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.

New Contract!

My short novel, Nether Regions, a Lesbian historical, has been accepted by Noble Romance. 

Can I say ESTATIC???

Signed my contract and sent it off this morning.  Tentative release date is set for February 20, 2012.  High five YES!

I am so proud to be included on the list with the other awesome authors in the Lesbians Versus Zombies releases!

If you're curious about those stories, then be sure and check out the Lesbian Versus Zombie blog site. 

www.lvsz.wordpress.com

Jadette Paige

Ava March– My True Love Gave to Me

A while back, in the back of my mind, where the muse runs amuck, I toyed with the idea of writing a book with young lovers. I wanted to explore the purity and intensity of emotion that comes with first love and that accompanying complete devastation when everything goes to hell. Sasha and Thomas popped into my head. Sasha, confident in his desires and head-over-heels in love with Thomas. And Thomas, unable to resist Sasha, yet very conflicted about his desires for him. A situation poised to blow up in Sasha’s face. I also knew the guys would reconnect years later once Thomas had come to terms with his desires and realized he loves Sasha. I was so enamored with the characters I did something I don’t do often – I immediately started their book. And shortly into it, hit a wall.

You see, I’m a muller. Oh, and a plotter. It takes many, many months (usually over a year) to go from idea to starting a book. During that time in between, the details work themselves out, chapters plot themselves, the characters become fully formed, etc. I know exactly how a book will go, how each scene will play out, when I start chapter 1. But as I soon found out with My True Love Gave to Me, I started it too early. I hadn’t figured out enough to fill a book. So it got shelved and I moved onto writing other stories. Likely Thomas and Sasha would have stayed shelved indefinitely, stuck in stuck, if not for a call from my agent with an opportunity to be part of Carina’s holiday anthology.

I swear, a light bulb went off above my head. Everything clicked, all the missing details, the missing scenes, filled themselves in. The holidays – when people celebrate the season with those they love. The significance of the timing when everything hits the fan and then later, when Thomas returns to England for Sasha, and how that timing affects Sasha’s feelings about the holidays. The theme of family, love, home, and forgiveness of the season. I was also in the process of pulling together the proposal for the Brook Street trilogy, and right there, I had the secondary characters that had been lacking in the idea for My True Love Gave to Me.

I love those moments when everything clicks. Where the picture comes into full, perfect focus. It’s frustrating as all get out when something gets stuck, but I’ve found that trying to use a big old pry bar doesn’t work. Patience is what works. Thomas and Sasha were meant to be a holiday story. Trying to rush them got me nowhere. I needed to hold onto my patience and wait for that perfect moment when everything would click into place. Just as Thomas needed to hold onto his patience in My True Love Gave to Me. The reward, earning Sasha’s forgiveness and love, was definitely well worth it for Thomas.

Blurb:

Alexander Norton loathes the festive season. The revelry of the ton is a reminder of Christmas four years ago, when his first love, Thomas Bennett, broke his heart and fled to New York without a word. So when he encounters Thomas at a holiday ball, Alexander is determined not to let on how much he still hurts.

Thomas has returned for one reason only: Alexander. Having finally come to terms with his forbidden desires, he will do whatever he must to convince Alexander to give their love another chance. But instead of the happy, carefree man Thomas once knew, Alexander is now hard and cynical. Saddened to know he's to blame for the man's bitterness, Thomas resolves to reignite the passion he knows lies hidden behind the wall of disdain...


Excerpt – a glimpse of young love…before it all hits the fan:

Thomas gave his greatcoat a tug to straighten it. “How did the cards treat you?” he asked, every trace of hesitation gone and as casual as could be, as if Alexander wasn’t on the verge of tackling him right there, the butler standing guard at the front door be damned.

“Didn’t leave behind any vowels.”

“That’s good to hear.”

A frown threatened to pull his lips. “No need to sound surprised. Or relieved. I can hold my own in a game of cards.”

“Didn’t mean to imply you couldn’t. Just…” Thomas shrugged.

“I know. You don’t much care for cards. But as far as vices go, it’s not that bad of one.” Most every man in London gambled, to the point where it was an expected way to pass the hours. Given that Thomas always did what was expected of him, one would think he would have no qualms at all joining him at the card tables. But rather than allow Thomas’s disapproval to dampen his spirits, he threw the man a smile. “You could do with a bit of vice yourself, Bennett.”

