Category: Self Published

Book Blast for NoX by Adrienne Wilder (excerpt and giveaway)

BOOK BLAST

Book Title: NOX

Author: Adrienne Wilder

Publisher: Self-Published

Cover Artist: Adrienne Wilder

Genre/s: Science fiction, M/M Romance, dark fantasy

Length: 138 000 words/514 pages

Heat Rating: 5 flames

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  One is a dying man. The other died to live.

Blurb

A nude man invades Luca Suarez’s home and protects him from creatures who cannot exist.

Creatures hunting him.

The stranger can’t tell Luca why. He can’t even tell Luca his name.

He remembers nothing until the moment he sees Luca.

The only hint Luca has to the stranger’s identity is a tattoo on his wrist: N o X

Nox doesn’t know who he is, but he’s sure of three things, his memory loss is temporary, the monsters chasing Luca are called Anubis, and his Alpha, Koda, sent Nox to protect him.

There’s just one problem… Koda is Luca’s brother who was murdered five years ago.

With each passing hour, Nox fills in the pieces painting an impossible truth. And with each passing hour, both men find themselves unexplainably attracted to each other.

Something Luca is willing to embrace because he has nothing left to lose.

And one Nox can’t let happen because it could get Luca killed.

 

Buy Links – Available on Kindle Unlimited

Amazon US    |  Amazon UK 

 

 

Excerpt

Fifteen minutes under a stream of hot water sounded perfect.

A basket wrapped in translucent cellophane sat on the pink countertop of the exterior vanity. Other than lubricant, Luca had no idea what the other tiny bottles could be, but the little foil squares were self-explanatory.

He stepped into the bathroom off to the right and braced as he turned on the lights. White tile, white tub, plain white toilet, pink towels with red hearts, pink shower curtain. At least they spared the room any permanent scars.

Luca closed the door and gripped the hem of his shirt.

Nox’s voice came from the other side of the door. “I called for pizza, it should be here by the time you’re out.” Then the door opened. Luca spun around.

Nox wore nothing, leaving every curve of muscle, every ripple of perfection, every inch of intimidating cock, bare.

God, that hooker had been right.

There were only so many things a guy standing around naked could mean. Would Nox expect something like that? He’d saved Luca’s life. And with that kind of debt could Luca even tell him no?

Worse, did he want to?

Did he want to know what it felt like to be touched, to be kissed, to be tasted and do all those things to another person in equal amounts?

The idea teased his insides until his balls pulled tight and his cock threatened to swell.

Luca jerked his gaze back up.

“Your clothes.” Nox held out a hand.

Luca pulled the edge of his shirt lower. “What about them?”

“Give them to me so I can lay them on the heater to dry.”

“It’s okay, they can just hang in here.”

“They won’t dry in here.” Nox was right. Luca knew he was right. And since these were the only clothes he had….

Luca gave Nox his back and peeled off his shirt. He set it on the sink and kicked off his shoes, then unbuttoned his pants. He froze with his hands on the waist of his jeans.

Nox pulled Luca around. The man’s presence, the rich musk and spice of his skin, the heat radiating from his body rushed over Luca, sucking the air from his lungs. Nox lowered his head, parted his lips and inhaled, carrying away Luca’s exhale. Nox moved to Luca’s cheek, his neck. There his breath heated Luca’s skin. Nox tilted Luca’s head back and followed the column of his neck with another deep inhale.

Luca’s heart skittered in his chest. “What…what are you doing?”

“Smelling you.”

Smelling him.

“Why?” Luca leaned away only to have Nox move closer. So close his cock brushed Luca’s hip.

Nox swallowed, and his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. He made another lap, huffing in quick short breaths rather than long slow ones. Nox loosened his grip. He cupped the back of Luca’s head and made circles on his arm with his thumb.

For several long moments, Nox stood there, then slowly he raised his gaze. “You’re sick.”

Luca’s stomach dropped.

Nox seemed to catch himself. He let Luca go and retreated. “I’m sorry, that was…” He turned.

“Leukemia.” Luca had no idea why he said it. Nox was right, it was none of his business. Even if he could smell the disease.

Could other people smell Luca’s cancer? He’d never even considered the idea.

Nox turned back around but stayed at the door. “Are you getting treatment?”

“Not this time.”

The muscles across Nox’s shoulders tensed, and he balled up his hands.

Luca shrugged. “I’ve had it twice before. Treatment isn’t an option this time.” Luca gave Nox his back again and stripped off the rest of his clothes. He left them on the sink, climbed in the tub, and closed the curtain.

Nox was a momentary blur behind the sheet of gaudy pink plastic, then he closed the door.

 

About the Author

I am a writer of contemporary and speculative fiction and artist of all things monster. I live to create new worlds and the people in them. Several of my books have been best sellers both nationally and internationally. I have also been a finalist in the LAMDA awards, the “Oscars” of gay literary works.

I do my best to write original stories with powerful characters and emotion as well as a fast-paced plot. My goal isn’t just to deliver a good story but to take the reader into the story and let them experience the characters as if they are right there with them.

While almost all my books have a romantic element, I will be the first to admit, they are not traditional romance. In fact, I’d like to think there is nothing traditional about them. And the stories I paint are done so way outside the lines of traditional genres.

