Blurb:
Reed Hatcher’s life is work, work, work. He owns a successful men’s
boutique in New York City, but a love life is out of the question—for many
reasons. It’s almost Valentine’s Day, and business is brisk. On an unexpected visit
to the Empire State Building, a sexy man literally falls into Reed’s lap. His
name is Taz and he’s just been dumped by his date. One look and Reed is hooked.
He offers to buy Taz some coffee and they leave together.
Reed is attracted to Taz and takes him home
to his apartment. But Reed discovers there’s more to Taz than he
realized—especially when Taz’s stripes begin to show. And he has a tail? Turns
out Taz is not quite like Reed. In fact, he comes from another planet, far far
away, and he’s only on Earth for a vacation.
Reed never believed in aliens before,
but he’s facing one now, and dear God, what is he going to do? Just when he
decides he loves Taz and together they can handle anything, the alien that
dumped Taz decides he wants him back and steals him away.
Can Reed live with the memory of what
he almost had, and the love he found and lost? How can he ever face the moonlit
skies again?
Excerpt:
“Are you okay? Hello?”
Reed dragged his mind away from those sexy
green eyes. “Ah, huh? What?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall on top of
you like that. You see, it was like this. I was pushed, and you just happened
to be there and….” The stranger grinned at Reed. “And down we went.”
Reed shifted under the body lying so
contentedly on top of him. Hell’s bells, the guy fit against him perfectly.
From the feel of things, they were both close to the same height. Which also
meant certain things were… aligned. “Oh yeah, I’m okay. Banged my head a
little, but I’m fine.”
The stranger bit his bottom lip, his teeth
worrying the tender skin. Reed debated slamming his head against the floor a
few more times in the hopes of rattling his brain back to normal as the
stranger rolled off him.
“I really am sorry.”
“No harm done.” Reed sat up and looked at
the guy once again. Well, not much harm, anyway. His libido just had to pick
now to perk up, didn’t it? But damn, this guy was sexy. Reed struggled to his
feet and held his hand out to the man still on the floor, looking up at him.
The guy took his hand and let Reed pull him up. “Name’s Reed. Are you okay?”
“Hi, Reed!” The guy hopped to his feet in a
single, lithe movement, as if it was the most….world. “My name is Taz. Nice to
meet you, and yes, I am.”
For a moment there was a flash in the guy’s
eyes that belied his statement. “Good, that’s good. Glad to hear it. Well, I
guess I’d better be going—”
A forlorn expression crossed Taz’s face and
his pretty eyes clouded. “Oh.”
Reed hesitated. There was something about
the guy that pulled at him. When was the last time he’d felt that pull? Way too
long ago. Taz was cute, sure. But there was this look of hurt. Dammit, Taz just
looked so lost. Insane as it was, he wanted to make it all better.
A word from the authors...
There
comes a time when a writer sets a fresh piece of paper in the typewriter and is
faced with the age-old question – what shall I write? All right, maybe I’m
dating myself a bit here, and no, I haven’t used an actual typewriter in many
years. Nor would I want to. My fingers are spoiled by the light touch of the
keyboard, and I never wish to go back again.
But
I digress.
First
question is often what genre do I wish to dabble in today? I admit that science
fiction has not been my first choice when deciding which genre to write in.
Granted, I do enjoy science fiction and, at one time, read a lot of it. But it
was a different field back then, with writers like Asimov, Clarke, Henlein,
Bradbury... I knew I didn’t have the science background to even begin to
attempt the things they did. Science fiction today is just not the same as it
was then. In fact, I didn’t read it for a long time.
A
long time ago, I did begin a sci fi story, which is now long lost in my notes
somewhere. It had to do with a time when people entertained themselves by
plugging into their TV’s, attaching themselves through electronics in such a
way that they could participate in the story. HOPAVI, I called it, short for
home participation video. Guess it wasn’t that story’s time.
I
began writing a sci fi story with my friend, author Sui Lynn, and we’ve posted
snippets of it on our blogs, and we really love it, but real life has derailed
that story, at least for now.
In
the meantime, my friend and author, M.A. Church and I decided to write
something together. What do you want to write, she asked. As it so happened, I
had the privilege of editing two of her novels, Nighttime Wishes and Nighttime
Dreams, and also The Harvest, which she has subbed and is waiting to hear
about. All three novels deal with the romance between an alien and a human, and
I am here to tell you these stories are hot, hot, hot! So much so that when she
said what do you want to write, I knew the answer. I wanted to write about an
alien too. An alien/human romance of our own.
As
is usual in collaborations, each author creates a main character, although both
should be capable of writing for each of them. Thus Michelle created Reed
Hatcher, and I got to make up the alien, whose name is Taz. The result of this
first collaboration is Be My Alien, which we subbed to Dreamspinner and which
they accepted, and which published May 8th.
