Contest! Storm Grant - Few Are Chosen (Riptide Publishing)

Read Widely and Well

Penguin’s Book Country website—a place where authors seeking publication can post bits of their books—has a nifty map showing all the genres they think are out there. According to them, I write Comic Fantasy. Huh. Who knew?

And when I click on the little button for Comic Fantasy, it does feature authors who have influenced my writing over the years: Christopher Moore, Sir Terry Pratchett, Piers Antony, etc.

My latest book, FEW ARE CHOSEN, features two young “Chosen Ones” sent to slay a rogue demon. At first they clash, but then find they work well together.  And then they discover they do other things well together. First kill, first kiss, first time. It’s funny, but also poignant; it will take you back to your own awkward first time.

Genre-wise, it’s m/m, humor, urban fantasy, YA and also interracial. A little something for everyone. And since it falls into five different genres or sub-genres, it’s a good thing I read outside my genre.

At a recent meeting of my RWA chapter, one of the speakers asked the room of about 60 attendees if they read outside the romance genre. I raised my hand and looked around, shocked, at the small percentage of other hands up in the room.

Then she asked if people read outside their chosen romantic SUB-genre, such as paranormal romance, romantic suspense, contemporary. Again, few hands went up.

I understand that it’s important for an author to familiarize herself with her chosen genre—even to immerse herself when writing. But one should also read outside that genre—you never know what you could be writing next. Or where your next ideas and influences will come from.

Me? I read across genres looking for humor. I can’t wait for the next Discworld (Terry Pratchett) or

Stephanie Plum (Janet Evanovich) novels to come out. I love Mary Janice Davidson’s Queen Betsey series, and anything by Christopher Moore.

Oddly, since I got the e-reader, I've read more mainstream books than ebooks.

So how ‘bout you? Do you tend to read widely outside a chosen genre? Do you read any m/m that strikes your fancy, from historical to paranormal? Or exclusively within one category? Do you then also read m/f or ménage?

What were the last few books you read?

Storm Grant (also writing as Gina X. Grant)

Email / Website / Blog / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads

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BLURB:

FEW ARE CHOSEN by Storm Grant

Sparks fly between virgin teenage demon hunters when the Chosen One turns out to be… the Chosen Two?

Apprentice warrior Blake St. Blake is the Chosen One, raised by an ancient order to defend the world against evil. Well, maybe not the whole world, but at least his neighborhood in downtown Detroit.

When a dreaded reflux demon is sighted in a local cemetery, Blake is sent off to his very first battle, armed with his sword, his super-senses, his black leather duster, and a few well-rehearsed one-liners.

But another Chosen One gets in Blake’s way—an apprentice wizard named Shadow. While the boys argue about who’s the more chosen of the two, the demon escapes.

Blake wants to be angry, but it turns out he and Shadow have a lot in common. Besides, Shadow’s pretty cute, and Blake can’t help but think that the wizard’s skills (and hands and lips and other bits) might make the perfect complement to his. Blake and Shadow are brave enough to challenge the reflux demon in a second battle, but will they have the courage to tell each other how they feel?

Title Details

Publisher: Riptide Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-937551-22-3

eBook release: Feb 20 2012

eBook formats: pdf, mobi, html, epub

Word count: ~12,000

Page count: ~40

Heat Wave: On-screen, mildly explicit love scenes

Type: Standalone

eBook   $2.99  

Contest:

Play The Name Game for FEW IS CHOSEN and win a copy of ALL THREE of these entertaining books from Storm Grant’s backlist: Gym Dandy, Shift Happens, and Tart and Soul. (Two full-length novels and a novella!)

1. What is Shadow’s real first name? ___  ___  ___  ___

2. What is Shadow’s mentor’s first name? ___  ___  ___  ___  ___

3. What is the name of the Order that raised and trained Blake? The Order of the ___  ___  ___  ___

How to enter: DO NOT POST YOUR ANSWERS! Instead, to qualify:

1. Email your answers to the three questions, above, to storm.grant@gmail.com.

2.  Then post a comment to this blog stating that you’ve emailed your entry.

You may enter once for each stop on the blog tour, thereby increasing your chances of being the grand prize winner!

One grand prize winner will be selected March 5^th.

Blog tour, details here.

Storm Grant Life Resembles Art

Life Resembles Art

Or sometimes, TV resembles something I’ve written.

Earlier this week, I was flipping channels and landed on a TV show featuring a de-fanged vampire. There was a horrible scene of blood dripping out of the blood-sucker’s mouth, and some really great camera shots showcasing big empty sockets where his canines had been. Make that “ex-blood-sucker”. Apparently in this show’s world-building, no canines = starving to death. They never grow back and without them, the vampire can’t feed.

I’d actually thought of this scenario a couple of years ago, only with 100% less death! In my world, there’s another body fluid on which a de-fanged vampire can survive. Happily.

I let this premise percolate in the back of my mind for a long time, then I started thinking “under what circumstances would a vampire lose his teeth?” followed by, “And how will I make this a sexy love story?” 

I made a few notes, opened my GMC* template, and then suddenly, I’d written an m/m romance about a vampire and his dentist. Don’t you just love it when that happens?

___

NOTE: *GMC = Goals, Motivation and Conflict, a fabulous book by Debra Dixon with a simple formula for writing character-driven fiction. I use this in conjunction with Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat story structure for plot-driven fiction. Together, they’re all you need to plan a book.

Here's the blurb:

No greater love has a vampire than for his dentist.

Deeply in debt to a loan shark, oversexed dentist Cary Drewel lives in fear of foreclosure and bodily harm. His new practice is missing one rather crucial element: patients. Which, terrifyingly enough, is the one thing his creditors also don’t have.

Pierce Sharpe, a powerful vampire with a drinking problem—or, more accurately, a problem drinking—can’t feed through the pain in his damaged eye teeth. In danger of losing his standing in the vampire community, Pierce seeks Cary's dental services. When Cary extracts his canines, Pierce must turn to other bodily fluids for sustenance.

Together, Cary and Pierce find a mutually pleasurable solution to both their problems. Turns out, though, there’s more to this dentist-patient relationship than simple suction, and what began with raw hunger from each of them might just end in love.

Click the title to read an excerpt and purchase Sucks and Blows.

Visit Storm's website.