One of my favorite things to do as a writer is push the boundaries of what makes a story and to deliver the unexpected and maybe even change the perspective of the reader.

My characters are more often than not, beautifully flawed, not always the good guy, and make mistakes. Their stories will take dark turns which, in the end, make the light at the end of the tunnel all the brighter.

If you’re looking for something different, exciting, and unique, my books are for you.

Check out my website for updates and how to contact me. I love hearing from fans.

 

Author Links

Blog/Website  | Facebook  |  Facebook group  | Twitter

Newsletter Sign-up  |  Patreon 

 

Giveaway

Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway for a chance to win a signed print copy of NOX.

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Release Blitz – Afflicted to the Core (Wielder World #3) by Nat Kennedy (excerpt and giveaway)

RELEASE BLITZ

Book Title: Afflicted to the Core (Wielder World, Book 3)

Author: Nat Kennedy

Publisher: Self-Published/Lagomorph Press

Cover Artist: Deranged Doctor Design

Release Date: June 14, 2019

Genre/s: MM Urban Fantasy

Trope/s: Teacher/Student, Friends to Lovers, Threesome

Themes: Loyalty, Acceptance, mild H/C

Heat Rating: 3-4 flames (not frequent, but detailed)

Length: 93 000 words/260 pages

Add on Goodreads

Buy Links – Available on Kindle Unlimited

Amazon US

Amazon UK 

Blurb

Reggie Wolfe religiously visits Kyle Landon—his student in Nerve detangling—at the Harpford Disentanglement Center, where the younger man has been incarcerated on trumped up charges.  During one of Reggie’s visits, Kyle’s able to warn his teacher of an imminent unauthorized transfer by an unknown shadow agency. Reggie demands help from his sister at the Bureau of Wielder Services but is pressed to take the matter into his own hands when bureaucratic red-tape stymies her actions.  Breaking into a secret medical installation, Reggie and August Whalen find Kyle and six other men hooked to IVs, unknown chemicals pumping into their systems.

The three are caught up in a quest to find an antidote for the drugs and discover who is behind the powerful anti-male Wielder organization.  On this dangerous road, will they forever remain friends or give in to their growing attraction?

Afflicted to the Core is the steamy third novel of the Wielder World series—gay urban fantasy full of desire, desperation, and dedication born of trial and blood.

Excerpt

From Chapter 1

A small smile brushed Kyle’s lips when he spotted Reggie through the window of the cafe. Reggie lifted his hand in a wave. Kyle jerked his chin up in acknowledgment while that hint of smile burst into a grin. His bangs nearly brushed his eyes, hiding a brow ring that Reggie knew was there. Ah, what a kid.

A kid. Recently just twenty-two. But smart and daring and gorgeous, his insistent heart kept telling him. At times, when he lay alone in bed at night, Reggie reminded himself that Kyle would find someone else. Someone more exciting, more fun, more willing to be open about his sexuality. Eventually, he would just move on.

Kyle yanked the door of Grindworks Cafe open, a gust of cool air flushing in, and joined Reggie at his table. “Going to the Black Castle tonight, wanna come?”

A cold nugget of apprehension lodged itself in Reggie’s belly. The Black Castle—a mostly gay bar and dance club that was once a haven for male cultists until the Mara Murda take down last fall. Most cultists lay low, not drawing attention to themselves. Now, those that hadn’t fled into the dark forest around the lodge occupied rooms in Disentanglement Centers. The members of other cults were keeping their noses clean, according to his sister, Bethany.

The owner of the Black Castle had also been there during the Bureau bust. One August Whalen. A man he owed on many levels.

“No, thanks for the invite though.” Reggie took a sip of coffee. “Say hi to August for me.”

Kyle leaned forward, elbows on the table, every aspect about him all youthful and earnest. “Oh, come on. August would love to see you…and it won’t be me and a ton of other students. I was hoping you could come, and me…and that’s it.” He lowered his lashes, almost shy.

Reggie’s cold knot melted and a wash of heat crawled up his neck and over his cheeks. Kyle’s hand pushed across the tabletop, meeting the halfway line. Reggie looked at it. Black fingernail polish still clung to Kyle’s cuticles. He must have been full-on goth last night, hanging out with his friends.

“Hey Reggie!”

Reggie jumped in his chair, nearly knocking over his coffee, yanking his hand away from where it had migrated to within inches of Kyle’s, and faced the newcomer.

Professor Sally Boltmier of the engineering department: his senior professor and a close friend of his on campus.

“Sally. How are you this morning?” He gripped the napkin in his lap, crumbling it up into a tight wad, and focused on her, not letting his gaze stray to Kyle.

Her welcoming smile faltered. “I’m great. Sorry to interrupt. I didn’t mean to scare you out of your seat.”

Reggie’s mind stirred to create some excuse and send her on her way, but he couldn’t say anything before Kyle stood and offered his hand.

“I’m Kyle. Reggie’s…friend.”

Reggie’s…friend.

That pause. Kyle had done that on purpose. The temperature in the room ratcheted to sauna levels. Reggie struggled to hold steady under the gaze of his senior colleague, to not look guilty. No point looking guilty. He wasn’t guilty!

“Reggie’s…oh. Oh! Oh, well, pleased to meet you, Kyle. I’m Sally Boltmier, I work with Reggie in Sloan Hall.”

