of Kos and its inhabitants.  Such wonders await the readers there, including bits of storytelling and characters worth the price of this novel alone.  It’s magical and poignant and I never wanted Dane and Jackson to leave. But of course, that was never possible….  But clearly Brad Vance knows and loves his Greek mythology as well as the islands.  Venice too ripples authentically off the pages of the story as the enchanting city it is.

Apollo’s Curse is a book that continued to grow on me even after I had finished.  The more its scenes and  characters came back to me, the greater my enjoyment in the world and story that Vance created.  It’s really a lovely romance as well as a cautionary tale of getting exactly what you asked for.  Steamy, hot, sex?  Not really, although perhaps you might anticipate that from the cover and the half dressed model.  Who is that model?  Why the photographer! His name is  Francesco Cura.  And Vance didn’t find out that he was the photographer until afterwards.  Now that’s a great surprise.

At the moment, Vance has said in his interview with me that this is a stand alone novel.  I hope not.  I want to know what happens to Jackson and Dane next.  Also Rose and Sherry who arrive at the end.  There is so much more to tell and I would love to see where Vance takes his characters and their Muse next.  Consider this story and author highly recommended.

Cover artist and model not credited.

Buy Links:   Amazon  Amazon UK       ARe          Barnes & Noble  Smashwords

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 280 pages
Published May 4th 2014 (first published May 1st 2014)
ASINB00K4FXL8O
edition languageEnglish

Apollo’s Curse Book Tour: An Interview with Brad Vance (Contest Incl.)

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Brad Vance has stopped by ScatteredThoughtsandRogueWords today to talk about his latest release Apollo’s Curse and share some of his thoughts on writing.  He has also brought 10 copies of Apollo’s Curse to giveaway during his tour.  To enter to win an eBook copy of Apollo’s Curse, visit here, a Rafflecopter site.   Contest ends 6/13.

Brad Vance was nice enough to answer a few questions from me about the story, his own muse, and writing in general.  Here’s the interview:

STRW: This story has both a curse and a muse. What was your inspiration for the story?

BV: “Paul,” the model who’s featured on the cover, really was the inspiration. Every time I go to create a cover for a book, it’s almost always his picture that leaps off the screen at me.
His name is actually Francesco Cura, but I refused to find that out until I was done with the book. Imagine my delight when I found out he was not only the model, but also the photographer! I felt this rush of joy, of validation – I was right to pick him over and over, right to choose him as a muse, he was so much more than just a pretty face after all.

STRW: Do you have a Muse?

See above 🙂 I’d say that my favorite writers are my Muses as well. For erotica, I look to gay writers Andrew Holleran and Edmund White as role models – they’re far more literary than I am, but it’s that sensual aspect to their work that I love. One day I’ll write something as languorous and steamy as Holleran’s “Dancer From The Dance.” That book reeks of sex…but I was astonished to discover when I reread it last year that there isn’t a single sex scene in it. How did he do that! I want to do that!

STRW: What drew you to write M/M Romance?

BV:  Well, like Dane, I wasn’t having a great success writing mainstream fic. Aubrey Watt (AKA Aubrey Rose), a very talented writer, did an Ask Me Anything on Reddit about being a “smut writer.” I thought, I have a dirty mind – I bet I can do that! I sent her a sample and she was very encouraging. So I wrote erotica until the Epic Cockblocking purges at Kobo and Amazon killed the market for that. Then I moved into erotic romance, where I have a bigger canvas than just sex to write about (though there’s plenty of that in every book save “Apollo”).

STRW: Best line you ever wrote?

BV:  One I haven’t written yet.

STRW:  Is there any genre you wouldn’t write in?

BV:  Oh, sure. I can’t see myself writing, for instance, Amish romance. Hmm. Unless it featured some of those hot Amish gangsters getting it on in the barn…there’s an idea! I gotta go now!

STRW:  Favorite romance, book and/or movie?

BV:  For some reason, the movie that pops into mind isn’t really a romance, but it is – “About A Boy.” I love the complicated relationships in that story, and the “bromance” that ends with a HEA. Remember, you gotta have a backup!

STRW: How do you feel about HEA in stories? Necessary or not?

BV: I want closure when I read a book. I want to be satisfied. If one of the lovers dies, that’s not a HEA but it’s closure. So I’m okay with that – But of course I’d rather have the HEA.

