The Fog of War: If time-travel were real… Thank you so much to Elizabeth for having me here today to talk about my new release, The Fog of War! The book is the first of a new trilogy in my Border Magic Universe. It’s a sapphic, historical, paranormal, romantic mystery set in rural England in 1920. I’m doing a bit of a blog-tour talking about the characters, settings and the history behind it and Elizabeth’s place is one of the stops. You’ll be able to find the other posts listed on my website as they come out this week. In my paranormal universe, time-travel is a thing. I started the series by wanting to contrast the experiences of a man born in the 1980s with someone born in the 1880s and time-travel was the coolest way to do that. So it’s become a part of the lexicon, although not every book contains it. So…today my question is. Where would you go if time-travel were possible? To me this is one of those impossible-to-answer questions. I’m a bit of a coward really and I don’t like change. I think I’ll like new situations and then I end up having an anxiety attack when I become immersed in them. So realistically, I don’t think I’d want to go anywhere at all permanently. I like having vaccinations and antibiotics and my own bed that smells right and enough fresh fruit to eat whenever I want to eat it. Oh, and clean water. But…if I knew I could get back to all those things whenever I wanted with no penalties? And not get stabbed by accident or hung as a witch? I still don’t know, because there are so many different times and places to choose from. It’s not the big, sweeping events in history that interest me, really. It’s how the ordinary people lived. What did the sempstress who did the embroidery on all those wonderful eighteenth century waistcoats and dresses have for her supper? The man who made my Great Grandfather’s wire-rimmed spectacles, still in a box on my mother’s dressing table…did he have a family in a little house in London? Or did he live alone in a room in a boarding house? Was it really that big-a deal to the Briton-in-the-street when the last of the Roman legions left the province in 418AD, or did they just shrug and get on with planting their grain and tending their sheep? There are so many fantastic time-travel books out there that explore this kind of thing. One of my favourites is the St Mary’s series by Jodi Taylor. A university history department dedicated to finding out what really happened in history? Yes please! If you haven’t come across it I give it a hard recommend, they’re funny books and as an ex-history/archaeology student they resonated very heavily with me. They explore the ‘what happens if you change stuff’ paradox quite neatly and travelling isn’t as easy as just zipping through a stone circle to a different time with no penalties at all. I also really liked a book I read years ago that I cannot remember the name or author of, which is horribly annoying of me…but perhaps you can help me. Some sort of experiment causing a huge electrical surge pulls a Roman solider through time to the present. By chance, he meets a professor of Latin who is able to speak to him and helps him. The twist is that he is from Judea in about 30AD. And the professor knows that the chap is in danger, because of his potential knowledge about the origins of Christianity, so they go on the lam. One faction want to talk to him to find out what was really going on and how widespread talk of Jesus was. And one faction want to silence him because they think that facts will interfere with faith. Unfortunately I lost the book in one of my chaotic house moves—so if you have the title or author on the tip of your tongue I’d be really grateful of a tipoff! Anyway…that’s my bit on time-travel! What are your thoughts? And here’s my bit on The Fog of War, which may…or may not…have time-travel in it! The Fog of WarPublisher: JMS Books LLC Editor: Lourenza Adlem Release date: 14 Aug 2014 Word Count: 50,000 words Genre: Sapphic, found-family, historical, paranormal romantic mystery set in 1920s England. Content Warning: Mention of domestic violence. The quiet village of Bradfield should offer Dr Sylvia Marks the refuge she seeks when she returns home from her time in a field hospital in France in 1918. However, she is still haunted by the disappearance of her ambulance-driver lover two years previously ,and settling down as a village doctor is more difficult than she realised it would be after the excitement of front-line medicine. Then curious events at a local farm, mysterious lights and a hallucinating patient’s strange illness make her revisit her assessment of Anna’s death on the battlefield. Lucille Hall-Bridges is at a loose end now her nursing work is finished. She felt useful as a nurse and now she really doesn’t know what to do with her life. She hopes going to stay with her friend Sylvia for a while will help her find a way forward. And if that involves staying at Bradfield with Sylvia…then that’s fine with her. Will the arrival of Lucy at Bradfield be the catalyst that allows both women to lay their wartime stresses to rest? Can Sylvia move on from her love affair with Anna and find happiness with Lucy, or is she still too entwined in the unresolved endings of the past? The first in the Bradfield trilogy, set in the Border Magic universe. Buy : Buy from Publisher : Add on Goodreads : Find on author-website Excerpt:It was a beautiful late August day when Sylvia motored down to Taunton to collect Lucy from the railway station. The sun shone through the trees as she followed the lane down the hill from the village and the sky above was a beautiful summer blue. She had left the all-weather hood of the Austin down and wore a scarf and gloves against the wind, topping her trouser outfit off with her new hat, which she pinned firmly to the neat coil of her long hair. Walter had watched her fussing with her appearance in the hall mirror, stuffing his pipe. “Are you sweet on her?” he asked, somewhat acerbically. “It’ll be cold with the hood down,” she said, crushingly. “Yes, yes, so it will be.” He turned his attention back to his tobacco, face straight. “Be careful on the bends.” “I will,” she said. “She’s a beast to drive, smooth on the straights and handles well on the corners, but I’ve no desire to end up in the ditch.” She’d bought the big Austin coupe late last winter when she’d got fed up riding her motorcycle out to some of the more remote houses she was called to in the dreadful weather. It was huge, far bigger than she needed really, although the back seat was useful to transport a patient if she had to. She still preferred her ‘cycle, but it wasn’t exactly suitable as a doctor’s vehicle. Not very staid at all. The Austin wasn’t very staid either, in that it was huge and expensive; but one of the benefits of a private income was that she could afford it; and so why not be comfortable? She pondered all this and more on the drive down to Taunton, mind floating along with no real purpose. She loved to drive and for some reason it calmed her thoughts and allowed them to drift. It would be lovely to see Lucy again. As Walt had said, she was a sweet little thing. Although Sylvia didn’t want to revisit the grim minutiae of some of the worst times at Royaumont, it would be lovely to reminisce about some of their happier moments of camaraderie. It had been four years of extreme stress and grim terror lightened with moments of laughter and fun. Working with a team of competent women all pulling together for one purpose had been extraordinary. She’d never experienced anything like it before and she doubted she would again. She was delighted some of the staff had set up a regular newsletter so they could all stay connected. And so what if Lucy was sweet on her. Sylvia wasn’t interested in that kind of complication anymore. She didn’t want to cause gossip in the village for a start…although she supposed people wouldn’t make any assumptions about two women living together these days after so many men hadn’t come home from France. But anyway, even if it wouldn’t cause gossip, she didn’t think about Lucy like that. And she doubted Lucy thought about Sylvia like that, despite Walter’s teasing. He was stirring the pot a little to see what bubbled up, that was all. Those musings took her to the station. The train was on time and was just pulling in as she got out of the car. She walked out onto the platform as the smoke was clearing and through the clouds, she made out Lucy. She was beside the guard’s van, directing the guard and porters to what seemed like an unnecessarily large pile of luggage. Despite the clement August weather, she was wearing an extremely smart velvet coat with a fur collar over a beautiful travelling suit that hung to mid calf, topped with an extraordinary confection of a hat. She looked competent and sophisticated and exceptionally