Kyle’s smile brightened. “I know you. You spoke for him in that…case last fall.” Kyle at least didn’t blurt out ‘sexual harassment’ for the entire café’s knowledge.

Sally eyed Kyle, up and down, and Kyle stood tall as if meeting his prom date’s father. Then Sally’s stern appraisal softened, and she nodded and dropped her voice to say, “I knew Reggie wasn’t guilty of any inappropriate activities. So,” her consideration shifted from Kyle to Reggie to Kyle again, “you’ve been together since then?”

Reggie wanted to crawl under the table, maybe dig his way into the linoleum, and hide. He could still salvage this if he got up, spoke out, explained everything. “Well, it wasn’t…we weren’t—”

Kyle’s laughter cut off Reggie’s bumbling. He brushed through his hair, giving it a tousled look, showing off his brow piercing. “Oh, well, we weren’t together, then. But we knew each other.” He looked down at Reggie and gave him such a besotted look, that Reggie knew he was staring back like a devoted Labrador until his colleague laughed and broke him from his trance.

“Well, I’ll let you two get back to your afternoon. Enjoy the spring weather! See you Monday.” She gave Reggie a look that suggested there would be more to this conversation on Monday, but he knew she wouldn’t spread any rumors about him on campus or anywhere else. Except to her husband maybe. They shared everything.

Reggie’s eyes flicked to Kyle. Kyle knew almost everything about him, too.

About the Author

Nat Kennedy grew up living in a poorly populated desert landscape. With no neighbors in a 1-mile radius, she had to make up her own fun.

Nat strives to create plotty and imaginative fantasy worlds, with the added benefit of gay romance–steamy to tame. Bored of het romance, she jumped into writing her fantasy with gay romance swirled in, like a raspberry ribbon in vanilla ice cream.

Social Media Links

Blog/Website |  Facebook  |  Instagram

CHECK OUT THE OTHER BOOKS IN THE WIELDER WORLD SERIES HERE

Giveaway 

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a $25 Amazon Gift Card

one of five ebook copies of Edge of Desperation (Wielder World 1)

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Check Out the New Release Tour for Baja Clavius by Madeira Desouza

COVER Baja Clavius

Madeira Desouza has a new gay erotic sci fi tale out: Baja Clavius.

This controversial science fiction adventure depicts gay male time travel agents with very bad behaviors. They are violent and immoral men.

A few hundred years from now, these time travel agents work within a top-secret agency located beneath the crater Clavius on the moon. Their time-travel missions take them to Earth in the past where they ruthlessly manipulate man who are targeted for their roles in the outcomes of historical events such as the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.

Amazon eBook | Amazon Paperback

Giveaway

Madeira is giving away a $20 Amazon gift certificate with this tour. Enter via Rafflecopter:

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Excerpt

MEME4 - Baja Clavius

Yesterday I was lost and I died. Today I am alive again. I accept the truth about foregone tomorrows and my resurrections from the dead.

I do not claim to be a believer in a deity or a religion. Yet, I have personally experienced being repeatedly brought back to life after death. Something far more powerful than us human beings resurrected me. And now, everything I have learned about living, dying, and then coming back for more is presented here.

I have been coerced into creating this journal of my experiences. I will suffer if I am less than completely truthful. I will be held prisoner until I have completed this in full.

I work for a top-secret international agency that is so deeply concealed nobody could possibly find it. Baja Clavius is the name of the international base of operations where I live. It is from that base that I travel in time to work assignments on Earth.

Desperate efforts by others to censor this work all have ended in failure. Just to confuse you, others have circulated conflicting versions of this. But I defeated all my enemies who wanted to prevent you for seeing this.

I begin by sharing my memories of being back in my home state of Arizona—on foot trudging through the desert under dark, threatening thunderclouds that do not diminish the hottest day I have ever felt in my entire life. Through an unexpected break in the storm clouds, I see bright white sunlight and the most magnificent color of blue sky. Up there above me a haunting full moon commands my attention.

Sticking out of the landscape under the ominous skies is a mechanical structure apparently made mostly of wood. As I walk closer to the device, it looks to me as though it was created specifically to slow down the process of hanging a man by the neck so that he will experience extended agony before his death.

Hung from a thick brown rope wrapped around a wheel wench is a muscular, shirtless, and barefoot man with his arms unbound struggling desperately to stay conscious as his neck is crushed in the noose. I see his high cheekbones and long dark brown hair that is tied behind his neck into a queue. I watch his bare feet kick the sky.

I notice a pair of unattended video cameras on tripods positioned nearby on the desert floor pointing toward the hanging machine. Why would anyone go to the trouble of videotaping this man’s death by ritual hanging?

I know that I have met him previously. But this man whose name I cannot remember somehow seems to hold a distinct place at the very center of faulty recollections in my brain.

Off in the distance fifty meters or so to the west of my location, I can see four men wearing cowboy attire running away. I must have scared them away when I approached. But they left that helpless man to die on their hanging machine.

He is someone who seems obviously capable of having put up very considerable resistance against this merciless fate. His powerful body attracts my full attention. He looks like he is about thirty years old—the same age as me. His legs wildly swing in all possible directions as I reach the hanging machine. He desperately tries to reach his hands up to his neck as if it somehow were possible to free himself from the noose. But that is impossible! He groans when he sees me as if to try and tell me something.

