A-Z Challenge Day 22: V is for Vampires

Vampires. What else do I need to say, really? There's the ones I've written myself:

And the ones I love to watch...

And the ones I'll always remember as my firsts...

(NOTE: I do not own the Being Human, True Blood, or Interview with the Vampire photos. They came from a random web search. If they are your property please let me know so I can give a credit accordingly. Alternatively, if they are your property and you would like them taken down, please let me know and I'll be happy to comply.)

Vampire Bite Blog Hop

Vampires. From the friendly Muppet Count von Count, to Anne Rice's Lestat, right up to Being Human's Aidan, let's face it - vampires are everywhere. And of course there's a whole slew of them in m/m fiction. 

I've got a couple of my own, actually. There's Malagan and Orion from "Orion's Way." Orion struggles with who and what he is. Malagan, on the other hand, is the ancient, confident, bad ass vampire.  

Why, though? What it is about these creatures that makes us so gaga over them? Of course they're sexy - you've never seen a truly unattractive vampire, now have you? And there's that whole homoerotic thing going on, if you're into that, as some of us are. ::wags eyebrows::

But I think it's  more about the essence of the vampire than the actual vampire. They represent the opposite of everything most people fear - getting sick, growing old, dying. And more importantly - running out of time. Everyone I know is trying to do a million things at once, like going back to school, raising children, renovating a house. Running themselves ragged. Vampires have the luxury of taking their time, doing one thing at time. How nice would it be to spend time just doing one thing, because you know - hey, I can always tackle that other thing in the next several hundred years. 

Yeah. Think about that, hmm?

Anyhow, here's an excerpt from "Orion's Way." That's also your prize for today - one lucky winner will receive a pdf copy. To enter, just leave a comment below with your e-mail. Easy, peasy. Enjoy!

Blurb:

Orion is a vampire with a tragic past. After running away from abusive parents at the tender age of sixteen, he was turned by a ruthless elder vampire and forced to torture and sexually abuse human feeders and submissive vampires. Though that's all behind him now, he still lives in the shadow of what he was, and it has cost him the loyalty of Xavier, the human feeder he loves. Malagan is Orion's closest friend--the vampire who saved him from brutality all those years ago. Malagan knows the dominant side of Orion--the side Xavier needs--is still there, lurking below the surface. But if Orion's going to find his way back to who he ought to be, he'll need help. And Malagan is just the man for the job.

Excerpt:

This was a bad, bad idea. Orion shook his head at his own stupidity even as he backed away from Clay. Far older than Clay and twice Clay’s size in build, he could easily break the other vampire, but he didn’t have that in him anymore, and he had been stupid to think he did. He edged to his left, closer to the door.

“Answer me! Did Malagan send you?” Clay stalked toward Orion, hands balled into fists at his sides.

“This has nothing to do with Malagan,” Orion told him. “All I want is to see Xavier.” He held up his hands in surrender. “I’ve got some medical training, you know that. I just want to check on him, make sure he’s okay. I know you’re not going take him to the hospital.”

“Just how stupid do you think I am, freak?” Clay snarled. “You think I’m going to let you waltz in there and”—he held up his hands and made quote fingers— "'check on him’? You think I’m going to let you brainwash him into leaving me, freak?” Clay surged toward Orion, stood toe-to-toe and glared up at him.

Freak. The word went straight to Orion’s guts and sent a shiver of hatred running up his spine. He pushed his shoulders back and stood taller, towering over Clay, but to no effect. Clay didn’t back down, didn’t turn away, didn’t show one single sign of submitting.

Clay laughed and snapped his fingers in Orion’s face. “Look at you. Size of a fucking giant, but the balls of a three-year-old. You’ve got no spine, Orion. You’re nothing but a simpering weakling who hides behind Malagan.” He turned away and moved to the bar.

“Don’t turn your back on me,” Orion warned, tempting fate.