He received an arch of a dark brow. “I have plenty of that—” Thomas lowered his voice, “—thanks to you, Sasha.”
Alexander’s breath caught. He briefly closed his eyes in an effort to rein in the sudden surge of lust, to keep it hidden from view.

Absolutely wasted effort.

And damnation, Thomas had deliberately added the Sasha to torment him. Thomas well knew what effect it would have on him. After Alexander mentioned his grandmother was from Russia, Thomas had started calling him Sasha…when they were alone, of course. Thomas was the only person who referred to him that way. He was Alexander to his family, Norton to his acquaintances, and Sasha to Thomas. A name owned solely by the man he loved. A name that seemed designed to be whispered in a heated rush against his lips.

A cool draft of air swept into the entrance hall as the butler opened the front door. “Mr. Norton, your carriage.”
It was all he could do not to dart out the door. His father’s black town carriage stood at the ready at the foot of the stone steps. Another one of their hostess’s footmen had the door already open. Rather than immediately enter, he paused to give the direction to the driver then followed Thomas inside, settling on the black leather bench opposite him.

The door snapped shut.

“Why are we going to Drury Lane Theatre?” Thomas asked.

“We aren’t.” He closed the shade on the window in the narrow door, cloaking the interior in almost full darkness. “I needed to give the driver a direction and it will do as good as any.”
The carriage lurched forward.

“But—?”

Alexander pounced on Thomas, cutting off his words.

Knees straddling muscular thighs and with his hands cupping that strong jaw, he pressed his lips to Thomas’s. Greedy and impatient, he flicked his tongue against the seam of Thomas’s lips.

With a groan, Thomas opened his mouth. A silken tongue brushed his own.

Hot and intense, sensation washed over him, filling his chest, his heart, his soul. A moan shook his throat.

By God, it was only like this with Thomas. No other had ever come close to rousing these feelings within him. Making his pulse pound through his veins and need claw desperately at his throat. This was where he belonged. With Thomas. In the man’s arms.

Links:

My True Love Gave to Me: Carina Press http://ebooks.carinapress.com/6EAAF2CB-6F0B-47C9-A079-B6B66A1AC2BA/10/134/en/ContentDetails.htm?ID=82082B89-BC09-46C1-AB7B-AAE34F1604A7

My True Love Gave to Me: Amazon Kindle http://www.amazon.com/My-True-Love-Gave-ebook/dp/B005Z1C2X2/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_10

My True Love Gave to Me: Barnes & Noble Nook http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/my-true-love-gave-to-me-ava-march/1106954529?ean=9781426892820&itm=10&usri=ava%2bmarch

Men Under the Mistletoe Holiday Anthology – Carina Press http://ebooks.carinapress.com/6EAAF2CB-6F0B-47C9-A079-B6B66A1AC2BA/10/134/en/ContentDetails.htm?ID=93C5B397-AE8D-441F-B471-AA3F267F77C6

Author Bio:

Ava March is an author of smoking hot M/M historical erotic romances. She loves writing in the Regency time period, where proper decorum is of the utmost importance, but where anything can happen behind closed doors.

She is published with Loose Id, Carina Press, Amber Quill Press, and Samhain Publishing.

Please visit her on the web at www.AvaMarch.com. She can also be found at www.avamarch.blogspot.com , www.facebook.com/avamarchbooks/ and www.twitter.com/ava_march .

Heidi Cullinan and The Seventh Veil

The story of how I came to write the Etsey books is actually congruent to my journey to writing m/m. I started The Seventh Veil as a short Regency romance called Miss Elliott’s Indiscretion, and yes, it was het. I was also pregnant at the time, and I delivered before I finished, so edits and revisions took place when I had the time, which was to say, rarely. Over the years the story followed my evolution through a sometimes too-rigorous study of craft, and so I kept retooling the story, trying to make it better. It slipped into the paranormal, eventually lost its historical setting and jumped headfirst into fantasy, and yet it still didn’t seem right.

