Excerpt

I’m still doing the Scapple beta, but not as seriously as those first few days. I’ve turned in a few bugs and hiccups to the team and it’s likely that I’ll be buying the program when it’s out of beta. Until then I don’t want to save too much to it.

Still, I’ll try to get a screencap of my mind map. It basically spans all of my stories and I had a lot of fun making it. There may have been some squeeage.

Scapple for Windows is supposed to be $15. Which is reasonable. Scapple is by literatureandlatte.com, the same guys that do Scrivener.

*

small-HeroesVillainsThe winner of the Heroes & Villains blog tour giveaway: Sin Chan. I’ll be contacting you shortly. Congratulations.

Thanks to everyone that participated. I hope you all had a great weekend.

-I wrote a list of everyone’s name with a number beside it, then went to random.org and had the numbers drawn. Easy peasy.

*

Here, have an excerpt of the upcoming Allies & Enemies, sequel to Heroes & Villains. It continues the story of Darkstar, though several years later.

Honestly, it’s really hard for me to find good excerpt material that doesn’t spoil the story. A lot happens in Allies & Enemies, but it’s all tied into the main plot. It’s kind of a struggle because I’ve never been very good at keeping any kind of secret. I want to just babble it all away, but I can’t.

Anyways, here’s a scene where Melissa of the Fabulous Kims is doing some stuff. Yeah, stuff.

Like helping to stop a mad bomber in Megacity.

Title: Allies & Enemies
Author: Harper Kingsley
World: Heroes & Villains
Genre: mm superhero novel
Word count: 136,000
Excerpt rating: teen+

Summary: Melissa gets herself into some trouble.

EXCERPT:

It was strange how color saturated everything had begun to look to her exhausted eyes. A bone deep weariness had settled over her and it was a battle to lock her knees to keep from stumbling.

More than anything she wanted to slip into her own bed. She wanted to nuzzle her cheek against her pillow and close her eyes, just for a little while. A few desperate hours of rest.

Instead Melissa was once again helping to defuse a bomb. It was one of dozen she had to deal with before she would be allowed to sleep.

It made her want to sleep.

She blinked her stinging eyes quickly and didn’t let her eyelids stay closed for too long. That way lay madness and a crashing down on the building below while the bomb exploded, killing her and anyone nearby.

At least this time she was partnered with Leithfold, a quiet superhero that didn’t seem to hate her the way Sonic Pulse did. He did his job anyway, with an easy competence she couldn’t help admiring.

Melissa gripped the side of the building with her gloved hands and felt the tugs of the straps around her waist. Once again she was to use her ability to fly to help an earthbound colleague dangle from the side of a building. It felt very spy movieish and she might have been amused if she wasn’t so tired.

“Hey, what’s going on up there?”

The irritated snap to Leithfold’s voice jerked Melissa back into focus. She hadn’t even felt her eyes close and had begun to sag against the side of the building, releasing some of the tension in Leithfold’s line.

“Sorry,” she called down, then forced her eyes to stay open. Her neck felt made of rubber and her head kept sagging forward or back and she would have to snap upright. Everything was getting a bit hazy around the edges and she didn’t know how much more she could take.

“After this, I’m going to need a break,” she said into her comm.

“I hear you. We can stop off for some coffee before heading to the next target,” Leithfold said.

Melissa held back a groan. Her stomach churned from all the coffee and energy drinks she’d downed already. It was only luck and a damn good super metabolism that kept her hands from shaking. She didn’t know how much more she could take before she started screwing up.

Maybe I can get in a power nap somehow?

She snorted. Where had all that boundless energy she’d once possessed gone? Now she just felt tired; jaded and tired, her dreams ground small by reality.

“All right, got it,” Leithfold said. “Pull me on up.”

Melissa grabbed the climbing ropes and hauled the much larger man up onto the roof. “Do you really think we’re going to manage all the bombs?”

Leithfold tugged his uniform straight. “Probably not. Considering the law of averages, there’s a good chance a few bombs will be missed.”

“Wow, that’s pretty negative thinking,” Melissa said.

“Truth hurts. And there’s hundreds, if not thousands of bombs set up all over the city, and he’s still making more. We’ve only got a finite number of superheroes to handle things. It’s gonna make things messy before it gets over.”