“Why not?” Clay called over his shoulder. “What are you going to do about it? You going to beat me senseless and take what you want? That’s what you’re good at, isn’t it? Why don’t you come over here and try it, freak? That’s right, come on over here. I won’t even turn around. I’ll let you have the first hit. That’s all you need. Just that first hit to get you going. And then you’ll bloody me up, right?”

“I’ll do what I must to get Xavier away from you.” Orion took a deep breath and stood his ground, unmoving. He wasn’t about to back away, but he wouldn’t do anything rash either.

Clay rounded on Orion and smirked. “You don’t have the guts.”

The door opened behind them, and Orion turned to see Malagan standing in the opening. Elation and anger warred within him. He wanted to smile and gloat to Clay that now things would go his way, but another part of him hated Malagan for showing up, for stealing his thunder. For proving Clay right.

“He may not,” Malagan murmured. “But I do.” He swiveled his head to look at Orion, sent a knowing, compassionate look Orion’s way. “Xavier and I will meet you back at the lair.”

Heart pounding, Orion swallowed his pride and nodded. He left Clay’s house, the sounds of breaking glass and Clay’s yelling echoing down the path. He stopped at his car and turned back toward the house. This wasn’t Malagan’s fight—Malagan hadn’t started it, after all, and Malagan shouldn’t be the one finishing it. Orion took three steps up the path and froze as his guts knotted up and a wave of nausea assaulted him. Gagging, he pressed the back of his hand to his mouth and stumbled back, colliding with the front of the car. 

Frustration tore at him. Self-loathing and worthlessness wrapped their claws around him and pulled him under. Orion whirled and brought both fists crashing down onto the hood of his car. Again and again, until he’d left a bloody dent. Exhausted, lightheaded, he straightened and choked on a throat full of tears as he ran his fingers over the ruined hood. Why did he break everything he touched?

****PLEASE BE AWARE:  I write GLBTQ romance. GLBTQ stands for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer. This means my works feature same sex relationships AND same sex sexual acts. If winning that kind of a book isn't your cup of tea, kindly pass on to the next blog in the hop and leave the spot open for someone else. Thank you.****

Vampires for Valentines Giveaway Hop

Vampires... I've got a few. There's Serge, the enigmatic, ancient one who turns his friend - and secret desire - Bryan when a diagnoses of cancer rears its ugly head.

Or there's Malagan - ancient, reeking of dominance and sex - who helps his friend Orion rebuild his life.

What it is about them that draws us in? Is it the sexy allure? Is it the blood? Or is it... could it be that we're drawn because of the danger? The difference between death and immortality is but a slip of the fang away....

Anyhow... ::shivers:: for my prize in the hop, I'm offering a $25 gift certificate to Vampirewear.com.

To enter, just leave a comment below, and be sure to include your e-mail!.






GOOD LUCK!!!


****PLEASE BE AWARE: I write GLBTQ romance. GLBTQ stands for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer. This means my works feature same sex relationships AND same sex sexual acts. If being associated with that kind of a blog isn't your cup of tea, kindly pass on to the next blog in the hop and leave the spot open for someone else. Thank you.****

Review: Deep Blues Goodbye by Laura Harner and Tom Webb

Two things you should know before you read this review.

1. I don't normally read m/m romances. Why? A couple of reasons. One, I don't want anyone else's ideas to weasel into my brain and subconsciously come out in a story I'm writing. And, two, I don't have time. I have a full time Evil Day Job, the writing gig, a husband to take care of, and seven furkids. If I'm taking the time to sit down and read a book, it better be damn well worth the read…and so many aren't.

2. I don't normally write reviews. Why? Well, let's just say the phrases "the only redeeming quality" and "I almost didn't finish this" come up frequently when I write a review. So, as the old adage goes, if you can't say something nice…

That all being said, this is a rare instance where I'm really pleased with the book, and the review will be good, and since that's the case, I'll go ahead and share.