In the meantime, I’d written another story, a contemporary, where a gay secondary character had taken over and claimed the main conflict line, including an out and in-your-face romance. I was in love. Writing that story was like coming home, and I realized pretty quickly on it was because I was writing about gay men. Buoyed by that idea, I turned back to my paranormal morass and said, what if that was the same story here? What if Charles was the main character, and what if he was gay? Except as I looked at him, really looked at him, I thought, no, he’s bisexual. And it was as if, once I truly saw him, the story knew how to move.

When I first wrote The Seventh Veil, even in its current incarnation, I thought it was a single book. I didn’t know who Timothy and Charles really were. I had no idea the layers I’d put into this cake. And then when I got to the end which wasn’t an end but the beginning of a longer, more complicated story, I sat back on my heels and stared for a long, long time. I felt like I’d fought my way to the bottom of a treasure chest only to discover a trap door into a huge cavern. On the one hand, how wonderful! On the other hand, holy shit, this is going to be a lot of work.

The Etsey series is a lot of work. I won’t lie. High fantasy is hard — I want it to be accessible and real. I want it to be fun. I want it to be sexy, because that’s what I do. A series like this isn’t a network of single stories but a long, long arc of many stories. The challenge is to keep it from getting too complicated to follow but to also keep it changing and interesting.

The current book, The Pirate’s Game, is the third installment and is one I’ve waited eagerly to write for a long, long time. That is probably why it’s given me more fits than anything else and has reduced me to literal tears and made me, for the first time ever, have to move a publication date because I couldn’t get it done on time. It challenges me, it pushes me, and it won’t let me off easy. The payoff for meeting that challenge has been amazing and very fun. I mean, how can it not be? Pirates. Vicious mermaids. Epic battles, role reversals, twists, turns, and, um, PIRATES.

I’ve said before, and it’s true, that the Etsey series is kind of my Lord of the Rings. It’s big, it’s crazy, it’s epic, and it wraps up a lot of things I love to talk about in one story. It also makes me grow as a writer like nothing else I’ve ever done.

I hope you check out the Etsey series yourself. You can read excerpts, watch trailers, and more at the website www.etseynovels.com. And if you’re feeling lucky, leave a comment on this post to win a chance for all three of the current novels in a format of your choice.

Thanks to Jadette for hosting me! Happy reading, everyone.

***

Heidi has always loved a good love story, provided it has a happy ending. She enjoys writing across many genres but loves above all to write happy, romantic endings for LGBT characters because there just aren’t enough of those stories out there.  When she isn’t writing, Heidi enjoys knitting, reading, movies, TV shows on DVD, and all kinds of music.  She has a husband, a daughter, and too many cats.

Find out more at  www.heidicullinan.com, follow her on Twitter, or sign up for her newsletter.

Fae Sutherland

Thanks so much for having me on your blog today, Jadette! Blue-Eyed Soul is actually a collaboration between myself and my life partner.  Chelsea and I have written together for our own fun for years, and dabbled once with collaborating on a book.  Since that one book (His Every Breath, 2010 Ellora’s Cave), though, we hadn’t really considered collaborating professionally again, as life got in the way as it tends to do.

Then she and I started talking about how we wanted to move back to Massachusetts eventually, where she’s from and where I lived as a child in the Berkshires. And as we sat around one night waxing poetic to each other about the awesome idea of moving to a small New England town where we would no doubt cuddle in front of the crackling fire (despite neither of us knowing how to work a fireplace) and take sleigh-rides in the snow (even though she hates the cold like poison), an idea began to bounce around my head. About a small Berkshires town and two apparent opposites who had a lot more in common than they thought. A musician and a high school music teacher.  A single father and an international pop star.  Oil and water – my favorite types of couples.  But Nano was coming up in a couple months, I was knee deep in self-editing my next solo book - so I didn’t say anything and figured maybe I could use the idea myself down the road when I had time.

Then Chelsea, who I am pretty sure has been reading my mind when I’m not paying attention, brought up the subject of maybe collaborating again. Well, why the hell not? Who cares about schedules already crammed to the gills? Not us! So I eagerly spilled about the idea I’d been toying with.  I’ve always loved the idea of small town romances, as well as fish out of water stories, and Blue-Eyed Soul combines everything I love into one wonderful package.

