A2D

Okay, so there’s been stuff happening with me. Sorry I haven’t kept you up-to-date, but I’ve been in one of my moods, though I seem to be coming out of it fast 🙂 So that’s good.

small-HeroesVillainsHeroes & Villains is releasing August 14th (tomorrow!) from Less Than Three Press. You can pre-order it now if you don’t already have a copy. Or if you want to try and win yourself a copy, follow the blog tour. A winner will be drawn August 19th, and since there’s five stops, you have five chances to win. Awesome.

And if you don’t know Heroes & Villains, it’s the first full-length novel in my superhero series chronicling the life of Vereint and Warrick.

Set in a semi-dystopian world where everyone can have superpowers if they’re lucky in the genetic lottery or they have enough money to buy some, Vereint starts off wanting to be a superhero like his idol Blue Ice. He was lucky enough to be born with metabilities, so he set off to build himself a secret identity and became the superhero Starburst.

Quickly nicknamed Candy Ass for being so lame.

Everyone seems against him, especially the man he spent his teenaged years admiring, Blue Ice. It feels as though nothing he does is every enough, he needs to break out of his humdrum life where he has an office job for money and is mercilessly mocked every time he goes out to help people. Nothing he does seems to alleviate the public’s opinion and he feels like he can’t take it anymore…

So he doesn’t. He sheds his superhero skin and becomes the supervillain Darkstar.

He’s no Lex Luthor plotting and planning world domination. He’s out to have some fun and make some money. He’s not interested in atrocities, especially when they’re done in his name. He’s got no interest in minions or followers and he’s a little creeped out by all the fanfic. He’s just a guy with superpowers having a good time and committing some crimes.

Though it’s kind of cool that Blue Ice is his arch-nemesis. There’s nothing like making the guy that bullied you squirm.

Darkstar x Blue Ice.

(And suddenly I started sounding like a commercial for toys. Unfortunately, I talk like that in real life too. Never ask me to describe a stirling engine. It gets real weird real fast.)


A2D-ArcOnePlus there’s this 🙂

Across Two Divides: Arc One comprises Chapters 1-10 and is available now from Amazon and Smashwords for $2.99.

You can still catch up with the free version at FictionPress. But look, I made such a nice cover! I’m so proud of myself.

This is my soap opera romance novel family life story. I’m already planning out all these story arcs that these people can go through. The assassination attempts, the killer allergies, the grief for a cousin that’s gone… This is totally my soothing brain story.

And this is the same world as The Panic Pure and From Diamond to Coal, so there might be crossings with Arianetta and his creepiness, or William with his giant robots.

EXCERPT:

-FRANKIE-

Sitting broody on his couch wasn’t something that Frankie did very often, though he’d caught himself drinking more and more until he was starting to get vaguely concerned. It was one thing to be a social drinker, and something completely different for him to need a drink in his hand to be able to even think about facing his day.

Looking around his living room, his accomplishments hanging from every wall, he should have felt proud but it was just empty accolades from people he didn’t care about.

He looked down at the magazine still held in his hand and tossed it away with a grimace before taking another swallow from his tumbler of scotch.

It was just a stupid magazine and he shouldn’t let it get to him, but it was the little things that always ended up cutting him the most. He’d had a lot of respect for Hester Mann, but it looked like that feeling wasn’t returned, to the point that she’d written such an awful article about him. It was like a straight stab to the heart.

Frankie let himself flop sideways on the couch, resting his head on a fat red decorative pillow, the rich brocade probably leaving marks against his cheek.

As a kid he’d believed that fame would bring happiness and everything that he wanted out of life. Instead, he’d found himself emptier than ever.

“I’ve got a black hole heart,” he muttered, then barked a laugh that sounded more like the start to tears.

He held his arm up in front of his face, making the medical alert bracelet dance and sparkle against his wrist bone. He could see the reflected light hitting the opposing wall and that entertained him for a while. Anything not to think about Hester Mann and her strange vendetta against him.

His thoughts were broken by the vibrating buzz of his phone in his front pocket and he had to fumble around to get it out. “Hello?” He was proud that the word came out clearly and not the slurred mess it might have been.

“Francis? This is Christian.” There was something dark in the man’s voice that had Frankie forcing himself upright on the couch. He didn’t even care that Christian had used his real name.

“What’s wrong?” he demanded.

There was the sound of a heavy sigh. “Do you think you could come and see Nicholas?”

