Pimping An Idea

With permission from MMRomance member Fehu on GoodReads.

PROMPT:

He was sent to sent to be the consort for the High King. Prince Allen is taught the ways of Diplomacy and Politics but not fighting.

The High King is a warrior and his dead lover was his first general. He doesn't want anyone that can't wield a sword and can only defend himself with words. That is just not someone he wants to help raise his children. So when Prince Allen is presented before him the High King doesn't choose him to be his next consort.

What is a rejected consort to do?

Prince Allen cannot return home, as he was sent to cement a treaty between his kingdom and that of the one belonging to the High King.

The army is hiring and Prince Allen asks to be part of the next expedition, hoping that by training to be a warrior he will be able to forget the High King who rejected him without really knowing him.

Can these two men come together and find love?

**~*~**

This is one of the best prompts that I have read and I missed out on getting it by a heartbeat - so I wish Megan all the best in writing her story and I can't wait to read it - this is a story that just needs to be told.

Knowing me as you all do, I couldn't let it go. I still wanted to be able to write my own story from this prompt - so I contacted the person who came up with it and asked for permission to use it as well and I am lucky that Fehu is such a wonderful person and is allowing me to do so.

So at some stage in the near future I will be writing my own version of this wonderful story - I have quite a few ideas running through my head - All I know for sure is that I will be writing this for Fehu and my wonderful beta reader Sue - It will involve something that I know Sue is quite fond of in my preferred writing style.

Update!!!

 Okay, I know I have missed the last two days of blogging and I do apologise. I have no real excuses except to say that I have been up to my elbows in edits on The Lines Of Marsden: Rules Are Meant To Be Broken. I have twenty pages yet to do that I hope to finish today - I am just up to the small stuff now. I hope that from here on out it will be clear sailing.

 Other than that I have had to set up a writing schedule so that I get the rest of the stuff I need to get done by April. I will give you a heads up on what I am attempting. I will need everyone reminding me that I have lots to do and keep me on track.

Due by April.

Father's Day story for Silver: One Last Kiss Goodbye. (Novella) 10K done.

Father's Day story for MLR: When Souls Collide. (Novella) 3K done.

4th of July story for MLR: What The Hell Am I Supposed To Do? (Novella) 1K done.

Full Length Novel for Silver: Windblown Kisses 1: My Knight In Tarnished Armour. (This could also be classed as a Father's Day story - it is written and is going through the last read through) 77K done

 I think this is doable - so wish me luck.

Making Changes...

Blog Story News...

For those of you who are regular visitors here. You will  all know that I have two blog stories going on. Due to an increase in my writing and deadlines due time I have come to the conclusion that I can't keep up with two stories a week.

So instead of stopping one completely, and after long arguments with myself and talking to Embry Carlysle - I have to do them fortnightly and for all the rest of the world that means I will alternate them weekly meaning each story will be posted two weeks apart. So I don't have to give up either of them.

They are just too fun to write to give one of them up, and even if I decided to do that I wouldn't know which one to choose. Plus my stalker - I mean my good friend and sometimes beta reader Cinders would so kick my arse if I did. Wind Walkers is part of my Sentinels of Varnuse story, and Jettermane is just because I could.

Have no fear I will keep going on with them just at a slower pace. I realised I have four deadlines in April, one in May and one in August and whatever else comes up between now and then.

So on that note I will get back to work and Wind Walkers will go up tomorrow without fail... when I started this writing for a living I never truly realised just how busy my life would become.

Angel Martinez - Part Two

Again I have the good fortune of showing you more from the talented Angel Martinez. Every one that has ever read anything by Angel knows just how good the work is... So I will just get on with the showing.

I’m one of those writers who gets upset over the lumping together of Science Fiction and Fantasy. They share space on brick and mortar bookshelves. They’re often listed as a single category in a publisher’s catalog. But for me, it’s like squishing together Mystery and Horror (“Oh, it’s over there on the sleuth and spook shelf!”) or Romance and Suspense (“Sure, just check the love and lugers aisle!”) 

While both are genres that deal with plots that don’t happen in the “real world,” (someone had to show me that on the map the other day – interesting, but I’m glad I don’t live there) Science Fiction and Fantasy arise from completely different premises. Fantasy stems from the assumption that magic exists. The nature, form, function, and manifestations of magic are up to the author, but magic, nonetheless. Science Fiction begins with the existing laws of physics and biology and either postulates the next step, or steps in our ever-widening discovery of the universe, or extrapolates on current social/ political trends and takes them to their possible conclusions. 