His faded blue jeans are too tight for him. I stare at his bulging crotch as he dances in the air at the end of a rope. I marvel at his incredible masculinity contrasted with utter vulnerability. This man looks strong and tough. He must certainly be capable of protecting himself against anyone with success. But, not now.

He cannot save himself. He is simultaneously very manly and totally defenseless. This precise opposing combination of traits is, I’m sure, why men watch executions of other men.

His deep, dark eyes remain open, defiantly staring outward into the eerie sky. He resumes his kicking, but much more forcefully now.

His tight blue jeans emphasize his growing bulge. He has attained a full erection ahead of what will be his final ejaculation into his jeans. There is intense humiliation on his face. His body jerks wildly. As he shoots his last load in his pants, his neck cannot withstand the crushing force of the noose. I am stunned because I did not expect to see his body spasms, kicking, and curling of his toes.

Very suddenly, he just stops struggling. His body no longer can fight back against the effects of gravity and the noose that has applied fatal pressure to his vulnerable neck. I watch him desperately try to open his mouth to breathe, but he has no life remaining in him. I am overwhelmed with intense anger and shock as I slump to the ground. I cry without any shame for this stranger. I feel stunned by my sexual attraction to him. It is as if I have lost someone who has been very significant to me and to my life.

Even though I feel instinctively that I have suffered memory loss, I can remember where I work. I especially remember being inside some kind of cylindrical blue machine.

The inside of the circular blue glass machine was filled with a milky white liquid. It was translucent and unpleasant. It smelled like chemicals. I was naked. I felt like I was drowning. But I knew I was not going to drown. Something has taught me that I cannot die. I know with absolute certainty that I do not know death. I live on and on. But, I have so many questions that I cannot answer. Why am I repeatedly resurrected? Will I live forever?

Author Bio

AUTHOR PIC - Madeira Desouza - Baja Clavius

Madeira Desouza is a gay male author. He focuses upon telling stories about mature, masculine men who are sexually attracted to other mature, masculine men. He steers clear of several deeply embedded traits of American gay culture that can be found in film and in print–eccentric or flamboyant behaviors, alkyl nitrites, dance music, trendy clothing, trendy hair, gay men who think age 30 is old, and so forth.

Desouza’s creative works belong within the bara genre. This little word is shortened from barazuko. Translated from Japanese, it means rose-tribe, which is a code phrase for gay men. Originated in Japan decades ago as gay men created works for other gay men, this genre has not yet been widely embraced internationally. Perhaps this is because bara bara depicts same-sex feelings and sexual attraction to masculine, muscular men who sometimes behave in aggressive, violent, or exploitative ways towards one another.

As both a storyteller and digital artist Desouza explores conflicting and opposing compulsions that all men have. On one side there are impulses men have towards sustaining life, engaging in love, and being attracted to others. In the opposing direction are impulses men have towards being aggressive, engaging in violence, and, causing pain and death. For centuries, artists and storytellers around the world have found inspiration in these two opposing human compulsions that no man is able to resist or impede merely by his conscious will alone.

Author Website: https://bajaclavius.com/

Author Facebook (Personal): https://www.facebook.com/madeira.desouza

Author Facebook (Author Page): https://www.facebook.com/desouzaofvegas/

Author Twitter: https://twitter.com/machodesouza

Author Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/masculine_men_images/

Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Madeira-Desouza/e/B008HL3B3C/

LOGO - Other Worlds Ink

Love Science Fiction? Check Out the Release Blitz for Finding Trix by L.M. Brown (excerpt)

RELEASE BLITZ

Book Title: Finding Trix

Author: L.M. Brown

Publisher: Self-published

Cover Artist: Sheri McGathy

Release Date: June 7, 2019

Genre/s: Sci-fi M/M/M Romance

Trope/s: One-night stand, MPreg

Themes: Bound mates

Heat Rating: 4 flames

Length: 71 000 words/ 205 pages

It is a standalone story.

 

Buy Links – Available on Kindle Unlimited

Universal Link

Amazon US 

Amazon UK

 

 

 

Blurb

Trix is one of many felines who sells his body on the Pleasure Station, a space station devoted to entertainment, gambling, and the pleasures of the flesh. He’d never intended to spend his life there, but the place offers him security, regular cream, and over time it has become his home.

As a dual-gendered feline, Trix knows the risk of pregnancy is high, and sets his prices equally high to discourage customers. Trix never imagines that Delta, a canine with credits to spare will call his bluff.

When Delta pays for himself and Farron, a naïve avian from the swan clan, to spend the night with Trix, the three of them forge an unexpected bond, one that leaves Trix pregnant.

As a swan avian, Farron is incapable of being unfaithful to his mate, even when the bond is only partially formed. To complete the mating ritual, Farron must find Trix before the babies are born, or the bond will break forever, and Farron will be forced to live a life of celibacy.

When the Pleasure Station falls under new ownership, and the humans ban prostitution, Trix is left homeless. Upon hearing about this, Delta too races back to find Trix.

Both Farron and Delta arrive too late. Trix has vanished and the race is on to find him before he gives birth. Only then will they know if the bond they formed on their first night is strong enough to last a lifetime.