STRW:  Is this a standalone novel or the beginning of a series?

BV:  Well. It’s a standalone. But. What happens to Dane later? Does he write again? Does he become a muse to someone else? I have no idea now. But there’s room for another story, if the ideas come to me. I won’t force it, but it’s possible.

Now let’s get up close and personal with Brad’s book…

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Apollo's Curse coverBook Name: Apollo’s Curse
Author Name: Brad Vance
Cover Artist: Brad Vance
Publisher: Brad Vance Erotica
Blurb(s):

All Dane Gale ever wanted was to be a successful writer. After a few sessions with his new friends Rose and Sherry at a romance book club, well, the more romances they read, the more they’re convinced they can do better. And do they ever! They join their creative forces to become “Pamela Clarice,” self-published romance novelist. When they look for a cover model for their first book, Dane sees the photos that will change his life.

Paul Musegetes is the world’s most popular romance cover model, and the most secretive. Dane soon finds himself obsessed with this supernaturally handsome man, and when he meets Paul at the Romance Writers’ Ball on the Summer Solstice, he and Paul connect for one night of passion…

After that night, Dane’s a writing machine. He can’t stop writing romances, and every story he touches turns to gold. But he also finds that he can’t write anything but romances. And soon he’s spending every waking moment of every day writing another after another…

Then Dane finds out that this Midas touch has a heavy price. After the next Summer Solstice, he’ll never write again. Not a romance, not a serious novel. Nothing. Not even a grocery list. And that leaves him with only one option – find Paul, and get him to break the curse. But before he can do that, he’ll have to track down Paul’s equally mysterious photographer, Jackson da Vinci…

Excerpt:
It wasn’t hard to find Paul again.  And to find the “other images with this model” link.  And click.  And click.  And blow up my browser window to 200%, so that when I zoomed the photos, his face, then his eyes, filled my screen.

And what surprised me was that there were not only so many images of him, but that he could be so many different men in so many different pictures, different settings – he was the tender lover with the rose, the snarling Viking, the cool guy in a band, the Miami Beach tool, the shifter/werewolf, the business man, the college kid, the gym rat, the outdoorsman, the poet, the drill sergeant, the soccer player, the swimmer…  As I looked at each picture, I was totally convinced that I was looking at the real man, that that was who he really was…until I looked at the next.

And yet, always, he was clearly recognizably himself – Paul.  It was those eyes, reminding you that he was in there, somewhere, behind the image, and you’d never know which one he really was, he was all of them, he was whoever you wanted him to be…

Buy Links for Apollo’s Curse :     AmazonUK    Amazon  ARe     Barnes&Noble     Smashwords

Author Bio:

Brad Vance is a popular author of gay romances, including the best selling novel, “Given the Circumstances.”

You can follow Brad at:

Tour Dates: 6/2 – 6/13

Tour Stops:
ApollosCurseBadgeJune 2: Prism Book Alliance, Dawn’s Reading Nook
June 3: Kimi-Chan
June 4: Elisa Rolle, Nephylim, Up All Night, Read All Day
June 5: Book Reviews, Rants, and Raves
June 6: MM Good Books, Jane Wallace-Knight
June 9: Parker Williams, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words
June 10: Amanda C. Stone, Fallen Angel Reviews
June 11: Gay Guy Reading, Jade Crystal, My Fiction Nook, Talon SO
June 12: Love Bytes, It’s Raining Men
June 13: The Novel Approach, The Hat Party

Rafflecopter Prize: 10 copies of ‘Apollo’s Curse’ ebook
Rafflecopter Code: WillPride

Review: No Ocean Too Deep (A Loose Screw) by Leona Carver

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

No Ocean Too Deep Carver_CoverWhere Amirzade Sharouk, son of the Amirate of Ujmah, his cousin Dastyaf Begzada is sure to follow.  When Sharouk decides that the only way to save his country and his people is to rebel against the Republic, Dastyaf is there to support his efforts and keep him safe.  Their plan? Destroy the Republic’s fleet by allying themselves with the legendary sea folk, masters of the leviathans, immense living weapons born of the sea and magic.  But during the initial battle, something goes terribly wrong and Sharouk goes overboard, taken by one of the leviathans.  Now Dastyaf, warrior and tactician, must rely on one of the sea people to help him get back his cousin, the man he loves and can never have.