I've just finished "Deep Blues Goodbye" by Laura Harner and Tom Webb. I have to admit, I've never read anything of Harner's, and the only reason I bought it was because Tom Webb had a hand in it. I've read one short story of his – a flash fiction type thing – because he is a new reader-turned-author and I was curious. Lots of readers think they can write – some of them can, some of them can't. Tom Webb absolutely can. I was really, really impressed by the flash, so I decided to grab this one and see what it was like. I'm never certain about reading collaborative material. In my opinion, Jaye Valentine and Reno MacLeod are the absolute masters at collaborative stuff, and not many others even come close.

Harner and Webb come pretty damn close.

First, the mechanics of it all (because as a writer, the mechanics matter to me):

The writing flows smoothly – there are barely any hitches that made me wonder "who wrote that part?" because the styles appear to be so similar, you just don't notice it.

I found only one or two typos, and neither were enough to jar me out of the moment. In fact I can't even remember where they were, they were that insignificant. (And yeah…sadly I do usually remember.) No "wrong name" confusion, no overly repetitiveness. The sex scene is very well done, very hot, and descriptive enough without making that "bow-chika-wow-wow" music go off in your head while you read it. I do prefer a little more sex in my stories, but then I'm a smut writer, and this is definitely not a smut book.

The book is set in New Orleans and, having been there, I can attest that the descriptions are spot on. They did a fine job of capturing the mood of the city.

The plot moves a little slow for me, but I don't typically read this sort of book, and I wouldn't have had Webb not been attached to it. Murder, mystery, intrigue – not really my thing. But again, I'm a smut writer. LOL I'm told, by a reliable source who loves this kind of book, that the pacing is "actually really f*cking good." And that's a high compliment from them.

That said, I really did enjoy the book. Typically I'd skip around in this sort of book, but I didn't feel the need for that. The writing was done well enough that it kept me engaged. The technical aspects seemed very sound, as well. No spots where I raised an eyebrow and went, "I really don't think that's how it's done."

The writing felt natural and organic – nothing felt forced. The dialog between the characters rang true to what I'd expect from what information I'd been given. I hate when dialog doesn't fit a character. There weren't any large moments of "telling."

Near the end, I kept glancing down at the page count, thinking to myself, "Bear, you bastard, you're going to cliffhanger this, aren't you?" And yeah, it's a cliffhanger. Of sorts. You know which general direction the story is going to go, but not which road, or what bumps/potholes will be along the way.

Second, the gooey of it all. (The gooey being the stuff in the middle – the stuff that actually makes you want to keep reading the book.):

The characters are well written, with enough background that, even though I hadn't read the other book in the series, I knew who they were, how they were connected, etc. They were real enough that I felt emotionally invested in them. And the tension between them was almost palpable at points. Enough that I wanted to smack the crap out of one of them more than once.

I liked the way the vampires and werewolves were portrayed. I enjoy settings where supernatural creatures and humans live together. Why? Because I'd like to think that humans can rise above and show understanding and tolerance. Speaking of that, there's absolutely a balance between the characters. It's not all rainbows and fluff for the supernatural folks, and not everyone jumps on the bandwagon. It's done very realistically. The vampires are realistic. No one sparkles. And the werewolves??? Holy. Hell. Yeah, the werewolves are sexy. Sign me up for a bite from that pack.

But the thing that really got me in the book? There's a nod. And no, I'm not talking about the physical movement of a head to indicate an agreement. I'm talking about a mention – a special little something. I do nods in my works all the time. I'll name a character after someone, I'll use a phrase someone uses. I'll use a quote from a movie. Sometimes, people get them. Sometimes, people don't. Sometimes, they're just for me.

But if you are a friend of Tom's you really should read the book, if for no other reason than the nod. You'll absolutely get it without any hinting, and when you do, when you get there, your heart will stop for the briefest of seconds and you'll whisper, "Oh…" And you'll pause on that page for a while, just staring at the words, and it'll take you a second to go forward. Trust me, it's worth it.