We all know how I feel about SF, my favorite left-brain activity. But I love my Fantasy as well. One’s brain needs to be well-rounded, you see. I love it all – bring me the paranormal, the high fantasy, the urban. Let me sink my teeth into fae and wizards, ghosts and fairytales. 

It’s probably because I’ve read so much Fantasy that I wanted something different when I wrote Finn. Elves and wizards and dragon-shifters weren’t scratching the itch. I needed… a pooka. What’s a pooka? Ah. He’s Irish, but don’t call him a leprechaun. You might get punched. If you truly want to know, come read the Endangered Fae stories.

This is Finn’s world – where the fae are coming to realize they may be on the endangered list…

(Available for pre-order at Silver Publishing!)

Finn, Endangered Fae #1 - the story of a pooka lost in New York and the heartbroken man who rescues him - releases 3/3/12

Finn's Christmas, Endangered Fae 1.5 - a short holiday tale in which Finn comes to grips with several human oddities, including gift giving and *gasp* the importance of promises. Coming 3/10/12

Diego, Endangered Fae #2 - in which Diego and Finn have their first real quarrel. Of course, those two can't just have an argument. They have to unleash unexpected forces and... well, that comes out 3/24/12. 

Finn's glad to be back. He's waiting for you...

An excerpt from Finn, Endangered Fae #1:

The figure crouched on the bridge shocked Diego so thoroughly he drove a hundred yards before he realized what he had seen.

A man squatted on his heels on the rail, one hand on a cable, the other clutching a ragged blanket at his throat. Threadbare cloth flapped around bare ankles. The persistent wind yanked it this way and that to show flashes of naked legs.

“Holy shit,” Diego muttered, as he wrestled his ancient Toyota into the nearest side street to park. This was none of his business. Didn’t he have enough problems? Even as he argued with himself he ran, dodging traffic and ignoring angry epithets as he pelted back up the bridge against traffic. The inevitable gaper delay had slowed the flow at least, making his precarious journey easier.

People stared from the safety of their vehicles as they inched along, but no one stopped to help.

Diego ignored them. His primary concern was not to startle the man into falling. He slowed his approach, ready to offer soothing words, but the man heard his footsteps. Long black hair whipped and snaked in the wind, hiding his face, though Diego caught a glimpse of bared teeth.

“Did you come after me?” the jumper snarled. “I won’t go back.”

“Go back where?” Diego seized the opportunity to start the man talking.

The jumper shook his head to clear the hair from his eyes and peered at Diego with black eyes – not dark brown, but black, set in deep, shadowed sockets. “No, I suppose you don’t look like one of those,” he said in a softly accented, weary voice.

“One of who?” Diego edged closer to stand next to him.

“The ones who shut me in the iron cage. I changed. I escaped.” His words seemed to stick in his throat and even above the traffic, Diego heard him swallow hard. “But now I’m too tired. I can’t...and the river is so filthy. I think it might kill me.”

At least he doesn’t sound like he wants to die. “Look, if you don’t want the police catching up to you, or the hospital staff, or whoever it is, this is about the worst thing you could do. You’re upsetting all these people and attracting a lot of attention. They’ll be here any minute.” Diego reached out a hand, palm up. “Please come down. Let’s get you safe and out of the wind. Then we’ll see about straightening all this out.”

The man regarded him through the shifting curtain of hair for a long moment. “What are you called?”

Depends who you talk to. “My name is Diego. Diego Sandoval.” He lurched forward, his stomach plummeting to his feet, when the man swayed, but the jumper retained his place on the rail.

The man repeated his name a few times as if trying it out, and then nodded. “It’s a good name. Pleasurable to say.”

“And you?”

“I am called Fionnachd.”

Diego tried to repeat it and won a hint of a smile from the man when he mangled the pronunciation. “Could I call you Finn?”

That got a shrug. The blanket fell back from his shoulder to reveal all-too-prominent bones. “You could. Some have. I don’t mind.”

“Climb down, Finn,” Diego urged again. “I’ll help you. Let’s get you somewhere quiet where you can rest.”

Finn took his fingers in a light grip and Diego caught a whiff of rotten orange rinds as he slid from the rail.

What the hell am I doing? He could have Hepatitis or HIV or tuberculosis, or worse. He’s probably crazy. Maybe even dangerous.