beautiful. Not at all the slightly scapegrace young person of 1916 who had persuaded the hospital powers-that-be she was a suitable candidate for France, although she’d been only twenty-one and inexperienced as a nurse. Well. Gosh. Buy : Buy from Publisher : Add on Goodreads : Find on author-website All About A.L. LesterWriter of queer, paranormal, historical, romantic suspense, mostly. Lives in the South West of England with Mr AL, two children, a badly behaved dachshund, a terrifying cat, some hens and the duckettes. Likes gardening but doesn't really have time or energy. Not musical. Doesn't much like telly. Non-binary. Chronically disabled. Has tedious fits. Facebook Group : Twitter : Newsletter : Website : Link-tree for everywhere else Hurri Cosmo has a new MM D/s romance out: The Superior Jewel.And there's a giveaway! Ryan was shocked when he saw the man who had rescued him from a psychotic co-worker three months ago, a man Ryan had been having very sexy dreams about ever since, standing on the same yacht as he was. Learning the man’s name was Jansen should have rang a few bells but Ryan was never one to keep up with the rich and powerful. Now this big sexy man seemed to be in hot pursuit, relentlessly and expertly, backing the confused Ryan against a hard wall. Deliciously turned on by the man’s erotically suggestive flirting, Ryan finds himself now in competition with his former girlfriend, vying for Jansen’s attention. As the heat ramps up, so does Ryan’s self-doubt, forcing Jansen into making it perfectly clear who he intends on taking with him off the boat, even if he has to chase down, subdue and throw that certain someone over his shoulder to do it. Amazon | SmashwordsGiveaway Hurri is giving away a $20 Amazon gift card with this tour: Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b60e8d47172/? Excerpt “Come on, Cheyenne, please? This table is fine.” Ryan tried to whisper the words, incredibly embarrassed the waiter stood right behind him with an anxious frown, basically wringing his hands. He hadn’t had the time or the courage to search and find Jansen Branwyth. All he knew was Jansen did not grace any of the tables closest to this one and so this was the best table in the house as far as he was concerned. “No! I want one closer to the windows.” She huffed, stomping her small foot and pointing farther into the large space. “But, Cheyenne, you’ve made it clear you don’t even like Lake Superior. Why do you suddenly have to sit near a window?” Although Ryan would not have minded in the least. But as he glanced in the direction she’d been pointing, his heart began to race. Great. There he sat—at a table totally alone and watching them. Well, watching Cheyenne, which had to be the reason she wanted to sit over there. And then again, maybe not. The man had actually been flirting with him earlier. Fucking bastard. And now Cheyenne was making them a spectacle, a show. Damn it. “I am sorry, ma’am”—the waiter fidgeted nervously—“but this is the table assigned to you and your guest. Please accept my sincere apologies if this table is not to your expectations.” “No,” Ryan pleaded. “This table is fine. Thank you.” He turned again to Cheyenne. “Please, Cheyenne. Let’s just get through this night, okay?” He took the chair the waiter held for her and told her as best he could with his eyes to sit down. She stood for a moment glaring at him, then walked to a chair on the other side of the table, most likely so she would face Jansen, and waited for Ryan to come around to seat her. Ryan let out a breath, simply grateful she gave in. Besides, better she face Jansen, because he sure as hell didn’t want to. His stomach was still doing little flips every time he thought about the man. He had a very real longing to talk with Jansen some more, to hear his voice, have his attention, and those strong emotions were extremely confusing and frightening. In the man’s presence, he could handle them. However, outside that direct influence he was more inclined to have a melt down. He walked shakily over to the chair and pulled it out for Cheyenne. She deliberately and artfully sat, pulling on her too-tight dress and making a show of placing the napkin in her lap. She glared up at Ryan with murder in her eyes. “Fine,” she said under her breath, “but you owe me.” Oh dear God, he owed her? As if. Ryan tried to smile, failed, but made his way to the chair he’d originally held for her, sat. Glancing up at the waiter he asked, “Scotch and soda—easy on the soda—please?” The waiter’s expression was warm and grateful. “Of course, sir.” Then he turned toward Cheyenne, the smile disappearing, returning to nervousness again. “And for the ma’am?” Cheyenne shot the waiter a glare. “Quit hovering! Bring me a cosmo.” Ryan touched the waiter’s arm when he turned back to Ryan. “Thank you.” The waiter beamed. “Please, sir, call me James.” He bowed slightly and left. “What now, Ryan? You flirting with the wait staff?” She snickered. Ryan blushed hard yet again. Flirting? Maybe, but not with the wait staff. She had no clue how close to the truth she had come, but it still made him dizzy… and pissed. His drink could not get there soon enough. He had tossed back only that one—well one and a half—before he made his way down to the dining room doors to wait for Cheyenne. Of course, she wasn’t there on time, no big surprise. He’d finally found her upstairs on the other side of the boat, near the back bar. “What are you doing?” he had asked her. “Why didn’t you meet me at the dining room doors? We’re going to be late.” She had sniffed, obviously angry for some reason, but it was something she didn’t seem to think Ryan needed to know. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to argue that point. She pasted on her dazzling Cheyenne smile, put her arm through Ryan’s, and tugged him in the direction of the stairs. “I was just chatting with Jansen. He is such a flirt. It’s a good thing you and I aren’t together any longer because you would have been livid. He asked me to accompany him to the dining room, but I told him I was going to sit with you. However, we will be getting together later for a drink and… well, whatever should follow, I guess.” She giggled. “He is just such a charming man.” So, he was charming to her too? Flirting with her, as well? Asshole! He asked her to sit with him, and then he asked her on a date? Damn it. Why did it hurt so badly? This had been expected, which was the exact reason he had trained his mind and body not to feel anything. Instead, it felt like a fucking heart attack, a bag of rocks in his stomach, a thunderstorm in his head. Of course, he would pick the girl. Especially the amazing Jansen would pick the gorgeous girl. I am nowhere near drunk enough for this night. Cheyenne leaned over the table with an expression of pure disgust. “No kidding? Are you seriously flirting with that male waiter?” He had been getting those vibes all along. She hated many things but “other than heterosexual” was something to be scorned. So were taxis but that was a totally different story. And even though the battle he waged by himself in the middle of his own mind whether or not he was “other than” would continue, he would no longer support her ridiculous ideals. “The truth is no, even though there would be nothing at all wrong with it. But I really do wish you would stop drooling all over Mr. Branwyth.” And by that he meant himself. “Really, Ryan?” she murmured, having leaned back again, digging into her small pocket purse for her compact mirror. “Are you jealous? It’s so not like you.” She fussed with her hair, rubbing a finger across her lips. Why did women think primping at a dinner table was ever appropriate? Suddenly two hands appeared on the table on either side of Ryan and a very hot presence loomed over his head. The heat of the tall body immediately permeated the fabric of his shirt and even before the man spoke, he knew who crowded into his personal space. “Who is drooling all over me? This beautiful young lady… or this intriguing young man?” The last part Jansen said directly into Ryan’s ear when the man leaned over farther yet, his long hair enveloping them for a moment, making Ryan’s heart skip several beats and his finally cooled-off “demeanor” jump back to attention. “Jansen!” Cheyenne probably would have clapped her hands if they had been free. She quickly threw her mirror back into her clutch. “How lovely to see you again so soon.” Ryan was more than shocked and even embarrassed when Cheyenne all but batted her eyelashes at the man. Could she be more obvious? Of course, Cheyenne believed in beating the hell out of the bush as opposed to anywhere around it. Subtle as a November gale, she went full-out after everything she ever wanted. At one point, she had wanted Ryan. Now it was obvious she wanted Jansen. It was becoming increasingly clear Ryan