Continue reading »]]> Where did all the zombies go

Monsters fall in and out of fashion, but the zombies seem to have their fifteen minutes of fame right now. They appear on clothes, various novelty items, and writers compete to re-create what used to be a corpse reanimated by means of witchcraft. Much like the vampire, the zombie has been transformed by popular culture into a monster very different from the original ghoul, but these two share a variety of common characteristics. They are both animate corpses who feed on humans, but the typical way they are presented in fiction and film is vastly different and surprisingly, it was the zombie that used to be portrayed as less ferocious.

The vampire, a bloodthirsty creature from Slavic folklore became the undead aristocrat Dracula. Forever young, he evolved into a creature struggling with his own inhumanity, which gives him great potential to be the main character of a romantic, or psychological plot. The zombie on the other hand, owes its modern image to George A. Romero, the director of the influential horror movie “The Night of the Living Dead”. This new breed of monster is driven by the mindless desire for human flesh and in many ways, it mirrors our fears of a deadly epidemic science wouldn’t be able to stop. All it takes for the infection to be transferred is one bite and within hours (or minutes), the victim becomes a moving corpse, which starts to rot and fall apart: an image much more gruesome than even the original dried out vampire. Such fears work best for the background, as the zombies themselves are usually devoid of any emotion and dehumanized.

Instead of simply making the still-breathing cast run and hide, many writers opt for a more creative approach. The BBC mini-series  “In the Flesh” plays on the idea of zombiism as an illness. In a world where the undead are being released back into society that fears and hates them, the main character, a sufferer himself, needs to cope with the consequences of the decisions he’d made long ago. For him, rising from the dead is the chance for a new beginning, and using the zombie infection as background for this story is a very interesting move. In the world of “In the Flesh”, popular culture is essentially the same as the one we know, so there are many misconceptions about the character’s condition and to some extent, people’s fears mirror the worries that accompanied the closure of mental hospitals, which is another reference the viewers may recognize.

The loss of humanity is another common theme in zombie movies and fiction. It reflects the fear of what would happen if the laws society lives by crumbled. A zombie apocalypse is an excellent excuse to portray relationships within a group of survivors  who have to make up their own rules. Extreme situations can bring out the best and the worst in people, as shown in the popular tv show “The Walking Dead”. The main character, Rick, progresses from desperately trying to retain the humane rules he used to live by to becoming an absolute leader of his group. He’s still mostly a decent person, but some choices he makes in order to preserve the lives of his party are more than morally questionable. These include leaving a lonely man to die, but also handing over a fresh member of the group as a price for being left in peace by a larger gathering of people.

The very human Rick is contrasted with characters who don’t change their code of conduct after the zombie apocalypse, but also people who use the new situation as a way to gain absolute power, like the sadistic Governor. Of course, themes like these have been explored before, a prominent example being William Golding’s novel, “Lord of the Flies”, but using the zombie apocalypse as background is a clever, modern take on the topic. In a world like that, there is nowhere to run and all the freedom and happiness the characters can get depends on the structure of their group.

With time, such small societies could become vastly diverse which is one of the topics me and my co-writer intend to explore in our series “Gentlemen’s Tales of Love, Lust, and the Undead”. The general idea was that we wanted to create a gritty, low-tech steampunk world as a setting for numerous books that would be only loosely related, so that they could be read as stand-alones. At some point we started discussing the possible consequences of a zombie apocalypse occurring in the second half of the nineteenth century, and we decided it would be the perfect addition to the world we were building.

Most of the stories are set in an overcrowded alternative-Victorian London, a city surrounded by tall walls, plagued by political turmoil and the threat of revolution. Even the higher classes weren’t spared by the Plague, as with the land mostly inaccessible, their resources are melting at an alarming rate. “Scavengers”, a series of three novellas set in the world of “Gentlemen’s Tales of Love, Lust and the Undead” follows James, a man desperate to maintain his family’s status. In order to do that, he has to leave the safety of the London city walls and cross the zombie-swarmed countryside alongside a mercenary he hired for the job.

The zombie background in “Scavengers” delivers the necessary danger factor, but the undead are also used as research subjects at a medical university, a place we returned to in the novella “Off with Their Heads”, which tells the story of a misunderstood artist and his attempt to steal several zombie heads from the university for a moving sculpture he intends to make. The bold endeavor throws him into the arms of a prim and proper medical student, which is at the core of the story, with the zombies adding the element of grotesque and dark humor.

All the storylines I mentioned aren’t focused on the undead, the killing (even when there’s lot of it), or the constant fear. It’s the human characters that count, and it’s their passions, their difficult choices the reader is supposed to engage in. Like any other monster, the zombie is just an excuse to reveal human nature, so why limit its existence to the horror genre? As long as we treat the undead as background, the story itself can be anything: from comedy, through romance, all the way to mystery and melodrama. I’ve talked to some people who think genre crossing is risky business, but on the other hand, there are so many examples that show it can work surprisingly well. I’m all for it.