“Why? Is he all right?” Frankie was worried, more worried than he’d thought he could be. There was just something so fragile about Nicholas, a brokenness that no one had ever been able to completely fix.

“I don’t know,” Christian said. “He was fine at work, then there was a bit of an accident with some spilled coffee and now he’s crawled into bed and I just don’t know what’s going on with him.”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Frankie said. “You still at that one hotel?”

“Yeah, the same one we always stay at,” Christian said, then gave the room number. “Hurry.”

“I’ll be there.”

Hanging up his phone, Frankie wasn’t sure he would be able to make it there as easily as he’d thought. He’d already drunk more than enough scotch and he wasn’t sure just how steady his legs were going to be, but it wasn’t like he had a lot of choice. Nicholas needed him to be there for him.

He’d failed before, but never again.

/EXCERPT

Witch King at Amazon

NaNoWriMo seems to be going well 🙂 I’m actually pretty happy with what I’ve written so far and the story is coming together at a good pace. I’m very pleased.

I keep checking on Smashwords to see if anyone has downloaded samples of my NaNo and I would really like to see what people think of it so far, but that’s just one of those things. Reviews come when reviews come.

EXCERPT —

Nicholas woke with a groan. “Stop shaking me, you’ll give me the syndrome.”

“You’re not a baby,” Christian sounded amused, “so get up before I pour water on you.”

Knowing that there was no way Christian was going to let it go, Nicholas forced himself to sit up. His hair felt crazy around his head and his eyes were so dry and sore that he had to rub them until he could see clearly. “Why do you have to do this to me?”

“Because your brother made me promise to get you up so you could arrange our lunch with that guy from last night,” Christian said patiently. He knew that Nicholas was not at his best just after waking up.

“What are you talking about?” Nicholas threw his legs over the side of the bed and stood up, his hand going out to catch himself on the hotel nightstand before he went over. He yawned hugely and stretched his spine until it made the unpleasant cracking sounds Christian always professed to hate.

“You told that David guy that you would let him take you to lunch, remember?” Christian followed him into the bathroom and unscrewed the lid of a water bottle while Nicholas urinated. “Frankie said to make sure you called the guy.”

Nicholas sighed and flushed the toilet. “Do you have anything for my head?”

“Of course.” Christian filled a water glass and shook two Advil out of a small bottle. “Wash your hands,” he ordered, then preceded to ignore Nicholas’ roll of the eyes and turned on the tap for him.

“Yes, master.” Nicholas quickly washed his hands, then reached for his toothbrush. He couldn’t even manage to drink plain water with the horrible taste in his mouth. He’d always been finicky.

Christian was ever patient and had the water and pills held out toward him before he lowered the towel from his face. “Swallow these and drink all the water. I don’t know why you have to get so wasted whenever we go anywhere.”

“Because it makes me feel special.” Nicholas gave his best dipshit smirk and reached for the pills. “You’re such a dear.”

“Darling, you are a real bitch in the morning,” Christian said. He watched to make sure Nicholas really swallowed the analgesics, then pressed the water on him. “At least you’re getting some color back in your cheeks. We’ll eat some breakfast, then you can take a shower and we’ll go.”

“Why do you always have to push me around?” Nicholas gave him a quick shoulder bump as he took the glass in his hand and began drinking the water. “I’m not a little kid, you know.”

“Of course you’re not.” Christian gave him a catlike look of amusement. He was dressed in black slacks and a bright blue sweater. His black hair was neatly combed and he smelled like clean skin and cologne.

Nicholas huffed a breath and thunked the glass down on the counter. He was dressed in his pajamas, his hair was a mess, and he felt absolutely ruined from the night before, and Christian looked like he’d stepped out of a magazine. It just wasn’t fair.

“What?” Christian asked, quirking a brow.

“Nothing,” Nicholas said hurriedly, then felt a twinge of guilt go through him and he couldn’t even say why. He thought maybe he should tell Christian that he was having some of his weird moods again, but then Christian would get all paranoid and they were only going to be in Seattle for a few weeks before they went back to Malibu. Everything was going to be all right and he could maintain for a little while.

“Let’s get some food,” he said, pushing himself so he could be the first one out of the bathroom. Those bright lights would make it easier for Christian to read his face and there wasn’t anyone on the world that knew him better. One good look and it would be over.

“I’ve already called for room service and it should be here…” There was a knock at the door and Christian gave a pleased sounded grunt. “Right on time. You sit at the table.”

