This was originally posted on Lou Sylvre's blog, she kindly let me take over for a day. I like the future. It can be a very cool and interesting place to hang out. Writing in the future means I can take that time and setting and make it whatever and however I’d like it to be.
The Sentries is a series that takes place three hundred years in the future. This is a future that hails back to the past. It’s not a high tech future. The culture and society in general have changed. The world of Sentries was created by a natural disaster occurring, for the characters Todd and Nick Ruger, three hundred years in their past. Things have changed between now and then.
I wanted a totally different society for my series, and since I stayed on planet Earth for this one, I needed to do something with the society we have now. Being basically lazy and wanting to take the easy route I did the only logical thing I could think of: I blew ours up.
Don’t you just hate it when some schmo comes along and blows up the modern world?
I suppose it was messy and scary and there was chaos for a while, but for the Ruger guys that was way, way in the past, so what the reader knows of those scary, messy, chaotic days are on par with what the Rugers know. I’m currently writing book four of the series, and the Rugers will know a whole lot more about those days by the end of it, which means so will the rest of us.
However, that’s in the future.
Let’s go back to the Sentries and the future.
Creating a different society wasn’t my only motivation for using the future. I needed a place and time where my characters, those delightful Ruger men, could be what I wanted them to be and here and now wasn’t that place, or time.
I’ve had more than one reader comment on the fact that the future in Sentries isn’t bleak and barren, people aren’t struggling to survive, and they’re not starving. My question is why does it have to be that way? Firstly, it’s not logical to think three hundred years after even a globally devastating natural disaster, that humans wouldn’t have at least partially gotten their act together and rebuilt something. Secondly, there is no reason good can’t evolve from horrible.
In Sentries there are cities, farms, politics, coffee and pancakes along with a few paranormal baddies to be dealt with. There is also something else, and that is what is more important, to me at least.
Ever since I started reading and writing in the M/M genre I’ve been seeing blog posts discussing the fact that women can’t write about gay men because women have no idea what it’s like to be a gay man. I’ve even heard tell there are gay men who will not read anything written by a woman concerning the relationships of gay men.
For me, personally the gender of the author isn’t important as long as they tell me a good story, but I’ll concede to the fact that not everyone feels the same way. Do I know what it’s like to be a gay man? Well, no. I’m not even sure I know what it’s like to be a straight woman.
What I do know and understand is what it’s like to be discriminated against for reasons that are just silly.
See, I was divorced when my oldest child was only seven, he has two younger siblings. Before that I was a child of a divorced couple and for some reason people seem to think untraditional families of any sort produce people (male or female, gay or straight) that are somehow damaged. I had friends in school whose parents blatantly refused to allow their children to interact socially with me since I was from “a broken home”. I had a very nice home and was given a good education.
Twenty plus years later my own children were told they weren’t welcome in this family’s home or that child’s birthday party because—go ahead, gasp in horror—yes, they came from a broken home! Our home wasn’t broken, I fixed it and I now have three successful adult children with decent jobs and their own homes.
I may not be a gay man, but I sure do understand what it’s like to be judged (falsely) by others simply because my life is different from theirs.
What does all this have to do with blowing up the world as we know it, two guys in love with one another who fight paranormal baddies, drink coffee, like pancakes, and the future in general?
Quite a bit, actually, in a roundabout sort of way.
I detest discrimination anything anything for any reason. One method I try to fight it on a personal level is via the books I write. This is where we go back to the future (loved those movies by the way). In the Sentries version of the future things are different, they have changed. One of those changes is same sex unions are perfectly normal and acceptable.
My most favorite books, movies, stories of any sort are filled with action, adventure as well as a smattering of romance. Sentries is a series set in the future, with lots of action, tons of adventure and a smattering of romance between two main characters who happen to both be men. It’s sort of my own, little, personal way of protesting those that might discriminate against someone because they prefer a partner/spouse/soul mate who is not the opposite sex.
I purposely don’t make a big deal out of the fact that Todd and Nick are both men; I do make a big deal out of the fact they are very in love with one another. The Rugers are a family in their eyes and I hope in the eyes of the reader.
The words homosexual or gay are not used in the series because I like to imagine a future where those are not words used to describe people. A world where one is not judged by whom they are attracted to or love, where it doesn’t matter if your family isn’t what we today consider traditional and ‘right’.
My take on the future is best summed up by the words of Doc Brown in Back to the Future III…It means your future hasn’t been written yet. No one’s has. Our future is whatever you make it. So make it a good one, both of you.