About the author

K.A. Merikan is a joint project of Kat and Agnes Merikan who jokingly claim to share one mind. They finish each other’s sentences and simultaneously come up with the same ideas. Kat and Agnes enjoy writing various kinds of stories, from light-hearted romance to thrillers. They love creating characters that are not easy to classify as good or evil, and firmly believe that even some villains deserve their happy endings. It is easiest to find them in galleries, good restaurants and historical sites, always with a computer or notebook, because for Kat and Agnes, every day is writing day. Future plans include lots of travel and a villa on the coast of Italy or a flat in Paris where they could retire after yet another crazy venture, only to write more hot m/m romance.

K.A. Merikan’s author page: http://kamerikan.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KAMerikan

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KA_Merikan

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6150530.K_A_Merikan

Continue reading »]]> Star Minds Genesis

by Barbara G.Tarn

First of all, I’d like to thank Zach for allowing me to ramble on his blog. April is (was – is almost over) Star Minds Month for me, when I even changed my Facebook cover just in case I forgot. Which is of course impossible, as I don’t seem to be able to let go of my first science-fantasy series.

I usually write fantasy (hence I’ll put back the old cover in May, so it won’t confuse my readers) because I’m a technophobe, but sometimes I like to think about space travel and the Star Nations who must be out there even if we’re not aware of them on our petty little planet. Star Minds was born sometimes in 2002, a new way of writing for me: until then, I had written down the stories as they came to me, improvising without much thought or outlining. They were one-draft stories mostly, as I didn’t have any beta-readers back then.

In this case, though, I brewed the characters and the story for a few months before actually starting to write. I did characters sheets for my 3 aliens (which doesn’t mean I stuck to those sheets, but I had never done it before) and then I wrote a first draft of Technological Angel – in my mother tongue (Italian).

I went to a couple of writing workshops, found some betas, and started rewriting. Six or seven drafts later, around 2005, I gave up on it and put it in a drawer. I liked it, but didn’t think any Italian traditional publisher would accept it as it was – GLB characters are not very welcome in this supposedly Catholic country. It wasn’t hard SF either, but some blending of character-oriented space opera that didn’t really fit anywhere.

Then last year I rewrote it in English (it’s a shame the Roman accent of the Italian character was lost, but he’s the reason why I will translate it back into Italian for a Xmas release), revising it completely. The aliens were changed the most, especially the cyborg Maela and were-panther Gaurishankar, not so much the protagonist Kol-ian.

New characters popped out as beta-readers suggested I merged some secondary ones, and I came up with a sequel – not what I originally had in mind (the two Earthlings, Chantal and Daniele, becoming adventurers), but the story kept unfolding under my eyes.

Now Technological Angel ends after the death of Bad Guy #1 and Mind Link starts from the original ending of the novel and expands on Ker-ris, originally a very secondary character who becomes co-protagonist of the whole series – hence he’s on the cover from Book 2! I’d elaborate on the changes, but it would mean “spoilers ahead”, so I won’t.

And because I had that wonderful couple of telepaths with a strong mind link, I unleashed the Sadist Author that I can be on them and added Book 3, where I recycled characters names that were removed from Book 1 – I kept the name but it’s different characters.

Slave Traders came out this month, hence April is Star Minds Month for me. Also because I’m writing Star Minds Snippets, short stories about the characters before the series starts. So I’m still in full Star Minds mode!

In June I shall work on the print version which will include the whole trilogy (120K) + Shooting Star, the former prologue of Technological Angel expanded into a short story. I will also do the ebook version of the complete series with bonuses. Star Minds Snippets should be out before the end of the year as well.

Letting go? No way. Next year I’ll work on the next generation… And then the evolution of this universe will lead to the Federation of Humanoid Planets – for which I already have a few stories to be translated and revised. So I guess my future writing is all set between Silvery Earth (adult fantasy) and the Star Nations… And I will always be QUILTBAG friendly!

Find out more about the series on my blog, or check the drawings I did since 2002 on DeviantART – and thank you for stopping by and reading this far…

About the author

Barbara G.Tarn is a writer, sometimes artist, mostly a world-creator and story-teller.
She’s been building her world of Silvery Earth for a number of years – stories, comprise shorts, novels and graphic novels. Used to multiple projects (a graphic novel is always on the side of the prose), she writes, draws, ignores her day job and blogs at: http://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com

Star Minds – Science fantasy series

Watch the book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajOm8DdRS44

Where to find the books:

Book 1 – Technological Angel out now on Smashwords, Kindle, B&N, Kobo, DriveThruFiction and XinXii.

Book 2 – Mind Link out now on Smashwords, Kindle, B&N, Kobo, DriveThruFiction and XinXii.

