Edward Kendrick ~ The Martin Twins

Release Date: December 28
Available: Silver Publishing

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‘Shared pain is lessened, shared joy is increased, thus do we refute entropy.’ Spider Robinson.

Blurb:

Derek Martin becomes a suspect in the murder of his ex-lover. Chance Martin, Derek's twin and a disgraced TV reporter, is certain Derek isn't the killer. Then a second man is murdered, pointing to the existence of a serial killer.

Detective Nico Villa, is bent on capturing the 'Slasher'. He is none too happy when Derek involves himself in the case, above and beyond some initial assistance on Derek's part.

Meanwhile, Chance's ex and the reason for his disgrace, newspaper reporter Tyler Burke, becomes caught up in what is happening when he tries to assist the detective and make amends for what he did to Chance.

Can these four men stop the 'Slasher' before he stops them? And in the process, will the attraction, both new and renewed, that Derek and Chance feel respectively for the detective and the reporter, survive what is to come?

Excerpt:

"We're what?" Chance Martin looked at his twin as if he'd lost his mind, which in Derek's case was not beyond the realm of possibility as far as Chance was concerned. He loved his brother but sometimes he could be really off the wall. Now just might be one of those times.

"We're moving." 

"We? Last time I checked, we had different apartments."

Derek continued pacing Chance's living room, hands locked behind his back. "I have to get out of town," he muttered.

"Oh boy. Now what have you gotten yourself into and why does your going on the run mean I have to come along?"

"Because we're family. We're… two sides of the coin."

Chance cocked an eyebrow. "Okay, I'll buy that since it's true, but you haven't said why we have to move."

Derek stopped pacing, flopping down on the other end of the sofa, hands behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. "Remember Monte?"

"Montgomery Forest Hightower the Third? Elitist and snob of the first order? Yeah, I remember him. You're well rid of the son of a bitch. What's he got to do with anything?"

"He's dead."

Chance sucked in a deep breath. "By dead, I take it you don't mean he had a massive heart attack or ran his fancy car into a tree."

"I wish." Derek shot a dark look at his twin. "If you'd keep up with the news, you'd know this already. His body was found yesterday, buried in a vacant field between the Cherry Creek bike path and the Polo Grounds. Apparently he'd been reported missing about two months ago. His parents had everyone and their brother looking for him."

"Two months…" Chance frowned. "That would have been around the time the two of you broke up. Oh boy!"

"Yeah, 'oh boy'." Derek rubbed his forehead between two fingers. "The only… well, saving grace, I guess you could call it, was that almost no one knew we were together."

"Me and…?" When Derek didn't respond, Chance said, "I guess right now you should be glad the asshole was closeted and didn't want to flaunt your relationship."

"Right now, I am. Believe me. But if the police find out…"

"You could be screwed, considering how angry you were when it happened. Still, Der, leaving town is not the best option and when you start thinking rationally, you'll know it."

"Yeah, I guess you're right, but damn it, Chance. What if someone says something to the cops? What if they find something in Monte's car or… or…" Derek's voice faded out as he bowed his head, burying his face in his hands.

"Then you tell them the truth. The two of you had a major fight and you broke up with him."

"Oh, that'll convince them I'm innocent," Derek muttered scathingly.

Chance reached across the intervening space to grip his twin's shoulder. "Probably not, but it's a start. What do you know about what happened?"

"Just what I heard on the news before I came over here. Some man was letting his dog run in the field. The dog stopped and started digging. The man thought it had found a gopher hole or something and went to investigate." Derek shivered. "He said the dog was whining and then he saw why. It had found something. He thought it was part of a dead animal at first and pulled the dog away. He saw what looked like a decomposed hand. He called the cops and, well—"

"They found the rest of the body. How did they figure out so fast it was Monte's?"

"I don't know! Maybe he was still dressed and they recognized what his family reported he was wearing when last seen? Damn, Chance, all I know is the news reports said it was him."   

"Did they say how he was killed?"

Instead of answering, Derek got up and went over to Chance's computer. Booting it up, he went on line.