There is no reason we, as a society, can’t make a future where tags such as gay aren’t what defines people. The future is what we make of it and I chose to try and make it a more tolerant place, unless of course, you’re some paranormal baddie that needs dispatching. In that case, watch out, because Todd and Nick will getcha!
This originally appeared as part of EM Lynley's Backlist Strikes Back.
I love series, it’s no secret. I love them in books, movies and television. Long ago and far away, when I started writing, it came as no surprise to me that my writing default was set to creating a series.
The first book of my Sentries series, Marked Yours, was published by Dreamspinner Press May 2011. Book two, Together Bound, was also published by Dreamspinner Press in October of 2011. The third book, Chained Hearts, comes out June 8, 2012.
I have six books in all planned, but I digress, so let me get to the part where I gush about the virtues of the series.
Marked Yours starts three hundred years in our future. This isn’t the Star Trek version of the future that is all high techy. There are horses not cars, solar panels for power and steam engine trains instead of airplanes. The life and world I created is different, but not at all bleak. Society has changed, not necessarily for better or worse, but it is different.
A meeting of past and future is fun and challenging. I created my future world, but not without doing my research. Mainly I concentrated on what sort of archeological evidence of the past I might include in the picture of this future world I painted. Along with that I had to look into what future natural disasters might do to our society and ways it might be changed.
How does this relate to the writing of a series and their awesomeness in general you ask?
The true wonder and beauty of a series is the time a writer (or producer) has to develop the story, the backstory, the world the series takes place in and, of course, the characters.
Way back in book one, Marked Yours, the main characters, Todd and Nick were two guys just getting to know each other, struggling to survive in their world and finding their place with one another. All while battling some bad guys.
Their love and their relationship was new, different for them both and had that first blush of excitement. They may have come together in a way we today would consider unconventional, but they faced the same problems every couple faces. In each subsequent book they’re older, their relationship is in a different place and their world is facing different kinds of turmoil.
Writing Todd and Nick as part of a series allows me, the author, more time to develop their relationship, allowing it to change and grow naturally over the course of time. That first blush, a mere seed, took root and grew in a way made possible by plot and character development over the span of several stories. There are ups and downs, trials and tribulations for them as well as joy and that special bond that grows ever deeper over time.
Through, it all, each man learns the important lesson they have each other. During the good and bad times it’s their bond and mutual respect that sees them through, changes and grows. The two of them become their own unique family.
No mention of a series would be complete without saying the most important thing to do is begin at the beginning. A series builds from the first book, each one after adding information and details to the world, the lives and the characters. As a reader and writer the farther into a series I go, the more I love that fictional world and most importantly its inhabitants.
This was originally posted on SJD Peterson's Blog for Author A-Z
Naughty or nice?
That was the question posed to me by SJD Peterson for her Authors A-Z month, what sort of gift would I rather receive, naughty or nice? I thought the answer might be more interesting if I asked the naughtiest nicest guy I know: Nick Ruger. So, I conned—um, invited Todd and Nick Ruger to join me in pondering that age old question: what sort of present is better, Naughty or Nice?
I thought they’d like meeting at a café for coffee. “Have a seat, guys, and thanks for helping with this.”
They settled in chairs across from me. Nick leaned over and tapped Todd’s arm, whispering, “She promised coffee.”
Nodding, Todd leaned back in his chair, casually dropped his arm over the back of Nick’s chair, fingers resting on Nick’s shoulder. “He’s got a point,” Todd said, looking at me.
“I did. I know you guys are as much coffee addicts as I am.” Good thing for me the coffee arrived just then, Todd has one serious stare.
“You’re the one who wrote us that way.” Nick took his coffee, inhaling deeply over it.
“Do you want to be alone with it?” Todd and I asked together.
Nick looked over the rim of his mug, shook his head and sipped his brew, smiling shyly.
“Okay, so you’re the one who wanted to do this, and it’s your name that starts with ‘N’, so…it’s ‘N’ day on this blog…” Todd said.
“Me?” Nick’s gaze shifted between Todd and I.
“Yes, Nick, you.” Todd sipped more coffee and watched Nick.
“Um…well Todd’s s given me some gifts. I love every one of them. There was a hunting knife he sent me when I turned sixteen, and then when I first went to live with him he’d gotten me a little carving of a bear. ” He touched the woven leather band around his throat. “My collar of course.”
“That wasn’t really what I had in mind.”
Todd set his coffee down, leaned forward, laid one arm flat on the table and dropped his forehead onto his arm. “Nicky, I don’t think that’s what she had in mind.”