Book 3 – Slave Traders out now on Smashwords, Kindle, B&N, Kobo, DriveThruFiction and XinXii.

Look for the print version of the whole saga sometime this summer.

Continue reading »]]> Five Things We Didn’t Know About You

• Um, I’m from the West Country, so have a strong farmer’s accent – a bit like Pam Ayres.
• I’m a knowledge junkie and am always studying.
• I used to have a Great Dane
• I have a cat called Dexter – because he terrorizes the local wildlife.
• Disney movies can still make me cry.

How long have you been writing?

Very long time. I was about ten or eleven when I first had some poetry published. I wrote all through the teenage years then sporadically in adult life. This recent stint has been going on for about four or five years.

What were your goals and intentions in the books you’ve written, and how well do you feel you achieved them?

The only goal I have is to write books I want to read. So far, I’m pretty happy with the results. I’m a perfectionist, so I can always see where a piece could have done with more tweaking, but sometimes you just have to let go.

What do you think most characterizes your writing?

I’d say I have a very British style in that it is obvious from my work that I’m from the UK. Other than that, I’m not sure. I don’t tend to follow many rules. Of the titles released so far, there is no formula or template, they are all quite different. May be some of my guys are a bit angsty.

Are you a full-time writer? How does that affect your writing?

I’m a part-time writer. It means I don’t always have the time to focus on projects when the muse is chattering, and the muse gets cranky when he’s ignored so sometimes doesn’t talk when I then have time.

What are some day jobs that you have held? If any of them impacted your writing, share an example.

I’ve done a bit of everything from waitressing, working in a Chinese Take Away, and bank cashier, to writing training packages for global corporations, lecturing, field and aerial surveying, to being a stay at home Mum. Every single one of them has impacted on my writing in that they have shaped me as a person, from the environments to the people I’ve met.

What process did you go through to get your book published?

Finding King started life as a short story for an open call. The setting came first (The Breaker), then the characters. Once the characters showed up they write their own story. What seems like a million drafts and beta reads later, it was picked up by LT3. It was six months from acceptance to release. LT3 are great to work with so it was a good experience.

What do you like to read in your free time?

The bulk of my reading is non-fiction academic reading and research. Other than that I like to dabble around the MM Romance and Gay Fiction genres. I have the odd dance through other genres but not really for the last few years.

What projects are you working on at the present?

Lots and lots. The second part of The Breaker Trilogy, a sequel to Be My Boy, the 4th Volume of Alec Caldwell, and a few completely new things. There’s a PNF, a psychological thriller, and a contemporary on the block too.

What do your plans for future projects include?

The thriller is stepping things up a notch. Tons of research reading. It’s a psychological thriller first, there is a romantic element but it isn’t the focus of the story. There are some expectations for Alec Vol 4 and I hope to keep Alec’s fans happy. I know Be My Boy 2 is overdue, but Mitchell will have his say.

Anything else you’d like to add or share with our readers?

A huge thank you, the biggest of hugs. I couldn’t have done it without you. I’m still totally jazzed to think there are people out there – real live people – who are reading my stuff, and – how the hell did it happen? – liking it!! THE most AMAZING feeling in the world.

About Casey K Cox

Casey K Cox is an avid reader and author of m/m erotic fiction. Hailing from the West of England she tends to set her stories in the UK, but lately her characters have developed a taste for travel across the globe, the universe, and through time. Casey shares a home with her two grown-up kids and Dexter, the cat, who showed up one day and never left. Casey has written in many genres before settling into m/m romance after taking a trip on the wild side of m/m fanfic (Special Forces and The Administration) and has a free serial read—The Rise of Alec Caldwell—available online. You can follow her work at http://caseykcox.blogspot.com.

Continue reading »]]>
Click the banner to go to the master post of the blog hop where you can see the list of the participants who done the blog hop post.

(c) http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-zombie-image27438704

I’ve been so busy at work and trying to give myself a time to think of what I love. I love plenty but for this blog hop, I want to be in one specific topic and I finally decided on zombies since it has been an obsession for me. My partner, Neal rolled his eyes every time I talked about them. Yes, zombies are ugly as hell but to me, they’re the beautiful creatures. They are dangerous. They can’t die unless you shoot them in the head. Just look at the left. Isn’t he adorable zombie? He even wears my favorite color: orange and blue!

(c) http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photography-valking-zombie-image25708562

In some way, zombies are strong as heck. You shoot them down (missing his/her brain) and they get right back up. You stabbed his/her body, all it growled and starved for your fleshes without showing a sign that they actually feel the pain from the stabs. Sometime they run faster than you and sometime they are much slower, which give you a chance to escape without getting harm. One scratch or bite, you’re turned! The virus is that powerful. See how awesome and danger zombies are? It doesn’t think either. It just does whatever their instinct decides. It’s mainly the food that makes them do things humans can’t possible have done unless they have the murder in their blood. An innocent family that grows up causing no trouble and help put the trouble people away can easily becoming a vicious murder zombie whether they like it or not.