Melissa rolled her eyes. “Well, you’re just full of puppy kisses and bunny fluff.”

He gave a surprised sounding laugh. “Haven’t you heard? Negativity is the new positivity.”

“Whatever. Let’s get out of here.”

Moving around and having someone to talk to had perked up her energy, but she knew it wasn’t going to last. What she desperately needed was a good night’s sleep, something she would only be able to dream about for awhile yet.

“Well isn’t this cozy,” a raspy voice drawled.

Melissa whirled around, dropping the rope she had been coiling. “Whoa, who are you?”

The guy looked like he’d escaped from some hell or other. His head had been shaved and was only now speckled with stubble. His cheekbones in his emaciated face were sharp protrusions, the bone trying to tear through the fragile skin. His eyes were sunk deep in his face, shadowed and insane.

Just looking at him gave Melissa a foreboding chill. This wasn’t just some homeless person as she’d first assumed. This man was dangerous.

“You’re going to come with me,” he said, staring at Melissa.

Leithfold stepped half in front of her. “Now look, I don’t know what you think is happening here, but it’s not. Don’t make us arrest you.”

The man grinned, a frightening spread of teeth and gum. “She’s coming with me or–” He pointed toward the distant spire of the Steiger building and there was the bright flare of an explosion. “–I’ll blow up this whole half of the city.”

“You’ll blow up too,” Melissa said.

The man — Atom Splitter — just grinned. “I am a walking chemical reaction. I am immune to my own powers. I could blow up the whole world and dance between the twirling waves of flame. I am unstoppable. But you can die in screaming, burning agony. It’s your choice.”

If there was one thing Melissa hated dealing with, it was a superpowered madman. There was no reasoning with whatever lurked behind Atom Splitter’s eyes; he was blackhole empty, swallowing all the light.

“Why do you want me? What are you going to do?” she asked. There was no way she wanted to go anywhere with this guy, but she didn’t see much choice. He’d rigged enough bombs that there was no doubt about who was in charge of the situation–he was.

“You’re a brave little toaster, chugging along.” He laughed, making her shiver at the unpleasant sound. “Just like him.”

“What are you talking about?” Leithfold asked.

Atom Splitter snarled at him. “You shut your mouth. You’re ruining our beautiful moment.” He held his hand out toward Melissa, the tips of his fingers stained black from whatever chemicals he’d been using. “Come here now or I blow up your precious city.”

Leithfold tried to stop her, but she brushed his hand off her elbow. Her boots crunched against the rooftop and her heartbeat thudded loud but sure in her ears.

Atom Splitter’s hand was warm even through her gloves. His laugh was choppy and unpleasant. “I’m disappointed, but maybe you’ll be enough.”

As she was led away by the mass murderer, she realized that she wasn’t sleepy anymore.

Melissa was wide-awake.

/EXCERPT

Fortress in the Eye of Time at Amazon

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

Fortress in the Eye of Time at Amazon

Title: Allies & Enemies
Author: Harper Kingsley
Pairing: Vereint Georges/Warrick Tobias
Genre: mm superhero
A/N: This isn’t even 10% of the novel, which is 136,000+ words of awesome. You know you want some superhero/supervillain relationship action. Plus, OMG, it gets real in this one.
A/N 2: **Spoiler alert** If you haven’t read Heroes & Villains, you might be a bit spoiled just by the everyday stuff. **Spoiler alert**
Content Warning: There’s some sexy happenings, but it’s not in super graphic detail.
Summary: The first two chapters. Picks up from the epilogue of Heroes & Villains (Less Than Three Press – August 14, 2013).

CHAPTER ONE

The sun was struggling to shine through the clouds, but it was just one of those days guaranteed to be miserable. Not just because of the weather, but because of the girl sobbing out her heartbreak on a sterile hospital bed, the sheets pulled up around her shoulders as she buried her face in the rather flat and lumpy pillow.

Vereint clenched his hands together on the handle of the shopping bag he held. It took all of his will to keep from running into the room and scooping her up into his arms. Instead he stood on the other side of the glass and watched her mourn the loss of both of her parents. Behind and to the left of him, he could hear Warrick fast-talking the doctors and the police and anyone else he had to, and Vereint was sure everything was going to work itself out.