“Oh? No?”
“No.” Todd sat straight and shook his head.
“Oh.” Nick took another sip of coffee, looking thoughtful. “Oh! OH.”
Todd straightened. “Oh?” He motioned go on with one hand and reached for his mug again with the other.
“Me?” Nick ducked his head and looked up at Todd from under those adorably shaggy bangs.
“Your idea, your name begins with ‘N’, so yeah, you.” Todd leaned back, smiled and winked at me.
“Okay, well…in our apartment, Todd made me a whole room. He likes building things from wood, and recently he’s also made a—”
“Dude! No spoilers,” Todd said.
“That’s a spoiler? I can’t even give a little hint about what happened after we left the Chancellor’s Estate?”
“That’s a spoiler and that book won’t be out for another few months yet,” I reminded Nick.
Todd added, “No hinting.”
“My favorite gift from Todd that I can mention then is rope.”
“Rope?” I ask.
Spitting coffee out, Todd choked, gagged and coughed. “Rope?” Clearing his throat he dropped his voice an octave. “Rope?”
“Rope,” Nick repeated, smiling and nodding. “There are four sections about this long.” He held up both hands about two feet apart. “They’re really soft and very comfortable, you know around my wrists and ankles.”
Todd shifted a bit in his chair. “Oh geez.”
Ignoring his mate, Nick went on, “There is a longer section that can wrap around my chest, legs, shoulders…you get the idea. It’s…fun and gets the blood pumping.” He leaned closer to me and lowered his voice. “Don’t tell Todd I told you, but he’s really very romantic with all the kissing and licking, sometimes tickling, when I can’t move and just as much when I can.”
“I can’t believe you told her, hell, everyone all about the rope.”
Nick ducked his head, smiling softly. “You said since my name started with ‘N’ I had to answer. It’s really all your fault, Todd.” He eased closer to Todd and brushed a quick kiss over his cheek.
“So, I guess since shy, quiet Nick likes the rope best, and has a bit of kink going on, the answer to our question would be naughty?” I asked them.
“You have your answer, we had our coffee. It’s been lovely, thank you,” Todd said as he stood up and held one hand out to Nick, palm up. “C’mon Nicky, we have to…uh…do something important. Right now.”
“What?” Nick looked up, his face the picture of innocence until he glanced at me and winked. “Oh. OH. We have to go now, thanks for the coffee.” He took Todd’s hand, standing he whispered to Todd, “Did you bring the rope?”
Big thanks to SJD Peterson for kindly including me—well us—in her month of fun.
This was originally posted on Coffee and Porn in the Morning.There’s more to writing than the book.
It starts simply enough, an idea, a desire to write a book. So, you ya’ know, write one.
Turns out that’s the easy part!
That first book? Piece of cake. No one is waiting on it, writing gets done when there’s time. There is no pressure, it’s fun. So, you write that book, polish it up, maybe have someone help with editing before packaging your baby up and sending it off to a publisher.
Then you wait.
And wait.
Oh, and wait some more. That’s hard, but not horrible, cause seriously, you have no idea what’s coming.
Still waiting…
Then that glorious day happens, you get the oh so coveted acceptance letter be it by email, snail mail or some other mail that was invented while you were waiting. Happy dance! Yee hee you’ve gone from a writer to a published author. Time to celebrate! Crack the bubbly, cause it’s Miller time, right?
Wrong. Might want to stay sober a while longer.
Funny thing is, one does not simply package up a manuscript and send it off to be published word for word just as you wrote it. Oh no. Oh HELL no. Somewhere between the glorious day of acceptance and the equally glorious day of release there is the editing. A copy of your manuscript arrives in your email and it’s covered with comments and red marks and suggestions and requests to change, expand, take out this or that.
Along with that first round of edits, yeah, there are going to be more, deal, is the writing of that all-important blurb. Someone will edit that too. Oh, and don’t forget the work you’ll have to do providing details for the art department cause your stick figures and block letters saying: READ THIS isn’t really what the publisher had in mind and won’t go with all their other lovely covers nicely displayed on their website.
All of these chores require time and brain power, which usually requires some amount of energy.
The big release day finally…finally…more waiting…arrives. More happy dance, the thing sells. People like it, love it even. They comment on it, reviewers say nice things about it and then somewhere, someone makes the comment of when is your next book coming out, because I love your writing.
Huh?
Wait? What? I gotta do this again? Seriously, folks want me to do this again? The answer is, yes silly, it’s what grown-up authors do. Truth be told, those release dates are a little—okay a lot—addicting.