"You are probably the only person in the world who has blocked the news from showing up on their homepage," he muttered, as he entered two words into the search engine and pressed the Search button. When the results came up, he clicked on one of them before saying, "Here, you can read it for yourself."

"I'd rather not," Chance told him. But still he came over, standing behind his brother as he read the article. "Okay, that's just… "

Derek nodded as he read what the reporter had written. "Someone had to have known what he was like, how he treated people, and they were not happy."

"You think? Let's hope, as much as we both disliked him, that he was already dead when his cock was cut off."

Derek scanned the next paragraph. "Apparently that's not all the killer did to him, although the cops haven't released any more information about it."

"Someone hated him with a vengeance."

"And it wasn't me, though I'd be hard pressed to prove it."

"Of course it wasn't you." Chance breathed deeply then said, "Move, please." When Derek relinquished the chair, Chance sat down. He typed in a web address and when the page opened, there was a box asking for the user name and password. "Let's hope he hasn't changed it," he said softly.

Derek watched, shaking his head when the site Chance wanted came up. "Is he that stupid?"

"No, just lazy. He had four passwords he'd rotate between. I knew two of them and luckily for us, he's using one of them right now." Chance scrolled down the page, found the file he wanted, and opened it. "Here's his notes on what the police told him." He chuckled. "I bet he's not too happy that he can't reveal all."

"Would you be, if you were still a crime reporter? At least he's trustworthy enough they, or at least one of the detectives, was willing to open up to him."

"That was his big plus. They'd talk to him because they trusted him. He'd hold back on things until he got the go-ahead and then beat everyone else to the story."

"Just like you. You and Tyler made a good pair."

"Once," Chance said sourly. "And we are not going there."

"You still have a thing for him."

"Not at all. What's past is past. He screwed me over once too often. And then…" Chance frowned deeply as he closed the site. "So at least we know for sure exactly what the killer did and unless the cops are total idiots, which they aren't, they're not going to come after you."

Derek shook his head. "After what happened with you, how can you say that?"

"They had good reason to be angry with me, thanks to Tyler. Okay, maybe it wasn't totally his fault, but …"

"I know. I still don't get how two men who were so good together on a personal level could be such rivals when it came to your jobs."

"Name of the game, Der. The first one to break a story comes out the winner and we were both very competitive on that score. I blew it because of that." Chance got up, heading to the kitchen. "And we will not rehash the whole thing. What's done is done. I quit before I was fired and walked, from the job and from him." He smiled morosely. "You and I are definitely twins. We both have lousy luck with men."

Derek chuckled. "As Mom would say, maybe we should try our luck with women. It couldn't be any worse."

LM Brown ~ My Boyfriend's An Alien.

Release Date: December 27th
Available: Totally Bound

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A New Body

Hi everyone, thanks for letting me take over this blog today to talk about my new book, My Boyfriend’s an Alien.

There are lots of stories about aliens falling in love with humans out there and while there are some that have, shall we say, unusual features about themselves, many of them are essentially compatible with human beings when it comes to relationships and sex.  But who are we to say that is the case?

I am someone who does believe that there is other intelligent life out there besides here on Earth. The universe if so huge I think it is rather arrogant to assume we’re alone in it.  But why do we assume that aliens would look anything like ourselves?

For my new book I decided that this would not be the case.  Zak is an alien who has never seen a human being before in his life. In fact, most of his people haven’t either.  At least until the day he turns into one. 

Imagine finding yourself with a human body that is vastly different from your own. 

Having extra fingers, no tail for balance and no fur for warmth is bad enough for Zak. But when his new body also comes with stronger emotions than he has ever experienced before as well as appendages that seem to have a mind of their own, well, that’s just a recipe for disaster – or for evil authors such as myself to inflict torture on their characters.

Poor Zak is really put through the ringer as he tries to figure out what is happening to his new body.  Evil though it is, I have to admit I had a lot of fun making Zak suffer.

Blurb:

Zak, an alien from the planet Trimmeron, is a member of a race of beings who transform into other species during their years of puberty. It’s customary for the youngsters to be fostered to the worlds native to their new forms, to study and learn about the races who will play an important part in their lives.