Nicholas mock-grumbled as he settled down on one of the chairs at the round table. He tried to flatten his hair with his hands, then gave it up as a lost cause even before Christian let the stiffly uniformed girl in with her service cart of covered dishes.

Pulling his feet up on the chair in front of him, he wrapped his arms around his legs and leaned his cheek against his knees. He watched Christian’s face as he watched the girl arrange the food on the table–scrambled eggs, turkey sausage, Belgian waffles, a whole platter of sliced fruit, orange juice, and coffee–he was very focused on the task.

Most of the time it was great that Christian cared about him so much. It was comforting and made him feel safer than he ever had before in his life. But then there were the times when Christian sacrificed something from his own life to make Nicholas happy and it was too much.

It hadn’t taken Nicholas long to realize that Christian seemed to really get something out of making him happy. There would be a glow about him and he’d have this satisfied smile and he didn’t seem to care what he had to do to give Nicholas whatever he thought he wanted. It was nice to be fawned over a bit and he loved that Christian cared that much about him.

But there were some times when Christian went overboard. He had no problem rearranging his schedule at the tip of a hat if it had something to do with Nicholas, and because of that he’d managed to offend some very important people. He’d lost out on several multi-million dollar deals and not given them a moment’s thought. And when Nicholas had found out what was going on… he’d been horrified to think that he’d been abusing Christian’s kindness and he was a terrible friend.

So he’d been careful about the things he asked for and he kept a copy of Christian’s schedule overlapping his on his phone. He was trying really hard to be responsible and he knew their Seattle trip was anything but a vacation and whatever Chirstian was doing was incredibly important for the future of DeLongeria Enterprises.

His bit of crazy was going to have to take a back burner to Christian’s schedule. Nicholas had made a promise to himself that he would maintain his control this whole trip. He could wait to fall apart when they got home and Christian could call the Doc.

Christian signed the receipt with a flourish, making sure to write in a very generous tip, then watched to make sure the girl and her cart completely left the suite. He was paranoid about that kind of thing, though he’d never said why.

Nicholas grabbed his fork and reached out to begin poking food onto his plate. He was feeling much better than he had when he’d woken up, but that didn’t really mean a whole lot. He still felt as though his head was stuffed full of straw.

“Here, stop, let me do that.” Christian gently pushed his fork out of the way and picked up Nicholas’ plate. He had an easy kind of grace as he used the serving spoons and tongs Nicholas had ignored. “You’re like a savage or something. If I left it up to you, you’d stab things with sticks and cook them over a fire. Or half-cook them knowing you and your impatience.”

Nicholas rolled his eyes and sucked on the tines of his fork. The smell of the food was making his stomach rumble, which was weird because he hadn’t even felt hungry before. “You nag so much I think I can hear your voice in my head even when you’re not there.”

“Good,” Christian set the plate down in front of Nicholas, “hopefully the me in your head at least tries to keep you out of trouble. I could use the support of someone that knows just how wily you can be.”

“Whatever.” Nicholas slid his feet back on the floor, curling his toes against the morning chill. He used his butter knife to first slather his waffle with strawberry jam, then quickly cut it into bite-sized pieces, then shrugged and cut his sausage up too.

Christian prepared two cups of coffee, sliding Nicholas’ across to him first. He always knew just the right amount of sugar and cream to mix in and Nicholas didn’t hesitate to give him a heartfelt “Thank you” before taking the first sip. He already felt as though he was being brought back to life by the delicious brew.

“Eat your breakfast and we’ll call that guy,” Nicholas said, pointing his fork rudely.

“You’re a real class act.” Christian shook his head fondly, but quickly swirled some maple syrup on his own waffle before sitting down to eat. “He better take us to a nice place.”

“You’re a snob.” Nicholas speared a cut strawberry and popped it into his mouth. “I’m the one that will be deciding whether I want to date the guy. Besides, there’s no way you’d let me live in a dirty hovel raising barefoot children, is there?” He raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

Christian’s nostrils flared. “Of course not. Just because you always feel like you need to sacrifice yourself for the good of other people, that doesn’t mean I’d ever let that happen to you.”

Nicholas hid a smile and went about the business of eating. “I’ll call the guy. We can find out if he’s good enough to date me.”

“You don’t have to put it like that,” Christian said. “At least don’t say it like that, especially if we’re in public.”

“It’s just the two of us here right now. Get over it.”

/EXCERPT