About now is the time realization sinks in: this writing books stuff? Hard work. It’s almost like another job. Well, the fact is, it is another job. At least that’s what I realized I was going to have to consider it to build and maintain a readership. No one wants or buys your books if they don’t know who you are and making sure they know who you are means you have more than one title out there.
It also means promoting those books. There are chats and blogs and promo weekends sponsored by many various sites. Somewhere in there I needed to find the time to write more books. Of course, after writing those books they were sent off to the publisher and how exciting, they’ll become books too. But not after a few rounds with the red editing marks.
Yeah, second job indeed. Miller time just flew right out the window, cause it never, ever arrives.
If I wanted my writing to be more than a nice hobby and move into the realm of career (with a paycheck) I realized I was going to have to make some life changes. There are about nine-billion articles and books out and about revolving around the subject of writing. Goal setting, taking your writing seriously, how not to get into a rut, you name it about the act of writing and there is something somewhere about it. What it all boils down to is what do you want out of your writing and how do you plan to achieve those goals?
Step one was to get more organized and for someone who couldn’t organize herself out of a paper bag that was a challenge. Thank the heavens for computers. Even bigger thanks for the endless files that can be created, stored and labeled.
I had to do more, however. I needed time to not only write, but then complete the edits needed prior to that coveted release date. All while I headed out into the wide world of the internet to promote my books and by extension myself.
What I had to do was consider churning out enough to produce a publishable work on a regular basis a job, my second job. Which, really, it is, I get paid, I have to meet deadlines and I have to commit to events be they online or in person doesn’t matter. If I tell someone I’ll show up for something, I should show up. Talk about getting serious and taking my writing more seriously than ever before.
So, I asked myself, what would a second job require? A place to work and a schedule I’d have to commit to were the topmost answers.
I already had a nice workspace. I live alone and one of the bedrooms I’d turned into a computer room. I love faux painting, so the computer room is pleasant and comfortable, though an office chair is next on the list of things to purchase.
The hard part was the schedule. I had to take a few steps, first I had to decide how much time each day I could devote to the business of writing. Later I added in deciding on a certain amount of words each week and used a calendar to keep track of what projects I wanted completed when.
My final step was actually announcing to the world I had a second job. I didn’t necessarily say what, because I’ve found the general public views writing as “something you can do anytime” or “not as important as your day job” and like opinions we’ve all heard and know too well.
I informed my current employer that I had taken a second job and then I gave them a list of hours I would be committing to that second job. I work for a small company and every week there is always a need for someone to put in extra time if a coworker is on vacation or sick. Without that cushion of saying I was committed elsewhere I could go weeks without the time and energy needed to write.
My day job (which is also at night sometimes) can be both physically and mentally demanding. The simple fact is: I can’t write, or edit or proofread if my brain is mush and I’m worn out. Cutting back on double shifts and extra work days during the week was going to be a necessity.
This turned into more of a challenge than the actual writing. I thought, naively, that I’d say I have this other job and I work these hours and that would be the end. Not so. Even after a year I’m asked to stick around extra hours or pick up an extra day or rearrange my schedule. A hard thing to do sometimes, say no.
I’ve been strict about keeping my writing schedule and so far it’s paid off. I’ve seen a steady increase in my word count every week and have been keeping on top of editing and polishing those words. Having the number of manuscripts that I’d like to submit this year is looking better and better all the time.
Of course all this did impact my income. I had to make adjustments there also, though, thankfully, temporary ones. I promised myself I’d devote that time I could be putting in extra hours at work to producing manuscripts which in turn have produced extra income. It’s been slow and steady, but the more I stick to my plan, the more I’m producing and earning.
What it all really comes down to is deciding what you want out of life, then arranging your life to meet those goals.
I entered this challenge, my first time. This is a yearly word count goal, not for one month. So...I just did my first check in and for January: 12219 words toward a goal of 200,00
Hello, and thanks for stopping by for a look. One of the most commonly asked questions I get is: why do you, a straight woman, write M/M erotic romance?
Good question. At first I simply offered my answer of “I like it.” That was sort of stating the obvious and didn’t really offer much in the way of deep, thoughtful insight. However, I could almost see those reading my answer (the similar answers by other authors) sagely nodding their heads in agreement. It’s like asking the reader, why do you read this genre? Gee, ‘cause they like it, silly, would be the universal answer. For me the real reason goes deeper, more on that to come.
