YES

Vasquez and James novella Yes was released 7/18, and I’m celebrating the release with a bit of a blog tour. This is stop three, but it doesn’t really matter where you start. If you want to enter for the free ebook, you have to visit all five spots (and leave some sort of comment at each one), but it doesn’t matter what order you do it in.

Here at Elizabeth Noble’s blog, I’m interviewing Luki Vasquez. These are questions provided by readers for the occasion. Luki just got his final, definitive diagnose of lung cancer a few days ago, and he’s a bit surly. Well, truthfully he’s probably not much more surly than usual. I caught up with him sitting on the driftlog some distance from the house he shares with Sonny. It’s very early fall and surprisingly mellow, with only an occasional breeze to rustle the Nootka roses and nut brush that surround the area.

Luki, Angel has some questions for you: Are you finally going to quit smoking? How was the wedding? What’s the best thing about living with Sonny?

“Damn, Angel. Do you think that’s enough questions?   I feel like the answer man. Anyway, about stopping smoking, I did.” Luki looked me straight in the eye, those hyper-blue pupils boring through me like lasers. I gulped, waited. “I did quit smoking. And if there’s anything about this situation that’s hard for me to think about, talk about, face, it’s knowing what I know about that. The story’s all written down for you, in the books. You can read all about it.”

Umm… Luki? Angel had asked--

“What’s the problem. I know what she asked. I’m not that sick, yet. I can still remember.” He stopped speaking again, but I didn’t dare speak up. “And I don’t bite, either, so stop looking at me like that. I shoot, but I don’t bite.” He chuckled. I had no idea what to do so I chuckled too. It seems to have been the right thing. “Our wedding was… God, I don’t even know how to describe it. There’s another book that might be coming up, we all hope. It has the details, but suffice it to say, the sun was shining in Hawaii, and Sonny was beautiful. And he promised to love me. What could be better? Of course even though that was five years ago, it’s possible this cancer was already started. If I had known this was going to happen to me, maybe I wouldn’t have married Sonny. Maybe I would have saved him this heartache.

“The best thing about living with Sonny is living with Sonny. I mean, fuck! He makes my days and nights into something real—I don’t mean just now, I mean since I’ve known him. I don’t know what I did before him, but since we’ve been together it seems like there isn’t another way to be. Sometimes I think if he was gone I’d just stop in place. Scary, that—or it would be if I thought he’d leave me.

Luki, Angel also wants to know if you ever… let me see, how did she put it? Oh here it is. Did you ever change your darn ring tone?

 

“Sure, lots of times. But somehow I always end up with a stupid buzz. Just the other day I changed it to “Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows,” by Pet Clark, just my little joke, but it made Sonny so mad—have you ever seen his temper? He said he’d run me over with the Mustang. I don’t believe him of course, but I’m taking no chances, so I had him help me change it to Willie Nelson singing “Sunny Side of the Street.” He didn’t so much like that, but he admitted it was an improvement.” He stopped here, looked at me with almost a smile, a little twinkle in the eye. “He’s funny. He didn’t even get the Sunny/Sonny pun. He was too busy being indignant.”

Luki, Vastine Bondurant has a more serious question for you: How does it feel, finally meeting the love of your life, and facing the prospect of leaving them?

“To tell the truth, Vastine—wonderful name by the way—to tell the truth, I’m numb. Seriously. You might find it hard to believe but no matter what’s going on I don’t quite feel mentally like I have cancer. I don’t feel anything. I don’t think about the prospect of losing Sonny; I don’t think about the prospect of anything. But if Sonny gives me medicine, I take it, and I love him. If he gives me food, I eat, and I love him. Sex… well, you’ll have to read Ms. Sylvre’s little

book, I guess. But the point is, without him I wouldn’t have a reality at all right now, or at least that’s how it feels. He’s so beautiful. I’ll be honest, I wish he’d lighten up a bit, but that’s something you’ll understand better after you read the story, too…”

Thanks, Luki.

 

 “Hey, no problem. But go away, okay?”

So I am going away. I’m moving on and I hope you will, too, to the other blogs on the tour (no guarantee Luki won’t be there when we get there, but don’t worry, he’s way sweeter than he wants anyone to know). Here are the links:

Lou Sylvre’s Goodreads blog

Drops of Ink   (Anne Barwell's page),

at Rhys Ford's Blog 

and my own Wordpress blog, Sylvre.com .

The tour is “live” from noon Pacific (3pm Eastern) Thursday 7/19 and ends at midnight Pacific time 7/20 (3am 7/21, Eastern). Saturday a winner will be chosen (random) from those who commented at each stop on the tour.