 

Excerpt

Two games in and Trix heard the voice of one of the more annoying felines working at the Pleasure Station. Like Trix, Brak was a working whore with a preference for male cocks. He was also a bigot, and for some reason had issues with dual-gendered felines. Which meant he had issues with Trix.

“What are you doing working the tables Trixi?” Brak asked.

Trix hissed at him, ignoring the question. He’d give his right testicle to know who had told Brak his parents had named him Trixi. He hadn’t told anyone that since he’d left Furyne. He supposed someone must have recognised him while passing through.

“Trixi?” the swan avian asked. “Isn’t that a female name?”

Trix sighed. Because the avian was a customer, Trix was obliged to answer his question. “Yes, it is.”

“Why do you have a feminine name?”

“My father thought my name should reflect what I am.”

“What do you mean?”

Brak laughed as he leaned on the table. “Trixi isn’t a male,” he stage-whispered.

Trix dealt the next round of cards as his face heated, more with fury than embarrassment.

“He looks male,” the avian replied. “Are you sure?”

The canine snorted. “He is male. He’s also sitting right there and getting more pissed off by the minute.”

Trix hadn’t realised his annoyance was so obvious. He’d thought he was hiding it quite well.

“I’m sorry,” the avian offered. “I’m not from around here.”

“That’s obvious,” the canine replied. “What our uninvited guest here is hinting, is that Trix is dual-gendered.”

From the confusion on the avian’s face, that didn’t help explain matters for him.

Thankfully for Trix, Brak was there to open his big mouth and clarify things in his own special way. “Trixi has a cock and a pussy, which means he can literally fuck himself.”

“Actually, no, we can’t do that,” Trix pointed out with a hiss of anger. He usually didn’t bother to correct Brak, but this avian was hanging on his every word and looked naive enough to believe him. “It just means I have both male and female sex organs.”

The canine smirked at him. “That’s not quite all it means, is it?”

Trix noticed the falcons collecting their credits and leaving the table. Damn. Valerie was going to be annoyed with him for driving away her players.

“What else does it mean?” the avian asked.

Trix sighed. “It means I can carry a litter of babies.”

Brak laughed. “During which time, Trixi becomes a female.”

“I do not!” Damn it, why couldn’t Brak go annoy someone else? And why was he even bothering to explain all this to some ignorant avian? “I’m dual-gendered whether I’m pregnant or not. It’s just a little more obvious when someone like me is pregnant.”

“How obvious?” the avian asked.

The canine snorted and shook his head. “Are you really that stupid?”

“I…”

“He’ll get a nice big pregnant belly and grow breasts so he can feed the babies. There are probably other signs too, but those are the obvious ones.”

“Not that real males want to have anything to do with his kind,” Brak added. “You have to feel sorry for them, really.”

“I don’t need your false sympathy,” Trix snarled, at the same time the avian asked why.

Brak ignored Trix to focus on the question. “It’s like this, you see. For those who prefer the female form, hard chests and cocks aren’t what they’re looking for. Yet for those who desire males, they run the risk of accidentally shoving their cocks into the wrong hole.” He gave an exaggerated shudder as though the very thought of a vagina was repulsive to him. “Imagine, you’ve got to know him, you’re just getting intimate, then you slip your fingers between his legs only to find he’s really a mutant.”

Trix hissed across the table. “Did you really just call me a mutant?”

Brak shrugged. “Are you telling me that you’ve never had a customer recoil from you after discovering what you are?”

The sad truth was that he couldn’t. It had happened all too often, as Brak was well aware. While those who preferred females gave him a wide berth, the ones who preferred males could be particularly cruel with their rejections. Brak wasn’t the only one who believed Trix wasn’t a real male and refused to accept his gender identity because of his bigoted beliefs.

 

About the Author

L.M. Brown is an English writer of gay romances. She believes mermen live in the undiscovered areas of the ocean. She believes life exists on other planets. She believes in fairy tales, magic, and dreams. Most of all, she believes in love.

When L.M. Brown isn’t bribing her fur babies for control of the laptop, she can usually be found with her nose in a book.

 

Author Links

Blog/Website

Facebook Page 

Facebook Group

 

 

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An Alisa Review : Afflicted to the Core (Wielder World #3) by Nat Kennedy

Rating:  4 stars out of 5

Reggie Wolfe religiously visits Kyle Landon—his student in Nerve detangling—at the Harpford Disentanglement Center, where the younger man has been incarcerated on trumped up charges. During one of Reggie’s visits, Kyle’s able to warn his teacher of an imminent unauthorized transfer by an unknown shadow agency. Reggie demands help from his sister at the Bureau of Wielder Services but is pressed to take the matter into his own hands when bureaucratic red-tape stymies her actions. Breaking into a secret medical installation, Reggie and August Whalen find Kyle and six other men hooked to IVs, unknown chemicals pumping into their systems.

The three are caught up in a quest to find an antidote for the drugs and discover who is behind the powerful anti-male Wielder organization. On this dangerous road, will they forever remain friends or give in to their growing attraction?

This world is so interesting and complicated at the same time.  I am not gonna lie, I haven’t read the first two books in a while but I remember being severely confused at times and it happened a bit in this book too.  There is just so much going on, so many people to keep track of and so much hiding it makes you slow down and pause while reading.