Another commonly posed question, or set of questions always revolve around the writing process itself. How do I come up with ideas, how do I plot a story? One of my most valuable tools in creating a book (or series) is my daily walk of the dogs. It’s quiet, no phone, no email, no distractions other than picking up the occasional bit o’goodness dogs tend to leave behind, so I get a lot of mental work done. During one of these walks while contemplating some plot points in my series, Sentries, the answer to that first question hit me like a sledge hammer.
This is January, the first month of our new year—Happy January! The theme this month is firsts, first books, first loves, first time. First!
What does this have to do with all that other stuff (points up) that I was just blathering on about? Funny you should ask, because today for the FIRST time I have an answer.
It’s not, however, short.
Marked Yours was a culmination of my life-long dream to be a published author, and I have to say it’s all I dreamed and a bit more. It’s a novel of firsts. My first novel, my first being tossed into the world of publishing, my first literary dream come true.
The book is chocked full of firsts and is the first in a series, Sentries. During the course of the story the main characters, our intrepid heroes Todd and Nick Ruger meet in person for the first time. They share a first kiss, which grows to first true love for both men. First kissing eventually leads to lots of first other things between the sheets.
Marked Yours in particular and the Sentries series in general isn’t about the sexual exploits of two men, though there is a bit of steam. It’s more about the course of their lives as a couple. Throughout they find danger, a boatload of action and adventure, and some big, bad nasty paranormal things to fight. Most importantly they find a bond and a love with one another. They find in each other a family.
However, before any of that could happen they had to share that first kiss, cement their bond and become the committed pair they are. Which brings me back to the question of why two men and more firsts.
Might want to get a snack and drink, I’ll wait.
Back? Good! Whew, otherwise I’d have to talk to myself—not that that’s ever happened before.
Sooo….I’m out walking the dogs one day, contemplating the affairs of my writing and while waiting on one dog to water some dead leaves when I stumble upon an epiphany about myself and why it is I enjoy reading and writing M/M romance. My answer goes much farther back to a time long before I became aware of gay romance or read that first story.
It’s because of my grandfather, who was, as far as I know, a completely straight, sort of conservative man. Interesting how things work out.
He also loved to read and watch television.
I was raised by this man, and lived in a predominantly male household. From the time I was a very little girl I was constantly telling a story and that evolved into writing them when I learned to string letters to words and words to sentences and sentences to paragraphs and…okay I can do this all day, you get the idea. As far back as I can remember this man told me I should be a writer.
I’m sure M/M romance is not what he’d had in mind, but I think he’d be happy knowing I was being published and people were reading and enjoying my stories.
My grandfather was a huge fan of reading the mystery, the more suspense and action the better. Throw in some political intrigue and he thought it was perfect. I grew up surrounded by books, literally hundreds that were in a basement library he built by hand. He was a woodworker by hobby, much like Todd Ruger as we find out when he and Nick are in their first home. All my grandfather’s favorite books had a common theme of two men, detectives or cops or whatever that were partners and friends. Men who cared deeply for one another.
Enter the male bonding theme, two men with a connection, deep love and respect for one another presented to me when I was so young I couldn’t even read.
Grandpa did more than read, he loved sports, but a physical problem kept him from being very active, so he watched television, often while reading. For years I watched football, baseball and basketball with him. In between there were shows that were staple of the television industry at the time, Combat, Five O’Clock High, Rat Patrol, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Star Trek, Batman, the list goes on. They all had the commonality of men bonding, be they friends, fathers and sons or brothers it didn’t matter. I was immersed from a very young age in stories where the central characters were men. Men who loved one another, even if it wasn’t in the romantic sense.
My favorite was Maverick. I’ll still watch that show when given the opportunity. Two brothers who every week found some mystery to solve, or wrong to right or simply engaged in a good-guy/bad-guy chase down a deserted road and into a box canyon. From that show and those men I learned a love of a good (fictional of course) bar brawl, gun fight, chase, ghost story and an appreciation for taking a gamble in life. Times have changed and in the decades between Maverick and now there have been dozens, if not hundreds, of shows and books revolving around two men in some sort of close, loving relationship.
Okay, these guys weren’t in romantic relationships, but the groundwork for that next step was laid down and mapped out in my mind long ago and far away.
Is it really such a wonder that from there the leap to gay men and their close romantic relationships was made?
The main characters of Marked Yours are no different than the men of countless pieces of literature or viewing I grew up loving. They just have one more aspect to their lives and relationship: that of a bonded, mated, romantic couple. Todd and Nick are lovers as well as partners, with a great deal of love and respect between them. Now, how could you not like that?