The intense plea in those black-on-black eyes silenced his practical objections. Lost and alone, this man needed someone. Diego had never been good at walking away.

Note to Cinder's and others...

Okay, don't kick my arse, but due to throwing my mum a surprise 80th I didn't get around to writing my double blog post for Wind Walkers. And then my brother Ted just rang me ten minutes ago to remind me I am in the tattoo chair again today so I won't get a chance to start it until late this arvo - so I will get onto it then. Just to tide you over, I will give you some cuties to take a gander at - enjoy...

ON OTHER NEWS:


I am Guest Blogging over at Jana Downs Blog tomorrow.

Em's Turn...

Posting this song just because I can... love the lead singer.

Just `cause Green Day is awesome.

MY WINNERS ARE!!!

The winners of the With Love Valentine Blog  Hop for 2012 are:

Firstly I would like to thank everyone who stopped by my blog to take part in this wonderful event - thank you to those of you who joined my list of followers, I truly appreciate you all.

Using the age old way of picking things - Yes get someone else to pick a name out of a hat, (or Tupperware container if you will). I got someone else to pick out the winner as I knew too many of the people in my list. I thought it would be fairer if someone else pulled out the fated names. So without Further ado the winners are:

FOLLOWERS

Cathy M

COMMENTS

June M

On another note here is a great review for my own Valentine story.

Randy's Bookbag Reviews

ANGEL MARTINEZ - Part One...

  Okay, listen up everyone - I want to introduce to you another of  one of my all time favourite Authors and lets just say are you in for a treat as Angel has sent me a couple of postings so I will be pimping her again next Wednesday as well... I can guarantee that you will enjoy everything that comes from this fabulous author.

Science Fiction – It’s What’s For Breakfast

I know, I know. The stereotype persists after all these years. SF reader = adenoidal-ly challenged adolescent male. After all, when you see footage of SF conventions, what do they show you? Socially challenged young males who’ve taught themselves to speak Klingon. Oh, and the occasional hot babe in leather. They spout off models of fictional spaceships with greater accuracy than most sports nuts can spew baseball stats and discuss with pompous erudition the relative merits of one game’s weapons system over another. Lovely.

But the real world of Science Fiction (yes, a contradiction, I know) is the novel, which deals with, at its heart, human issues. SF often uses alien or futuristic settings to discuss cultural and social issues because by removing us from our familiar surroundings, by showing us something new, we may be able to view these issues in a new way.

In order to do this, or any of the other hundred things SF novels can do well, the novel must (MUST!) be a vehicle for character. (As Virginia Woolf wrote, “The great novelists have brought us to see whatever they wish us to see through some character. Otherwise they would not be novelists, but poets, historians, or pamphleteers.”) This is true of garden-variety romance, of literary novels and must be the basis of SF novels of any type, or the author risks having the story come across as meaningless, self-serving, symbolic bombast.

Thanks for the lecture, Angel – mind telling us where you’re going? Patience, grasshopper, I’m getting there. When I began Gravitational Attraction, it started out as the germ of an idea, a kernel of SF tech built around gravity wells, but these were just notes and sketches. There was no novel, no story to share with anyone, until the characters began to sprout. Quite a cast of them. Wanna meet some? Sure you do. ;)

Isaac Ozawa: Once a candidate for a fighter pilot slot at the prestigious Altairian Academy, Isaac was given a medical discharge when his neural implant turned out to be glitchy. Kicked out of the service, deserted by his lover, Isaac settles for a comm. officer’s slot on a commercial courier and tries not to dream of flight.

Turk: Found on a drifting, deserted ship, Turk keeps his secrets close. Uncertain whom he can trust, unsure of reality itself at times, he clings to duty and to promises made to his host commanders and his own people. He knows he carries something dangerous in his brain and suspects he may have done something terrible. And Isaac? Beautiful, bitter Isaac disturbs him profoundly.

Travis Humboldt: Pilot of the Hermes, retired Marine, Travis uses his gruff, good-natured exterior to cover old hurts and new confusions.

Nidar: Turk’s cocky, irreverent cousin, potentially his greatest rival. Turk’s been away from home too long, so does he return to find his cousin an ally or an adversary?

For the rest? You’ll just have to read the book. Character-driven SF – the most important meal of the day.

