Category: MLR Press

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

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

Goodreads Link
 Publisher: MLR Press
Cover Artist: Dana Jamroz

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

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

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  • What are your ambitions for your writing career?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Now more about Enduring Night…

Blurb

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

 

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

Excerpt

Prologue

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

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

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

Buy the book: MLR Books

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Meet the Author

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

Where to find the author:

Giveaway

Final

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

 

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Tour Dates & Stops:

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

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

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

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

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

WillPride

 

 

 

A Paul B Review: A Scarred Mate (The Werewolves of Manhattan #3) by A.C. Katt

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Scarred mate coverMarc Thierry is the alpha of not only his pack in Northern Minnesota but also the packs of the upper Great Lakes region of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ontario and Manitoba.  As he has recently been appointed third to the North American Garou council, he spends a lot of time traveling between Minnesota and Manhattan.  As the Alpha and second on the North American Garou council have recently found their mates, Marc is forced to spend more time in Manhattan.  So he buys the top three floors of an apartment complex so that he does not have to always stay in hotels.  One day, when his cook has the day off, Marc decides to order delivery from his favorite Chinese restaurant.

Colin Callahan is a graduate student working on his master’s degree.  He also writes gay werewolf romance novels.  As the royalties from these books has just become enough to live on while going to school, he decides to give up his delivery job at the Chinese restaurant he has been working at for the past few years.  As the restaurant nearest his home has closed, he works at the owner’s Manhattan location.  Today is the last day he is working for Mr. Zhou.  He is given an order to take to an apartment a few blocks away.  He makes sure his hoodie is pulled up and takes off on his bike.

When Marc opens the door the door to the delivery guy wearing the hoodie, he realizes that he has finally met his mate.  He invited the delivery guy to join him and his associates (who are actually Marc’s betas) to join them for dinner.  After getting the go ahead from Mr. Zhou, Colin agrees to stay.  When Marc tells Colin to remove his hoodie and get comfortable, the young man hesitates.  When Colin finally does remove his hoodie, the scar he received when he was eleven years old that stretches from his ear down through his cheek is shown.  Marc thinks that the scar is not something to be ashamed about but realizes that it causes his mate discomfort.  Colin meanwhile cannot believe that the three men have not only not mentioned the scar but made no outward reaction to it.  Usually he finds men he is interested in run to the hills when they see his disfigurement.  Does Marc honestly not care about the scar or is he setting him up for a fall later on?  When Marc finds out that Colin is a popular author among werewolves, he hopes that he can prove to Colin that they really do exist and not frighten the skittish man away.

I continue to enjoy the Wolves of Manhattan series.  While the trouble for the human mates in the past has come from running away from organized crime in New York, this time it comes from closer to home.  Unrest from Marc’s pack with the Alpha Bitch (the lead female werewolf in the pack) causes the pair to return to Minnesota sooner than expected.  When Marc declares her a rogue wolf, she vows to get revenge on Marc through Colin.  I really enjoyed how the three alpha mates seem to bond throughout the book.  As they are three men who had no experience with werewolves before their mating, they support each other’s efforts.  I hope when they meet the next mate that he will feel as welcome as Colin has been.

The cover art by Winterheart Design is once again nicely done.  The Manhattan skyline is placed in the lower third.  The upper third has Colin in his hoodie and Marc in a unbuttoned blue dress shirt.  Just above them in the background is Marc’s wolf howling.

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

Book Details:

Ebook, 186 pages
Edition Language:  English
ASIN:  B016DZ4SYO
Published:  October 8, 2015 by MLR Press

Series:  Werewolves of Manhattan

A MelanieM Review: Children of Noah (Mahu #9) by Neil S. Plakcy

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Children of Noah coverA few months after the birth of his twins, openly gay Honolulu homicide detective Kimo Kanapa’aka and begins a temporary assignment to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. Kimo and his HPD partner Ray Donne are quickly thrown into an investigation into threatening letters sent to a U.S. Senator. Are these screeds about racial purity related to an escalating series of attacks against mixed-race couples and families on Oahu?

When arson at a day care center on the Windward Coast brings Kimo’s partner, fire investigator Mike Riccardi, into the case, Kimo worries about the future of his and Mike’s newborn twins on an island falling prey to hate and a cult leader bent on death and destruction.