did as well. What a fucking turn of events. Author Bio Hi, my name is Hurri Cosmo and I am a happy ending junkie. I always have been. You can be pretty rest assured everything I write will have one. I am not big on angst. I believe we get enough of that in real life so when I go to read something, to make the real world go away for awhile, I will most likely not chose something that will make me cry. So I write for those people who, at least occasionally, feel the same way. I’m okay with the fact I will probably never write anything “important” but I guess I will have to see where my imagination takes me. I would love it if you would come along. Author Website: https://www.hurricosmo.com Author Facebook (Personal): https://www.facebook.com/hurri.cosmo Author Facebook (Author Page): https://www.facebook.com/OfficialHurriCosmo/ Author Twitter: https://twitter.com/HurriCosmo Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6466687.Hurri_Cosmo Author QueeRomance Ink: https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/hurri-cosmo/ Adam’s fears of pairing are valid, but if he doesn’t get past them, he’ll lose his best friend’s love forever. Omega Adam and Alpha Matt have been best friends all their lives. Matt has been there for Adam from his first heat. They’ve never been apart and Adam has never considered being with another person. So, it confuses Matt when Adam refuses to allow Matt to bite and pair with him. Adam has seen for himself what happens when an alpha leaves his paired omega, when his mother went through the excruciating pain of a new alpha bite. Knowing his best friend as well as he does, he knows that if Matt ever bit and paired with him, Matt would never leave and consign Adam to the pain of a new bite or a life without sex. But Adam knows that it wouldn’t matter how Matt felt, he’d stay even if he felt trapped by the situation, making them both miserable and hurting Matt badly. When Adam finds himself pregnant with Matt’s baby, he panics. All his attempts to keep Matt from getting trapped have been useless. With no idea what to do, he ends up hurting Matt anyway. If he doesn’t come to terms soon with his fears, he could find himself completely alone and losing the only person he’s ever loved. Sometimes Matt couldn’t let go of the annoyance at his alpha nature. His best friend was an omega, which meant taking two forms of Sepelocycline—injectable for the immediate, and pill form for longer-term management—balancing heats, and being looked down on in society. That last one wasn’t as bad where they were—some areas in the US and some other countries were horrible—but bad enough. Matt, on the other hand, was an alpha. Still problematic to a point, but not as bad as it was for omegas. He took his own form of heat medication—the Desinocycline, also in two forms—but it wasn’t nearly as necessary as it was for Adam. He didn’t have to suppress his nature like Adam did because their society didn’t blame him if he was affected by omega pheromones. Omegas were the ones most often held responsible if an alpha couldn’t stop themselves from attacking the omega. If the omega didn’t take their medication or stay in their homes and away from others when they were in heat, they were blamed. Matt understood to a point. If an alpha didn’t take their suppressant, it went beyond difficult to almost impossible to stay away from an omega in heat. Matt didn’t like it, though, and never thought it was fair, especially since there was a medication for alphas to help them control their own nature. Shouldn’t alphas be responsible for their behavior? It wasn’t like the meds were expensive or hard to come by. All an alpha needed to do was provide proof of their status as an alpha—not difficult, considering it was a designation on their driver’s license or state ID—and they could get the drug from any number of places. Shaking his head, Matt tried to push the thoughts off, but he couldn’t quite manage it. They came up every month lately. Every time he helped Adam through another heat, his mind brought up the same worries. Grace Duncan grew up with a wild imagination. She told stories from an early age – many of which got her into trouble. Eventually, she learned to channel that imagination into less troublesome areas, including fanfiction, which is what has led her to writing male/male erotica. A gypsy in her own right, Grace has lived all over the United States. She has currently set up camp in East Texas with her husband and children – both the human and furry kind. As one of those rare creatures who loves research, Grace can get lost for hours on the internet, reading up on any number of strange and different topics. She can also be found writing fanfiction, reading fantasy, crime, suspense, romance and other erotica or even dabbling in art. Wow and awesome! I'm delighted to have Thianna Durston (and Logan--he's a hoot) on my blog today. Let's just get right to what she has brought us and of course what they have to say! Hello! And welcome to the Release Tour for the rewritten and rereleased All They Ever Needed trilogy. If you haven’t read Logan & Christian’s tale, this is a perfect opportunity to do so. I meant to write a post, but Logan thought he should have a word and asked me to pull out an interview I did with him right after the first book was published. He also updated a couple questions so here he is… Meet Logan Mannette. What is your author like? *chuckles* I’m so not answering that. *winks* Nah. She’s always willing to listen to either one of us, to stay up late typing into the night and she’s about as non-judgmental as it is possible to get. Seriously, I have tried to shock her and so far? Hasn’t happened. Where do you live? I live in a small city in Washington State. Well, for part of the year anyway. I’m actually a drama student at the University of Washington in Seattle, but I was born and raised in Yakima. It’s a great place to live. Four seasons, lots of stuff to do, plus everyone I love is there. *offers a shy grin* Absolutely everyone. What do you want the readers to know about you? Oh, good question. Well, like I said, I’m studying drama, but I’m also getting a degree in education because I love to work with kids. *laughs* Every year, I play Santa at my parents’ holiday party. It’s great to sit there and hear all the little munchkins wishes and their faces light up when I give them a toy. Best job in the world. What one thing you’re proud of? I’m assuming you’re asking what thing I have done that I’m proud of? *shakes head* I’m just me. But I am extremely proud of my boyfriend Christian. He’s just… *pauses* Amazing. He went through such hell and has managed to fight his way through it. Plus being willing to date a man when he was not sure of his own sexuality? He amazes me every single day. Everyone should be lucky enough to have a man like him in their life. What would you never share? *snickers* I did a lot of stupid stuff as a kid. I really did. My poor mother, it’s amazing she didn’t have to start taking something for stress. *His expression turns serious* But probably the one thing I don’t like to talk about was when I was younger, before I came out, pretending to like girls? That was rough. Having to smile and laugh with the guys about things I could care less about. And trying to hide the guy I am. That hurt. A lot. *His shy smile comes back* But my parents always stood by me. When I came out, they were happy for me. In fact, there has never been a time in my life where they haven’t been behind me one hundred percent. I think that’s why I feel comfortable to go and do whatever I need to. No matter what, I know they are there for me. If asked about an important memory, which one comes up first? Oh, wow. Well, I would have to say, my most intense memory has to be the night Christian came out to his parents. He was fully in the closet at that point and hell, we had just been going out for a week. But suddenly this wonderful, amazing man, who has more guts than anyone else I know, just came out in front of a whole room of people. It was… * He pauses and his eyes glisten with unshed tears* the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. What would you rather forget? *thinks hard about it* Nothing that I can think of, to be honest. I’ve had a great life so far and while I have done stupid things, there’s nothing there that I would like to forget. *Addendum* Now that all three parts of our story are out, I’m torn. Parts of me would like to forget about what happened in New York, but I think I had to go through that. It changed me, but it also made me stronger. All of my life, I’ve been accepted for who I am. Facing two people who refused to was harsh and hurt. But it helped me to see that they don’t matter in the long run. Because the people that do matter? They love me just as I am. Who or what is the greatest love