There’s the reticent hero who’s protective of not just his family and his heart, but also of his entire hometown. There’s the world-weary pop star who isn’t at all what anyone expects him to be and who just wants a little peace.  And there’s the town of Haven itself, with its myriad characters and odd ducks and just plain awesomeness.  It’s a little bit Gilmore Girls, a little bit It’s A Wonderful Life and a lot of just really great romance. Plus it gave me the chance to write about a gay couple with a child in the mix – because kids are left out of gay romances so often, but they’re very much a part of everyday life, for the GLBT as well as straights.

It was mad, insanely fun, pure giddy joy writing this book.  It was our own private Disneyworld, it was so much fun, and the result is something I’m so confident readers will love as much as we do.

To finish this tale off, I’m including the blurb as well as a brief scene from Blue-Eyed Soul.  It goes on sale January 8^th at Amber Quill Press and Chelsea and I hope you give it a shot.  We think you won’t regret taking a trip to Haven with our heroes. :)

Blurb:

International pop star Remey Dufresne just wants a break from it all. And the idyllic town of Haven, Massachusetts seems to be the perfect spot to reconnect with his small-town roots and recharge. He doesn’t expect special treatment from the people who live there, he just wants a haven of his own…what he doesn’t expect is to fall in love – with the town, with its people, and with the local high school music teacher and his precocious little girl.

Single father Aleksander Kelly is by no means impressed by Remey’s presence. In fact, he’s downright irritated. With the media frenzy invading his hometown and inconveniencing everyone, Aleks would rather Remey just go back to La-La land and leave them all alone. It’s a shame the guy’s so good-looking. And kind. And not at all the celebrity diva Aleks expected.

But the Hollywood machine never stops and fame isn’t something you can just hide from. There’s more than just their hearts on the line when Remey’s obligations and Aleks’s reservations collide.

Excerpt:

Aleks glanced down at his pie, then up to meet Remey’s gaze again. “So the spotlight might be dimming in a week or so. Think you can behave long enough to get rid of them?” Maybe his voice was a little suggestive. 

He had to admit there was a hell of a lot of appeal in the idea of the main protest he had against Remey being gone. If the media feeding frenzy was only temporary, maybe he wouldn’t mind getting to know the resident hot celebrity a little better. Maybe a lot better.

“Why, Aleksander? Are you suggesting there might be something in store for me if I do?” Remey bit his lip, blue eyes warming.

Aleks shot him a heated look. “There might be. If you’re interested.”

Remey’s brows shot up. “If I’m interested? You have no idea.” He glanced around, then leaned in, lowering his voice. “I’m definitely interested. If you hadn’t been sending ‘back off’ signals since the first time I laid eyes on you… Well, we could’ve broken in the brand-new couch in my living room. We still could.”

Aleks laughed. That was another thing he found surprising about Remey. How awkward he could be. It was adorable and, damn it, Aleks had always had a weakness for adorable boys. “Well, there goes all your mystique, Remey. Do you want to take a second to wrap a bow around yourself, too?” he teased.

Remey blushed and wrinkled his nose at Aleks. “Shut up. And maybe. If you’re lucky.”

Aleks snorted. “I think you pretty much just promised me I would be.”

The blush got brighter as Remey seemed to realize what he’d said and how he’d sounded. Remey covered his eyes with one hand. “Jesus. Allison is always telling me I need to develop a filter.” He peeked out between his fingers. “Sorry. Um…shit. Did I really offer to sex you on my couch, like, anytime?”

Aleks laughed, nodding. “You did, indeed. Don’t even think about changing your mind now. No take-backsies.”

They were both laughing pretty hard by then and drawing more than a few stares and finally Aleks reached over and squeezed Remey’s arm. “Shhh. Or we’ll start a scandal and the paparazzi will never leave.”

Bio:

Fae Sutherland has always dreamed of being a published author, starting her writing career off at age 11 with a series of stories so bad only a 6th grader could have written them. She has since progressed to more serious writing, though always keeping that dash of irreverence and fun (and a hell of a lot more heat!).

Fae is perhaps best known for her many books co-written with Marguerite Labbe. Between them they are the award-winning, bestselling authors of over a dozen published novels, novellas and short stories. Fae also writes with Chelsea James. Currently, Fae is focusing her writing on solo work.