(c) http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-little-zombie-girl-image20872649

Even a little girl that looks so sweet and innocent can turn into them. Her strength will become much stronger than an average little girl’s strengths. That makes them even scarier. This reminds me of a scene from The Walking Dead where the Sheriff Rick just barely realized that zombies actually exist and he had to shoot down a little girl that was carrying the teddy bear just like the picture.

It’s always interesting to see how people create the zombies’ characteristics. It’s what attracted my attention to. I like from sweet looking zombie to scariest. The Walking Dead has plenty of scary zombies and it gets danger if there are swarm of them. In my novella, Zombie

(c) http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-zombie-why-won-t-you-die-image24649730

Rain contain zombies that happen to have a bit of supernatural power and I included that because I wanted to try to keep it as original as possible. It was a fun story to write. I honest don’t like when zombies actually talked until I watched Warm Bodies it has changed my mind. I liked the way the zombies changed in Warm Bodies. I’m not intending to spoil anything about Warm Bodies because it was released this year and not old enough for me to blabbing about the movie itself. I haven’t read the book, though, but plan to when I get a chance.

Now you get an idea why I love zombies. I can keep going and going but that’ll make y’all sleepy by the time you finished this blog and doesn’t realize there’s three prize I’m giving away!

Since this blog is dedicated to Less Than Three Press’s fourth birthday, I want to honor LT3 by doing three giveaways. The first prize will be fifteen dollars gift card to LT3′s bookstore. Second prize, pick ONE book in LT3′s backlist and I will personally buy and have it delivered to your inbox (e-Book only). The final prize will be the e-book copy of Zombie Rain by Zach Sweets (Me!), Zombie Wonderland by Piper Vaughn, and Midnight by Megan Derr.

Happy fourth birthday, Less Than Three Press!!

The Giveaway starts NOW until April 14! Don’t wait too long to miss out the great prizes! 

Continue reading »]]> When I sit down to write a story, I don’t always think about everything to do with the main characters, not right off. Most of the time, I have a picture in my head, a scene that I want to write and I have to get that down.  Sometimes, I have the characters names already picked out, sometimes I have to put “He1” and “He2” until I do.

But that is only to start.  Before long, these men take up major space in my head.  If I were asked pointed questions about how they’d react to a certain situation, I could probably answer them.  If I was to interview them and ask for favorite colors, foods, sexual positions (assuming they’ve had sex yet), all of those would be right there.

So, the idea of formally developing a character has never been something I’ve given much thought to.  Until someone suggested I talk about that.  So, I gave myself a little while to figure out how that works for me, did a bit of research (I swear, I make up excuses to do research) and finally decided how to approach it:  the same way I approach developing my characters.

Which is to say… I don’t, specifically.

They really do develop on their own.  I will do research into the background, the culture, their profession, that sort of thing.  I will consider (usually with pictures for reference) their physical appearances and decide who should have brown hair or black or blonde.

The one thing that I do take a good deal of time researching is names.  I like to have meaning behind the characters names, or have them really grab me.  That was the case with Bathasar and Teman.  Bathasar’s name was one I’d written down from a list of them I’d found on the internet.  I’ve seen a bunch of different variations on it including Baltazar and Baltar but it was the particular version – Bathasar that really got me. I knew that was it.

Teman took a little bit longer.  I waffled between it and another name, but in the end when I found the meanings and discovered that “Teman” meant “desert,” I knew I’d found it.  The nomad, the one who lets the wind take him where it will, who’s lived in the desert all his life… yeah, that was just perfect.

The other names took more time.  Jasim was originally Zalman but got changed. This was back when Teman was supposed to fall in love with his best friend (then he saw Bathasar, told me in no uncertain terms that’s who he wanted and that was it).  But I didn’t like a “Teman” and a “Zalman” together, so Zalman got put aside and Teman’s best friend was now Jasim.

One of the things I struggled with in naming was that if I wanted to keep the names at least relatively authentic sounding, I had to stick with Arabic bases.  Many of those names have apostrophes in them, making pronunciation difficult at best and almost impossible at worst.  And I know that everyone that reads the book will have in their head how they think the names should sound, I wanted to avoid making them get caught by a name that they couldn’t easily put a sound to.

That is one of the reasons that Darius and Cyrus got their names.  Two names that are still used today but were also common at the time Choices was set made it easy.  We’ve heard those names and, so, can easily put sounds to them.

But there are only so many of those to go around.

I now have three different baby name books and an entire list in my Chrome for naming websites.  I probably spent way too much time considering the names of secondary characters like the Lieutenant of the Guard (Hakeem) or the night monitor (Rasheed).  But I’m a detail person and I wanted it to be right. So I took the time to make lists of possible names, decide who should be what and what fits the personalities I had in my head.