I fell under the spell of Neil S. Plakcy and his Hawaiian detective Kimo Kanapa’aka in the very first book, Mahu, hawaiian for gay.  There a very complicated and closeted young Kimo, trying to deal with his sexuality, was outed during a horrific murder case.  Its ramifications on his career, family relationships and private life would reverberate through the following stories.  Plakcy’s ability to bring not only Kimo to life but his multicultural family history and the vibrant racial mixing pot that is Hawaii to life is amazing.  From the variety of languages spoken, the nuances of levels of Hawaiian race in your background, even the language designations for north, south, east and west are different.  Yet, here they flow off the tongues of the characters with the ease of native speakers,   Very few authors have the ability to use local colloquialisms and dialects to hone their characters personas and locations the way Plakcy does and by the ninth book, its usage is so subtle and well woven into the narrative, I hardly notice any more.

Kimo and Mike have come a long with in their partnership.  Now the coparents of twins along with a lesbian couple, Kimo takes on a case that hits at the heart of his family’s safety.  Both Mike and Kimo have families from mixed racial background, and their sons parentage is equally so when their mothers backgrounds are included as well.  When each man handles a case with similar clues, all leads start to point towards a cult bent on the worship of racial  purity.

I loved this book for so many reasons, none  of which really had anything to do with the mystery.  Kimo’s parents which have figured largely in all the stories are now frail, older figures here, especially Kimo’s dad.  Their relationship, always so strong, sees a change in position here that is so realistic and painful.  Mike’s parents, once so against the relationship, now move forward into new positive roles.  So much is changing within the family  structures for them both, including that of their foster son.  Here all the relationships strain against their bonds and come back for support once more.  Its all so remarkable in its human dynamics and believable interchanges.  Sometimes angst-filled, often humorous, it will be so easy for all the readers to relate to the relationships in flux here, whether it be brother and brother, father and son, or new fathers and new babies.  This is what made this book for me.  Its all about the changes in life that we all go through.

And its even starts at the beginning with Kimo leaving the Honolulu P.D. to join FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force along with his partner.  New beginnings even at the job level.  But that brings us to the murders and the mystery.

That was my least favorite part of the story.  I figured out early on who the murderer was and where the problem was occurring.  The author all but had a giant arrow pointing the way.  That doesn’t mean there wasn’t plenty of scenes where the suspense was high, because that happened.  There was danger, and angst enough to go around, just not the usual amount of guessing I expect from this author.

However, Plakcy’s style of writing moves the story along so quickly towards the end that your mind is consumed with the safety of the main characters and the capture of the culprits.  And so much more.  I want more books.  I want to know how Dakota is doing with his new boyfriend, how Kimo’s dad’s doing, and the family in general.  They got into my heart, every single one of them.  If you give them a chance, they will get into yours too.  But why start here?   This is a fantastic series.  Go to the beginning Mahu and read your way through until you arrive here.  With each book it just gets better and better.  I highly recommend them all.

Cover art is nice but I sort of miss that primitive art work of the original covers.

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

Book Details:

ebook, 231 pages
Published August 9th 2015 by MLR Press

A Barb, A Zany Old Lady Review: Boyfriend For The Weekend (Boyfriend #1) by Diana DeRicci

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Boyfriend for the Weekend coverJayden Sindler’s sister is getting married, and she’s extremely adamant that he be sure to bring a date to Florida where the wedding party will be spending the five days before the wedding getting acquainted and having a mini-vacation before the big day. Stressing the names of her friends who don’t care that Jayden is gay and will “man hunt” him all week, she finally makes her point. So when he’s out with his best friend Tim and meets not only Tim’s new boyfriend Bill but also Bill’s cousin, Nash, he decides to ask if Nash would be interested.

It doesn’t hurt that Nash is gorgeous, tall and lean with long dark hair, eyeliner-highlighted eyes and a smile that captures Jayden’s interest immediately. But Bill has reservations about letting Nash go, since Nash is newly out and actually moved in with Bill to escape his homophobic father. Nash has never had a boyfriend, nor any opportunity to explore his sexuality, but it’s a chance for Nash to relax and be away from his father in a safe environment, so when Jayden swears he will keep his hands off Nash, Bill relents and nineteen-year-old Nash is allowed to accompany the twenty-six-year-old playboy to Florida.

On the plane, the two decide to act the part of boyfriends, deciding that their act will be more convincing, and after all, they wouldn’t want anyone to think that Nash is a paid escort, would they? But what happens when the pretending becomes real? Not only does Nash lose his heart to Jayden, who treats him with the utmost respect, but Jayden loses his heart to Nash, perceiving the younger man as the sweetest gift he’s ever been given.

Is there any chance their caring and concern for each other could ever be more? And is there any chance Bill won’t kill Jayden if he breaks his promise about remaining hands-off? And last, but not least, is there any chance for them when they re-enter the real world and school and job responsibilities demand their attention?