of your life? That’s easy! *his face lights up* Christian Darringer is the most amazing man I have ever met. He went through hell, hell nobody should ever have to face, first for protecting someone and second for…*his throat closes up and he takes a couple huge breaths* The men he served with in the Middle East tried to kill him because he was labeled as gay. If they had succeeded, I never would have met him and he’s so wonderful. He’s fighting so hard to overcome that shit. *he takes another couple of breaths* Sorry, I just get very emotional about him because he’s everything to me, he truly is. I mean, I always wanted to find a man I clicked with and who got me, but I never expected to find someone I was so in sync with. I will admit… *he flashes a flirtatious smile* …I love to spank. It’s a huge fetish of mine. Grew, I suppose, out of the fact I grew up in a home where domestic discipline is the way of life. Christian loves to be spanked. So on top of all the other wonderful things about him? We share the same fetish. We’ve only been together a short while and are still learning about one another; he still doesn’t know a lot about domestic discipline. But we have plenty of time. *he smiles again, a warm one that looks as though it is meant for one very special man* Hopefully, a very long time. Tell me about your best ever kiss. *Logan takes a drink of coffee, his grin practically lighting up the room* Christian again. Have you ever been with someone who just clicks? And the more you get to know them, it’s like finding a piece of a puzzle you never even realized you were looking for? Christian is that for me. And when we kiss? *he groans and his head lolls back* From the first time our lips touched, I felt something I have never felt with anyone else. There is a connection between us that is, well, quite fucking fabulous actually. Where can I meet you again? Besides our story As Natural As Breathing, Thianna has continued our story in Took My Breath Away, and Breathe Each Other In. Like I said, she’s a good egg. Christian and I talk to her all day long, sometimes waking her up at three a.m. She doesn’t mind- well, she grouses about it at first, but once we get talking, she quickly turns on her computer and gets writing. Christian and I would love it if you would check out our story. He has come so far and he just amazes me every day. Though in the second part of our tale? *he grimaces and shakes his head* Thianna got into my head a bit too much, but it all ends up well. Better than well. Speaking of which, she also got into my head quite a bit in the third part. *cocks brow at author* Stop that. *grins* Blurb: As Natural as Breathing – Book One For Christian Darringer, life isn't worth living. Just back from the Middle East—scarred and with permanent damage to one leg—he doesn't think anyone will want him for anything. He didn't plan on meeting someone he can’t stop thinking about. Pulled toward the startling younger man, he begins to question a lot of things—especially his sexuality. Not one to hide from a challenge, he plunges ahead only to find himself more than just attracted to Logan. Logan Mannette has almost everything he ever wanted: loving parents, happiness, friends, and security. The only thing missing is the love of his life, a love just like his parents have. When he meets Christian at a party, everything changes. Instantly attracted, he does his best to help the sad man and quickly finds himself feeling more than he has ever felt before. Raised in a domestic discipline household, he holds that ideal as what he wants. His interest in spanking has become a fetish and when Christian admits he wants to be spanked, Logan believes he might have found the perfect man. Just as everything begins for them, Christian's past intercedes and one of his brothers makes waves about him dating a man. When it lands Christian in the hospital, he is forced to reevaluate their budding romance. Being with Logan might feel as natural as breathing, but if it costs Christian everything he cares about, is this new relationship worth it? Took My Breath Away – Book Two While unhappy to be missing four weeks of Christian's company, Logan is thrilled to spend a month with his father's relatives in New York. A naturally gregarious individual, he’s used to winning people over and getting things right. Unfortunately the Mannettes are not what he expects and for the first time in his life, he doubts who he is. Christian has regained some of his old self-esteem and is taking on new challenges. Besides growing in the relationship he has with Logan, he takes the time his boyfriend is away to learn more about domestic discipline. He learns a little online but it is Gregory, Logan's father, where he gains most of his information. Including the fact that his natural strength puts him in a position he doesn’t expect. Logan hits rock bottom and Christian runs to the rescue. He saves Logan from New York, but puts their relationship in a new sort of peril. When the dust settles, who will be left on top? Breathe Each Other In – Book Three Christian takes to heart everything he learns from Logan's father. As he and Logan go forward in their DD relationship, he finds that he’s willing to not just take on the mantle of head of house, but to embrace it. With Logan graduating from college, Christian takes the next logical step and asks his boyfriend to move in. Even with the stress of student teaching and trying to figure out what to do after graduation, Logan leaps at the chance to live with the man he loves. The pressure of graduation begins to get to him and the only thing keeping him grounded is the amazing man at his side. Those closest to them make huge changes in their own lives and when an unexpected job offer lands in Logan's lap, they have to make a life-altering decision. No matter which way they go, they need to give something up. Play it safe and stay home or accept the job and move away from their families? When it comes to decision time, there is one thing they are not willing to part with. That one thing makes all the difference in the world. All They Ever Needed Boxed Set: This boxed set contains the first three books (As Natural as Breathing, Took My Breath Away, & Breathe Each Other In) in the All They Ever Needed M/M Domestic Discipline Romance series. Buy The BooksAs Natural as Breathing: A Thia Thing || Amazon || B&N || iTunes || Smashwords || Paperback Took My Breath Away: A Thia Thing || Amazon || B&N || iTunes || Smashwords || Paperback Breathe Each Other In: A Thia Thing || Amazon || B&N || iTunes || Smashwords || Paperback All They Ever Needed Boxed Set: A Thia Thing || Amazon || B&N || iTunes || Smashwords Meet Thianna DurstonThianna Durston is a writer by day and supernova by night. Or at least that’s what the faeries tell her. And who is she to deny those pesky *cough* lovely little creatures? She lives in the Pacific Northwest, though her heart belongs elsewhere. In the meantime, until she can return to the place she calls home, she happily lives in a city that still thinks it’s a small town. Thankfully, it has given her muse lots of amusing places to start a story. Blurb: Dwyn is a young man in the small, isolated town of Manicouga, son of the Minstor, who is betrothed to marry Kessa in a few weeks’ time. Mael is shepherding the remains of his own village from the north, chased out by a terrible storm that destroyed Land’s End. Both are trying to find their way in a post-apocalyptic world. When the two meet, their love and attraction may change the course of history. ————-- "A Legendary Love” is a new house line from MCB for mythology themed MM books, not my own personal series name. "The Great North" is the first book in the line; others will tackle other myths, and be by other authors. The Great North was inspired by St. Dwynwen's Day, also known as Welsh Valentines Day. PurchaseExcerpt: "We celebrate Dwyn's Day as a testament to true love and sacrifice. It's a remembrance of the way things were and the way they've come to be. In the end, let it be a reminder that every one of us has the power to change the course of events through love." —Dillon Cooper, New Gods and Monsters, Twenty years After Dwyn The gray clouds scudded by overhead, blowing in quickly from the east. Dwyn shivered and pulled on his woolen cap. It was cold out, unusual for so early in the fall. The rains had been heavy this season, the wettest in a generation, and Circle Lake was close to overflowing its banks. If he stretched to look over the rows of corn plants, he could see the waters lapping at the shore far below, as if hungry to consume his village of Manicouga. His father had consulted the elders, some of whom had seen more than fifty summers, and everyone agreed things were changing. Whether that augured good or ill was anyone's guess. He shrugged and moved along the