Since I was mostly out of common names, it was time to go with the more unusual ones.  I pondered the slave master for quite a while.  I actually wasn’t looking at the list, my gaze was elsewhere.  But when I glanced down, my eyes landed on Salehi and I knew without a doubt, that’s who it was.  The name stuck and I could do nothing but agree.

Nadir happened in a similar way.  I had this image in my mind of a shier, quieter version of Teman, though with more classic olive/dark looks.  He had an easy smile but was just as serious as Teman.  So his name eluded me for quite a while.  I actually can’t remember what drew me to the name other than the sound, but when I saw it and said it in my head (then out loud – people really must think I’m weird at Starbucks), it simply fit.

The only other name that took me a long time was Mukesh.  I had to have the right name for him.  It had to sound right; it had to have the right meaning.  I couldn’t let this one be just any name.  So, I yet again got lost on the internet.  I found all manner of names but it was really an accident that I stumbled across this one.  I was reading through a list of… Hindi demons.  And lo and behold, I see “Mukesh” and it’s a “boar demon.”

That was it, I was done. Mukesh… was a pig demon!

I couldn’t have planned it better than that.

What this all comes down to is that I have realized that naming my characters by far takes up the most active thinking than the rest of the character development does in total.  But I like to have the names really fit my characters, rather than trying to make my characters fit my names.  I hope it shows.

Thanks so much to Zach for giving me some space today!  I’m so happy to be here and very appreciative of the opportunity.  Do remember to leave a comment. Let me know which names you liked, which you didn’t. For the writers, how do you pick names?  For the readers, do you always think of how a name should be pronounced?

* * *

Blurb:

Born and raised a gypsy in the late eleventh century, Teman values freedom over everything. He and his best friend, Jasim, are thieves for hire—until one night they’re caught and their precious freedom is revoked. Given the choice between the dungeons or palace pleasure slavery, they become slaves, but Teman vows to escape someday.

Bathasar doesn’t want the throne. He supports his brother instead, which suits their sadistic father, Mukesh. When Teman, the handsome slave Bathasar has secretly been watching, saves his life, Bathasar requests a slave for the first time. Before long, Bathasar and Teman fall in love. But all is not well. One day Mukesh brutalizes Teman before the court, angering the empress of a neighboring nation. To appease her, he then offers her Jasim as a gift, and Teman decides to stay with Bathasar for now—despite the abuse he may suffer.

The peace doesn’t last. Mukesh plans to invade Jasim’s new country, and Bathasar must find a way to stop the destruction. But if he succeeds, he’ll ascend to the throne and have the power to grant Teman his liberty. Then Teman will surely leave him. What other choice could a gypsy make?

Buy link:  http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3611

Continue reading »]]> Five Things We Didn’t Know About You

• I am a hopeless romantic. Literally. There are no hopes to be had that I will ever overcome that. Trust me, I’ve tried.
• I get along with animals far better than I will ever get along with human beings. In the entire time my partner and I have been doing rescue/rehab with animals I have only ever been bitten badly once. People, however …
• I have yet to find a comfortable place within sub-genres that I wish to rest in. While my work is always romance first and foremost (usually with a side of erotica) it tends to skip around from there. I’m currently working on a fantasy novel and a horror/suspense.
• I live in Southern Ontario but I despise everything winter-related:  cold, snow, ice, winter holidays and sports. If I never saw another snowflake in all of my existence, I would not feel bad in the least.
• Disney movies can still make me cry.

How long have you been writing?

I’ve been writing since I was eight; at least, as far as I can remember anyway. Back when everyone else in class was opting for projects that centered on artwork, I was the one opting to do the book reports and the essays. I actually used to sell (I assume this confession can no longer get me in any trouble) completed essays, creative writing, and reports to other students. The best part about that little process was the fact that it always seemed to snag me the temporary attention of the boys I’d set my heart on back in September that wouldn’t come near me any other time. To use an overused phrase … it was kind of a win-win for me.

What were your goals and intentions in the books you’ve written, and how well do you feel you achieved them?

Every book has a different story to tell. Înflori was about acceptance and triumphing over fears and loss. It was a novel about saviours and being willing to accept the gift of being saved. I’m happy with the end result and though it didn’t get a lot of circulation, it did really well with ratings.

Honour however, is a novel about respect and personal freedom. It’s about recognizing love for what it really is:  a hell-ton of work and compromise; but knowing at the end of the day that it’s the reason that you carry on and keep going. Because as hard as it might be to keep making things work true love is worth fighting for.

If I had to find a single goal, a specific overall intention to what I write and why I write it, I would have to say renewal. I want to leave behind a little piece of “hey, this is all worth it” in my reader. I know how harsh reality can be. A good romance can throw a little hope back in; put a smile on someone’s face and make them feel good.