Gravitational Attraction – M/M Science Fiction

By Angel Martinez

At Silver Publishing – launching 2/25/12

Blurb:

A mysterious distress call draws the crew of the Hermes to what appears to be an empty, drifting ship. Empty that is, except for the blood and gore spattered corridors and one lone survivor locked in a holding cell. Drawn to the handsome, traumatized man, the crew’s comm officer, Isaac Ozawa, makes Turk his personal responsibility, offering him the kindness and warmth he needs after the horror he experienced. Turk longs for Isaac, a desperate, hopeless ache he knows he’ll always carry with him.

But Turk harbors dangerous secrets, his brain a military experiment gone wrong. When an amoral, power-hungry admiral kidnaps Isaac and uses him to convince Turk to become the cataclysmic weapon he’s hungered for, it will take Turk’s strength, the ingenuity of the Hermes crew, the help of the enigmatic Drak’tar, and Isaac’s own stubborn will to save them.

Valentine Blog Hop

Prizes & Fun Galore...

Good morning and happy early Valentines Day to you all....

What does Valentines means to me? well I have been with my Husband for ten years and this will be the first time ever he will be home and not working away... so I am cooking him a very nice dinner (not so much on the romantic side as Mum and Emily will be home as well - LOL).

There will be so many awesome authors (263 to be exact) taking part in this blog hop that you will be all up for heaps of prizes and great reads just remember to leave a comment with your choices and details... Come check them out at the Blog hop events page.

Valentines Day Blog Hop Events Page

Now that I have shared with you the important stuff I will start Rambling about me.....

Toowoomba  Boys 2

This is my Latest and is going to fit in well with the whole Valentine theme. This Novella became available yesterday and I have been snoopy dancing a lots since then. Hunting for Clay is the second instalment in my Toowoomba Boys series. I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

MLRPress - Hunting for Clay

BLURB

Two years have passed since Hunter and Clay met on that fateful morning in Tello’s Diner. Getting passed the fact that Clay was stalking Marlowe was the easy part. Clay Montgomery’s life changed for the better the day he found the man who was meant to be the other half of him. Hunter understood him well, and knew how to give him exactly what he needs to be happy. Hunter Weldon knows what he wants, and just how to get it. For two years he has loved the man in his rams and now it is time to up the ante.

EXCERPT

Chapter One

  Hunter poked his head around the doorframe, making sure Clay and Marlowe were nowhere in sight as he headed to the bedroom Marlowe shared with Angelo. H had all been e needed to talk to Angelo without his cousin or Clay finding out. In the two years they had all been sharing a house he had learnt that his cousin could not keep a secret if his life depended on it; especially since he and Clay had become best buddies – the whole Clay stalking Marlowe thing was now put behind them. So much had happened in the last two years since Marlowe had finally won the heart of his straight boy. Hunter often cringed when he remembered how Marlowe and Angelo’s relationship had almost been destroyed before it even had a chance to begin. It took Clay to help them sort it out. Angelo possessions had slowly been transferred to their house, until in the end Angelo was living with them.

  Knocking Quietly on the door, he waited until Angelo told him to enter. Marlowe and Clay were gossiping in the kitchen. Hunter shook his head. Where else would they be? The kitchen seemed to be their favourite place when they were both home and not working. Marlowe was probably still teaching Clay all about his job because he was now getting more than he could handle and was trying to woo Clay into joining him. Uncle Skye had already given the go-ahead to hire him

  “Come in,” Angelo’s voice sounded muffled.

  Slipping into the room he gestured to the bedspread being used. “Marlowe?”

  Angelo grimaced. “Actually it was Dimmy; he thought it was hilarious. He got his friend to send it to us.” The cover was white and covered in multi-coloured hearts of various sizes. “Marlowe loves it.”

  “Lucky you,” Hunter grinned.

  Angelo rolled his eyes. “I can ask Dimmy to get you one.”

  “You wouldn’t dare.”

  Angelo raised one eyebrow in the Oh, wouldn’t I? look.

 “Okay, What are you really doing in my room? I know you didn’t come in to take the piss out of me because of our bedspread.”

  Hunter ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, I kinda need your help. I am trying to organise Clay’s present for Valentine’s Day.”

  “Um, you do realise Valentine’s is still a month away, right?”

  “Yes, dumbarse,” Hunter growled. “But I want to make it special since he is feeling kind of down. Seeing as Valentine’s is also his birthday, I wanted to make up for his Family telling him he still wasn’t welcome at home. Well he is, but not with me.”

