Dreamspinner Press
Published July 30th 2019
Cover Artist: Kanaxa
Buy Links:
Dreamspinner Press | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to welcome back Marguerite Labbe here today, talking about the next story in her wonderful Geek Life series, A Beautiful Disaster. Welcome back, Marquerite!
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An Interview with Dakota Nye
Hello everyone. It’s good to be back at the Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words blog. Yesterday we had an interview with Brenden Wade and today it’s all about Dakota Nye. There was a bit of an argument between the characters about who should interview him. Brenden wanted to do it, but Dakota countered that it should be his new broadcasting partner. Then Felipe insisted it should be him, but Brenden won out in the end.
* * *
Dakota: “Welcome back everyone to another special edition of Geek Wars, where we’re interviewing some of the people who make comicon conventions a memorable success. And it looks like we’ve saved the best for last.”
Brenden raises an eyebrow and taps his pen on his clipboard. “Never let it be said that you are humble. Hello everyone, I’m Brenden, an occasional guest on the Geek Wars podcast, and Dakota Nye’s second half for what seems like forever. We’re going to go off script today because I’m sure a lot of you listeners would really love to get to know the man behind this show.”
Dakota: “Wait, what? What do you mean offscript?”
Brenden: “What flavor of ice cream are you? Really? That’s an example of your hard hitting questions?”
Dakota: “Hard hitting? Wait a damn minute, this is supposed to be light hearted fun not a grilling, Bren.”
Brenden with a grin. “Sweating already, huh? I love it. So, tell your listeners Dakota, what got you into podcasting and why Geek Wars?”
Dakota grumbling under his breath. “Well, I have opinions and podcasting seemed like the best way to air them. I’ve learned over the years we’ve been doing shows and reading comics that when you get two geeks who like the same thing and there’s going to be a disagreement somewhere. The more geeks, the more there are heated opinions and I love playing devil’s advocate so getting people on a show and directing their venting seemed like it would be a lot of fun.”
Brenden: “I must say you play devil’s advocate well and all joking aside, you work to present multiple opinions, not just your own, which is far better than what I would do.”
Dakota: “Wow, thanks.” He presses a fist to his heart. “You get me right here.”
Brenden narrowing his eyes. “Are you fucking with me?”
Dakota grins. “You tell me.”
Brenden shakes his head and leans back swiveling in his chair: “Many of you listeners don’t know, but Dakota went to college on a baseball scholarship and had dreams of the majors until an injury sidelined him. I can tell you from going to his games that he was good. What was your favorite position to play and why?”
Dakota glaring at Brenden: “This is a geek show. No one wants to hear about baseball.”
Brenden: “They want to hear about you. That’s the point of this, getting to know Dakota Nye, not just the geek but the man. You’ve touched on Theo’s loss of his parents and Trask’s drug abuse among other things, so let’s hear about something that shaped you.”
Dakota shaking his head. “Next time, I’m not going to go easy on you. Just wait. Okay, fine, shortstop, because I like to be in the middle of everything. I need action and that was the most demanding position. Getting injured sucked. It really fucking sucked and definitely had me wandering aimlessly for a bit, but I’m at a point now where it’s okay. I enjoy going to games. I enjoy playing softball in town. I have new loves that occupy my attention.” His smile turns wicked. “Don’t they, Bren?”
Brenden points the pen in his direction. “Behave yourself.”
Dakota snorts: “Not likely.”
Brenden: “If you could have one song that summed up your love life before us what would it be?”
Dakota: “Damn, you surprised me again. I was sure you were going to angle for a love song.”
Brenden: “I know your long standing views on such things, besides, I’m curious.”
Dakota: “Ex’s and Oh’s by Elle King.”
Brenden huffs out a breath. “That sounds about right. What do you say to those who don’t believe you can settle down and commit?”
Dakota: “I really don’t care what anyone else thinks. You have to live your own life. There’s only one person whose thoughts about that topic I care about and you’re sitting across from me. Like I said earlier, you are stuck with me.”
Brenden: “Excuse me a moment, I’m about to get sappy.” He captures Dakota’s hand and kisses his knuckles before Dakota snatches his hand away.
Dakota: “Jesus, Bren, not on the show. No more interviews for you.”
Brenden: “Okay, back to business, if you had to pick one all time favorite comic what would it be?”
Dakota runs his hands through his hair. “Damn, that’s a hard one. You’re killing me. If I had to pick one and I’m going to get you for this, Lady Death.”
Brenden: “You always did enjoy the darker themes more than I did.”
Dakota: “Yeah, I was hooked from when she first appeared in Evil Ernie. I had a lot of angst back then and those comics just fit right where I was at. Right now I’m really enjoying Monstress by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda is an amazing artist.”
Brenden glances at his watch. “It looks like we’re running out of time so I’m going to wrap this up with one more question.”
Dakota: “Make it fun if you’re going off the list. You’ve already done the hard hitting so I don’t need to answer the ‘what fears keep you awake at night’ and you’ve already nixed the ice cream one which for the record would totally be Ben & Jerry’s Half Baked.”
Brenden: “No, you’re fully baked.”
Dakota: “I’m not the one who went on a bender that was you.”
Brenden straightens with a glare. “That was 100% your fault.”
Dakota: “Plausible deniability, my man, plausible deniability. You’d have a difficult time making that cause in a court of law.”
Brenden: “Okay, final question, your life, if you could do it all again, what would you change?”
Dakota’s eyes widen in surprise, then narrow thoughtfully. “Not a damn thing. It’s been a wild ride and I don’t want to get off. No regrets, Bren, I can’t live like that. Thank you for taking the time to grill me, but that’s all the time we have, until then, get your geek on.”
Blurb:
When best friends Brenden and Dakota launch the biggest comics and pop-culture convention of their careers, they finally realize what everyone around them already knows: they’ve been in love for years.
Now what are they going to do about it?
Meticulously organized Brenden Wade and easygoing Dakota Nye turned their love of geek culture into a business, running conventions all over the Chesapeake Bay area. Now the weight of their pasts is threatening not only their friendship but their dream. Brenden fears losing his foster family when his secrets come out, and though the last thing Dakota wants is to hurt his plus one, he doesn’t know if he’s capable of settling down.
One night of passion challenges both men’s preconceptions and forces them to evaluate what they want from the future. They’re both scared, and though they’ve always been able to figure out anything together, hearts are on the line. Will taking a chance on romance lead to a beautiful disaster, or just a disaster?
About the Author
Marguerite Labbe loves writing stories about the beauty of love and the strength of family, whether it’s the family you’re born into or the one you create. She married her next-door neighbor and best friend, and they have one son, one dog, and two cats who rule them all. She has finally converted her Alabama born husband into being a Red Sox fan and now only needs to convince her son. She runs Apocrypha Comics Studio with her husband and they often trek off to comic book conventions on the weekend where they celebrate all manner of geek culture.
Social Media:
Author website: http://margueritelabbe.blogspot.com/
Twitter handle: @MargueriteLabbe
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marguerite.labbe.3
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Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 