Reggie an Wielder World d Kyle were in the first book while the second focused on August and how he ended up tangled up in this mess too.  Bethany, Reggie’s sister and BWS agent, is a help and a hindrance at times and I hate watching her fight against herself and trying to figure out the right thing to do.  I liked her much more in this book than the last as she basically sent August to the slaughter before but seems to be redeeming herself.

I liked watching Reggie find the acceptance he thought he wouldn’t get with Kyle and August, he is so self-conscious and has a hard time letting go of the strict control he has lived his life under that these two were perfect to shake things up a bit.  Now Kyle, man he is determined to make Reggie see things his way and both August and Reggie want to protect him from harm.  August is the most independent of the three and doesn’t get involved right away but really is the one to bring them all together the tightest.

I really look forward to what else is in store for these three but also to see if Bethany can take down the bad guys and possible even change the world’s viewpoint on male weilders.

The cover art by Deranged Doctor Design follows the form from the first couple books but I like how it still stands out from the others and that is gives us a picture of the three MCs.

Sales Link: Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 260 pages

Publication: June 14, 2019

Edition Language: English

Series:#3Wielder World

A MelanieM Review: Purple Haze (Aliens in New York #2) by Kelly Jensen

Rating: 3,75 stars out of 5

Six months have passed since Dillon and Lang crashed into each other on a crowded street in New York City, changing the course of their lives. Now they’re living together as a couple, happy, in love, but not quite ready to say the words out loud.

Dillon is about to embark on a new adventure—opening a private art school housed in the brownstone left to him by his father. Lang… Lang is becoming ever more aware of the futility of his mission: being caretaker to his clan’s future when his clan might not survive the war with an opposing faction.

When a flashbulb outside a nightclub on New Year’s Eve temporarily blinds Dillon, the course of their lives is set to change again. Dillon’s perception of how the world works is going to be forever altered, and Lang will have to decide between his mission and the man who has come to mean more to him than he ever thought possible.

It will be up to both of them to chart a new direction, one that holds the balance between being human and alien. A course that might require sacrifices neither of them is willing to make.

Purple Haze (Aliens in New York #2) by Kelly Jensen is the sequel to Uncommon Ground and for me, a better story.  While I enjoyed the first tale, this one contained more information about the aliens, some of their culture and genetics that was lacking in the first story so it felt more well rounded.

It takes place six months after the conclusion of Uncommon Ground so in Purple Haze Dillon and Lang can be considered an established couple.  It’s no longer a case of instant love, something I had a problem with in the first story.  Here the author continues to build on  that new relationship, Lang’s inspection of his feelings about Dillon from his species pov and from the fact that he now “feels” more humanized than Skov after all his years alone on Earth.  Which of course, he is also realizing that was never really the case.Others of his world have always been there with their own agenda.

This is a novel crammed full of story threads.  Dillon’s continuing adjustment to his new reality, Lang’s stress and issues as he struggles with his new relationship, his mission, and fears abiyt the ongoing galactic drama on Jord,  And yes, even more!  There’s aliens on Earth and the fear of discovery!  Jensen threw everything in the pot on this one.

And it’s absolutely entertaining and suspenseful and fun.

There are still a  lot of holes here.  We know nothing of Jord other than their sun is dying leaving their world in a perpetual Ice Age so looking for a new world for their people is essential for survival.  Also that they are an “engineered species” with clans charged with traditional jobs such as farming which has evolved through the ages but clean certain clans subservient to others.Those seem to be the basics but the gaps of knowledge we need for a solid foundation for their world and species is huge.  And not present.  That’s really necessary to make a science fiction story come truly alive and a alien culture feel real.

The characters were also likable and easy to connect with, although again, those that were “alien” felt like dressed up humans, lacking an alien mindset that felt believable.  While I had so much fun with all the ships, and talky AI’s and such, they had a superficial feel to them.  What I loved was Dillon’s Korean mother and grandmother and their warm house.  They made every scene they entered just glow with joy and love.

Same for the scenes in the art school that Dillon created with characters the author  borrowed from another author’s series (with permission).  Since I hadn’t read that  author or series, having them there made little to no impression on me other than they seemed nice.  Extraneous but nice.

No, there was a whole action filled, suspense element here that worked.  The resolution to which also left me with many ore questions as to what happened to certain beings who caused all the problems.  Those answers never come.  It all gets wrapped up rather too tidely. Sweet but a bit too swiftly for all that went down.

I could be wrong but it seems like this is a 2 book series.  That would be a shame because we know so little about the alien cultures and so much is left unresolved about Lang’s people.  As for Dillon and Lang?  A HFN is how I would consider the ending.

I liked this story and the one before but don’t consider them as strong as Jensen’s other science fiction story, To See The Sun.

If you love science fiction romance, I recommend that one first.  Then these.

Cover art is simple and to the point.  Still far preferable than that failure of a cover for the first story which looks like a contemporary romance with models that looks nothing like the mcs.

Sales Links: Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 191 pages
Published May 10th 2019
ASINB07QW1SGJ7
URL https://www.kellyjensenwrites.com/purple-haze
Series Aliens in New York 

Uncommon Ground

What About Lunch? now folded into the first story as an add on

Purple Haze

A MelanieM Review: Uncommon Ground (Aliens in New York #1) by Kelly Jensen

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Dillon Lee’s grandfather was a conspiracy theorist. Every summer he’d take Dillon on a tour of New York City while entertaining him with tales of aliens. Fifteen years later, after a phone call from a lawyer, Dillon is carrying his grandfather’s ashes from landmark to landmark, paying a sort of tribute, and trying to figure out what to do with his unexpected legacy. When someone tries to steal the ashes, a guy Dillon has barely met leaps to the rescue, saving the urn and the day.