When Fae's not working on new stories to make her readers sweat, she spends her time on website design, spending too much time on Twitter, and watching oodles of Food Network with her beloved life partner. If there's any time left over, it's spent snuggling the cat.

You can find out more at Fae’s website:  http://faesutherland.com and you can
follow her on Twitter @faesutherland, or on her blog at http://faesutherland.blogspot.com

Andrea Speed - Story Behind the Josh of the Damned series

I love throwing the fantastic and the mundane together, so putting the mouth of hell and a convenience store side by side seemed like a natural thing to do. I love writing horror, and I love writing comedy, but I have to admit that the task of putting them together can be daunting and very tricky. Still, I love the Evil Dead movies, especially two and three, where they really embraced the humor of the films (the first was, as Joe Bob Briggs -or was it Stephen King? - said, “Spam in a cabin”, i.e. a slaughter-fest), and the end of three, where we see a brief snippet of Ash back at his assistant manager job at the S-Mart, could be looked at as inspiration for the overall Josh of the Damned series. After all, what would happen if Ash had to keep juggling his demon killing “job” with his mundane day job?

A key difference is Josh is no demon killer, nor is he an assistant manager. He’s much lower on the totem pole, and as much as I hate to use the term “slacker”, that’s exactly what Josh is. He works a terrible job that he knows is a terrible job, but it doesn’t require much from him, and since he has no real ambition, that suits him just fine. I’m not sure what my inspiration for Josh is, beyond  simply wondering what an employed drifter might be like. Someone who really doesn’t want responsibility, but needs a check. That’s Josh, who may own a cactus, but certainly not a pet. He’s probably lucky to feed himself most of the time. Like a rock in a river, he’s happy to let life just flow past and over him, except the circumstances at his little crap job force him to become more engaged with the world. A weird world full of zombies and lizard people, but anything less probably wouldn’t have shaken him from his natural torpor. Of course I’ve known people like that, and I have my only tendencies that way as well, but Josh doesn’t like confrontation so much, while I don’t mind at all. 

Even when you don’t want to, life changes, and it forces you to change as well. In a way, that’s what the Josh of the Damned series is all about. Josh doesn’t really want to change, but life is going to make him change, in the strangest (and hopefully funniest) way possible.

Here’s the blurb for Pretty Monsters:

Josh knew the night shift at the Quik-Mart would be full of freaks and geeks—and that was before the hell portal opened in the parking lot. Still, he likes to think he can roll with things. Sure, the zombies make a mess sometimes, but at least they never reach for anything more threatening than frozen burritos.

Besides, it’s not all lizard-monsters and the walking dead. There’s also the mysterious hottie with the sly red lips and a taste for sweets.

Josh has had the hots for Hot Guy since the moment he laid eyes on him, and it seems Hot Guy might be sweet on Josh too. Now if only Josh could figure out whether that’s a good thing, a bad thing, or something in between. After all, with a hell vortex just a stone’s throw away, Josh has learned to take nothing at face value—even if it’s a very, very pretty face.

This title is #1 of the Josh of the Damned series.

If you’d like to read an excerpt and purchase Pretty Monsters, click here.

The second in the series, Peek-A-Boo, is available for pre-sale at Riptide Publishing.

More About Andrea:

Andrea Speed was born looking for trouble in some hot month without an R in it. While succeeding in finding Trouble, she has also been found by its twin brother, Clean Up, and is now on the run, wanted for the murder of a mop and a really cute, innocent bucket that was only one day away from retirement. (I was framed, I tell you - framed!) In her spare time, she arms lemurs in preparation for the upcoming war against the Mole Men. Viva la revolution!

Where you can find Andrea:

Email address: aspeed2@gmail.com

Website

Blog

Twitter

Facebook

Goodreads Page

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.

Aleksandr Voinov Dark Soul series

Finally getting it right

It was Churchill who said the Americans could be always counted on to do the right thing … after they’ve exhausted all other possibilities.

That’s a bit how I feel about Dark Soul. The character of Silvio Spadaro has been with me for twenty years. Almost as long as I’ve been published. You can bet that I’ve tried before to write about him. Thing is, as mercurial as Silvio is on the page, he’s worse in my head. I’ve literally tried everything to get him into a story, but nothing really worked. Not the loosely-connected episodes I wrote about him when I “met” him, not the novel-length family drama where he’s about sixteen and as pretty as he’s deadly.