When Zak turns into a human, it comes as a surprise to everyone, for only one other before him has ever done so. Nevertheless he is sent to Earth, a world he views as primitive and barbaric. He arrives with a chip on his shoulder and attitude to spare. He does not believe that anyone on Earth could have anything to teach him.

When Zak meets college student Sam he soon discovers he has a lot to learn, not only about humans, but also about himself.

Trapped on an unfamiliar world and in a strange body that seems to have a mind of its own, Zak has no idea what is happening to him—only that Sam seems to be the key to the strange afflictions he is suffering from. 

But can an alien find love with a human being?

Excerpt:

The lights were already down when they made their way to a pair of seats near the back of the room. Sam sat down first and Zak took the seat near the aisle.

“You’ll really enjoy this,” Sam whispered as the big screen in front of them played a commercial for some kind of vehicle.

Zak whispered back to Sam that he was sure he would.

As the film played on the screen, Zak began to feel rather strange. There was something happening down there and it was totally out of his control. He shifted in his seat and tried to change his position so it wasn’t as obvious.

Sam laughed at something happening up on the big screen in front of them. The sound sent a zing right through Zak’s body, culminating in an uncomfortable tightening of his jeans. This had been happening to him quite a lot recently, but not to this extent.

Zak tried to concentrate on the movie, but it wasn’t holding his attention as it had before. His awareness of Sam heightened with every minute.

“Are you okay?” Sam whispered.

Zak groaned as Sam’s warm breath against his ear added to the problem down below.

“Fine,” Zak hissed.

Sam took him at his word and dipped his hand into the big tub of popcorn. At the touch of Sam’s fingers brushing against his own, hidden in the confectionary, Zak sank even lower into his seat as he tried to figure out what was happening to him.

Sam put a handful of popcorn into his mouth and started to chew. When Sam placed a hand on Zak’s thigh the pain in his groin became unbearable and he shot up from his seat. “I’ve got to go,” he said, causing several other people in the cinema to shush at him.

He didn’t wait for Sam to reply. He grabbed his jacket and bolted for the exit. 

LM's Bio:

L.M. Brown lives in England, in a quaint little village that time doesn't seem to have touched. No, wait a minute—that's the retirement biography. Right now she is in England in a medium sized town that no one has ever heard of, so she won't bore you with the details. Keeping her company are numerous sexy men. She just wishes that they weren't all inside her head.

L.M. Brown loves hearing from readers so don't be shy. 

Shira Anthony ~ Symphony in Blue

Release Date: December 25th
Available Dreamspinners Press

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Blurb:

Are you a fan of the Blue Notes series? Would you like to know where the couples from the first four books are now? This is your chance to catch up! Aiden and Sam are finally getting married. But when Cary and Antonio’s baby daughter makes her appearance a bit earlier than planned, the big reception is put on hold. David Somers normally conducts orchestras, but this time he devotes his energy to “conducting” his friends so that everyone can join him at his Milan villa for a reunion at an intimate Thanksgiving dinner.

Sam and Aiden, Jules and Jason, David and Alex, and Cary and Antonio are soon assembled, and each couple shares something they are thankful for. Played out in four movements, this symphony is a celebration of friendship and love, orchestrated by David.

Excerpt:

DAVID TAPPED his cellphone, shoved it in his pocket, and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“Something ruffle the maestro?” Alex grinned up at him from the couch, his bare feet tucked underneath him, a pile of staff paper scattered about the floor and coffee table. He’d printed out a score for a new composition and managed to knock it off the printer tray. Of course, all the page numbers at the bottom of the sheets were cut off. Damn thing was at least thirty pages and would be a nightmare to organize.

“Nothing that can’t be managed. Unlike your score.” David raised an eyebrow and Alex saw the ghost of a grin on David’s face. “You could just reprint it, you know.”

“What? And waste paper?”

“You’re stubborn,” David said as he picked up several of the pages and set them on the coffee table before joining Alex on the couch. When Alex said nothing, David leaned over and feathered several kisses over Alex’s neck. “Delightfully so, of course. But stubborn nonetheless.”