Nils is a sea mage, one who controls the leviathans of the deep and knows their secret.  When one of his leviathans goes rogue during battle, Nils is at a loss to understand why.  Furthermore, that action will cost his people their pact with the King of the land people whose prince has been taken by the rogue leviathan.   Now Nils must join forces with a man from the land, Dastyaf, whose disapproval, desperation and need for control, is putting them at odds from the very start of the mission.

Both men will need to work together to save not only Sharouk but their kingdoms as well.  To do so, Dastyaf must agree to transform into one of the sea folk in order to follow Nils through the ocean depths.  For Dastyaf, it means not only the loss of his legs but of control over the situation and his body.  He will be helpless in another’s environment, an unfamiliar feeling he despises. And by saving Sharouk, he will lose him forever to another.

For Nils, it means giving up his perceptions and assumptions, not only of the land people but of the very leviathans he is close to. The journey to save Sharouk, is full of dangers to all involved and time is running out for everyone before all is lost.  Sharouk’s life, Dastyaf’s humanity, and for Nil’s? A love he never expected to feel for a man who loves another….

I love it when I find a book that unexpectedly opens the door into a mesmerizing universe. No Ocean Too Deep is just such a story. It is full of incredible creatures, dynamic characters and a plot as deep as the ocean in which all the events take place. Leona Carver is a new author for me but with this one story she turns into one of my must read authors on the strength of this story alone.

In No Ocean Too Deep, Leona Carver puts her own spin on mermen and the men who fall in love with them.  Carver’s plot is guaranteed to pull the reader down into her universe from the first page.  She sets up a situation in which two widely disparate kingdoms become allies to defeat a common enemy.  One kingdom is human and lives in the desert Amirate of Ujmah, an environment that can be as hostile as it is beautiful.  The other?  Sea folk, mermen, almost mythical in their own right in their watery kingdom also full of its own dangers and delights.  The  two protagonists have more in common then they are aware, especially as neither has any experience with the other’s world.  For Dastyaf, he usually has to deal with an ocean of sand, fraught with extreme heat, a dearth of water and  constantly shifting sands.  His is a world of light and dark where their caravans are guided by the stars above.  Nils is a sea witch merman  who lives in an ocean world of shifting current, little light, and a breadth  and variety of creatures, small to gargantuan, with varying degrees of risk associated with them.  Guided by his senses and shifting currents, darkness is of little concern, especially with his magic to assist him.  Each character is fully formed and feels so believable no matter what world they belong to.

Carver throws her characters into a plot born of desperation.  The kingdoms of a desert people and the sea folk make a pact to take down the Republic, a threat to both with its empire.  The Sea folk will use their leviathans, enormous sea creatures of magic and myth,  as weapons against the Republic’s fleet.  The desert kingdom’s prince, Amirzade (Prince) Sharouk and his warrior/tactician cousin, Dastyaf Begzada, will be aboard one of the enemies vessels under false pretenses.  This will help them direct their armies against the fleet when the battle starts. It’s a desperate and dangerous move made from necessity. Carver does such a splendid job bringing us directly into this precarious situation, a last ditch endeavor for Sharouk to break his people away from the control of the Republic with help from the sea folk.  Waiting back home for Sharouk is his royal family and fiance.  By his side, as always since childhood, stands his cousin, Dastyaf, a great warrior and best friend.  As the ships pitch wildly in the ocean waves, tentacles start to appear over the side of the vessels,the battle is engaged and the reader is thrown immediately into the fray.  Carver’s descriptions are dramatic and stirring, making the scenes scream with the emotions of the men on board.

But that is nothing compared to what happens when the location switches to the ocean depths and the sea folk themselves.  Here the mermen and their watery environment comes vibrantly alive from its many denizens to the myriad ocean landscapes Nils and Dastyaf journey through.  Vast  living carpets of coral, phosphorescent invertebrates, forests of kelp, and dinners that consist of living organisms instead of cooked meat.  Had I been able to stand within the story itself, my head would have been on a constant swivle as it turned here and there to observe all the amazing sights and creatures that Carver has in store for us and Dastyaf.  An ever moving banquet for the senses made all the more palpable as Dastyaf experiences it for the first time in his new temporary merman body.