This is a really sweet story—the kind that put a smile on my face and kept it there throughout the book. There are sexy times and sweet, tender moments, and there are also family conflict and hurt feelings when Jayden realizes how others perceive him. But overall, it’s just plain fun to read this romance. On a negative note, though it ends on a HFN, it does end somewhat abruptly with a “to be continued” at the end of the Epilogue. No cliffhanger, thankfully, but nevertheless, no HEA. I do believe I will be picking up the next story in the series because I enjoyed these guys so much I want to see where their careers and commitment to each other take them. I recommend it to all who enjoy a sweet M/M romance with age gap, virgins, and very little angst. Can’t go wrong with this one.

Cover art by Melody Pond depicts the torsos of two suited men, arms linked, in the top panel of the cover, with a script-style title across the center and a fancy wedding-style place setting across the lower panel. Very bright and cheerful, and it definitely indicates the content of the story.

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

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 164 pages
Published August 20th 2015 by MLR Press
original title Boyfriend for the Weekend
ASIN B0148RTW1S
edition language English
series Boyfriend #1

More First Lines of Novels, Our M/M Fiction First Line Quiz and This Week At Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

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More First Lines of Novels,  Plus Our First Line M/M  Novels Quiz!

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People tend to disagree over what are the most favorite/best loved lines in literature, especially when compiling lists.  When scanning over a number of the Top Ten, the same lines and books appear over and over, but after that? It can get lively.

Sometimes the lists can surprise you, baffle you and delight you.  Here are some of the first lines I found on lists that dismayed, baffled and delighted the heck out of me, and yes, that one huge thing is one sentence.  Read it and weep for whatever emotion takes you and consider if they did their job…made you want to read the book.

What line dismayed me?   This first line found on multiple lists, which I still find dismal. Up to me, this book would have remained unread, even by that year’s standards.

“I was born in the Year 1632, in the City of York, of a good Family, tho’ not of that Country, my Father being a Foreigner of Bremen, who settled first at Hull; He got a good Estate by Merchandise, and leaving off his Trade, lived afterward at York, from whence he had married my Mother, whose Relations were named Robinson, a very good Family in that Country, and from whom I was called Robinson Kreutznaer; but by the usual Corruption of Words in England, we are now called, nay we call our selves, and write our Name Crusoe, and so my Companions always call’d me.” Robinson Crusoe (1719), Daniel Defoe

What baffled me? This one sentence, yes, one line opener.

“Once upon a time two or three weeks ago, a rather stubborn and determined middle-aged man decided to record for posterity, exactly as it happened, word by word and step by step, the story of another man for indeed what is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal, a somewhat paranoiac fellow unmarried, unattached, and quite irresponsible, who had decided to lock himself in a room a furnished room with a private bath, cooking facilities, a bed, a table, and at least one chair, in New York City, for a year 365 days to be precise, to write the story of another person—a shy young man about of 19 years old—who, after the war the Second World War, had come to America the land of opportunities from France under the sponsorship of his uncle—a journalist, fluent in five languages—who himself had come to America from Europe Poland it seems, though this was not clearly established sometime during the war after a series of rather gruesome adventures, and who, at the end of the war, wrote to the father his cousin by marriage of the young man whom he considered as a nephew, curious to know if he the father and his family had survived the German occupation, and indeed was deeply saddened to learn, in a letter from the young man—a long and touching letter written in English, not by the young man, however, who did not know a damn word of English, but by a good friend of his who had studied English in school—that his parents both his father and mother and his two sisters one older and the other younger than he had been deported they were Jewish to a German concentration camp Auschwitz probably and never returned, no doubt having been exterminated deliberately X * X * X * X, and that, therefore, the young man who was now an orphan, a displaced person, who, during the war, had managed to escape deportation by working very hard on a farm in Southern France, would be happy and grateful to be given the opportunity to come to America that great country he had heard so much about and yet knew so little about to start a new life, possibly go to school, learn a trade, and become a good, loyal citizen.”  — Raymond Federman, Double or Nothing, 1971

What delighted me? That I found these opening lines on a couple of lists.

“Where’s Papa going with that axe?” said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast. (E.B. White,Charlotte’s Web)

“When the car stopped rolling, Parker kicked out the windshield and crawled through onto the wrinkled hood, Glock first.” –Donald E. Westlake writing as Richard Stark, Backflash

The drought had lasted now for ten million years, and the reign of the terrible lizards had long since ended. –Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey

“Nobody ever walked across the bridge, not on a night like this.” –Mickey Spillane, One Lonely Night.