For women to read, write and enjoy all male romance isn’t so strange. So, here I am, many (we won’t discuss the actual number, but those of you who know the shows of which I speak can work it out I’m sure) years later, a woman whose first novel is paranormal action/adventure with a healthy dose of romance between two men.
It makes perfect sense really, when you think about it.
I, for one, couldn’t be happier or more proud that my first published novel revolves around a theme that I loved before I knew what it was: Men loving one another, how doesn’t matter. That Marked Yours, and the books that followed were not only about the close bond men share, but one that allows them to take that bonding to the next level.
To answer the question of why the first novel I wrote and published was M/M romance, well it’s simple really, it’s what I love, it’s what fascinates me and fires my imagination. It’s what I grew up learning to love and I want to offer a big thank you to those that created those books and shows then brought them to life for one little girl to appreciate the male bond.
From the brothers Maverick, Cartwright, Simon and Winchester, to the buddies Matt Dillon and Chester, Starsky and Hutch, Jim Ellison and Blair Sandberg, Peter Burke and Neal Caffery, and a whole bunch of others, I learned how deeply men bond and love one another and came to appreciate that bond. Mostly I owe them my heartfelt gratitude.
Really, is there any other genre steeped in such tradition for me, or that would feel so natural, to write in and explore? Was there ever a question of what would be the subject matter of my first novel, Marked Yours? Hell, no!
This little bit appeared on the Guys Like Romance Too
This originally appeared on Jadette Paige's blog in October 2011.Apocalypse: a drastic change often brought on by some cataclysmic natural disaster.
The world of the Sentries series evolves because of an apocalypse. In this case I chose the Wyoming Super Volcano. The story of Todd and Nick Ruger begins three hundred years after its eruption changes not only the geography of North America, but the society, the people, and how they live and interact with the rest of the world.
Their world has electricity provided by solar panels, but no electronic devices. There is steam transportation, but most people use horses. From the ashes of an apocalypse rose a society different from the one before in many ways.
It’s a mix of the old and new. I try to drop in details they’d see or know about the world in the centuries before their time, just as we would today. Holdovers such as roads and books are sprinkled throughout the stories. Archeological evidence of what went before.
Together Bound is second in the Sentries series and picks up about eighteen months after the beginning of the first book, Marked Yours. In the first book they face the challenges of a new relationship, men getting to know one another and forging a life together.
While I was writing Together Bound I had definite goals in mind for the story, plot and characters. Their story is one that will, hopefully, be told over the course of six books, so lots of gradual character development and exciting situations for them to experience.
In Together Bound they face, separately and together, inner and outer forces that threaten who they are as individuals and as a couple. Todd learns about some aspects of his personality he’d rather stay buried and never see the light of day. For Nick, he’s faced—for the first time in his life—with having to function on his own and make his own choices.
This story is about change, choices and staying the same while growing. All people, all couples go through ups and downs in life, an owner and slave would be no different. I wanted to move the characters forward in their lives. They needed to face obstacles neither would expect, ones that would ensure they’d mature as individuals and a couple.
Nick’s change is particularly significant. He starts the book still on the precipice between boy and man, sheltered and protected by Todd. By the time the book ends he’s very much a man and Todd’s true partner in all aspects of their life together. He’s given the chance to make choices, ones that affect him, Todd and him as a couple, and other people.
Todd has plenty of decision making to do as well. He’s Nick’s owner, his protector, responsible for every part of Nick’s life. More than anything Todd wants a mate. He wants Nick and him to be a family. Todd needs to learn letting go is sometimes the way to hang on tight.
Just as an apocalypse sets in motion creation of the society Todd and Nick live in, one changes their lives. Each man must make decisions on his own that affect them both as a couple, creating their own personal apocalypse and changing the course of their lives forever.
Head on over HERE for the Holiday Blog Hop
Here's a few lines of snark from my newest release, Together Bound: “This is my fault. Nick, it‟s okay, it‟s natural. We‟re men, and if there is one universal fact, it‟s that men are pigs.” “Huh?” “Nick, someone touches you or you see someone who you find attractive, and that”—Todd waved in the vicinity of Nick‟s crotch—“happens. It happens to every guy at one point or another.” “I don‟t want him touching me, and he‟s ugly,” Nick burst out. “It doesn‟t happen to you!”Todd chuckled. “Yeah, it does. You”—he tapped the end of Nick‟s nose—“have reaped the benefits.” Check out more snark HERE
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