What do you think most characterizes your writing?

If by characterize we mean, “to describe”, then the same old label applies:  M/M Erotic Romance. However if by characterize we mean “typify”, then I’d say what sets my stories apart are the fact that sex is as important as the story, and the story is as important as the sex. I like to make sure the two walks hand-in-hand. Preferably into the sunset. While gazing into each other’s eyes.

What process did you go through to get your book published?

My first M/M novel was not intended to be a submission for publication, but a friend of mine fell in love with the novel when he read it. He was insistent that I take it forward and right about that time I saw Less Than Three (LT3)’s ad. I fell in love with their publishing company immediately. They were my first choice and I have to say that I was kind of lucky in the fact that Înflori was picked up by them right away. I’ve stayed with them since then. I like how they work and the people are friendly, respectful and supportive. I’d love to be able to give your readers a paragraph of advice here on how to get themselves published, but I was blessed and probably one of the few that can honestly say … I just clicked send. But maybe that is the advice at the end of the day? Find a publisher that you fall in love with, that as you read their submission expectations you think, “That’s me! That’s my work they’re talking about!”

What do you like to read in your free time?

My reading is completely dependent on my mood at the time. I like most everything from horror to romance. I like erotica and outright smut. The only thing I’m a little fussy on is fantasy. I’m one of the few that will pass by a Potter book marked “free” and leave it. My true fiction loves will always be King and Palahniuk.

What projects are you working on at the present?

“Honour” was released on March 6th so these days I’m mostly working at getting that information out. “Sonata” has been accepted and is expected to be released in July. I’ve got two stories, “Rockabye”, for LT3′s “Rocking Hard” anthology and “MEMWARS!”, for LT3′s “If You’re Reading This” anthology coming out as well.

I’m nose deep and way behind on a prompt fest that I started back in November. So I’m working at chipping away at those stories.

And, finally, I have one new novel that I’ve completed and that I’m working through the final processes on. (By final I mean, of course, switching from “Just send it!” to “Oh my God this is awful, delete it,” time and time and time again.)

What do your plans for future projects include?

Let’s see … short term I have a fantasy novel and longer term a destination romance, a coming to terms romance, and a horror/suspense. At this point I can’t determine if I can actually refer to that last one as horror or if it’ll fall into the milder side of that label.

There’s also a wolf novel that’s been pawing for attention. And a romance about a dead pastor. And the one about the environmental technician students. And the librarian and the researcher. And that one vanilla one …

Anything else you’d like to add or share with our readers?

Yes. I’d like to thank both you and your readers for your time. I can’t tell you how honoured I am to be here. To that end, as my way of showing my appreciation, I’d like to offer your readers the opportunity to win a copy of Honour, in the ebook format of their choice. Anyone who leaves a comment is eligible, assuming they are of legal age and able to legally accept the work, and winners will be selected via a random number generator.

And if I can be so bold … for those who are interested … I present:

Honour

M/M Historical Romance
45,500 words

Recently docked after a voyage abroad, Emmett wants only to find a warm bed and good food, for himself and the cabin boy he’s taken into his care. Those plans are impeded, however, by an altercation in the streets—with a man he realizes too late is England’s heir to the throne, Prince Andrewe.

When the encounter unexpectedly leads to a position in the royal household attending the prince, Emmett is not certain what to think. On one hand, it’s a reliable income and ensures the safety of his charge. On the other, it’s neither the life Emmett knows, nor an environment that he’s comfortable in. Left to learn his lessons the hard way, Emmett spends his days contending with a spoiled, infuriating prince who leaves him in a constant tangle of emotions.

Then he begins to hear whispers of treason and must make a choice:  defend Prince Andrewe, or betray him.

Available at: Less Than Three Press

About A.F. Henley

Henley was born with a full-blown passion for run-on sentences, a zealous indulgence in all words descriptive, and the endearing tendency to overuse punctuation. Since the early years Henley has been an enthusiastic writer, from the first few I-love-my-dog stories to the current leap into erotica. Henley shares a home in rural Southern Ontario with both life partner and a plethora of furry, scaled and winged rescue friends.

A self-professed Google genius, Henley lives for the hours spent digging through the Internet for ‘research purposes’ which, more often than not, lead seven thousand miles away from first intentions but bring Henley to new discoveries and ideas that, once seeded, tend to flourish.

Henley has been proudly working with LT3 since 2012, when Înflori made its debut, and is thrilled to add two more novel titles, Honour and Sonata, as well as two anthology stories, Rockaybe and MEMWARS! to the docket for 2013.

Comments, kudos and signature card requests are happily received at afhenley.com.