  “You’re feeling guilty, aren’t you?”

  Hunter shrugged. “Maybe. His family was fine with him being gay until he moved in with me. I think they were hoping it was some kind of phase.”

  “It’s not your fault. At least his parents aren’t as crazy as mine. I can see my brother running away soon. Dimmy is nearly eighteen now and he won’t put up with their crap any longer.”

  “Will we need to clean out the spare room?” Hunter asked.

  He watched as Angelo took some time to think about it. “I don’t know, but maybe we should do it just to be on the safe side.”

  “I suppose it would be good to set it up for a spare room regardless. You never know who might turn up.”

  Hunter didn’t say anything else, and as he walked out of Angelo’s bedroom he bumped into Clay walking through the lounge room with the dog lead in his hand. “Are you going somewhere?”

  “Mar and I are taking the dogs for a walk,” he said as he kissed Hunter’s cheek and kept walking out to the kitchen. “We will be back in an hour or so.”

  “Okay. Angelo and I are going to clean out the spare room.”

  Clay froze in his tracks. “Why?”

  “He thinks Dimmy may want to come and stay for awhile. So I suggested we clean out the spare room.”

  Clay nodded. “Do you need me and Mar to stay and help?”

  “No babe, you take Ziggy and Droogie for their walk. Angelo and I can bring it all into the lounge and when you guys get back we can sort through it and figure out what we want to keep or get rid of.”

  “Okay, I’ll let Mar know.” Clay blew him another kiss before leaving.

  “He’s in a happier mood,” Angelo commented as he joined Hunter in the lounge room.

  “Dog walking. Those two are obsessed with walking those dogs.” Hunter shook his head as he headed up the hall to the small spare room. It was a job he was dreading as it was filled with the excess stuff from all of them. Groaning he picked up the first box and carried it back out to the lounge room.

  “I can’t believe you let Clay sucker you into getting another dog,” Angelo teased.

  Hunter snorted. “You started it. I just got sick of listening to them argue who was ging to hold the damn lead.” He winked at Angelo. “And besides, Clay has ways of being very convincing when he wants something.”

  Angelo burst out laughing. “That is TMI, my friend.”

  “You’re only jealous.” Hunter grinned as they got to work.

DON'T FORGET - Leave me a comment and be in the chance to win a an $25 Amazon Gift Certificate or if you prefer a $25 Bookstrand Gift Certificate. (as they are the only two I know how to do). Feel free to join the followers of my blog for another chance to win.

OTHER WORKS BY ME 

Toowomba Boys 1

What's the Goss???

Okay, due to unforeseen (yes I have known about it for a month) circumstances, somebody - who I will not mention, (you whistle and I will point - at me), forgot to write Jettermane (again). So I will have to write it for tomorrow (just so Cinders doesn't kick my arse).

Today I had Emily at the Chiropractor and getting the hubs ready to head off to Coffs Harbour to work - he may or may not be back for Valentine's Day... not that it matters as due to work he is always away on that day or has been for the last 10 years (or pretty much close to it).

Though I do have some good Goss:- Toowoomba Boys 2: Hunting for Clay is now available at MLRPress.

MLRPress - Hunting for Clay

A BIG THANK-YOU!!!

To Cinders...

 Cinders helped choose a name for the main character in the next of The Sentinels of Varnuse: Beneath The Rising Tide

Allow me to introduce:- Kia Pamuya;  a Water Dragon shifter. So far that is all I know about him as we all know that I cannot plot to save my life.

Next in line I am hoping (if you are listening, Cinders). I need  pictures for Malacyte & Haydrian.... Just remember they are the same sort of being as Raevyn & Simian. Actually I probably need a picture for Simian as well. damn and Vayne, Arron. 

It is strange how a picture can get the ideas buzzing in your brain... It is also great to have faithful followers who are willing to throw ideas your way in what they would like to see and which characters they would like to come back into the storyline.

I have even started to go back through When The Walls Come Tumbling Down... Fleshing it out and filling in the gaps, and boy have I found some huge gaps... I never saw them when I wrote them, but now when I know better they seem so damn obvious.


I promise to try and be better than I was at the beginning but I know me - LOL.


ALSO: Guest Bogging at Jadette Paiges Blog (Hunting For Clay)

Today's Ramble...

Totally have a mind blank...