Nils and Dastyaf’s journey is full of wonder and fears as Dastyaf’s tries to reconcile his human experience with his new merman one.  His frustration and fear as the light  fades into almost constant darkness is tangible, and his emotions become ours. I could go on and on about the sea witches, the canyons, and the leviathans themselves…but the discovery of wonders and suspense of this desperate mission is part of the joy and revelations found in No Ocean Too Deep and I don’t want to spoil them for you.   But I found myself going backwards to reread a description or scene to relive that moment over because it thrummed the wildness and surprise of  life lived under water.

As I said the characters are as wondrous and layered as their environment.  Dastyaf with his doomed love and desperate mission, Nils with his questions and assumptions, both men grow as individuals and together as their journey unfolds.  I grew to love both men and couldn’t figure out how Carver was going to bring this journey to fruition in a satisfactory manner.  She did but it tool me a while to realize that.

The ending is the slight bump in the road, the loose net in the ocean.  It had me a little puzzled, so much so that I needed clarification from the author as to what happened to Nils.  Turns out, I needn’t have worried but it was cloudy enough that others might feel the same way. Had there been a tad more clarity at the end this would have been a 5 star review.  As it is, it comes darn close. Without revealing too much, it turns out that both Nils and Sharouk’s fiance have much the same role to play at the end, and no, its not the one you think it is.  Luckily for us, there will be a sequel coming.  That was the best news yet.

Not familiar with Leona Carver?  Haven’t read No Ocean Too Deep?  Remedy both and grab this terrific tale up and start reading.  Be prepared to fall in love with these characters, their mission and the ocean deep.  It will be an amazing journey you won’t want to see end.

Cover by Tanya Rehulak.  I love this cover, so different and lovely.

 Buy Links:  Less Than Three Press   Amazon    ARe

 Book Details:

ebook, 174 pages
Published April 9th 2014 by Less Than Three Press LLC
original titleNo Ocean too Deep
ISBN139781620043448
edition languageEnglish
urlhttps://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-nooceantoodeep-1466468-153.html
seriesA Loose Screw

Author Spotlight: Leona Carver & her latest release, No Ocean Too Deep (Contest)

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spotlight on books

 

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No Ocean Too Deep by Leona Carver

Begzada Dastyaf, a warlord of the desert Amirate of Ujmah, descends into the deep sea to find his beloved prince and cousin, Sharouk. Not only must he navigate a strange new realm, but he must master an unfamiliar body and learn the ways of the folk who live within that dark and watery place … all while struggling with an unwanted attraction to his resentful sea folk guide, the witch Nils.

 

My name is Leona Carver and I’m here to talk about my new novella, “No Ocean Too Deep”, and the world in which it unfolds. I’m pleased to offer an e-copy of No Ocean Too Deep to give away.

Contest: To enter the draw, please leave a comment and an email address. The contest runs until midnight EDT June 1st, at which point I’ll draw a name from a bonafide hat.

  Where will duty and love take you?

The vastness of the ocean triggers a deep sense of awe. There are a myriad of ecosystems and flora, fauna, and in-between creatures (florauna?), and we know so little about it. Every week there’s some new discovery, an animal or a piece of footage of a place that had never been seen before. It is absolutely stunning. Immersing myself in that world both thrilled and challenged me, making No Ocean one of the most satisfying stories I’ve written.

I’m from the school of, “Write what you don’t know.” I find that I’m most passionate about those stories that challenge me, make me ask questions, make me fling out the long arm of imagination to grab at answers. Dastyaf and Nils travel in a place where there is very little light and the senses are both impaired and enhanced by the characteristics of the ocean. The challenge was to describe actions, emotions, and communication without the use of vision. I drew on research about the abilities of sharks to sense the electromagnetic fields of other animals, and had Dastyaf learn the language of scents and pheromones, which gives the sea folk a nearly telepathic ability to sense the thoughts and feelings of others. If I had had the word count at my disposal, I could have filled entire chapters with Dastyaf learning his new body.