Steilang Skovgaard is a reclusive billionaire—and not human. He’s been living in Manhattan for over twenty years, working on a long-term plan to establish a safe haven for his people. For seven years, his reports have gone unanswered, however, and he is the only surviving member of his interstellar team. The connection he forms with Dillon soon after meeting him is something he’s missed, something he craves.

But after someone keeps trying to steal the ashes, it looks as though Dillon’s grandfather was involved in more than theories—and might not have been exactly who everyone thought he was. Steilang doesn’t know how close he can get to the truth without revealing himself, and Dillon is running out of people to trust. Can these two work out what’s going on before the thieves set their sights higher?

Uncommon Ground (Aliens in New York #1) by Kelly Jensen is an entertaining and enjoyable story.  And I will certainly be reading the second installment to see what happens to this couple and the next step in their relationship and the events that happen here.  But having said that, Uncommon Ground also suffered from two things for me in comparison.  One wasn’t something it could  have anything to do with but I had just finished an absolutely brilliant science fiction novel and anything that came immediately after wasn’t going to measure up.  Again, not this story’s fault.

But the other?  It doesn’t hold to the usual meticulousness with which  Kelly Jensen permeates her typical stories.  There’s such a preciseness, a air of completeness about mostly everything this author writes that I have come to expect from her tales.  And I sort of tind that lacking here.

Maybe because I find the backhistory and foundation incomplete and Jensen is going to include that in future novels in the series. Perhaps its the swiftness of the relationship between Dillon Lee and Steilang Skovgaard.  But so much here didn’t logically add up for me.  And I liked these characters and the whole idea/arc that Jensen seems to be building here.  But as the story progressed and events happened quickly, I just wanted more answers to fall into place.  And the  ones that did, again felt too slight in their delivery.  They ended up putting forth more questions than the answers they supposedly provided.

Aliens among us is a familiar trope as even Dillon remarked and I still feel like I’m waiting on Kelly Jensen to fully put her mark on this trope, series and story.  I know this author can write science fiction because her novel To See the Sun is a 5 star favorite of mine.  So I will wait to see how this series and the characters grow and proceed.

If aliens among us and science fiction are your things, here is a series to take a chance on.  I am going to to Purple Haze, book two.  I will let you know what I find

Cover art is such a disconnect for me.  They look absolutely nothing like the characters and really what makes you think aliens?  Dillon has a strange face, purple hair, piercings and weirdly colored eyes for starters. I won’t get into Skov.  This is an utter fail.

Sales Links:  Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 1st edition, 147 pages
Published June 22nd 2017 by Kindle Worlds
Original Title Uncommon Ground
ASINB0731VVQTZ
Edition Language English
Series Aliens in New York #1, Memories with The Breakfast Club

Love SciFy? Check Out the Tour for A Fall in Autumn by Michael G. Williams

COVER - A Fall in Autumn - Michael G. Williams copy

Michael G. Williams has a new queer sci fi book out: A Fall in Autumn.

WELCOME TO THE LAST OF THE GREAT FLYING CITIES

It’s 9172, YE (Year of the Empire), and the future has forgotten its past.

Soaring miles over the Earth, Autumn, the sole surviving flying city, is filled to the brim with the manifold forms of humankind: from Human Plus “floor models” to the oppressed and disfranchised underclasses doing their dirty work and every imaginable variation between.

Valerius Bakhoum is a washed-up private eye and street hustler scraping by in Autumn. Late on his rent, fetishized and reviled for his imperfect genetics, stuck in the quicksand of his own heritage, Valerius is trying desperately to wrap up his too-short life when a mythical relic of humanity’s fog-shrouded past walks in and hires him to do one last job. What starts out as Valerius just taking a stranger’s money quickly turns into the biggest and most dangerous mystery he’s ever tried to crack – and Valerius is running out of time to solve it.

Now Autumn’s abandoned history – and the monsters and heroes that adorn it – are emerging from the shadows to threaten the few remaining things Valerius holds dear. Can the burned-out detective navigate the labyrinth of lies and maze of blind faith around him to save the City of Autumn from its greatest myth and deadliest threat?

Falstaff Books | Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon CAN | Goodreads

Giveaway

Michael is giving away an eBook copy of “Perishables,” book one of The Withrow Chronicles, with this post:

Everybody hates their Homeowner’s Association, and nobody likes a zombie apocalypse. Put the two together, and Withrow Surrett is having a truly craptastic night.

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Excerpt

MEME 2 A Fall in Autumn

The sun was over the trees at the southeastern edge of the sloped opening in the forest when I awoke. The sun woke me, actually: its rays on my face, the flicker of shadow and light as it played across my closed eyes. I was half dressed: my shoes off, my feet bare, and my coat spread over me in lieu of a blanket. My shirt was somewhere, probably. I wasn’t wearing it, anyway, and my eyes hadn’t opened yet, but I could feel it nearby the way you can sense an old dog by your chair or a former lover on the opposite side of an otherwise perfectly nice party.