Alex sighed contentedly and pushed the rest of the music onto the floor. Fine. He’d reprint the damn thing. Later. “Who was on the phone?”

“Aiden.” David spoke the name with his lips so close to Alex’s ear that Alex nearly gasped. David’s voice just did that to Alex—that sexy baritone seemed to resonate through every part of his body. Alex was pretty sure David knew what it did to him too.

“Aiden? I thought he and Sam were in Australia.”

David pulled away and offered Alex a sardonic eyebrow. “Austria.”

“Oh, come on!” Alex laughed. “You know I can hardly keep track of my own schedule. Now you expect me to keep up with his?”

“Not even the correct continent.” David went back to kissing him. “What was he calling about?” Anything to keep David focused on his neck.

“The party in Connecticut is off. They’re also postponing the civil ceremony in New York for now.”

Alex shot up off the couch. “What? But we’ve been planning the reception for six months now! It’s only two weeks away. What the hell happened? Are they okay? I mean…. Shit. You know what I mean.”

David smiled—a strange expression for someone who’d just learned that he’d wasted four months arranging the party to celebrate Aiden and Sam’s wedding. Caterers, musicians, guests, and a dozen different schedules to coordinate.

“Okay. Fess up. Why are you smiling?”

“Aiden and Sam are fine. They’re just postponing it.” David appeared entirely calm. Too calm. Happy, even?

“Postponing? They’ve been doing that for two years now.”

“Three.”

“Fine. Three years. So why are you happy about it?” Alex pressed. Of course, David was yanking his chain, but he liked that. Anyone who thought David Somers didn’t have a sense of humor simply didn’t know him.

“I’m happy,” David said as his eyes brightened, “because there’s a good reason for it. In fact, there’s a wonderful reason for it.”

Alex laughed. “What reason would that be?”

“Who might be the more appropriate way of say—”

“David,” Alex warned.

“Graziella Michaela Redding.” “Graziella? You mean….”

“Mother and child doing quite well, I’m told.” David grinned outright this time.

“Cary and Antonio’s baby?”

“Born last night. Almost five pounds. Three weeks early but doing well.” David stood up and wrapped his arms around Alex’s waist. “A good reason to postpone a wedding, don’t you think?”

“The best.” Alex kissed David. “Should we plan a visit in a few weeks?”

“A few weeks?” David’s sly grin made Alex chuckle. “Just because we can’t have the party to celebrate doesn’t mean we can’t take advantage of the opening in everyone’s schedules.”

“What did you have in mind?”

“Thanksgiving in Milan. It’s been years since we’ve been able to get everyone together.”

“The villa?” David’s Italian villa was certainly large enough. “But—”

“Is that a problem for you? Last I looked at your schedule, your next performance is in Buenos Aires in three weeks.” David nipped at Alex's earlobe.

“No… it’s not… ah…. Shit, David, I can’t think straight when you do that!” Alex shivered and closed his eyes. “And no. No problem for me. But didn’t you give the staff at the villa the entire month off?”

Alex knew David had completely forgotten about that particular detail. He frowned, then said blithely, “We’ll just have to do it ourselves. Jules and I can handle the cooking. You and Jason can get the placed opened up. Rachel can help you with the rooms.”

“You’re serious about this?”

“Am I ever not?” David pulled at Alex’s earlobe with his teeth. “I’ll call the travel agent and look into rebooking all the air travel.”

“Travel agent?”

Another kiss, a nip, and then: “The travel agent. Too complicated to handle that much rebooking online and you needn’t trouble yourself with that. Just call Jules and Jason and let them know we’ll meet them in Milan on Saturday. I’ll text them the flight information as soon as I have it.”

“Ah…. Okay. Sure. Jules and Jason.” Alex could handle that. He’d been meaning to call Jules to see how the Blue Notes album was coming along anyhow. He’d joined Jules and the other members of the trio on several of the tracks when he’d been in Paris three weeks before.

“Good.” David brushed his lips against Alex’s. “And one more thing.”

“Hmm?” Focus, Bishop, focus!

“This.” David pushed Alex onto the couch and began to unbutton his shirt. “First things first. Always.”