Back to Zach Sweets! The contest will be open from today (March 8, 2013) and it’ll be closed on March 15, 2013. The winner will be chosen through the random number generator. You must be 18 or older to participate. Just leave a comment with your ebook format preference (ePub, PDF, Kindle). Thank you for reading!

Continue reading »]]> One of my favorite tropes in M/M romance—and, in fact, any romance—is the best friend’s brother storyline. Anyone familiar with my work knows I already used this trope once in my novella, Wanting. Well, I visit that storyline again in Asylum, but this relationship is very different from the one Laurie and Jonah share in the Wanting series.

Johnny is a character who generally tries to do the right thing. He’s been attracted to his best friend’s younger brother, Brennan, for a number of years. He’s resisted that temptation for a few reasons, but the main two are: 1) he worries about the possible effects to his relationship with Eddie, Brennan’s older brother, and, 2) he has a hard time separating his desire for Brennan from the entire list of reasons why (in his opinion) they shouldn’t be involved.

Brennan is younger, newly twenty and so not a kid anymore, but Johnny can’t completely shake his memories of the Brennan he knew in childhood. The very last thing Brennan wants is for Johnny to see him as a kid. He sneaks into Johnny’s bed one night, stark naked, and although Johnny’s brain protests—loudly—he can’t resist the physical temptation when it’s basically laid out in front of him. Of course, once that line is crossed, there isn’t any going back, and Johnny finds himself torn between lust and loyalty to a friend who might not be a daily presence in his life anymore but still plays a very large role in his past.

There is a taboo when it comes to getting involved with the sibling of a close friend. If the relationship doesn’t work out, you risk losing the friendship. If it does work out, well, there are still issues to deal with. The relationship with your friend will be affected either way. Will they be accepting? In Wanting, Marc, Jonah’s older brother, tells Laurie that he can’t think of anyone better for Jo. After all, he and Laurie are best friends and have been almost since birth. If Laurie is good enough to be his best friend and essentially a part of his family, why wouldn’t he be good enough to date Jonah? In Marc’s mind, it’s simple. In Asylum, we only have Johnny’s perspective, his fears and concerns. Johnny knows what Brennan’s family wants for him—college, a home, a solid career. Basically the complete opposite of what Johnny has, which is a rootless and nomadic existence as he travels from one state to another with the haunted house his father founded. Johnny enjoys what he does. He has no aspirations about going to college. But while that’s good enough for him, he has himself convinced that Brennan deserves better, and his fears lay the foundation for what becomes a huge point of contention in their relationship.

Johnny doesn’t handle being involved with his best friend’s brother as gracefully as Laurie does, but above all, he tries to do what he believes is best for everyone involved. To find out how it all turns out, you’ll have to read his and Brennan’s story! But I’ll leave you with a couple of questions: Have you ever been attracted to your best friend’s sibling? Did you get involved? Did it work out?

I was very much attracted to the older brother of my best friend in high school, and he wanted me too. He flirted with me at my prom and kissed and snuggled me and let me wear his jacket. My best friend did not react very well. In fact, I knew almost immediately she didn’t like the idea of us together for whatever reason. Out of respect for her, I didn’t go out with him like he asked, and it was probably the best decision I could have made. But sometimes I can’t help but wonder what might have been…

Asylum is available now! You can buy it at the links below:

Amazon

ARe

Smashwords

Blurb:

Johnny Cairo is known as the Scaremaster. He works for Fear Asylum, his father’s traveling haunted house, and makes his living terrifying people. But Johnny has never frightened easily himself. That is, until he wakes up in the middle of the night and finds his best friend’s younger brother in his bed. Naked.

Johnny’s fought against his attraction to Brennan for years, worried that giving in to it will lead to losing the friendship he shares with Brennan’s older brother, Eddie. As much as he fights it, though, the lure of having Brennan in his bed proves too hard to resist. They start an affair that’s supposed to be no-strings-attached, but Johnny’s persistent denial of the growing feelings between them leads to a rift that might not be mendable. Then an accident at Fear Asylum nearly costs Johnny the one thing he holds dear, and he learns that while his nickname might be the Scaremaster, he knows next to nothing about real fear.

For updates and information about Piper, her other releases, and where else you can find her on the Web, visit: http://pipervaughn.com

Continue reading »]]> Celestial Beauties

Thank you, Zach, for having me visit. Seems we share a love of world-building in fantasy.

My fantasy empire of Uttor is not located on Earth, at least not on Earth as we know it. The continents are completely different, as are the lands and cultures for which they’re home. The people and their surroundings resemble those of our own past only because the inhabitants of Uttor are human.

I never really say whether the planets and the stars are the same. Most inhabitants of the Uttoran world have accepted that their world is not flat. They’re still convinced, however, that the heavens, including the sun, orbit around them.

For my newest Uttor novel, Dangerous Beauty, I use the character of Endre—one of the captive princes of conquered Sebboy—to accomplish some intellectual world-building. A society’s stance toward science and discovery is part of its fabric and I had a great time exploring attitudes toward science in Uttor and its neighboring kingdoms.