Okay, I really do have a mind blank so I thought I would just ramble on a bit about the next instalment of my Toowoomba Boys. This is the cover, & even though it doesn't say it on there it is the second book in the series. It will be available from MLRPress on the 10th of February.

By the title I am guessing that you already know it is about Clay & Hunter. I delve more into Clay's family background. I also introduce more characters in this story - Dimmy~Dimitri Linford (you might remember being mentioned as Angelo's brother in Angels on Top), Jayden Montgomery (Clay's younger Brother), Arthur & Graham Danevport (are also brothers- I must have a thing for brothers.) Damon Malone is a character that is quite a bit in this book working with Hunter & for Authur. 

Damon's story will be told in the next instalment: Toowoomba Boys 3: Dancing with Demons. (Inner demons not actual demons). I am working on this one right now...

Check this out and enjoy the wonderfully talented chocolateminx made a trailer of the MLR Valentine releases.

Em's Turn

These are songs that I enjoyed growing up as a child - it is what we listened to driving in the car.

And Lastly Brad Paisley - just because I can.

HAH - Hop Against Homophobia

Hop Against Homophobia

Check out the great advice and tips Erica Pike has left for us all.

Woo-Fricken-Hoo

I have just finished the galley for Hunting for Clay and have just sent it off to Kris - Fingers crossed it is finished.

I have been hard at it all day today - I think I nearly sent myself blind I was concentrating so hard on trying on any any mistakes I might still have.

I am only going to  keep this short and sweet because today is my birthday I turn the BIG 43 and I want to put my feet up and spend the afternoon reading... in case you are wondering what... I am on a Carol Lynne fix and I am re-reading the Men In Love Series...

Here are some Reviews over on Amazon on Angels on Top.

Amazon Reviews

Here are five songs for my birthday

to get the party started.

Pimping Z Allora...

 I am going to start off by saying I absolutely love this person - Z has turned into a very good friend of mine, & I have Kris Jacen to thank. I first became a stalk... I mean fan of Z when Kris posted and excerpt for The Dark Angels: With Wings, and then I happen to be lucky enough to win a copy of that very book and I fell in love with every character... especially Robin (for some reason his shyness called to me). So without further delay here is my friend Z Allora.

Book Two

Tell us how this particular story came about? Was there a particular instant when it all just fell into place and you thought that is my next story? 

The Dark Angels: Tied Together is the second book in The Dark Angels series. I usually write in a series format because if I am writing about a character I find out his whole story and then I just want to share it. As I was writing The Dark Angels: With Wings, The Dark Angels: Tied Together was being written…as well as parts of the third book in that series (The Dark Angels: Finally Fallen). 

How long have you been writing? 

For as long as I can remember I have always written. I started publishing because I believe gay romance helps promote equality and some of my characters demanded it. 

How do you choose which genre and flavour your story line will take, and what influences your choice? 

I love romance, happily ever afters and sex. Too many times life doesn’t allow happy endings, so I write them. Currently, my characters are gay, bi-sexual, straight but open-minded and a couple of them are transgendered so you could say they picked the genre: erotic gay romance. 

What is your specific writing style, if any? 

Yaoi-style. I write a bit over the top. My characters are larger than life. I allow them to feel their emotions as strongly as they make me feel them. As a reader, I want to get swept away by a story so as a writer I just follow my characters wherever they wish to go…and they all seem to go Yaoi.

Book One

Is there anything you find particularly challenging about bringing a story to life? 

Sometimes, my characters are doing or saying things contrary to reason and it drives me nuts. A good example of this would be Darius Stone in The Dark Angels: With Wings, he made me (and many readers) crazy because he really struggled so hard by refusing to accept a label for his sexual orientation. But he needed his circular thinking to finally follow where love was leading him. Thankfully, by the second book he is happily exploring parts of himself he never did so before.

 Who is your favourite character you've written to date and why? 

I love them all. It’s like asking a parent who is their favourite child. Robin (The Dark Angels: Tied Together) is just too sweet and his conflicting desires make him infinitely appealing to me. But the one character that is really breaking my heart right now is Tai-hua Zhehao from my Made In China series (not yet uncontract). His nephew is the main love interest in the second book of that series and his story involves being separated from the man he loves for twenty years. He plagued me with a reunion scene. Then followed that by a super hot sex scene…Anyway, I love them all!

Which character in your body of works was the hardest to write? 