My back curled against something firm and supporting and I felt gentle fingers stroke the tufts of silvery black at my temples. Hematite, a man told me once. I would always love him a little for saying that. My hair there wasn’t yet gray but no longer black and when wet it looked like hematite, and he said it like that meant something deep and significant and mystical I didn’t understand. Having someone’s fingers run through it felt good, though. It felt like a happy memory, like something I didn’t expect would happen much anymore if it ever really happened in the first place.

That simple touch was a comfort to me. It’s the most minor thing and, for that reason, the most missed when it’s gone. I don’t go long stretches without being touched, but it had been a while between caresses. This was that: a caress, and more; not exactly sexual but not exactly platonic. It was that happy in-between we call intimate. I made myself vulnerable to other men, and they themselves to me, more times than I can count in my too-short life. It didn’t always work out, though, that my usual flavor of street trade would show basic human kindness in return for mine.

None of that mattered, though. Those guys were long gone. Right that second, someone ran his fingers through my half-asleep hair, intimate and kind and caressing. I felt vulnerable and that was okay. For a few moments I wasn’t dying and I wasn’t scared. I wasn’t lonely and I wasn’t alone. The sun felt good, and the breeze through the branches sounded like Gaia herself telling me to go back to sleep. I thought for a moment I might be okay with dying fairly soon if I got to wake up like this every morning for the rest of my life.

“Okay,” I groaned. I didn’t move and I didn’t open my eyes because I wasn’t quite ready for the moment to go away even as I lifted the pin to pop its balloon. “You want something. So tell me what it is. Because if I say yes – if– I may not have much time to hold up my end of the bargain.” My voice dispelled all the magic of the moment, but his fingers were still at my temple, resting there, ready to go back to what we shared moments before. I rolled over and looked up at Alejandro, his purple hair down over half his face as he leaned on one elbow. I didn’t kiss him, but I did put one hand to his jaw and brush his cheek with my thumb. I wondered if he could feel that – really feel it, like skin feels it. “Let’s not pussyfoot around this. You want me to do something. The whole story about the angel and thinking someone was trying to kill you was bullshit, but there was something there, something worth chasing, so let’s have the truth now and get on with things.” I tried to smile at him. His expression was completely blank.

With the hand he used to brush my temples, he laid a fingertip behind my ear, cupping my face with barely a single point of contact. He still didn’t smile, but his eyes searched my face, my own eyes, for something. It occurred to me the correct phrasing might be to say he searched my eyes for someone. I assumed he’d been alive long enough to know a hell of a lot of people, and I would bet a nickel he looked for one of them in me. There are a hundred romantic stories about golems: meat sacks like me throwing ourselves at a golem out of infatuation with their embodiment of agelessness.

If he’d been there before, heard a hundred thousand of us wail about mortality and still willing to hear number one hundred thousand one, he must have a lot of love for humankind. No, I thought, more than that: he must have loved the hell out of oneof us at some point. Maybe he was waiting for that guy to walk back into his life, reemerging from the vast but finite pool of genetic factors we possess as a species. I wondered if I simply seemed close enough to that long-lost lover to pass muster for a night.

I also wondered what made a golem want to get laid in the first place: ever the detective, after all.

“I really did see an angel in Splendor,” Alejandro said. He still wasn’t smiling. If anything, he had the muted seriousness, the understated gravitas, I’d long since come to recognize as the posture of someone telling the truth at long last. I wondered how long it had been. “I swear it to you. I swear it.” He surprised me, then, because he didn’t cry, golems don’t have tear ducts, but his eyelids quivered with the autonomic response to strong emotion. He still hadn’t moved at all, and we were shielded from the breeze so that his hair hung straight down like a perfectly still and settled curtain across half the stage of his face. “And I believe it would try to kill me if it knew I were here.”

Author Bio

AUTHOR PIC - Michael G. Williams - A Fall in Autumn

Michael G. Williams writes wry horror, urban fantasy, and science fiction: stories of monsters, macabre humor, and subverted expectations. He is the author of three series for Falstaff Books: The Withrow Chronicles, including Perishables (2012 Laine Cunningham Award), Tooth & Nail, Deal with the Devil, Attempted Immortality, and Nobody Gets Out Alive; a new series in The Shadow Council Archives featuring one of San Francisco’s most beloved figures, SERVANT/SOVEREIGN; and the science fiction noir A Fall in Autumn. Michael also writes short stories and contributes to tabletop RPG development. Michael strives to present the humor and humanity at the heart of horror and mystery with stories of outcasts and loners finding their people.

Michael is also an avid podcaster, activist, reader, runner, and gaymer, and is a brother in St. Anthony Hall and Mu Beta Psi. He lives in Durham, NC, with his husband, two cats, two dogs, and more and better friends than he probably deserves.

Author Website: http://www.michaelgwilliams-author.com

Author Facebook (Personal): https://www.facebook.com/mcmanlypants

Author Facebook (Author Page): https://www.facebook.com/MichaelGWilliamsAuthor/

Author Twitter: https://twitter.com/mcmanlypants

Author Instagram: https://instagram.com/mcmanlypants

Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6429992.Michael_G_Williams

Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Michael-G.-Williams/e/B001KIYBBU/

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