They were going to take that little girl home and give her a family and make sure she grew up knowing that she was loved. He didn’t think they could ever wipe away the loss of her parents, but they would try their best to make her realize that she still had a whole life to live and they would be there for her.

Small Gods at Amazon

I appreciate how much better my Kindle has made my life.

I will never give up having at least a laptop, but I’m not chained to it anymore. I have something that more easily fits my hand. I can work outside or thanks to Swype write while I’m walking somewhere.

I use ColorNote to write posts, then email them either to myself or directly to my blog. I’ve nearly completed a novel with it.

And for proofing … The Kindle has become my hero.

I make a mobi file, then use notes to tell myself where changes should be, and the dictionary has saved me a few headaches. I bookmark the page where I left off so I never lose my place. And when I’m all done, I see where changes need to be made and I do a Find & Replace on my document.

Maybe I’ll upgrade to a better and fancier tablet, but the Kindle has been a great introduction for me. It’s given me a taste for what I want a tablet to do and I didn’t have to sell my soul to afford it.

***

Read slashy stories at Kimichee.

***

Have an excerpt of “Fierce,” by Harper Kingsley. mm contemporary.

EXCERPT:
Rating: teen+ to be safe

Being on location was one of those things Simon used to love but that now made his stomach churn nervously. He didn’t really like being out of his safety zone, but it was something he felt had to be done.

Looking over and being able to see Byron Hughes standing with the rest of the crew made him feel better. His bodyguard had a gun and was willing to use it. He was perfectly safe.

“All right, Simon, in this scene you and Colby are entering the Dragon’s Tomb,” the director, Paul Bleek, said. “Just like in practice, you bring the gun up and it’s just ‘bang-bang-bang.’ Colby, you get hit and fall down, knocking over the Orb. We all good?”

Colby nodded and Simon said, “We good.”

They were standing in front of the archway leading to the “Dragon’s Tomb,” a temple built by the set designers in the middle of the desert. It was already hot and Simon could feel the sweat trickling down his forehead and sticking his clothes to his skin.

Waiting for the cue, he flashed a smile at Colby. “So what’s it like being the male Lara Croft?”

Colby Jackson gave his world famous grin. He really was amazingly good looking, a tall African-American with a leanly muscled body and a perfectly trimmed beard. “I feel very pretty.”

They’d never worked together though they’d known each other for years. It had only been because Colby asked so nicely that Simon had even accepted the role of “Percy Walden,” assistant and sidekick to itinerant explorer “Nicholas Blaine.”

“Places!”

“Let’s Indiana Jones this bitch up,” Simon said, earning himself a laugh.

Dressed in black pants, a long-sleeved black shirt, and a flak vest jangling with all kinds of faux-weaponry, Simon already felt like he needed a break and they hadn’t really even started yet.

“All right… Action!” Bleek called.

Simon drew in a deep breath and hurtled forward and kicked the stone door down with a grunt. He had a gun in his hand and he didn’t hesitate to run forward into the tomb. His head moved back and forth alertly and it seemed natural to bring his gun up and start shooting.

An Asian-looking tomb all shining with gold and jade. Dangerous looking men in lots of brown and gray clothing toting machine guns as they worked at stripping the place bare of treasure. They dropped what they were doing when he started shooting them and brought their own weapons up.

There were screams and shouts and the plink-plink of misses near his head and feet as he jumped, rolled, and dodged until every one of them was dead.

He stood from his crouch and turned to Colby. “It’s clear, sir.”

Colby sauntered in, his lips forming a disappointed moue. “Really, Percy, did you have to come charging through like a bull in a china shop? Perhaps some of these gentlemen would have liked the chance to surrender before you shot them in the face?”

Simon holstered his gun with a shrug. “We’ll never know now, will we?”

Colby smiled and started to say something, then hesitated. His expression congealed, his brows coming together, and he raised his right hand to his left shoulder.

“Sir?” Simon took a step toward him.

Colby pulled his hand away and there was blood on his fingers. He half-turned and there was a giant, bleeding wound in his back. “I think I’ve been shot,” he said calmly, then his legs wobbled and he stumbled sideways before collapsing. His flailing arm knocked against the pedestal and the glass Orb trembled and fell with a crash against the floor.

There was a puff of glittery dust that obscured everything.

/EXCERPT