One of the things I most enjoyed about writing the story was my research into our own science history. In particular, I sought to learn more about when knowledge was acquired relative to other advancements. I also delved into medieval notions of celestial mechanics. The movement of the heavens figures both factually and symbolically in Dangerous Beauty and I was entranced by the ways early scientists conceived of relationships between the sun, planets, and stars. They understood a great deal more than we often realize…and were inventive in putting together the pieces.

Among the things I found were beautiful—gorgeous, really—models of celestial spheres and their arrangements. Just take a look at these.

Armillary spheres. Our forefathers created elaborate moving models showing how the world stood at the center of the heavens and the planets, sun, and stars moved around it. These models are sophisticated, as was the science that went into making them, and many are incredibly beautiful. They represented the work of the Creator, after all. Astronomers were the scientists of their age and the advisers of kings and priests, if not priests and kings themselves.

Armillary spheres were among the first complex mechanical devices and the highly skilled craftsmen who made them developed techniques that led to other inventions, such as clocks, engines, and even guns.

Astrolabes. Somewhat less beautiful but also more widely used were flat measuring devices called astrolabes. The word comes from the Greek for “star-taker” and the devices measured the inclinations of the horizon and celestial objects. These measurements were then used to triangulate location, calculate local time, and cast horoscopes.

Astrolabes were first devised by the ancient Greeks, but were perfected by Muslim astronomers. Mariners used a variation of the astrolabe until the late 1600s, when the sextant was invented.

Though we often think of ancient and medieval science as primitive, in some areas it was very sophisticated. I put that sophistication to work in my stories whenever possible, because intelligent characters are more fun than unintelligent one (well, most of the time) and intelligent people are often highly educated. Whatever science is in play, they’ll generally know.

Which is how I wrote this scene in Dangerous Beauty:

When Endre didn’t deny it, or seek to move away from the hand touching his face, Arshad dipped his head and kissed those soft pink lips. They parted beneath his, welcoming, yielding, not at all the lips of the resistant man he had kissed in Pontio’s garden. He tasted affirmation, followed immediately by nervousness as Endre wrenched away.

“I can’t—”

“Say nothing. I will give your father nothing, not a single word nor deed, to use against you. But if I cannot court you, I will yet try to win your good opinion of me. I am forbidden from giving you gifts, but I will lend you a book. I brought it with me. It is over there, in my pack.” He had dropped his pack beside the door upon entering the room earlier and not taken it when he left. Going over to it, he reached inside and pulled out a slim, leather-bound volume, which he walked back to place into Endre’s hands.

The young man’s eyes widened at seeing the name on the cover. “Foerdrat? Configurations in Celestial Geometry?” He leafed through the first pages, pausing to study drawings and calculations. “I follow his work. I’ve never heard of this book!”

“It’s new. He paid to have three copies made, one of which he sent to me along with a request for funds so he might afford to pay for more. I sent him a substantial sum because I believe the work is important and deserves distribution.”

“It does! I know this without having read it.”

“Then you will allow me to loan the book to you?”

“Yes.” The word was greedy, acquisitive. Endre flipped another page, devouring the text. He looked like a schoolboy, years stripped from his face by his joy of learning.

“Excellent. There, that is why I came to see you.”

Yanked from his study, Endre shot him a bemused look. He limped two steps to the bed and laid the book upon it before facing him again. “Only that? To lend me this book?”

“No. To gain your good opinion. Our last meeting did not set the proper tone for the relationship I truly wish. I was disrespectful and—”

If only he could articulate what relationship he was trying to convey. He barely knew for himself. There was nothing chaste or pure about what he wished from Endre, aside from the honor of being the young man’s teacher.

Blurb:

Once the Kordeun family ruled Sebboy…now they are imperial captives of the Uttoran Emperor. Devout and studious, Endre Kordeun loves his family and will do anything to free them, even if that means pretending he’s gay so he can pass messages to his father’s shady allies. With his golden good looks and a beautiful male courtesan posing as his lover, Endre finds Uttor’s decadent society more than willing to believe his ruse.

But when a passionate kiss from a dark, gorgeous man unlocks feelings Endre had been hiding even from himself, lies start to unravel. Arshad, prince of Tabar, is Endre’s match in every way…including a shared love for science and celestial mechanics. Going forward with his charade will be dangerous, and not only because he might be discovered. In that event, even his own father would kill him. How much is Endre willing to risk for love?

* * * *

Dangerous Beauty is available at Resplendence Publishing and also at AllRomance.

* * * *

Thanks again, Zach, for having me stop over. If anyone should want to find me, my blog is a good place to start: http://talismania-brilliantdisguise.blogspot.com/
I’m also on Goodreads and Twitter