row of plants, breaking off ears of corn and throwing them into the jute sack that hung from his shoulder. Ahead of him, two of his age-mates, Declan and Baia, were working their way down the next two rows. Dwyn frowned. He got distracted easily, and he'd let the two of them get a jump on him. That wouldn't do. He redoubled his pace. He moved with focus and purpose, and soon he was closing the gap with his friends. "Someone's being chased by a lion," Baia said with a laugh. "Or a tiger." Declan grinned, his nice smile only missing one tooth, lost to a fight with one of the Beckham brothers the year before. Dwyn grinned. "Or a bear?" Dwyn only knew lions and tigers from the fairy tale his mother used to tell them, "The Girl and the Aus." He had no idea what an Aus was, either. Bears he knew. The hunters occasionally brought one home, and old Alesser had a five-line scar across his wrinkled face that he claimed came from one of the beasts. A shout went up from ahead of them. Dwyn craned his neck to see what the ruckus was, but he couldn't make out anything. "What's going on?" Declan, who was half a head taller, looked toward the commotion. "Hard to tell. Something down by the road." Dwyn laid down his sack carefully and ran up the hill to one of the old elms that dotted the field. He climbed into the tree, scurrying up through the leaves and branches until he had a clear view of the Old Road. It ran from up north to somewhere down south, maybe near the ruins of old Quebec if the merchant tales held any truth. Hardly anyone from Manicouga ever followed it, but occasionally traders would follow it to town, bringing exotic wares and news from the other villages that were scattered up and down its length. They swore it went all the way down to the Heat, the great desert that had consumed much of the world after the Reckoning. "What's going on down there?" Baia called from below. Dwyn tried to make sense of it. "There are three wagons coming down the pass. They're loaded up with all sorts of things. They don't look like traders though." The first of the horse-drawn wagons had just reached the field above the main township. It stopped, and someone hopped off to talk with the villagers who had gathered from the fields. "We need to get down there," Dwyn said, scrambling down the tree trunk. "Something's happening." Nothing new ever happened in Manicouga, and he wasn't going to miss it. He grabbed his sack and sprinted toward the Old Road, not waiting to see if Declan and Baia followed. J. Scott CoatsworthScott spends his time between the here and now and the what could be. Enticed into fantasy and sci fi by his mom at the tender age of nine, he devoured her Science Fiction Book Club library. But as he grew up, he wondered where all the people like him were in the books he was reading.
Thanks so much to Elizabeth for hosting me today!
I was quite grateful when Elizabeth asked me for a particular post for today. One of the things I gave a lot of thought to when I was thinking about writing Three Hearts was the specifics of how it works. I’ve read a lot of mpreg over the last few years (especially leading up to writing this story), and there was one consistent thing that drove me nuts about most of it. Absolutely no explanation whatsoever of how or why. While I had a why in my head for Three Hearts, it never made it into the story. I just couldn’t seem to find a place where it didn’t feel like an info dump completely shoehorned in. So, that didn’t make it. For the record, the wolf population had been dwindling and at one point, a few guys were born omegas. I don’t go into religion in this story, though they are polytheist. My head says it’s something the gods did to help expand the population. As happens, that gets passed on and the number of omegas grows. Well, the why part was actually kind of easy and can be much more mystical than the rest. We have so much of our own history we can’t explain, so I figured it could be as ambiguous, especially since it wasn’t going to make it into the story. It’s still a little up for discussion. ? So, while the why of it was still kind of fuzzy, I wanted the how absolute. I saw a lot of shrugging and “I don’t know” when it came to other mpreg stories. Some at least had consistency on when but still no understanding of “how.” I mention in another blog post that I absolutely respect any author’s decision when it comes to their world. It’s up to them how they want to do things and how much of it makes it into the story. For me, however, I needed to see more. I always thought there should be a reasonable explanation of how these guys got pregnant—and how they gave birth. Most of the stories I read either kept that part extremely vague or insisted it had to be a cesarean section because “how else would it come out?” My first question to that was… how did it get IN there? If they don’t have girl bits, the little spermy has to get to the egg somehow. So, if it’s based on anal sex (which, guys, right? It’s going to), then I knew I needed to have something there to carry the sperm to the egg from that direction. I also knew there needed to be some place for the baby to grow. Now, while you’re writing some pretty out there sci-fi, you can do pretty much anything. But if we’re talking about something that’s supposed to be a normal thing for some male wolves, there has to be some sort of uterus. So, that’s what I did. Liam Omegas had what was essentially a dormant uterus in our abdomens. We weren’t hermaphrodites or anything. We didn’t have fully-functioning ovaries and all the rest. We had a finite number of eggs stored in us and the pseudo-uterus. If an alpha were to mate with me, his hormones would awaken the organ and set the eggs to release—usually one at a time. If this is normal, then I also decided all the rest of it needed to be. I mean, if conception is natural (rather than a fertilized egg getting implanted somewhere), then birth and the rest has to be natural too. In straight sex, there’s a reason certain things self-lubricate. So, if an omega is built to give birth, it made sense to me that they’d also self-lubricate—again to help that happen. Liam Of course, that also meant that when the doctor checked my organ, he also checked my rectum—and prostate. Along with the uterus and eggs? We also self-lubricated. I mean, I guess it made sense. Our bodies were built to reproduce, so it would be reasonable that it would be built in such a way to make that as easy as possible. But it was embarrassing as hell if it happened when we’re not, like, at home alone. I once got so turned on daydreaming at work, I had a wet spot on my pants. Talk about humiliating. And when the doctor would check me, along with the boner, I’d start to lubricate. I was thrilled a couple of weeks ago when Christy Duke of Rainbow Book Reviews tagged me in the mpreg group on Facebook to tell me she was squeeing over a particular bit in the story. Not quite sure what she was referring to, I did as she asked and sent her a private message. She proceeded to assure me she was referring to what we all love to call “ass babies.” (That phrase kills me!) Again I thought if there was a natural way for the baby (sperm) to go in, there had to be a natural way for it to come out. Now, Liam acknowledges a lot of omegas simply choose c-sections. Considering they’re wolves who heal easily with shifting, it made sense. Why not since they wouldn’t have the after-effects of surgery like humans do? But while they could choose to do that, it didn’t feel right for me that it was the only way, so I worked it out in my head for them to give birth that way. Complete with (probably) more details than some wanted. ? Liam The other part of that process—the actual delivery—was something I did not like contemplating. Some omegas preferred to simply schedule cesarean births and be done with it. I’d never been sure it would be how I’d want to give birth, but I also wasn’t too keen to think about it. Because there’s only one other way for the baby to come out. The uterus was accessed, yup, through the rectum. An extra, small opening at the top was normally sealed. Again, alpha hormones woke it up and removed the seal, thereby allowing us to get pregnant. It again sealed after, protecting the womb from waste and bacteria. And that’s how the baby would have to come out. It was like taking a supersized dump. Only with a lot of pain, as I understand it, since there was no way something the size of a baby was coming out of there without it. Yeah, not a part I wanted to think about. I even go through the delivery, but if you’d like those details, you’ll have to wait until chapter fourteen. Thanks again to Elizabeth for the prompt and sharing space with me today! I hope you enjoyed this peek into the hows behind my omegas. There’s one more stop yet on the tour, so be sure you don’t miss it.