I’ve written about him when he was a coke-head, early-to-mid-thirties, fucked up and still deadly. I’ve written him dying of AIDS. I’ve written part of his story in a near-future cyberpunk world. I’ve considered putting him into the Italian Renaissance – the Borgia and Medici surely know how to deal with him – but I never really got a handle on him.

Part of the reason is pure vanity. Hey, here’s me, Mr. “I know how this shit works” Author, and I can’t get a bead on a mere character, a figment of my own imagination? Normally I at least get to a workable compromise with my characters, sometimes the Muse does exactly what he’s supposed to do.

The other part is the desire to share. Hey, if I enjoy this character so much – and for so long – readers surely will, too. At least some of them. The problem is that, to communicate Silvio to a brain outside my own, I need to get him on the page. Back to square one. Talking only gets me so far when I try to share – writing’s more than talking. It’s a mix of re-imagining, living inside the character and the scene, but above all, it can feel like drawing a magical circle and making some incorporeal force visible by sheer bloody-minded determination and just the right spell book.

Like anything else you summon and feed with (heart)blood, characters are temperamental. Silvio more than any other. Thankfully, he’s pretty vain himself. (Never tease him with his dyslexia, he’s REALLY touchy there, for example.) So he wanted out.

So when I read a short story sub call about gun kinks (Storm Moon Press’s “Weight of a Gun” anthology) I originally wrote the story for that. The only one of my characters who I knew would get off on gunplay was Silvio. Hey, short story, I can do that without tapping the whole character, right? Can I jackshit.

Once I’d opened the gate and invited him in, he wouldn’t stop being there, teasing me with versions of his life. Most importantly, in the last twenty years, I ‘ve grown enough as a writer to finally do him justice. It’s still not a novel, but this episodic format works. Finally. Last alternative available, but it finally works.

Here's the blurbs from the three available stories:

Stefano Marino is a made man, a happily married west coast mafia boss who travels east to await the death of a family patriarch. All the old hands have gathered—of course sharks will circle when there’s blood in the water—but it’s a new hand that draws Stefano’s eye.

Silvio “the Barracuda” Spadaro is protetto and heir to retired consigliere Gianbattista Falchi, and a made man in his own right. Among his underworld family, being gay is a capital crime, but the hypersexual—and pansexual—young killer has never much cared for rules. The only orders he follows are Battista’s, whether on the killing field or on his knees, eagerly submissive at Battista’s feet.

But Silvio has needs Battista can’t fill, and he’s cast his black-eyed gaze on Stefano. A fake break-in, an even faker attack, and Silvio is exactly where he wants to be: strung up at Stefano’s mercy, driving the older Mafioso toward urges he’s spent his whole life repressing. Stefano resists, but when the Russian mob invades his territory and forces him to seek aid, Gianbattista’s price brings Stefano face to face once more with Silvio—and his darkest desires.

This title is #1 of the Dark Soul series. Read an excerpt and purchase here.

The second volume in the Dark Soul series features the stories "Dark Whisper" and "Dark Night."

In "Dark Whisper," Gianbattista may have broken Silvio's heart and sent him off to the States, but he's still just a phone call away. When Silvio returns from a sex shop with a bag full of goodies, Gianbattista can't resist topping his boy one more time, even if they are 4,000 miles apart.

In "Dark Night," the Russian problem comes back to haunt Stefano, and when a dark encounter leaves him bloody and broken, Silvio knows just the right way to ease his pain.

This title is #2 of the Dark Soul series. Read an excerpt and purchase here.

In "Dark Lady I," as Silvio Spadaro plans to take on the Russian hit squad that kidnapped his boss, he decides the best way to deal with four extremely dangerous men is to become an even more dangerous woman.

In “Dark Lady II,” Stefano discovers yet another disturbing—and arousing—truth about Silvio and how easily Silvio uses a man’s weakness for his own ends.

“Dark Brother” brings another player to Stefano Marino’s household. Franco Spadaro has just been released from the French Foreign Legion and is catching up with his little brother. In the middle of a war, a skilled sniper comes in right on time—but two Spadaros might be more than Stefano can handle.

This title is #3 of the Dark Soul series. Read an excerpt and purchase here.

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