No Ocean Too Deep-Carver_Image 1

In addition to the difficulties of communicating in the sea, sans sight but with enhanced taste and skin receptors, that world adds another complexity: The entire place is alive. Tiny organisms exist everywhere, from harmful, to benign, to beneficial, and the culture of my sea folk needed to reflect that. They depend on their slimy coatings for protection; therefore, touching is limited and, when it does occur, it indicates a deep level of trust. Sea folk healers understand how some organisms can be used to fight malign organisms, how the deeper briny waters can be used to kill weaker microbes. Witches use that thick miasma of life to cast their magic, to the extreme of the leviathans, giant creatures built from the less-sentient organisms.

No Ocean Too Deep- Carver_Image 2

 

The people were adapted to fit the environment, influenced by existing sea creatures. Sea folk come in all forms. The Angler Fish Deep Sisters: mighty huntresses wielding bait made of light, spiky with bone, their males little more than nubs and pustules attached to their skin. The Sirens: though they can be from any species, so long as they are witches, tend to be more vulnerable species. In No Ocean, they are delicate, translucent, highly venomous jellies, and their giant nautilus entombs a leviathan.

Environment is character: Active in the story, equipped with motivations and needs, acting on the other characters and reacting to what they do. In No Ocean, the environment is partially responsible for the existence of the leviathans. They would not be possible without the soup of microbes through which magic travels and acts on the world. When witches die, if they hold onto their lives strongly enough, the sea answers them and weaves them into herself. They are eaten away over time, losing more and more of themselves as their leviathan armour grows, until they become the silent, monstrous guardians of the ocean.

It was my intention to share my love of the ocean and all she holds, and create a new and interesting world to play in. Hopefully, this came through!

No Ocean was inspired by a simple prompt: Write a romance involving mecha. Somehow, that translated into organic armour built from corals, anemones, squids, fish, crabs, etc. Thankfully, Less Than Three Press went along with it. Because, once that seed was planted, it grew into a leviathan of its own. No Ocean Too Deep-Carver_Image 3There are deep seas, deserts, castles, a hostile Republic, and even a distant jungle nation to explore. No Ocean is only the beginning.

 

I’m currently working on the sequel, in which Dastyaf hunts for the ingredients needed by sea folk witches to maintain their sentience and fight their leviathan nature. Once that hurdle is overcome, he’ll need to deal with the Republic. Last we saw them, the Republic had rebuilt their fleet and commenced another invasion.

As well as the direct sequel, there will be a companion series beginning with The Clockwork Centurion. This will be another M/M fantasy/romance set in a Jules Verne-esque version of post-Roman Briton, with the heavier steampunk aspects that No Ocean Too Deep mostly missed out on, other than the Republic’s weaponry. Eventually, the characters from each series will meet and we’ll see what happens.

 

Sword fighting, probably. Topless sword fighting, if I have my way.

Leona Carver

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No Ocean Too Deep Carver_Cover

Book Blurb:

To buck the brutal rule of the Republic, Amirzade Sharouk and his men pull off a desperate plan: Destroying the Republic’s fleet by joining forces with the legendary sea folk, masters of the leviathans, immense living weapons born of the sea and magic.

Though the gamble succeeds, one of the leviathans vanishes with a valuable human, straining an already tenuous alliance. Her caretaker Nils needs to find her as quickly as possible to redeem himself before his superiors. His search is further burdened by Dastyaf, a furious human warlord and liability in the marine realm. But after combing the deep ocean and discovering the dangers it holds, Nils realizes he may need the human more than he thought, to save his mission and himself.

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Book Details:

ebook, 174 pages
Published April 9th 2014 by Less Than Three Press LLC
original title:No Ocean too Deep
ISBN139781620043448
edition languageEnglish
urlhttps://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-nooceantoodeep-1466468-153.html
series: A Loose Screw

Author Bio:

Leona Carver lurks in a Canadian basement with a cat and an aerospace engineer, one of whom helps with the science while the other scratches at the window to get out. She writes novels and short stories with a penchant for genre mash-ups—because fairy tales need space stations, historical romance needs steam powered cyborgs, merpeople should wear mecha, and all of the aforementioned need a little love. Or a lot of love.

Leona has published two M/M romances through Less Than Three Press: Piper, a space age version of the Pied Piper, and No Ocean Too Deep, a deep sea rescue with giant coral monsters and angry desert warriors.

Follow Leona Carver at: Leona can be rousted from her cave via email (leona.r.carver@gmail.com) or on her website (leonacarver.wordpress.com).