Published by Grace R. Duncan
Release date: March 3, 2017 72k Words Cover artist: Jess Small M/M Paranormal/shifters
Blurb:
Liam Scott is sick. That’s not supposed to be possible. As a wolf shifter, he’s supposed to be able to heal. The omega gene he was born with means he’s capable of carrying shifter young and Liam is worried that whatever is wrong will mean his one-day hope of having pups will be dashed. But despite the fears keeping him away from the doctor until now, he knows he needs to go. It turns out the sickness is temporary, but the treatment causes a whole other problem. Mason’s alpha gene means he’s one of very few wolves who can impregnate an omega male. For two years, he’d been watching Liam, but things kept getting in the way. When Liam shows up in heat, Mason recognizes the opportunity he needs and doesn’t hesitate make to Liam his mate and the father of his pups. But Liam has old wounds and fears to work through which the pregnancy is only making worse, and Mason isn’t sure how to get past them to show he’s serious about making a life together as loving mates. It’s not until a female wolf decides Mason should be hers that Liam makes his biggest worry known—and Mason can finally put the fears to rest. Buy Three Hearts at: Payhip Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo
I am also celebrating my 4th publishing anniversary with more giveaways and even a full scavenger hunt! See below for more.
Author Bio:
Grace Duncan grew up with a wild imagination. She told stories from an early age – many of which got her into trouble. Eventually, she learned to channel that imagination into less troublesome areas, including fanfiction, which is what has led her to writing male/male erotica. A gypsy in her own right, Grace has lived all over the United States. She has currently set up camp in East Texas with her husband and children – both the human and furry kind. As one of those rare creatures who loves research, Grace can get lost for hours on the internet, reading up on any number of strange and different topics. She can also be found writing fanfiction, reading fantasy, crime, suspense, romance and other erotica or even dabbling in art.
Book Blurb
Giving the commencement speech at his alma mater doesn’t fit Clay Keller’s meticulous schedule. As Chief Executive Officer of Travel Mogul—the largest travel connoisseur company on the West Coast—he has no time to get back in touch with his country roots. He left fifteen years ago without a second look, but a medical scare makes him change his mind about the speech and brings him face-to-face with his only regret. Time always moves slower in Southeastern Iowa, and Aaron Grant loves it. He’s added solar farms to the Grant Lanes portfolio and has been teaching at the local university for a decade. The last thing he needs is to have his tenure application compromised by the return of his ex-boyfriend. If he had known who the commencement speaker would be, he would never have volunteered to be the administration liaison. A proposal—to date for a year—will help them discover that time changes a person, even when everything else stays the same. Pre-Order Links Dreamspinner | Amazon US | Amazon UK | Nook | Kobo
Excerpt
©2017 Lila Leigh Hunter All Rights Reserved Clay—May ’15 Back to the future and all of that were Clay’s first thoughts as he stepped out of the car. The campus looked the same—Midwest Americana at its best. Redbrick buildings and perfectly pruned trees surrounded him, but as if the last fifteen years hadn’t happened, Clay’s world narrowed to the man waiting at the top of the portico stairs. The only thing time had changed? Them. “Here’s your receipt, Mr. Keller,” the valet said, interrupting Clay’s musings. He didn’t remember being as young as the valet. Mr. Keller was his father, but Clay didn’t feel like correcting the man’s error. “Thank you.” “Not a problem. The man in the light gray suit is Professor Grant. He will be your escort today.” “Perfect,” Clay responded, smiling at the mention of having an escort at his service, especially one whose body he knew well. With a nod and a tip, Clay left the valet behind, turning his attention back to Professor Grant. Professor. Aaron had done it after all. Clay had never doubted it, even after Aaron decided to stay and work at his family’s farm instead of moving with him to LA. Now he needed to find out if he had a chance with Aaron. At least having him there, waiting for him, had to be a good sign. Today was his lucky day indeed. True, he hadn’t expected to see Aaron so soon. He had planned to stop by the farm after the commencement, but he was ready either way. Life had been rough lately, but having the opportunity to see Aaron again was worth coming back to the middle of Nowhere, Iowa. He walked casually toward the man he’d left behind many summers ago—a man standing like a prizefighter, waiting for Clay to reach him. With only a couple of feet between them, Clay’s step faltered. Aaron didn’t seem happy to see him, more like he was ready to bolt before Clay got to him. Shaking his head and keeping his eyes on his prey, he closed the distance and extended his hand in greeting. “Professor Grant, I believe you’re expecting me?” He hoped his smile would ease Aaron’s frown. “That I am, Mr. Keller. As the university liaison, it is my pleasure to welcome you back to your alma mater and to convey the president’s and the board of trustees’ deepest regards.” “How long did it take you to memorize that spiel? As far as I remember, you weren’t fond of formalities.” Neither of them let go of the other’s hand. Aaron’s touch, familiar and foreign, branded him in seconds. “Ass.” Aaron didn’t expect the hug that followed. As soon as their bodies touched, Aaron tensed, but Clay held him tighter. “Relax, sunshine. It’s been a while.” Clay let Aaron go, but not before he rubbed his trimmed beard against Aaron’s clean-shaven face as he moved back. Meet the Author Lila Leigh Hunter is the pen name of a Puerto Rican author with a hyphenated surname. Born and raised on the island, Lila grew up making up stories her siblings pretended to like. But no matter what they say, as the youngest of six, she’s still their mom’s favorite. According to the dusty diplomas on her wall, she’s an architectural designer living in Southern Texas with her husband and four military brats. She spends most of her free time writing homoerotic romances about middle-aged men finding happiness and the rest hiding from pesky house chores. When outside of her cave, she likes to observe people and try to guess their stories. Sometimes she wishes the voices in her head were real; going out with the boys in her books sounds like a plan made in heaven. Hi, I’m, author Elizabeth Noble of Code Name Jack Rabbit and I’m your host for this stop in the Hunt. If you would like to find out more about the Hunt, please click here. Somewhere on this page is a hidden number. Collect all the numbers from all the authors’ posts, and then add them up. Once you’ve added all the numbers, and if I am your last author, please head to the official website and click on the ENTER HERE page to find the entry form. Only entries will the correct number will qualify to win. The author I’m pleased to be hosting for Virtual FantasyCon’s Blog Hop Hunt today is Birgitte Rasine, author of The Jaguar and the Cacao Tree. Hi everyone, this is Max. I’m eleven and I live in the Bay Area (San Francisco). I’m the big cheese in The Jaguar and the Cacao Tree. Oh, no, wait, I should say the “big chocolate!” because this is all about cacao! LOL! So… Birgitte is my literary mom, and she’s super busy right now with the 123 game and the coloring book they’re making for the book. Yeah, seriously! I’ll tell you more about that later but I wanted to tell you about Itzel and me and our story. Oh, and I should say first how it all happened. Well, my lit mom—Birgitte—she’s always cared about the environment and all that, and what happens to our forests and bees and oceans, so she thought she could make a difference if she joined all those non profits and went to conferences at the UN and stuff. She got pretty bored there. I mean, seriously, once they spent like TWO hours talking about bullet points. Yawn. So anyway, she got really tired of all that and tried the whole business thing. She started her own company and helped people design better web sites to get their sustainability message out more. Can you tell how far that went? I mean, it was great and people loved her work and all that, but she still felt like she wasn’t really getting anywhere. I’m telling you. Adults just don’t get it! Then she realized she was doing it all