Taz
is from the planet of Trygos, from somewhere far far away. He comes to Earth on
a date with another alien, Vorlod, and is excited about it. It seems that to
the other inhabitants of the universe, Earth is not much of a destination, so
it’s like going on a cheap date. But Taz is happy, and they’re up in the Empire
State Building together when Taz figures out Vorlod’s real reason for being
there... when Vorlod dumps him for another alien.
Reed
Hatcher is a successful businessman without a love life. He expends all his
energies into his shop, A Touch of Class, which specializes in upscale men’s
clothing, as well as what is in the naughty backroom. It’s two days until
Valentine’s Day, and Reed is about to close up shop and go home to his lonely
apartment when a late night call from a good client changes everything, and he
agrees to make a last minute delivery to the Empire State Building.
There,
Taz falls into Reed’s arms—literally. What happens? ‘Fraid you’ll have to read the book to find
out!
Michelle
and I are hard at work on book two of what will probably be a three book
series. I have to tell you, it’s been great fun writing with her, and I fully
intend to inveigle her into more books after these. With or without aliens? Who
knows! Whatever they will be, they will be fun.
What
does it take to write about aliens? You are only limited by your imagination. I
got to create our alien, since Michelle had two other series and I never did,
so I came up with Taz, who has some distinctively feline features. I know, big
shock, right?
But
more than just what he looks like, I needed a background, and knowledge of his
home world, so that means worldbuilding, which I happen to enjoy. And even if
all of the details are not revealed in the books, at least they are there to
draw on, a firm foundation for making him believable.
If
you want to create an alien of our own, let’s assume for the sake of argument,
that he is some sort of humanoid. This makes it easier for the audience to see
and relate to him. If there are differences, such as the “dreadlocks/tentacles” of Michelle’s alien in the Nighttime series,
then let us see them, and tell us what sets them apart. Or, in Taz’s case, it’s
his stripes... and his tail.
Like
any other character, your alien needs a background, family, friends, etc. A job
or something he does to spend his time while waiting for his human/true love to
appear.
See?
Basically, underneath the differences are the similarities. The alien is still
a man, and he still has dreams, wishes, desires and hopes, among them to love and
be loved.
The
rest is window dressing and a lot of fun.
So
go on, build yourself an alien of your own, and see what I mean!
*
* * *
And
now, a little information on the authors of Be My Alien.
Author bio:
M.A. Church
M.A.
Church lives in the southern United States and spent many years in the elementary
education sector. She is married to her high school sweetheart and they have
two children. Her hobbies are gardening, walking, attending flea markets,
watching professional football, racing, and spending time with her family on
the lake.
But
her most beloved hobby is reading. From an early age, she can remember hunting
for books at the library. Later nonhuman and science fiction genres captured
her attention and drew her into the worlds the authors had created. But always
at the back of her mind was the thought that one day, when the kids were older
and she had more time, she would write a book.
By
sheer chance she stumbled across a gay male romance story on the web and was
hooked. A new world opened up and she fell in love. Thus the journey started. When
not writing or researching, she enjoys reading the latest erotic and mainstream
romance novels.
My links:
Twitter
@nomoretears00
Publishers:
Author Bio:
Julie Lynn Hayes
Julie Lynn Hayes was reading at
the age of two and writing by the age of nine and always wanted to be a writer
when she grew up. Two marriages, five children, and more than forty years
later, that is still her dream. She blames her younger daughters for
introducing her to yaoi and the world of M/M love, a world which has captured
her imagination and her heart and fueled her writing in ways she'd never dreamed
of before. She especially loves stories of two men finding true love and
happiness in one another's arms and is a great believer in the happily ever
after. She lives in St. Louis with her daughter Sarah and two cats, loves books
and movies, and hopes to be a world traveler some day. She enjoys crafts, such
as crocheting and cross stitch, knitting and needlepoint and loves to cook.
While working a temporary day job, she continues to write her books and stories
and reviews, which she posts in various places on the internet. Her family
thinks she is a bit off, but she doesn't mind. Marching to the beat of one's
own drummer is a good thing, after all.
Her other published works can be found at Dreamspinner Press, MuseitUp
Publishing and No Boundaries Press, and coming soon with both Extasy Books and
Torquere Press. She has also begun to self-publish and is an editor at
MuseitUp.
My
links:
Twitter
@Shelley_runyon
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/julie.l.hayes.7?ref=tn_tnmn
Publishers:
Yes, I'm about 45 minutes out from getting tattooed by the awesome Ted Saddo at Sink the Ink. But knowing my brother he will be running a tad late so I still have plenty of time - and it so helps I only live 7 minutes away from the shop. In a weird way I'm looking forward to today and in another way I have a deep sigh knowing there is going to be ouchiness for the next week. I may not complain during the tattoo but I'm one of those lucky individuals who has a tendency to bruise afterward. Ted said we are also going to start planning out our next Tattoo - my other sleeve (apparently, at this stage he is doing a heap of Zombies). 