Boon-nam (from The Lady Boy Chronicles: Illusions & Dreams) born genetically male, she had the surgery that made her outside match her inside. However, she still has some male energy that couldn’t be ignored during the sex scenes. I spent time in both Bangkok and Pattaya with the Lady boys in an attempt to portray the characters in this series as realistic as I could. 

I had a difficult time writing some of the love scenes for Boon-nam because she was recently transgendered person. I couldn’t write it as m/f sex scene because it isn’t. It has a very different feel to it. The katoey I spent time with have a very different energy. I had to really think about Boon-nam as an individual who wasn’t going to fit in the preconceived boxes we like to put people in. So I wasn’t writing a sex scene for a transgendered person but for Boon-nam. I found writing her best friend who maintained her male parts but lived as a woman much easier to write. The difficulties with Boon-nam caused me enough stress to write the first book with two loving couples and not just one. 

Which stories have you enjoyed working on the most and why? 

Anything that is edgy and different. (If you couldn’t tell) I like playing with labels and re-examining what the definitions society has assigned and shake them up a bit. I like working on something that brings ‘normal’ into question so we can take a look at the boxes we tend to put things in. 

Of course, hot rockers will always have a soft spot in my heart. Fantasies of a rock star falling in love and sweeping someone off their feet is too delicious not to enjoy writing. (Okay, not to mention the sexy makeup!)

 What will people come away with after reading your books? 

I hope people come away from my books renewed belief that love is love and gender really shouldn’t be an issue. I want the reader to have a feeling of love and happiness that follows them through their interactions with others. And of course, leaving the reader with a few good sex scenes that replays themselves in a sexy loop. LOL

 What are you currently reading? 

I will be reading NJ’s Rules Are Meant To Be Broken…. as soon as it comes out!!! Have you seen that cover??? Damn!

 (I will let you know as soon as I know. I am still in edits.)

What music is in your stereo at the moment? And does it influence the way you write? 

Tokio Hotel

Absolutely! It helps me focus. When I have trouble getting into a writing space, I watch some music videos. For the series Made In China, I find my focus by watching the Black Veil Brides music video- Fallen. Seeing those sexy rockers in their glam make-up screaming the lyrics puts me in a place to write. 

Are you still as passionate about writing as you were when you first started? 

Yes.  I am looking forward to my life calming a bit because I have a bunch of stories plotted out and I want to give them time to develop. 

Name three Authors you read over and over again? 

Only three? Even NJ couldn’t give only 3 and it was her question! LOL 

Jet Mykles: Heaven Sent Series (on my 15^th read) 

GA Hauser: Action Series (Mark Richfield is one of the best characters ever written) 

SJ Frost: Conquest & Black Heart Down. 

Clancy Nacht & Eucid Thursday: BlackGold (Goldie is too delicious!)

JL Langley (Regency Series-virgin princes’…need I say more? Sexy shifters) 

Ayano Yamane: Crimson Blood & Viewfinder Series (Manga) 

And I have a feeling The Lines of Marsden will be joining this list! 

(I can only hope The Lines of Marsden lives up to your expectations.) 

Can you share any of your current WIPS? 

Made In China- a new band is forming in China. My five and half years of living in Suzhou China helped me write very specific details of the culture that may be missed if my time there was shorter. Most of the characters really struggle against the society that doesn’t even acknowledge ‘gay’ is an option. 

The Lady Boy Chronicles: Illusions & Dreams- This series is about performers in a Bangkok lady boy show. The club owners assist the performers to better themselves as well as helping those who are in a bad situation out.

 Viking Haven- Futuristic, sci-fi space opera. This series will explore life of the lord warriors and the pretty slaves that serve them. In the first book, the punishment wall and The Feast of The Virgins is experienced. We get glimpses of the ruler who wants nothing more than to be a slave himself. Maybe with the invasion of The Black Night Rebels will allow him the opportunity?  

Cambodian Dreams- Brad is almost done with his graduate degree and goes to Cambodia for a little relaxation. Shane is an adorable little do-gooder who dreams of a strong Dom to make all his BDSM dreams come true. 

The Dark Angels: Finally Fallen- This is Dusty’s story. I enjoyed seeing more of his life. He is a very good big brother even though it has made his life much more difficult. His love interest has been horribly violated but is trying to overcome the demons of his past that still plague him.

For those readers that have yet to know you please tell us something about yourself. 

I have lived in Singapore, Israel and China. I don’t think a book can ever have too much sex. I believe in true love and everyone getting their happily-ever-afters.

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