wrong. I mean, she’s a writer. An actual WRITER! An author! Wow. That’s really hard. But she’s good at it and so she decided to start telling stories instead. Ok, so fast forward a few years… she published a bunch of stuff for adults and got awards and lots of really good adult reviews blah blah, but let’s get to the good part. She’s a TOTAL foodie. She loves, loves, loves food. But good food. You know, the natural… umm, real stuff. And she’s a real mom, too, so that means she doesn’t want her little one to be growing up on all that junk. My mom and dad say the same thing by the way…! Do yours? So she came up with this idea to do a series about the origins of food. And I’m the one! I’m the one who gets to go on all these adventures! Ok so now we’re at the good part. My dad is Dr. Hammond and he’s a really well-known bee researcher and he goes all over the world to study different bee-keeping cultures. Well, my mom—my actual mom, Jane—and I get to go with him. My friends at school are soooooooo jealous! J In this first book, we go to Guatemala so my dad can study Melipona beecheii, the ancient stingless bees of the Maya. That. Is. Awesome. But even more awesome is that I got to meet Itzel—her dad is the Maya beekeeper my dad works with—and she became my best bud. Next to Luna, of course. Luna’s a hummingbird and my nagual… that’s like a spirit guide. Except she’s real, and we can communicate. Isn’t that awesome? Oh and there’s a black jaguar we talked to, too. Nearly scared the pants off me. Yeah the one you see on the cover. Here’s another picture of him: And here’s a picture of me and Itzel: You can see all the other awesome illustrations that Luba—the illustrator—did, here. So anyway, Itzel told me about the Sacred Cacao Tree deep in the jungle, that’s like a thousand years old, and it’s twinned with the soul of the heir of Lord Cacao from Tikal. And the cacao pods of this tree hold the entire history of chocolate. (I’m seriously not kidding. It’s crazy amazing. I thought science had it all figured out but there is this whole other layer to reality that’s so magical and beautiful and cool and most adults have zero clue about it. And it’s literally in front of them and around them all the time!) We snuck up there one night to see the Elders do their ceremony. I was dying to see the cacao pods open. Except we kinda came a night too early and the Elders never showed up. So I convinced Itzel to do the ceremony herself and she did and… well the cacao pod opened and… And that’s all I can tell you ‘coz you’ll have to read the book! I soooo prefer science and fantasy to writing. Writing takes all this… TIME! So are you going to come with me to Guatemala? Here are some links and stuff to get you all excited. Oh yeah, and the coloring book and the game will come out next year, so check those out too. Thanks guys! ~ Max The Jaguar and the Cacao Tree: The Jaguar and the Cacao Tree Coloring Book Oh and the “game”—Birgitte just told me that they can’t release the web site yet but if you want to be a beta tester, you get to play the game for free! It’s all about Mesoamerica and really fun. Send Birgitte an email and tell her you want to sign up for that: [email protected] Cacao Stories microsite
Max and Itzel’s Pinterest page Upcoming events Connect with Birgitte! Sign up for her a-musing “The Muse” newsletter Did you find the number? If you did, then click Birgitte Rasine’s link to continue Virtual FantasyCon’s Blog Hop Hunt. I welcome today my co-conspirator, Anne Barwell. Once again I have to thank her for letting me be a part of The Sleepless City series. Writing an Ensemble Cast Thanks, Elizabeth, for hosting me. Although each book of The Sleepless City—the urban fantasy series which is a joint project between myself and Elizabeth Noble—focuses on one couple, the other characters play a big part in the storyline. One of the things I love about writing series is juggling the balance between focusing on particular characters for one book, and advancing the storyline and giving others their part to play in it. Characters don’t just grow and live on the pages of the books, but lead their own lives in between. I think of books as a small glimpse into their lives, rather than the whole sum of it. With each book so far being from different points of view, it is also the opportunity to see characters through the eyes of others. Book 1, Shades of Sepia, introduced the series through Simon and Ben, a vampire and human. Book 2, Electric Candle—by Elizabeth—continued the story from Forge and Blair’s perspective, who are two vampires. Book 3, Family and Reflection, gives some insight from Lucas and Declan, a werewolf and a vampire. While exploring the growing relationships between the two point of view characters, an important part of this series is the friendship between all of them. In solving crimes and taking down bad guys, each of the characters plays a part, and they work together, each bringing to the table their own skill set and unique perspective. Those perspectives also give the opportunity to explore not just the characters, but the world itself from another angle. It’s one of the reasons I like the mix we have of vampires, werewolves, humans and—of course not forgetting—Mr. Boggs, the castle’s ghost. Family and Reflection Book 3 of The Sleepless City, Sequel to Electric Candle For as long as Lucas Coate can remember, werewolves have been taught to mistrust vampires. Lucas is an exception—he has close friends who are vampires. The werewolf pack in Flint—and their leader, Jacob Coate—have made it clear that Lucas’s association with vampires is barely tolerated, and another transgression will be his last. When Lucas finds out about the plague of werewolf deaths in the area, he wants to help even though his own life may already be in danger. Declan has been away from Flint for ten years, but he isn’t surprised to learn that the internal politics of the Supernatural Council haven’t changed for the better. When a series of burglaries hit close to home soon after he arrives, Declan—a vampire and professional thief—is their prime suspect, although for once, he isn’t responsible. With the council keeping secrets, no one is safe. Time is running out, and for Lucas and Declan, everything is about to change. PurchaseExcerpt: Declan turned the page of his book, read the first paragraph, then shook his head. He wasn’t sure why he’d bothered, as he couldn’t for the life of him remember what had happened on the previous page, let alone in the last few chapters. He closed the book with a thump, got up from the table, went over to the fridge, and opened it. He wasn’t hungry, but if he had been, the mold-covered plate on one of the shelves would have put him off whatever else had taken his fancy. Someone really needed to have a word with Lucas about leaving his science experiments to breed. Declan lifted the plate somewhat cautiously and sniffed it, then wished he hadn’t. City coroner or not, this wasn’t… normal. Normal people cleaned out their leftovers before they got the chance to become strange new life forms. Even if, in this case, his definition of normal was a werewolf. But, despite his reaction, Declan couldn’t bring himself to throw the—whatever it was—away. To him it was disgusting, but to Lucas it might be some new discovery crucial to whatever he was currently working on. And Declan didn’t want to upset Lucas. In the short time they’d known each other, he’d become quite fond of Lucas, and enjoyed the time they spent together. Declan sighed. He returned the offending thing to its previous resting place, ignoring the visions of reanimated zombie leftovers creeping up the stairs to attack him in the middle of the night, and instead got a wineglass out of the cupboard. He poured himself a decent-sized portion of his favorite red beverage and settled back down on the chair he’d recently vacated. As much as he enjoyed a good vintage wine, there were times when one had to quench one’s other thirsts. He sniffed the glass and savored the aroma before swallowing. Hmm, not bad. It was amazing the standard of blood available to purchase through the right sources. It made it so much easier to feed than it used to be, and less messy too. He heard the light step on the stairs and human heartbeat long before Ben reached the kitchen and stood awkwardly in the doorway. “Hello, Ben,” Declan said. “Don’t worry, you’re not disturbing me.” “If you’re sure?” Ben Leyton ran one hand through his thick dark hair. He looked tired. “I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d make a Milo and see if that helps.” “I heard Simon having a nightmare earlier. He never did sleep