This little hunt so entertained me that I decided to compile a list of my own, with help from the rest of the reviewers here at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words.

We started to look for the first lines from some very popular M/M Romance/Fiction stories and we came up with what is sure to be the first of at least 3  Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words M/M Romance First Line Quizzes!

Look for the answers in next week’s Sunday’s post . How many, if any,do you think you will recognize?

 Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words M/M Romance First Line Quiz

In what m/m romance fiction books do these first lines appear?

  1.  “This is the way my world ends.”
  2. “Once upon a time…that’s how the old stories always begin.”
  3. “It was pouring when I walked outside to use the pay phone.”
  4. “He was on his third beer of the evening when he thought he heard a noise in the backyard.”
  5. “His elegantly decorated hospital room looked regal and stately, much like the man lying in the bed in the center of the room.”
  6. “I don’t disagree with you Mother, Clarissa is a very beautiful woman. “
  7. “I wish to buy a boy,” the stranger said.”
  8. “I would say that I never let harm come to him, but in this world harm comes to us all. “
  9. “At eight in the evening on a Friday, Roosevelt High School was dark and abandoned.”
  10. “The whole thing started because of Lizzy’s Jeep.”
  11. “Dad, I’m gay.”
  12. “This is not a coming-out story.”
  13. “He wore the navy suit because it was her favorite, the light blue shirt because when he looked down at his cuff, the slender line of color made him remember her eyes.”
  14. “The smell of cheap motel rooms was comforting to him, like his oldest, rattiest T-shirt.”

 

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This Week at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

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Sunday, October 4:

  • More First Lines of Novels, Our M/M Fiction First Line Quiz and This Week At Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

Monday, October 5:

  • Cover reveal for J. Johanis ‘Dream Gods’ (cover reveal and contest)
  • EE Montgomery ‘Just The Way You Are’ Keep Me In Mind Tour and Giveaway
  • Coffee Sip and Book Break:  Small Wonders by Courtney Lux (excerpt and giveaway)
  • A Stella Review: Blueberry Boys by Vanessa North
  • A Mika Review: Signs of Life by Melanie Hansen

Tuesday, October 6:

  • Book Spotlight: Dragon’s Eye by Lexi Ander (excerpt and giveaway)
  • Author Spotlight Special: Sloan Johnson  “Triple Play”-rescheduled for Oct 2oth
  • Coffee Sip and Book Break:  Roping Him In by Jena Wade (excerpt and giveaway)
  • A Free Dreamer Review: Strength To Let Go by Alina Popescu
  • A Barb, A Zany Old Lady Audio Review: Pura Vida by Sara Alva ~ Audiobook narrated by Joseph Northton

Wednesday, October 7:

  • Kate Pearce’s Tribute Series Returns with the Retribution Tour and Contest
  • Valerie Brundage ‘Another Creature’ book blast and contest
  • Coffee Sip and Book Break with Missy Welsh – Take Your Pick (excerpt and giveaway)
  • A Stella Review: Base Instinct by Larissa Ione
  • A PaulB review: Shades of Power by Beany Sparks

Thursday, October 8:

  • Grein Murray ‘Keeping Joshua’ book blast and giveaway
  • In the Book Spotlight: Purpose by Andrew Q Gordon (excerpt and contest)
  • A Jeri Review: Let The Wrong Light In by Avon Gale
  • A Free Dreamer Review: First Contact by Alex Gabriel
  • A Mika Review: Redeeming Hope by Shell Taylor

Friday, October 9:

  • Riptide Publishing’s 4th Anniversary Celebration Tour and Contest
  • Coffee Sip and Book Break with P.D. Singer ‘Otter Chaos’ (excerpt and giveaway)
  • A BJ Review: Winter: Haunted Heart #1 by Josh Lanyon
  • A Free Dreamer Review: To Catch A Threeve by Alexis Duran
  • A MelanieM Review: Where the Grass is Greener (Seeds of Tyrone #2) by Debbie McGowan and Raine O’Tierney

YA Saturday, October 10:

  • An Aurora YA Review: Mad About the Hatter by Dakota Chase

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Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Has the Answers You Want Next Sunday!

In the Meantime, grab up those old favorites, check out those first lines!  Can’t find the ones above? Ok, how about the ones you don’t need but find that are pretty cool? While you’re at it, write those down and submit them here to us at melaniem54@msn.com to use for our next quizzes.  You’ll never know when a  prize will pop up and you will have a least one line in the “know”.