well on anniversaries.” He’d known Simon Hawthorne a long time; Jonas Forge had introduced them shortly after Simon had been turned. Declan had also helped Simon through a dark part of his life, triggered by the events he suspected had prompted this particular nightmare, given the time of year. “I also don’t mind if you turn on the light.” Although Declan didn’t need much light to see, especially with the full moon casting its glow into the room, Ben would appreciate more illumination. “Yeah, well, they’re the worst times for most people, I guess.” Ben flicked on the light switch before walking across the kitchen. He filled the kettle and put it on to boil before reaching into the cupboard and bringing down a green can. “Do you want some? It’s a chocolate drink.” “Thank you but no.” Declan indicated the glass in front of him. The loud howl almost made him jump, and only years of practiced self-control stopped him. Even so, Declan’s hairs stood on end on the back of his neck, and the howl sent a shiver through him. Lucas howled again. Frustration, anger, and loss all rolled into a sound that was pure wolf. Declan knocked his glass over, spilling its contents. Without thinking, he moved at vampire speed, catching what was left of the blood in his palm and drinking deeply. The glass fell to the floor, smashing into tiny pieces. He ignored it and finished the blood, then wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. A low growl escaped his lips. He knew his eyes were completely green. They tended to do that when his fangs extended. When he looked up, Ben was staring at him, his eyes wide. “I’ll clean up the mess, shall I?” Ben said hurriedly, already heading for the broom. “Don’t worry,” Declan said. “I’ll do it. Make your chocolate drink, mon ami. It’s my mess, so my responsibility, yes?” Meet Anne BarwellAnne Barwell lives in Wellington, New Zealand. She shares her home with two cats who are convinced that the house is run to suit them; this is an ongoing "discussion," and to date it appears as though the cats may be winning. In 2008 she completed her conjoint BA in English Literature and Music/Bachelor of Teaching. She has worked as a music teacher, a primary school teacher, and now works in a library. She is a member of the Upper Hutt Science Fiction Club and plays violin for Hutt Valley Orchestra. She is an avid reader across a wide range of genres and a watcher of far too many TV series and movies, although it can be argued that there is no such thing as "too many." These, of course, are best enjoyed with a decent cup of tea and further the continuing argument that the concept of "spare time" is really just a myth. Anne’s books have twice received honorable mentions and twice reached the finals in the Rainbow Awards. Blurb: In the mountains of New Mexico lives a group of boys who are inseparable. That is until they grow up and one of them leaves the rez to fulfill his dream. One of the boys misses him more than the others. A love that started as children grew with him and when Angel Quintana left New Mexico, Garcia Blacksnake had to occupy his time until the love of his life returned. Angel came back when tragedy struck, with secrets he does not want this old friends to know. Secrets about the life he lived as his dreams came true, turning to nightmares he could not run away from. Can childhood friends help save him from a sadistic man who holds Angel’s dream in his hand? Can Garcia’s love help him to trust himself and others again? Excerpt: “Cool. Let me put it on you.” He took the cross back and moved Garcia’s hair from his left ear, where his older brother, Kevin, had pierced the lobe with a sewing needle a year before. After he slipped the hook into Garcia’s hole, he stopped to admire it for a second. Garcia turned his face a little, and before Angel knew what was happening, their lips were touching. Neither moved, their breathing getting quick as they waited for the other to jump away, but neither did. Garcia smelled so good, his lips were so soft, Angel found himself moving his hands to Garcia’s long, thin face. Garcia pushed his lips harder against Angel’s and Angel felt his friend shaking. Holding his face tighter, Angel kissed him harder, moving his lips a little like he’d seen on television. When he pulled back he saw the cross catch the sunlight and he was brought from his daze for a second before he smiled. “Angel?” “What, Garcia?” “Promise you’ll never leave me behind, okay?” Angel knew he couldn’t make that promise, but he touched the earring and swore, “As long as you have this we’ll never be apart. Not really. Okay?” Garcia looked down and said, “Okay.” He sat quiet again, then said, “Angel, I won’t tell anybody, okay?” “Okay.” He started to get up and added, “But it can’t happen again. Not only are we guys, but now we’re family.” Garcia grinned and got up with him, while he was collecting his shirt and tie and getting them back on. “I thought you said we aren’t?” “Shut up, Garcia!” PurchaseMeet Rain Carrington Rain Carrington started writing when she was just a teenager in Trinidad, Colorado but didn’t start writing M/M romance until much later. Through the years many of her gay male friends told stories of heartache and the struggle to find “the one” so she told them stories, fantasies all about them and their future cowboy, fireman, biker or policeman. When she found a writing site that encouraged her to write them down she started what was an adventure like she never had before. Her first story, Cabin fever, about a young man searching for love and finding it wrapped in a member of a mafia family gained her readers who cheered for more. She knew then that she had found her place in the world. To make stories of love and kink that not only her readers but she could get lost in as well. Rain now lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado but has traveled most of the US. Her last road trip to San Francisco gave her characters still coming out…no pun intended…in her newer stories. Rain has severe scoliosis which makes it hard for her to do all the things she used to love but it did give her the time to write that she never had before. She fights for lgbt rights from her home as best she can now and keeps in close contact with her friends that fight on two good legs to point them where they should go. She is a fervent believer that one door never closes without another opening so there are no limits she can’t get past. Of all the people in the world no one has encouraged and supported her like her friends, many of them writers themselves, and her family. There is never a dull moment in her home where laughter is in the air 24/7 and everyone knows to avoid the computer screen when she sits in front of it. They never know what kind of beautiful man love they may see. Rain calls it research, they call it, “there she goes again!” Rain was kind enough to answer a few questions! Can you share something about your works in progress? I am just starting Hot Air Balloon, another stand alone in the Enchantment series. I am also starting Big Bad Mooney, fifth in the Apishipa Creek Chronicles. Hot Air balloon will continue the little tradition I have created for myself with the third book in a series being a menage. Silly but I think it’s cute. It is going to have intrigue, murder, cops and criminals, sadness and joy. Big Bad Mooney will be about a Dom who is in love for the first time in his fifty years, only he has health issues that keep him from committing. The man he loves is much younger, so it’s a May/December romance, that is a favorite of mine. Anyone can buy the rights to name a star. What would you name a star bought for you? Barbera Ann, for my late mother Do you buy a book because of the cover, the blurb, or some other reason? I have bought books for all of those, but I love when a friend directs me to one he or she knows I will love. Do you have a library card and know where it is? Yes I do on both counts. I love libraries! I could spend hours in them. Before the internet I would go there day after day to research a topic I found interesting. Tour Dates/Stops 1-Dec Rainbow Gold Reviews Love Bytes 2-Dec Charley Descoteaux Jade Crystal 3-Dec Because Two Men Are Better Than One MM Good Book Reviews 4-Dec Amanda C. Stone Up All Night, Read All Day 5-Dec Bayou Book Junkie Emotion in Motion 8-Dec My Fiction Nook Cate Ashwood 9-Dec Wicked Faerie's Tales and Reviews LeAnn’s Book Reviews Inked Rainbow Reads 10-Dec BFD Book Blog Velvet Panic 11-Dec Wicked Wolves and Dreaming Dragons Cathy Brockman Romances 12-Dec Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words Molly Lolly |
Welcome to My World
|